Sparks Sports

Congrats to Arizona Wildcats

2006-06-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

DUBLIN, Ohio -- I covered New Mexico State University softball for the Las Cruces Sun-News, and I had a great time watching the games.

I rediscovered my passion for women's softball this weekend watching the 2006 Women's College World Series. Despite getting grief for it, my remote control kept landing on the games. I watched the Tennessee Vols make quite a run.

Tonight I watched the first inning with my daughter, Chloe, just half an hour after playing ball with her in the yard. It was fun teaching her a bit about the game. Long after she went to sleep, I watched the Arizona Wildcats finish off a gritty Northwestern team for a 7th national title.

I'm looking forward to taking my girls to many Texas Tech softball games next year! If you have not seen a college softball game in person, I encourage you to check it out.

Stop Presses: Royals Win Two

2006-04-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

DUBLIN, Ohio -- I have lamented about the woes of the Kansas City sports fan in this space before. The Royals' start to the year is but an exclamation point.

However, in beating the Cleveland Indians 5-1 today, the Royals won two games in a row and won the series.

It's about the little victories in K.C.

Sudden Tragedy

2006-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

By James R. Angelini
Sparky Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--Back during the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament I made mention in this blog of the team from Army and how historic this year’s tournament was for them. This was their first ever appearance in the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Also, their coach, Maggie Dixon, was the sister of Pittsburgh’s head coach Jamie Dixon. It was believed that this was the first time in the history of the tournaments that a brother and a sister were coaching teams in the tournament during the same year.

Flash forward three weeks and all these ground breaking events are a distant memory, replaced by great tragedy.

Yesterday Army coach Maggie Dixon died at age 28 of a heart arrhythmia.

Three weeks ago it was believe that Dixon was making such a name for herself in the basketball world that Army would not be able to hold on to her. She was hired from DePaul just a few days before the start of the basketball season, and Dixon turned an average team into one that won 20 games this season.

But now all of this promise of a bright coaching future is gone and a close-knit family, both the Dixons and the Black Knights of basketball squad at Army, are devastated by the sudden loss.

It truly is a sad and unfortunate situation when someone this promising dies young.

Dancin' in the Circle City

2006-04-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

The men's NCAA Final Four tips tonight at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

I am hearing a lot about Florida and very little about the hot hands in the tournament, LSU and George Mason.

Tennessee and South Carolina (NIT Champs) each swept Florida this season. That means that not only did the Vols and Gamecocks beat the Gators on their home courts, but also in Gainesville. The Gators are hot, but much too human for true greatness. Look for George Mason to send the Gators home.

UCLA fumbled past Memphis in the regional finals. They won't beat LSU. The Tigers and "Little Baby" are too strong inside for the Bruins.

George Mason and LSU will play in the most improbable championship match up in memory. I'm not ready to decide who I like in this game.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

My Pick For Champion

2006-03-25T10:14:00.000-08:00

By James R. Angelini
Sparky Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Much like many of the office workers out there whose productivity slows down during NCAA tournament time, I’ve been following the stories from this year’s tournament while seeing how well my predictions are hold up.

In the men’s bracket my final four was pretty much decimated after the second round. Three of my final four teams (Iowa, Michigan State, and Ohio State) were out by the end of last Sunday. Maybe it was too much to believe that three Big Ten teams would make the final four, but coming from Indiana University and seeing these three teams in action against my Hoosiers I truly believed that these teams had a good shot.

The one team that I have left in the tournament that I predicted would make it to the final four is Memphis. It really was a gut feeling that told me to not only put them through to the final four but to make them the overall champion. I still believe that they have the capability to do that, and I am hopeful that I will be able to finally pick an NCAA tournament winner.

Memphis does have a tough road ahead of them. Just to get to the final game they have to win tonight against UCLA and then next week face either LSU or Texas. All three are worthy opponents, but also teams that I believe Memphis has the ability to prevail over.

Maybe it is the love of the underdog, but I want to see Memphis go all the way. Though a number one seed, many didn’t believe that Memphis had the tools to win the national championship. I believe for that reason alone I know who I’ll be rooting for through the rest of the tournament.

Huggins Restores K-State Basketball

2006-03-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Kansas State basketball has not mattered for decades. That changed Thursday with the hiring of coach Bob Huggins. Although I grew up a diehard Jayhawks, fan, it is the Sunflower State's land-grant university from which I hold a degree.

K-State once had a proud tradition. Now there is mediocrity. The fans' welcoming of Huggins is not all about the wins. Yes, we will win now. But it is more that than. I wanted K-State basketball to matter again.

