An Ohio State Sports Blog
Mike Adras, coach of the Northern Arizona basketball team and one of the 31 college coaches who vote in the ESPN/USA Today Poll, on why he voted Ohio State #1 in his final ballot, not the University of Connecticut:
“I voted for who I thought was the best team in the country based on the entire body of work during the season,” Adras told USA Today. “I believe it is Ohio State. I want to congratulate Connecticut for winning the NCAA tournament. They deserved it.”
Saint Mary’s basketball coach Randy Bennett was a upset Sunday upon learning that his team was apparently not one of the 68 best in nation. So upset, in fact, that he uttered one of the more nonsensical things heard that day (at least until Celebrity Apprentice hit the air): “Go to BCS. Go to something where there’s a standardized number how you figure out who’s in, who’s not.” The suggestion being that at least with the BCS, you know where you stand, there’s no mysterious group of people deciding your fate and…
…Wait, what?
All Bennett has proven with this comment is that he doesn’t understand how the BCS works. The system is at least two-thirds opinion–opinions of sportswriters or whoever votes in the Harris Poll, opinions of coaches who can’t even reasonably watch enough games to know what they’re talking about and then won’t even share their final votes with us. And it’s only two-thirds opinion if you buy that computer algorithms designed by humans (and most of which are not available for public dissection) are somehow free of bias or unable to be manipulated. Mysterious enough for you?
Bennett wants to rid tournament selection of human error, a noble goal, but also an impossible one. How exactly does one determine when “human error” has been made, especially in this case? What demonstrable method is available to illustrate the obvious (to Bennett anyway) truth that Saint Mary’s belongs in the tournament? There is none. Attempting to do so only opens a series of progressively absurd cans of worms:
What makes a schedule “strong”?
What makes an opponent “quality”?
What makes a team “deserving”?
Coach Bennett would argue that as long as every team is playing by the same rules, it doesn’t matter. But that’s impossible too. A Big East schedule is, by any reasonable measure, always going to be “tougher” than an Ivy League schedule. Right out of the gate, we’ve got favoritism.
That’s why the March Madness system is the best solution. All conference champions are included. That’s the most important step. Win your conference and you get a shot at the title. The power is entirely in each individual team’s hands and it’s 100% fair. If you can’t do that, you have no right to complain. You failed to secure your berth, and are now at the mercy of the at-large process, which in this case is a selection committee. If you want to make a case that the makeup of the committee is flawed, I would certainly listen and probably agree with you.
I would love to hear Bennett’s idea of a system for choosing at-large spots that would make everyone happy. But the truth is, no one wants to be left out, and it doesn’t really matter how you get left out or how many got in ahead of you. Expand the tournament to 96, 128, or 256 (Kinko’s has a deal on bracket binding) and you’ll still have someone fuming that their 20-loss team didn’t make it.
We’re not dead, we’re just hibernating.
After our (my) self-imposed hiatus, I’m trying to get back into the posting groove. Here’s a delayed round-up of some of news and goings-on in Buckeyeland and Blogtopia.
This may only affect a small percentage of MotSaG readers, but earlier this week Gawker (which owns tabloid sports blog Deadspin) suffered a major security breach that included the usernames, emails and passwords to their thousands of user accounts being hacked. If you have ever commented or registered at any of their sites, including Deadspin, you might want to see if your account has been compromised and then set about changing any passwords you might have in common with Gawker sites and other sites you frequent. Practice cyber-security!
The Big Ten Logo and the Big Ten Divisions were announced to much derision and mockery by the fans. We here at MotSaG HQ hate the Leaders and Legends names and will refer to them as “East” and “West.” until something better comes along. (Which might happen sooner rather than later)
Speaking of things I hate (in conjunction with the new Big Ten announcements), I’m not a big fan of the new Big Ten Trophies. It was as if they didn’t want to offend anyone, so they spread as big a swath of recognition possible. Welcome to the Everyone gets a Trophy League! (don’t even get me started that Speil’s doesn’t get a trophy named after him. I think we need to start a blog-movement to get a Chris Speilman trophy).
Iowa – What’s going on over there?!
With ESPN’s stranglehold on the broadcast rights of the Bowl Games you can also now watch them all on your Xbox 360. Something felt wrong typing that last sentence.
Buckeye Ballers has the top 15 plays of former Buckeyes for the month of November.
I’m not sure how many MotSaG’ers are also Cleveland Indians fans, but we lost a true Cleveland hero this week with the passing of Bob Feller. Joe Posnanski (probably my favorite sports writer) has an excellent tribute to Feller.
Congratulations to Miller (sorry, don’t have a first name) on his 2010 NCAA Tournament Challenge victory. He correctly predicted a championship for the Puke Blue Devilesses. As much as it pains me to say this, good on ya, mate!
Due to poor planning, the only prize this year is our undying respect and admiration. That counts for something, right?
I’d also like a little credit for not picking a single Final Four team. That takes a certain level of suckitude that most mortals struggle to attain. It comes to me quite easily.
It’s that time of year again, ladies and gents. Time to put on your wizard robes and prognostication caps and fill out your brackets once again in the Annual MotSaG Tournament Pick’em.
In years past I’ve asked people to send me a request to join the fray, but that just ends up being extra work for both me and you (but mostly me). So this year I’ll include the league info here and whoever is interested in joining can do it straightway from here. So here are the details:
League: MotSaG Pick ‘Em 2010
PW: gobucks!
