Well, if we’re going to turn everything upside down, why don’t we actually do it so something comes out of it that is at least partially coherent.  With that, below are my suggestions for a total realignment in college sports.  Five power conferences, with a few schools left out…but there are always some that are left out, so who cares!?

West States Conference

USC, UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Colorado, Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, BYU, Utah

The Great Plains Conference

Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kansas, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Arkansas, LSU, New Mexico, New Mexico State

Southeastern Conference

Florida, Florida State, Miami (FL), Alabama, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Memphis, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest

Midwestern Conference

Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Purdue, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette

Big East Conference

Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Connecticut, Rutgers, Temple, Marshall, Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Providence, George Washington

I realize there are some bigger or popular schools missing like DePaul, South Florida, and Gonzaga, but I wasn’t quite sure where they would even fit in.  The Big East clearly is in trouble with only 10 football playing schools, but at least it cuts it down from the ridiculousness that it has now…and since I am a Villanova grad, I had to put them somewhere even though they are D-1AA in football (I know they call it something else, but it will always be D-1AA to me).

Anyway, it’s a thought.  Chew on it.

After a single season at Kentucky, Calipari is now lining up a new contract that will keep him at the school “until he retires,” according to ESPN’s Pat Forde.  And what has Calipari done to earn this new contract?  Well, he led Kentucky to a 35-3 record and an Elite Eight birth last season.  But that isn’t really what is making the University give him a new contract.  It’s the fact that the Chicago Bulls fired their head coach, Vinny Del Negro, today.  The New Jersey Nets, who Calipari previously coached, will also most likely be looking for a coach.  So with two possible landing spots for Calipari in the NBA, the University of Kentucky feels the need to lock this man up, the man who has had two final four appearances wiped off the books for NCAA violations, to a contract that will keep him at the school for the rest of his coaching life.

Let’s forget the fact that Calipari was 72-112 in his two and a quarter years patrolling the NBA sidelines in New Jersey.  He’s proven that he can recruit the best high school stars to his school and lead his team to excellent regular season records before falling short in the NCAA Tournament.  What else could an NBA team want in a coach, right?

While it’s not going to happen, Kentucky should stop this ridiculous process of giving Calipari a new contract only one year after he signed his existing deal.  Let’s see if he can go three years at Kentucky without an NCAA violation; maybe then they can start thinking about rewarding him for, well, doing his job.

***UPDATE***

According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Calipari is “intrigued” by the Chicago Bulls job, which is a wonderful thing to say when you want a new contract at Kentucky.

Many fans and pundits have argued that ESPN will do a better job of covering the event because of its multitude of channels and talent that can cover all of the action, all of the time.  But no one seems to be recognizing what we will lose if this happens.  Below, I’ve counted down the four biggest things we will lose if March Madness moves to the ESPN family of networks.

4. Less Dickie V and Bobby Knight – Yes, we don’t have to hear from these two for most of March Madness because the games are televised on CBS and ESPN simply uses them for reaction.  But what happens when every game is on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN Classic?  That’s right, more Dickie V yelling at us about why teams that score more points usually win and Bobby Knight looking incredibly frustrated when asked the question as to why a certain team is beating the other.

3. March Madness On Demand – Did you watch any part of the NCAA Tournament online at work this year or any of the past three? Well, you can say goodbye to that unless you can watch ESPN360 (soon to be rebranded ESPN3) at work. Here is a picture of my desk at work from just a few weeks ago:

Not only could I not get ESPN360 at work, I can’t even get it at home.  ESPN’s solution?  Change your internet provider, which would cost me an additional $15 per month.  In this economy, thanks, but no thanks.

2. Gus Johnson – So many people tune into tournament games with the hope that Gus Johnson is calling it and it’s a close game.  In fact, I won’t even go further with this except to show three videos:

1. One Shining Moment – Do you think CBS will give up the song to ESPN for future tournaments?  I don’t think so.  Granted, 2010′s version featuring Jennifer Hudson was downright dreadful (yes, I believe it was one of the worst in years, if not ever), but that hardly means that future ones will be as bad (just bring back the Teddy Pendergrass version, please).  One Shining Moment is the perfect way to end the college basketball season; how long will it take us to adjust to a new version on ESPN featuring the Kings of Leon or whatever pop rock group that the kids are listening to these days?  Will we ever adjust?