The Wildcats are now the second most prominent hoops team in the Big XII North. Iowa State, Missouri, Colorado, and Nebraska are now the step-children.

How many times had you ever heard Texas Tech basketball mentioned on SportsCenter before they hired Bob Knight? Now Texas Tech has its own reality TV show, Knight School, on ESPN. Now the program matters. They made it to the Sweet 16 last year. Yes, K-State will be back.

There is another comparison between Texas Tech and Kansas State. I moved to Bloomington shortly after Knight was run out of town. Texas Tech hats were everywhere. They still are. Today's Kansas City Star reported that K-State T-shirt sales spiked in Cincinnati the day after Huggins was hired:

"The most popular items just arrived. Those would be purple T-shirts at $16 a pop that are a tribute to Huggins. One reads on the front, 'Feeling bad about your SELF? Get a big HUG!' The other says, 'Huggieville' on the front and 'Got Huggs' on the back."

Today K-State basketball matters. And although Huggins has been vilified by the Cincinnati administration, he is no Jerry Tarkanian. I was a newspaper reporter when coach Neil McCarthy was removed. I covered the entire thing. I talked to players, attorneys, boosters. Trust me, I know a thing or two about renegade coaches. Huggins is not that.

Can he recruit the same kids that Mike Krzyzewski recruits at Duke, but he will not pay kids or commit NCAA major violations. And there's a whole lot less trouble to be found in Manhattan, Kan.

Indeed, it's the beginning of a new era for Wildcats hoops. I just hope that I can find a way to make it to Bramlage Coliseum for a game next year.

All Aboard Vikings Love Boat

2006-03-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

I was readinging earlier today the Associated Press report "Former Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper testified Wednesday that he spent his entire time shooting dice during a boat party last fall and rejected offers from lingerie-clad dancers."

As a sports fan, surely you remember the love boat scandal. The AP story on cbsportsline.com talked about "lap dances," "lewd acts," and "naked dancers."

However, the hilarious part to me was that within the cbs.sportsline.com story about the sex boat was an ad for "Discover Boating: Get your free how to get started in boating DVD."

You cannot write comedy this good.

Showing She Was Right

2006-03-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

By James R. Angelini
Sparky Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- As previously reported here, Pat Summitt and her Lady Vols of Tennessee were very unhappy with their number two seed in the NCAA tournament. Summitt brought her case to the press, but this reporter thought that Summitt and her team should show the selection committee, through their playing against Army, why they believed they should have been given that number one seed. Today they did just that.

The Lady Vols didn’t just beat Army’s Black Knights. They decimated them. The Lady Vols walked away with a 102-54 victory.

In addition, freshman forward Candace Parker was the first woman to ever dunk during an NCAA tournament game. And just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, nearly six minutes into the second half she dunked again.

Parker also became only the fourth woman to ever in college basketball history to dunk during a game.

The Black Knights of Army were also making some history of their own. This was Army’s first appearance in the NCAA women’s tournament. In addition, their coach Maggie Dixon is the sister of Jamie Dixon, the head coach of Pittsburgh’s men’s basketball coach. It is believed that this is the first time that a brother and a sister have ever made it to the NCAA tournaments in the same year.

Summitt’s Lady Vols showed their dominance in the sport of women’s basketball. Summitt quieted her critics for being so vocal about receiving the number two seed, and the team handily demonstrated why they really should have been given the number one over LSU. We’ll just have to wait and see if Tennessee can continue their winning ways when they meet the winner of the George Washington-Old Dominion match-up.

Proud to be an Indiana Hoosier

2006-03-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

By Johnny Sparks
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

The end of basketball at Indiana University came for Mike Davis and me tonight.

When I think of Bloomington, I won’t think of the reams of reading and writing I have done since arriving here in January 2003 in pursuit of my Ph.D. I will think of the beautiful landscape, the constant freshness of the air and the brightness of the stars in the south-central Indiana sky. I will feel the familiar feelings of freedom and safety of the oasis that is Indiana University.

That will be the backdrop for the visions of Hoosier basketball that will flood my memory. I will see my dad, my childhood heroes (Larry Bird, John Mellencamp, and Dad), my friends, and my 4-year-old-son Eli – all with me in the same moment in time – at Assembly Hall.

No banners were hung while I was at Indiana University. I don't mind. I have had four years of banner moments with the Hoosiers, my family, my heros, and my friends at the Hall.

To borrow the words of a country song, "Who could ask for more, than to be living in a moment you would die for?"