As always, if you don’t have the Buckeyes making it to at least the Sweet 16 (if not the Elite Eight) you’re better off elsewhere. Good Luck!
It’s that time again — the annual MotSaG Tournament Pick’em. We’ll be doing it over at Yahoo’s Fantasy Sports. We’ve already set up our bracket. If you participated last year, you should have received an invite already.
If you haven’t received an invite, or you’re interested in joining us this year, just drop us a note at motsag@gmail.com or send us a message through our contact page.
There will be a prize for the top bracket, but those details haven’t been finalized. Either way, enter early before the tournament starts!
Update – There’s only a couple more hours before the brackets are closed, so if you’re interested, get us your email ASAP.
OSU great Clark Kellogg has taken Billy Packer’s place as color analyst for NCAA Basketball broadcasts.
“An industry source characterized it this way: CBS wanted to promote Kellogg, and Packer agreed not to stand in the way.”
At press time, there is no word on any possible conflict of interest when Ohio State makes the Final Four next March.
Image credit: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
… For which it apologizes.
Who says the NIT isn’t exciting? I was at the Quaker Steak last night with my bro-in-law, having my way with a basket of chicken wings with the UMass/Syracuse game on in the background. The BIL commented that certainly UMass couldn’t come back from 20 down, right? I mentioned there were ten minutes left, anything can happen, but probably not. We watched in awe as UMass did the pretty much impossible.
It was a lot more enjoyable to watch than Duke embarrass itself last week.
Let’s hope tonight’s game is just as exciting.
Sometimes I wish I could be adopted in the Tressel family. Just kidding mom and dad!
One of my favorite stories about Tressel is when he explained to his kids what it means to take the OSU job, and said, “when dad lost games at Youngstown State, eighty thousand people would say he was an idiot. Once I’m at Ohio State and I lose a game, eight hundred thousand people would say I’m was an idiot.” I think he underestimated.
No one likes the Knicks. And no one likes desperate fans. This is just sad.
For your OSU football fix, Sunday Morning Quarterback preps you for a season of smack talk from fans of teams from other conferences. No matter how irrational or ignorant we all know this kind of talk is, be prepared to listen to it all season long.
It is going to chafe so many people’s hides when the Buckeyes are in the BCS title game yet again. I can’t wait.
I don’t talk much about the Indians here, but I couldn’t pass this up. When The Dugout did their thing with the Indians, I almost died laughing. This is probably only funny to me, but man are those guys good.
Pronky_Kong: then we could talk about how my dog and I can do the Fastball Special like Wolverine and Colossus and how Casey Blake is totally screwed
That, my friends, is absolutely pure genius.
Finally, your new blogs are: Our Honor Defend and Dotting The “I”
Go Buckeyes! Beat the Flyers.
2007 was the year of the “Almost!!” for teams that hail from the State of Ohio.
There were eight sports teams from Ohio that either lost a championship game or had the coveted #1 ranking elude them in 2007. Never before have so many teams from a single state reached within inches of the promised land, only to fail at accomplishing the utmost feat.
The following teams from Ohio finished #2 in their respective sports in 2007:
Ohio State Buckeyes Football – BCS Title GameHistory shows that the team never took its BCS opponent seriously, and after a 50-day layoff came to the stadium overweight, flat, and uninspired – and was promptly dispatched by a tough Florida team that had grown weary of hearing about its underdog status.
Ohio State Buckeyes Men’s Basketball – NCAA Title GameThe Buckeyes survived a tough playoff bracket and matched up against Florida in the championship game. Despite a career game for Oden, the Buckeyes simply couldn’t match up with a Gator team full of talented, experienced veterans.
Cleveland Cavaliers – NBA FinalsSan Antonio then swept the series, 4-0.
Columbus Destroyers – ArenaBowl XXIThey lost the championship to the San Jose Sabercats, 55-33.
Columbus Comets Football – NWFA Championship GameThe women won the Southern Conference and made it to the NWFA Championship game — where they were beaten 32-0 by the Pittsburgh Passion.
Cleveland Indians – American League Championship SeriesCleveland then took a 3-1 lead against Boston in the ALCS, but then lost the pennant with three straight losses to the Red Sox.
Saint Xavier Bombers – HS Final RankingsThe Bombers came in only four points behind Northwestern of Miami Florida. The two did not play against one another.
Ohio State Buckeyes Men’s Soccer – NCAA Title GameThe Buckeyes played a dominant first half, but Wake Forest came from behind late in the game on a controversial goal. The Demon Deacons went on to win.
So, what say you? Is this list an example of Ohio superiority in athletics, or weakness?
2008 starts off well, with another Ohio team competing for a championship as the football Buckeyes get a chance to redeem themselves in the Bourbon Bowl. Let’s hope that this pattern of #2 ends on January 7th.
For all you video gamers out there, your big man, Greg Oden, is the coverboy (man? old man?) for 2K Sports College Hoops 2K8. They got the picture on the cover wrong, though. Oden going with a finger roll? Puhhhleeze. They needed to use this one.
You can check out some gameplay videos (with an appeareance of Oden and Conley, making jokes about how old Oden looks) at the 2K Sports website. College Hoops 2K8 comes out November 19th. It would make an excellent gift for your favorite OSU blogger.
Seriously, hasn’t the “Greg Oden looks old” joke run its course? Are they even funny anymore? Hit the jump to see an in-game screenshot of Oden in action:
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