Just something to think about before we start rolling out the red carpet for ESPN’s March Madness coverage.

St. John’s has indicated that they would like someone with New York connections (Donovan grew up in Long Island) and has recently spoken with Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, who has had some recent recruiting success for the Yellow Jackets and an appearance in the Final Four as recently as 2004.  Unfortunately for the Red Storm, Hewitt may be the biggest name coach who is willing to consider the job.

And why is that bad?  Because the St. John’s opportunity might be the best one available in the nation right now.

There are four points that make the St. John’s opening so attractive:

1. Madison Square Garden

Many people point to the World’s Most Famous Arena as a solid recruiting tool for the Johnnies because not every school can play a majority of its home games in a 17,000-seat arena and none can do so in the country’s largest media market.  However, this isn’t the reason why MSG is so important to St. John’s.  The Knicks and Rangers are the signature tenants of the Garden but it is also unofficially college basketball’s home court.  While the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) no longer has the prestige that it once did, the tournament semifinals and finals are still held at Madison Square Garden.  I know, I know, this isn’t nearly enough to claim MSG as college basketball’s home court.  Well, how about the semifinals and finals of the Preseason NIT, Coaches vs. Cancer and the Jimmy V. Classic held at the Garden every single year?  In 2009, those three tournaments alone let college basketball fans in New York see Duke, Arizona State, LSU, Connecticut, Syracuse, North Carolina, Ohio State, Cal-Berkeley, Georgetown, Butler, Indiana and Pittsburgh.  No where else in the country will you see a concentration of college basketball teams in one season and St. John’s gets to play its home games on that very same floor.

But ultimately, why is that important to St. John’s?  Because with increased exposure, St. John’s can begin participating in these events.  Effectively playing home games against some of the best, and most popular, teams in the country can only help the exposure that St. John’s needs in order to get more talented recruits to sign on to play there.  Guys want to play big-time college basketball; why not play your home games in the largest city in the country against some of the most storied programs in the country?

2. New York City

As I said before, Madison Square Garden is home to the New York Knicks, one of the most popular franchises in the NBA despite it’s abysmal performance on the court since the Scott Layden years.  However, regardless of the shortcomings on the court, Madison Square Garden continues to fill up to watch the lowly Knicks.  But this isn’t about the Knicks; it’s about basketball.  New York City claims (I’d argue accurately) that it’s the home of basketball.  Sure, it wasn’t invented here, we haven’t had a college or professional championship in decades and our teams couldn’t be struggling any more now, but the city still lives for basketball.  While the Yankees and the Giants hold the prestige in this town, basketball is still our sport. Basketball is New York’s game.

Being able to have your school in the hotbed of college basketball recruiting is a huge plus.  However, St. John’s has struggled to keep potential high school recruits in town.  The recent stat that is often quoted is that Bob Huggins starts five players from the New York City area for his West Virginia Mountaineers.  While this is incredible, he’s hardly the only coach who is able to convince players to leave town.  Schools like Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Villanova and Syracuse continue to poach players from the five boroughs (well, three really: Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx) and St. John’s is left with close to nothing.  But that doesn’t mean that St. John’s should stop competing for these players.

The biggest plus about New York City is that it’s a city of eight million people, but can support its college basketball team like it’s Lawrence, Kansas or Lexington, Kentucky.  When St. John’s is good, the city is in love with the Johnnies.  Imagine being the player who can bring that magic back to the city…especially if you grew up here.

3. Your Own Class Right Away

According to SNY, St. John’s will have as many as NINE open scholarships for the next recruiting class.  Coaches often have major problems when they take on new jobs because they have to adjust their coaching style to the players that are left behind from the prior coaching staff (just ask Tom Crean at Indiana how well that is working out).  But at St. John’s, the new coach will have the opportunity to fill his roster with his own players, a unique opportunity that usually does not become available for a coach until his third season with the new school.

Another benefit is that they can gamble on certain players, knowing they have the opportunity to find a diamond in the rough with that kind of leeway.  No one expects St. John’s to make a Kentucky-like turnaround and go 33-2 next season, so the opportunity to try new things with new players has to be intriguing.