No shock, dull deep pain

2006-03-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

BY Johnny Sparks

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –– I take a never-say-die approach to Tennessee Volunteers basketball. It’s caused me much pain. The Vols loss to Wichita State hurts more than usual, because I hoped the universe had changed to favor Big Orange hoops.

When they announced the hiring of Bruce Pearl as Tennessee's head coach, I said, "It's such a shame ... he seems like a great guy and terrific coach. Too bad he's the latest coaching casualty. Another good coach to be ruined by Tennessee basketball."

He convinced even me that he was the savior. Not to discredit his accomplishments, but I wonder if even Pearl will be able to get the Vols over the cursed hump.

Unlike Sam’s Jayhawks, the Vols have not even been to a Final Four. They won’t this year.

All in all, Wichita State didn’t shock me. My heart would not let me pick anyone else but the Vols to win it all, although I feared it was just a matter of time before they’d meet their Southwest Missouri or Wichita State.

At the big dance, Cinderella always gets her men. When Tennessee is at the ball, you can bet the unlucky guy will be wearing orange.

KC Sports Pain Endures

2006-03-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Many sports fans decry their misfortunes. I dare anyone to compare with the long-suffering Kansas City area sports fan.

The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl on January 11, 1970. In my lifetime, they have known much regular season success. But three times since my teens, a 13-3 Chiefs team has been bounced in the first playoff game. Derrick Thomas died after a car wreck.

On oct. 27, 1985, the Royals pounded the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series. They have lost approximately 7 million games since then. Although I would give up a kidney to look over at third base and see a number 5 on those powder blues, George Brett has long since retired.

My K-State Wildcats were headed to the national championship on Dec. 5, 1998. Then they blew a 15 point lead to Texas A&M and lost in overtime. They didn't even make a bowl game this year. Bill Snyder retired. The miracle in Manhattan may be dead.

On April 4, 1988, Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks past Big 8 rival Oklahoma for the national championship. There have been many wins since ... a few Final Fours ... and even a loss in the title game to Syracuse. But more than anything, there was the defection of Roy Williams.

It's a Kansas City thing, so you probably would not understand. But Roy leaving was so personal. Kansas City is not New York, and it's not paradise, but people from there love that place. And we get tired of being the second-rate stepchild.

You may not know, but Dean Smith grew up in Kansas. He played for Phog Allen at Kansas. He was a Kansan. He made his name as a Tarheel. When Kansas tried to call him home, Smith said "no." What he built at North Carolina meant too much to him.

Call me naive, but I expected the same from Roy Williams. He had built a perennial Top 5 program in Lawrence. The fans worshipped him, even if he bore the moniker of "the best coach never to have won a national championship." He turned down UNC the first time, but he left the second time. To me, this was like someone being offered the best of everything I had ever cared about and saying it just wasn't good enough.

Then I got to watch traitor Roy win a title in Chapel Hill while the Jayhawks got bounced in the first round by Bucknell. Then came last night. Schools that I care nothing about -- UConn and Gonzaga -- shook the upset bug. But there was Kansas. Falling to Bradley. Ugh.

But hey, opening day is just two weeks away, April 3, and with the off-season additions, I am pretty sure that the Royals will not lose 100 games this year. My best student ever works for the Royals and even offered me a ticket to opening day, but the 11 hour drive thwarts that plan.

So the bad luck continues. But, hey, probability says that somebody in Kansas City has to win something, someday, right ?

Day No. 1 of NCAA bolsters chances for Vols, Hoosiers, Tide

2006-03-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

By Johnny Sparks
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- As luck would have it, Tennessee played early in the afternoon, Alabama finished late in the afternoon, and Indiana played late last night keeping me glued to my TV all day.

It wasn’t like any one of my teams could flat out beat their opponent. Alabama came closest to putting Marquette away early, only to find them within easy reach in the final minutes. Last minute heroics finally rolled the Tide over Marquette.

It took every last second for Tennessee and Indiana to emerge from the first round, but I’m not complaining. I know I’ll see my teams on championship Monday.

Two of the highlights of the post-championship game package will surely emerge from those games.

Tennessee’s Chris Lofton made an improbable, behind the backboard, long-range, game-winning baseline jump shot over Winthrop defender to give the Vols a pass to the next round.

Indiana got an abundance of second chances in the final seconds against San Diego State.

As you recall, a tipped ball landed in Hoosier hands as time was expiring in Saturday’s Big Ten quarterfinal game against Ohio State. With Indiana trailing, 52-51, Rodrick Wilmont seemed unnecessarily rushed and pulled the potential game-winning jumper.

Another tipped ball came the Hoosier’s way with time expiring – this time on their season – as they trailed SDSU 83-82. This time the ball landed in the hands of Robert Vaden. Before taking a rushed, off-balanced shot, Vaden reset, shot, and nailed a game-winning three-pointer from the left wing with 3.3 seconds remaining.

Tennessee and Indiana indeed escaped on the opening day of the tournament, but that’s no cause for concern. All champions have their great escapes.

The Vols and Hoosiers got their wake up calls just in time, when it really counted. That is a good thing. They should be awake Saturday, when the competition will be much stronger. Most importantly, they will bring a lot of confidence to the next round.
As for Alabama, if you watched their game, you know that they can beat anybody – including UCLA – if they are on their game. I expect, as predicted, they will be on Saturday.

Speed Bracket May Be Best Yet

2006-03-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The bracket bragging part of me wishes that the "big dance" were over now. I got the first three games right, so it can be only downhill from here.

We love to brag about our brackets when we win, but in truth we know it comes down to luck. If we really knew what we were doing, we'd be in Vegas betting on the games. Our confidence does know boundaries.

I always find myself busy this time of year. About a third of the time I forget to get my bracket done in time. Last night I remembered the unfinished bracket while getting ready for bed. I rushed downstairs and had to create a new account because I had forgotten my password.

I took approximately 120 seconds to make all of the picks. I'm bad at this bracket thing. I cannot put emotion aside. I always pick with my heart. I pick the teams I like until the sweet 16, and then -- like a fool -- I pick against my favorite teams regularly. This is a foolish way to fill out a bracket.

But I hate to lose. And I use the word "hate" like Jack Nicholson uses it when talking about pills in As Good As It Gets. So my foolish logic is this:

1) I am a jinx anyway
2) If my team loses and I get it wrong in my bracket, I will be doubly sad.

So I try to make sure that my bracket is not wise to what I want to happen in the real world. Stupid, I know. So I almost always finish first or last in office bracket pools. You don't finish in the middle when you go with your heart.

This year, the heart had even more control, and I took about 2 seconds to make each pick. My heart hates Oklahoma, and that paid off. My native Kansan heart likes Wichita State, and that paid off. And it looks like a clutch 3 by Tennessee just bailed out Johnny's heart, too!

Bomb dog smells something at hot dog stand stops big dance

2006-03-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know that I have an healthy respect for terror threats. OK. I am hypervigilent.

Even I would have to wonder upon seeing a bomb sniffing dog freak out on a hot dog stand, "Is their bomb in there?" or "Is ole boy hungry?"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060316/sp_nm/security_ncaa_dc

I am very thankful for the caution, but I can't help but see the humor in it.

Let's hope hot dogs are the only thing bomb dogs ever smell in our stadiums and arenas.

A step ahead of my critics with one foot in mouth: It's March Madness

2006-03-15T19:46:00.000-08:00

By Johnny Sparks
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It’s all Tennessee! Graceland to Rocky Top.

It’s the Memphis Tigers' big chance to dance. Of course, 63 other teams are invited. Only one of those teams is due to beat the Tigers.

For them to meet their match, they and their hated rival will have to be the last ones standing at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

If Memphis doesn’t face the Tennessee Vols in the finals, they will win the NCAA Championship.

I know what you're thinking.

That's why I'm writing this post.

Tennessee could certainly make it to Indianapolis. Their No. 2 seeding gives them a very favorable road to the Final Four. If they get there, they’ll likely catch Villanova and have to pull a big upset for their chance to tangle with Tigers.

Then they will simply beat the Tigers because it’s their turn. The Vols lost a close game to the Tigers in Memphis, earlier this season. It’s hard to beat a team in consecutive tries in the same season.

Yes, that’s really my reason. Call it probablistic intuition.

The road to this match up is the real key. Each match up in the tournament is critically important to the whole bracket.

For example, I see Indiana in the Elite 8 and Alabama in the Sweet 16. Again, it’s all about the match ups. Indiana will benefit from fate. Gonzaga will be the disappointment of the tournament. Alabama will pull one of the biggest upsets, which will set up a Sweet 16 clash between my present and future.

Why so much stock in Tennessee and Indiana? They are my teams, but my predictions are based on my insights into the match ups emerging from a season of careful unbiased observation.

If Tennessee and Indiana had the unfortunate draws of Villanova and Memphis in the second round, I’d call it one and done for the Vols and Hoosiers. That’s not the case for Tennessee or Indiana. They won’t run up against better teams until much later in the tournament.

I don’t expect either team to bring less than an A game.

Indiana is one of the 8 most-talented teams in America. There’s no tomorrow at Indiana for their coaches and many of their players. This team will play to its potential for the first time this year.