4. LeBron James

I know, this seems a little far-fetched.  But let’s just think about it for a second.  There is a strong sentiment that LeBron James could be playing in New York next season.  Or New Jersey and eventually Brooklyn.  And let’s see, where did LeBron go to college?  That’s right, he didn’t go.  So if he came to New York, don’t you think he might take up an interest in the local college team, one that has a long history of success in college basketball?  Whether he wants to or not, he will hear about St. John’s if he lives in New York.  No matter how bad they are, the Johnnies continue to get local coverage in newspapers and the news.  All it takes is one courtside appearance from LeBron James at a St. John’s game and you can bet that New York City high school kids will highly consider the school, purely for the opportunity to play in front of LeBron.

Is it a little absurd?  Sure.  But you have to admit that the opportunity to coach the most famous college basketball team in the World’s Most Famous Arena in front of one of the world’s most famous athletes has to be a draw.

******************

While Paul Hewitt seems to have the inside track on the vacant head coaching position, I think St. John’s would be dumb not to speak with former point guard Mark Jackson.  Born and raised in Brooklyn, a graduate of basketball powerhouse Bishop Louglin Memorial High School and a first round draft pick in the 1987 NBA Draft after four years at St. John’s, I cannot think of a better ambassador for the school than Mark Jackson.

Every high school kid thinks he can play in the NBA after dominating the college game.  Why not have a guy who did just that as your coach and top recruiter?

Click on THIS LINK and join now!

Coaches are often accused of funneling kids into easier classes, or classes that barely even exist, just so that they can keep their minimum GPAs up to remain eligible for play.  There have been stories of players being paid under the table for their commitment to certain schools, or scoring jobs and houses for their families close to campus.  Even high school coaches are part of the mix, joining college coaching staffs only because they are the representative for a big time athlete on their high school team.

Here are some key quotes from the article:

“It is different because in the last 20 years colleges have allowed their ‘money’ sports – football and basketball – to become farm systems for the professional leagues, and in so doing have permitted their athletes to embrace a terrible myth: that attending college with the sole aim of making the pros is compatible with the academic environment, even at the expense of scholarship.  Scholastically handicapped players are thus invited into college to pursue an impossible dream: to become one of the small number of college players (less than 2%) who make it into the NFL and NBA.”

Sure sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  How often do we picture college coaches visiting recruits and showing them how many players they have turned into professional athletes?  Ever hear of one that goes onto say that even if they don’t make it, their education will carry them through to a different lucrative career?  I didn’t think so.

Going into the actual cost of these programs, the article touches on the dollars that are spent in scholarships for 95 football players, plus the salaries of the head coach and ten assistants, all of which must be paid even “before the first pair of sweat socks is handed out.”  Going further into the point:

“What fans do understand is that they don’t have to spend Saturday afternoon watching ol’ State lose, no matter what the school’s team has cost.  And they don’t.  Which means that if a university is going to get even financially, not to mention tap in on the huge profits earned by the most successful football schools, those 95 scholarships had better go to athletes who can deliver: fill those stands, get the team nationally ranked and on TV – and let’s not hear about a star running back losing his eligibility because he cannot conjugate the verb ‘to run.’”

The act of getting these kids through their classes just so they can play is hardly a new story.  The article touches on the point that these kids are losing a tremendous opportunity in school by not taking classes that prepare them for life after their college careers are over, since such a large percentage don’t end up playing sports for a living anyway (and even if they do make it, the average career in basketball and football is less than five years).

“Since television got its thumb on the windpipe, there is so much money to be made in big-time sports that everybody cooperates….The colleges know they cannot justify their sellout by saying they’ll use the loot to give athletes better academic training, so they try to justify it with dream talk.  School publicists send out press releases bragging about their ability to place players in pro ball and decorate the pages of their sports brochures with photographs of those who have ‘graduated’ to the pros.  Last year the University of Miami shamelessly produced a four-color recruiting poster, captioned A PIPELINE TO THE PROS, that included pictures of those Hurricane players who had ‘made it.’”

The points made in the article are hardly shocking.  The purity of college sports was lost years ago.  Arguments about paying players are constantly being brought up, not because we think they need a little extra income while they dedicate so much of their time to their respective school teams but because there are BILLIONS OF DOLLARS being made on their backs.