Other Big Ten teams will make runs toward Indianapolis, but stall in the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. It will be a Final Four in the Midwest without a single Big Ten representative.

As for Tennessee, they are one of the 8 best teams in America. They are deserving of their No. 2 seed. Among their 20-plus wins are victories on the road at Texas, Florida, and Kentucky.

The Vols have played to the occasion in all but two games. They were no-shows at Tuscaloosa in their only meeting with Alabama. In the SEC tournament quarterfinals, the Vols never got their wake-up call against red-hot South Carolina, who they'd beaten twice previously.

In their other losses, the Vols fought hard until the end including on the road at Memphis and LSU.

That’s my justification for your questions. Everything else should be straightforward when I post it tomorrow.

Snubbed or Deserved?

2006-03-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

By James R. Angelini
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- What do you do when one of the top coaches in the history of college basketball blasts their seeding in the upcoming NCAA championship tournament?

Pat Summitt, legendary coach of Tennessee’s women’s basketball team and one of the winningest coaches in the history of college basketball, has taken great offense to her Lady Vols receiving a 2 seed in the women’s tournament. In her own words, she took it as a “slap in the face” to her and her players.

Many would ask why Tennessee didn’t receive a number one seed. They did win the Southeastern Conference tournament by defeating LSU. They had the toughest schedule of any team in women’s basketball. They even ended up second in the RPI. It seems like all of the signs pointed to the Lady Vols getting a number one seed.

Yet that didn’t happen. Instead North Carolina, Ohio State, Duke and LSU received the coveted top spots.

Summitt sees her team being placed in the Cleveland Region with North Carolina, the number one of all the number one seeds, as meaning that Tennessee was ranked fourth and the worst among all the number two seeds.

Joni Comstock, the chairman of the selection committee, has responded to some of Summitt’s concerns. First, by being placed in the Cleveland Region does not represent the committee’s perception of Tennessee being fourth among the number two seeds; rather, it was done by geographic considerations. Also, while the RPI does impact seedings it doesn’t have as great an impact as other factors the committee considered. In addition Comstock stated that it was Tennessee’s overall record that brought them the number two seed.

Tennessee ended the season at 28-4, with regular season losses to Duke, Kentucky, LSU and Florida. This was the first time in the history of the Lady Vols have ever lost to two unranked opponents (Kentucky & Florida) in a season.

The number one seeds fared much better in their seasons. North Carolina (29-1) had their single loss to #3 ranked Maryland. Ohio State (28-2) lost to #5 ranked LSU and #11 Purdue. Duke (26-3) lost twice to #1 ranked North Carolina and once to #3 ranked Maryland. Finally, LSU (27-3) lost to #7 ranked UConn, #6 ranked Tennessee, and Florida.

The case can definitely be made that Tennessee should have received the number one seeding over LSU, but definitely not over North Carolina, Ohio State, or Duke. Even though Tennessee had the toughest schedule of any team and was ranked #2 in the RPI, it does boil down to the quality of their losses. Tennessee lost to two unranked teams; LSU lost to only one. It appears that, based on this fact alone, is why LSU got the nod.

Is it fair? Or is it right? I can’t say for certain, but at this point Summitt and her team needs to move forward and show the committee that they made a mistake by winning on March 19th against Army.

You Never Forget Your First Love

2006-03-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

(I decided we should use bylines for clarity)

By Samuel D. Bradley
Sparks Sports Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- I grew up going to a private school on State Line Road, the street that divides Missouri and Kansas in the Kansas City metro area. We had kids from both sides of the line, and basketball fanship was equally split. You were either a Jayhawk or a Tiger. I was born in Missouri but brought home from the hospital to Kansas, so I was really split. For whatever reason, I picked the Jawhawks. And when it comes to basketball, it has been Rock Chalk ever since.

Along the way, I have developed alliances with the New Mexico State Aggies, the Kansas State Wildcats, and the Indiana Hoosiers. To a degree, I love them all. Friends ask who I would root for should two of those teams play one another. It is a difficult question.

As an undergraduate at NMSU in the 1990s, I was still all-Jayhawk. Those seemed to be the years of the most painful losses for Roy Williams. Roy would lose too early; he would cry during the news conference; and my friends would talk some trash. During those years, the NCAA tournament was more about holding my breath while the Jayhawks played. LaFrentz, Pollard, Pierce, Vaughn. Those were some talented teams. They always left the tournament too early.

Sometimes I begin to forget my passion for Kansas basketball. It came back today. Watching the Jayhawk freshmen dismantle Texas for the Big XII Conference tournament title, my fists pumped in the air, and I shouted too loud. And it felt good. Now Kansas has a date with (ironically) Bradley to remove the bad taste of Bucknell from 2005.