What’s the real reason this article was so shocking to me and I felt I needed to share it on this blog?  Because it was published by Sports Illustrated in their May 19th, 1980 issue.  That’s right, John Underwood’s article, which I quote extensively above, was written almost 30 years ago and absolutely nothing has changed…in fact, it may even be worse today.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive said that the fines are implemented to ensure “a safe environment for those who participate and attend league events,” which is a nice idea, but is hardly an acceptable measure for a well-deserved court-storming.

I must admit, most games that end up in students and fans storming the court are not deserved.  I remember when I was at Villanova and we beat UCLA, who was ranked somewhere around 15 at the time, and we stormed the court.  Looking back it seems silly, but Villanova was awful back then.  Needless to say, it was really fun, we could celebrate with the players and no one got hurt.  If I saw that today, I would argue that it was not a situation where you should have gone on the court.  But beating the #1 team in the country when you go into the game with a 11-8 record?  Yes, please enjoy the celebration with the players and other students.

So with that out of the way, I propose the following new rules for when students and fans can storm the court:

- If your team is ranked in the Top-10, no court storming will be accepted under any circumstance;

- If your team is ranked in the Top-20, you can only storm the court if you beat the #1 team in the country;

- If your team is in the Top-25, you can storm the court if you beat a team in the Top-3;

- If your team is unranked, but was ranked at some point in the season, you can storm the court if you beat a Top-3 team;

- If your team is unranked and has not been ranked at all this season, you can storm the court if you beat a Top-5 team;

- Schools that can never storm the court: North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, UConn.

There are naturally celebrations that can be addressed on a case-by-case basis, but the above ones are the generic rules.  If you have a special situation, feel free to comment below and I can provide a ruling.

Villanova is the highest scoring team in the Big East, averaging 85.2 points per game and has five players averaging double-figures.  They are the best free throw shooting team in the Conference and have given up more than 75 points only five times this season.  And yet, when anyone talks about the best team in the Big East, the Wildcats seem to be pushed aside for the Syracuse Orange.  Joe Lunardi has the Orange firmly planted as a #1 seed in his Bracketology prediction, while relegating the Wildcats to a #2 seed.  While Villanova’s strength of schedule has been mediocre, at best, that hardly diminishes the product that is on the floor night-in and night-out.

Speaking of strength of schedule, many people point out that Syracuse has wins over four Top-25 teams this year, beating then-#13 Cal-Berkeley at Madison Square Garden, followed by a win on the same court a night later against then-#6 North Carolina.  However, time has shown that neither of these teams were worthy of that ranking, as Cal-Berkeley has completely dropped from the Top-25 and North Carolina isn’t far behind, losers of its last three games (and four of its last five).  Syracuse also traveled down to the University of Florida and came away with a win against the then-#10 team in the country.  How did Florida respond?  By losing five games, including home losses to Richmond and South Alabama, and dropping out of the Top-25 as well.

Syracuse did get a big road win when it beat West Virginia in Morgantown on January 16th, a 72-71 victory that saw the Orange nearly blow a ten-point lead.  But is that enough to overlook their ten-point home loss to Pittsburgh on January 2nd?

I digress…this post is not about Syracuse.

Did you know that the Villanova Wildcats are one of only five teams to be ranked in the Top-10 in every AP and ESPN/USA Today poll this season?  Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Villanova and Duke are the only schools that can claim that statistic and with Duke’s home loss to N.C. State last night, the list could be down to four by Monday.  In addition, those four schools are the only ones who have been ranked #3 or higher this entire season.

I must mention that Kansas, Texas and Kentucky are perceived to be on a separate level from the rest of college basketball this season.  Whether this is true or not will become clearer as the weeks go on, but Villanova has proven, in the eyes of the voters at least, that it deserves to be right next to the three powerhouses.

The Wildcats still have plenty to prove this season.  The toughest part of their schedule is ahead of them and not behind, with road games at Georgetown (Saturday, February 6th), West Virginia (Monday, February 8th), Pittsburgh (Sunday, February 21st) and Syracuse (Saturday, February 27th), with scattered home games against Notre Dame, Connecticut and West Virginia throughout.  But despite its 17-1 overall record and current #4 ranking, the Wildcats might be getting better.  Senior guard/forward Reggie Redding, an integral part of last year’s Final Four team, was suspended for the first ten games of the season following a marijuana incident in the off-season and has played only eight games since returning.