It is this passion that led Johnny Sparks to start this blog. It is a passion we share, and it is probably a passion you share if you are reading this. Sure, there is a war going on right now. There are more important things we could be doing.

But the lettering on those Jayhawk jerseys and the popcorn smell of Allen Fieldhouse take me back to my childhood and simpler times. Sports give us a reason to shout and smile and jump. They give us a reason to look at the scoreboard and say nothing more. They give us a reason to forever hate Syracuse University (and Maryland) and think of what could have been. They give us a reason to share the best of times with friends. They give us a reason to always circle the third Saturday of October on a calendar, and to pick up a phone and call a friend that day no matter where we both live. They give us a reason to try to piece together a road trip to Salt Lake City. They give us a reason to have photographs of five championship banners on our walls.

Ten years ago, I had only one dog in the NCAA race. This week, I will be cheering for KU and IU. I will be pulling for Johnny's Vols and (dare I say) Crimson Tide. I will be pulling for the Buckeyes, the school that writes my paycheck. If I had to pick one team to win it all, it would be difficult. It's been a long time since 1988, and Jayhawk fans have been teased ever since. But it's been even longer since 1987, and it would be magical to see coach Davis go out on top.

Iowa to take Ohio State, seal the Indiana deal for Alford

2006-03-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

Bloomington, Ind. – You can tell that I haven't been a fan of the Big Ten for as long as I've been a fan of the SEC.

My prediction record was just better than 50/50 for the Big Ten tournament games I predicted that were actually played (4-3). That's compared to 80 percent for the SEC (8-2).

Banking on the Hoosiers cost me, but not as much as early upsets by Minnesota and Penn State.

Let the record show, I like Iowa over Ohio State tomorrow. A win by Iowa will seal the deal for yet-to-be-sold Hoosier fans. Steve Alford will prove himself a worthy replacement of Bob Knight... I mean Mike Davis.

I had hoped Davis would be beat Iowa and Steve Alford for the Big Ten title.

Not because I hate Alford, I actually like him very much. I wanted Davis to beat him because I am an IU fan and I am still upset about the Davis resignation. Also, I am very cynical. It wouldn't have been as sweet to beat Michigan State or Illinois.

A win by IU over Iowa would have set the stage for the next Indiana basketball coaching fiasco.

Herald Times headlines would have read:

Davis beats Iowa, Alford (March 13)

IU names Alford (April 1)

You can imagine the controversy and irony.

You already know how I feel about Mike Davis' resignation. Pushing Davis out to hire Steve Alford was a bad idea. Alford has only a slight x's-and-o's advantage. Davis is a top-notch recruiter. People love pointing to Davis' losses, but he wins far more recruiting battles than he loses. (There's no way Greg Oden plays for Alford at Indiana).

Now, Davis is definitely out and it looks more and more like Alford is coming. While it was a bad idea to get rid of Davis in favor of Alford. Now that Davis is gone, I think that Alford is the best choice.

Davis was right when he said IU needs one of it's own. There absolutely has to be a tie to the Knight family in this coaching hire – unless you hire, like Mike Krzyzewski. Oh yeah, he's in the Knight family, too.

Alford will bring the greatest measure of unity to the IU family. I really don't think the Hoosier fans will notice the continued losing and mediocrity as much under "one of their own."

Around here, It's really not about winning and losing as much as it is ROBERT MONTGOMERY KNIGHT.
As they say, this is Bob Knight Country.

You can love or leave it.

Painful losses for Hoosiers, Vols

2006-03-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

As the final seconds ticked away on the Conseco Fieldhouse game clock in the Big Ten semifinal game at Indianapolis, the Indiana Hoosiers missed two shots that they should have made and lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 52-51.

With the loss, my hopes for championship basketball play this season dwindled.

I really believed that Indiana would play for and win the Big Ten. The Hoosiers were playing their best basketball of the season entering the tournament.

This loss is hard to swallow. The Hoosiers are destined for the NCAA tournament, where their chances are as good as anybody's, a slim 1 in 64 at best.

My days at IU are winding down and I will leave Bloomington without seeing a Big Ten basketball championship. Growing up (and remaining) a fan of Tennessee Volunteers' atheletics, I fell in love with all things Hoosier upon arriving here for my doctoral studies in January 2003. I was sure that IU would come through with something that the Vols could never provide, a conference tournament basketball title (during my tenure).

Ain't happening.

What hurts more is that the Tennessee Vols were in position to take the SEC tournament by storm this year under first-year head coach Bruce Pearl. The Vols, the team with the No. 7 NCAA RPI ranking, lost to red-hot Cinderella South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournment on Friday, in Nashville.

The Vols have made it to the SEC Basketball Tournament Championship only once since I started religiously following them in 1983. That's 1 out of 23 if you're keeping score at home. By the way, they lost that game.

Like the Hoosiers, the Vols are headed for the big dance.

Just as I genuinely believed that Tennessee and Indiana could win their respective conferences, I don't believe that they are in Final Four gear at this point. Both could string together a run that helps them grab another gear, but I wouldn't bank on it.

The Vols basketball team, much like the Indianapolis Colts (sigh), clinched their division with three games remaining. They lost two of their last three and their opening game as the No. 1 seed representing the SEC East. The Vols peaked too early.

The Hoosiers were also early bloomers. Their early success marked by a climb into the top-10 was interrupted by the turmoil created by their own fans leading to Mike Davis' resignation. That was followed by another period of great success, as the Hoosiers rallied around their coach.

Coming so close to beating the No. 7 ranked (AP) Buckeyes but falling short -- literally front rimming their chance as the game ended -- may be all the Hoosiers hearts can take. Don't look for them to fold, but they may have lost much-needed momentum.

Well, there's always next year, when I will have three teams instead of two.

Only the Good Die Young

2006-03-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- I have degrees from three universities. Two of those schools are looking for a new basketball coach today. Indiana's Mike Davis resigned last month, but he is poised to make a run in the Big Ten basketball tournament starting tomorrow.

The end of the line has come, however, for Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge. He was fired today immediately after losing to Texas Tech in the opening round of the Big XII Tournament. It's a shame. Wooldridge is universally thought to be a good guy. So was Davis. But good guys don't outweigh losses.

Wooldridge had a knack for losing close games. Not many K-State basketball games are televised, so I would catch the scores on CBS.sportsline.com. The Wildcats' record is littered with close losses. My jaw would drop after the Mildcats found another way to lose by 2.

Some of that has to fall on the coach. Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock pondered that Wooldridge was too nice. Whitlock suggested that Wooldridge did not have enough fire, and that lack of fire carried over to his team. The litany of close losses suggest that Whitlock may have been right.

Shortly after Wooldridge arrived on campus in March 2000, I was standing in the KSU union talking with my then-student Ian Davidson. Coach Wooldridge came in for lunch, and Ian went over to wish the coach luck at K-State. Wooldridge politely talked to Ian and made a good impression.

He seemed like an ideal K-State fit. Manhattan, Kan., is a difficult place to recruit. It's two hours from Kansas City, and the charm of the Flint Hills is lost on many big city kids. If too good of a coach comes to Manhattan, he is soon gone (e.g., Cotton Fitzsimmons, Lon Kruger). It takes a special kind of person to consider Manhattan a destination kind of town.

Jim Wooldridge seemed like the basketball version of Bill Snyder. Wooldridge seemed like the coach to restore K-State to the glory years of Tex Winter ... the same Tex Winter that taught the triangle offense for Michael Jordan.

Today the days of back-to-back Final Fours and No. 1 national rankings seem even more distant than the five decades that have passed. And now another good guy is in the rearview mirror of Kansas State.

Although my colleague Johnny Sparks made a strong pitch for Mike Davis at Auburn, let me say that Davis would be a great fit in Manhattan. He's a good guy who can recruit like mad. Wooldridge could get the talent to Manhattan, but he couldn't keep them. Davis's players are unflinchingly loyal. Let's hope we see Mike Davis wearing a purple tie in the near future.

BIG XII Tournament Predictions

2006-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Thurs., March 9
Texas Tech over K-State (over)
Colorado over Baylor (over)
Oklahoma State over Iowa State
Missouri over Nebraska

Fri., March 10
Texas over Texas Tech
Texas A&M over Colorado
Kansas over Oklahoma State
Oklahoma over Missouri

Saturday, March 11
Texas over A&M
Kansas over Oklahoma

Sunday, March 12
Texas def. Kansas for Big XII Championship

SEC Tournament Predictions

2006-03-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Thurs., March 9

South Carolina over Mississippi State
Kentucky over Ole Miss
Vanderbilt over Auburn
Arkansas over Georgia

Fri., March 10

Tennessee over South Carolina
Kentucky over Alabama
LSU over Vanderbilt
Florida over Arkansas