Speaking of missing games, Villanova freshman big man Mouphtaou Yarou, the top-rated player within Villanova’s highly ranked freshmen class, missed eleven straight games after being diagnosed with Hepatitis B.  After initially being ruled out for the remainder of the season, Yarou was able to return and has appeared in Villanova’s last five games.  It is clear that Yarou is not in the same shape as the rest of the team, but more play this season will only improve that.  The Wildcats are constantly being derided for how guard-centric the team is, but Yarou gives them a force on the inside that will help clog the middle and allow the guards to be more aggressive on the wings.

One freshman who continues to have an impact on every game?  Point guard Maalik Wayns, who is clearly in position to become another name on the long list of prolific guards at Villanova under head coach Jay Wright.  Not to be outdone, fellow freshman Dominic Cheek is making sure people know his name, dropping 17 points in 17 minutes on Wednesday night against Rutgers.

Duke-transfer Taylor King, who sat in the front row of Villanova’s Elite Eight win against Pittsburgh last season because he was not allowed to travel with the team, has been a huge lift for the Wildcats this year, providing needed rebounding help and dagger three-pointers, including four in a 20 point outing against St. Joseph’s in a classic Big-Five game on December 9th.

And remember the jump that Dante Cunningham made last season after relative obscurity in his first three seasons?  The same thing is happening to Antonio Pena, but a year early.  Watch out for him this season and next.

Former Big East Freshman of the Year and last year’s Sixth Man Award winner Corey Fisher also continues to step up for the Wildcats, averaging 12.8 points, 4.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game.  With Fisher setting the table and Reynolds dominating on the offensive end, this team will continue to be a force and hopefully can gain some attention that seems to be lacking for a team that has been in the Top-5 for seven of the ten polls this year.

Best Coach of the Midseason: John Calipari, Kentucky. The job that Calipari has done in Lexington is nothing short of remarkable. To have the Wildcats, a team so young it should be referred to as Kittens, still unbeaten is an amazing job. Kentucky is getting better and better, and with the talent assembled by Calipari, there is little reason to believe that the Cats will not be playing in the NCAA tournament’s second weekend or beyond.

Kentucky is currently undefeated at 17-0 and has been rewarded with the #2 ranking in all of college basketball in both the ESPN Coaches and Associated Press polls.  It also has the absolute best player in college basketball, John Wall, who will most likely win the Naismith Award this season as the player of the year, followed shortly by being the #1 pick in the NBA Draft.  In addition, Calipari brought DeMarcus Cousins with him to Kentucky, who was only rated as the #1 big man (and Top-5 overall) coming into college this season.  Meeting Wall and Cousins on campus was power forward Patrick Patterson, who averaged 17.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game last season as a sophomore.  Patterson’s stats are slightly down this season, with 16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

Now with these three players on the same team, any coach should be able to cruise to most victories.  However, Kentucky has struggled in a number of games that it should have won easily, beating Miami (OH) by two and Sam Houston State by ten at home (Kentucky gave up 92 points in the latter game).  Kentucky’s two signature wins, a 68-66 home win against then-#11 North Carolina and a 64-61 win against then-#12 UConn at Madison Square Garden, looked good when they happened, but both teams have recently shown that they may have been a bit overrated to start the year.  North Carolina has since lost to Texas, the College of Charleston and Clemson (by 29), whereas UConn has since lost to Cincinnati, Georgetown and Pittsburgh.

I am hardly arguing that Kentucky is overrated this year or that they haven’t beaten anyone of real substance (I save that argument for Syracuse), but to name John Calipari the mid-season coach of the year after leading the most talented team in the country to a 17-0 start, I think is a bit too much.

Who should be the real mid-season coach of the year?  Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, who has the Panthers tied for first place in the best conference in college basketball and a 14-2 record overall after losing DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields after the team’s Elite Eight season a year ago.

How did that run end again?  Oh yeah…

1. Connecticut (7)
2. Oklahoma (4)
3. North Carolina (1)
4. Pittsburgh
5. Duke
6. Louisville
7. Wake Forest
8. UCLA
9. Marquette
10. Michigan State
11. Memphis
12. Clemson
13. Villanova
14. Xavier
15. Missouri
16. Butler
17. Kansas
18. Arizona State
19. Gonzaga
20. Utah State
21. Illinois
22. Purdue
23. Syracuse
24. Ohio State
25. Florida State

Also receiving votes: Louisiana State, Washington, Texas, Florida, Minnesota