Saturday, March 11

Tennessee over Kentucky
LSU over Florida

Sunday, March 12

Tennessee over LSU

Tennessee wins the SEC Championship

Big Ten Tournament Predictions

2006-03-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

Thurs., March 9

Northwestern over Penn State
Michigan over Minnesota
Michigan State over Purdue

Friday, March 10

Indiana over Wisconsin
Iowa over Michigan
Michigan State over Illinois

Saturday, March 11

Indiana over Ohio State
Iowa over Michigan State

Sunday, March 12

Indiana over Iowa

Indiana wins the Big Ten Championship

Goodnight Baseball

2006-03-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

The names Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGuire used to be synonymous with sports greatness. Post-strike baseball rode their high-fly balls – b-back, b-b-back, all the way back – into the hearts of American sports fans. Nowadays, the once decorated poster boys are looking like Major League Baseball’s last three strikes in its final at bat.

Bonds hit a single-season record 73 homeruns in 2001, which surpassed McGuire’s new record-setting 70 in 1998. That same year Sosa, who is the only player with three 60-plus homerun seasons, hit 66. By the way, when McGuire broke the record it was 37 years old.

Emerging from the dog days of the 1980s, I never thought Roger Maris’ single-season homerun record would ever be broken. Dale Murphy, Andre Dawson, and other sluggers of that era struggled to hit 30 in a season.

Sixty and 70-plus seasons here, there, and everywhere were reserved for my own field of dreams. It was about 150 feet to straight-away centerfield. A pair of 25-feet-high utility pools connected power lines that provided my own personal version of the “green monster.” The leftfield wall was a fence row covered with grape vine, which looked a lot like Wrigley.

Seasons like the best of Bonds’, McGuires’, and Sosas’ were reserved for backyard dreams. If you’d told me in ’89 that young Bonds and McGuire would leave Maris in the dust, I’d thought you must be smoking something.

Turns out Bonds has taken steroids in every possible way (popping pills, injections, topical rubs)but smoking. See The San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?=/n/a/2006/03/08/sports/s132107S48.DTL). The Chronicle has compiled a mountain of evidence that Bonds is a capital D-O-P-E-R.

McGuire isn’t talking.

Sosa isn’t playing.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is the ultimate manager of baseball. In the wake of the strike, Selig let Major League Baseball go down swinging – literally. I need not remind you that it’s one (McGuire), two (Sosa), three (Bonds) strikes you’re out at the ole ball game.

Baseball may soon be history.

Mike Davis Resignation

2006-03-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

I wrote this a few weeks ago. Didn't make the student newspaper. So, you get it.

It seems like yesterday that the Branch McCracken Court at Assembly Hall looked like a giant trampoline with jubilant players and fans. The Hoosiers had just beaten Illinois in a Big Ten measuring-stick game. The Indiana swagger was back. In a sleep-walk win over Purdue the following weekend, the Hoosiers staggered into the top 10 nationally.

People thought that IU was just playing down to the Boilermaker competition or maybe they had a hangover from the Illinois win. The fans seemed disappointed with the lackluster win.

Then, the Hoosiers hit the hard road of the Big Ten in Iowa. The Hawkeye’s Hoosier golden boy, Steve Alford bettered Mike Davis, again. Days after redemption, you could have predicted that Iowa was the beginning of the end for Davis.

The next game against 0-for-the-conference Minnesota was the end for Davis. All of the hopes and expectations riding on a top-10 team that had taken No. 1 Duke to the brink and beaten hated rival Kentucky faded into the past.

It wasn’t about this year or the next game anymore. It was about Davis, again. Rumor has it that some IU students taunted Davis when he returned to the home hardwood for games against Northwestern and No. 1 Connecticut. Some even wore black in protest.

As Davis said, the Hoosiers were still in the hunt at that time. However, for many Hoosier fans, Davis was the big game.

He and his players knew it. Unfortunately, the camouflaged hunters were relentless, especially under the cover of username darkness at www.firemikedavis.com. Their voices and actions drown out the faithful who believed in Davis and these Hoosiers.

The Hoosier’s finally had a chance to turn the corner. Davis had this team on the brink of a great run through the Big Ten and into the NCAA tournament. It WAS a team that could play with and beat anybody on any given night assuming the support of their fans.

Impatient and immature fans, who actually believe in the second-coming of Bob Knight, jerked the rug out from under Indiana’s season.

Now, it will be years before the Hoosiers roster compares to the talent of this year’s team. D. J. White and Robert Vaden will find success in a place that supports them and Coach. I think Auburn is that place for Davis, White, and Vaden.

We got their transfers. Now, they just might get ours. Funny how life works, isn’t it? If that happens, you WILL see Davis flourish on his native soil in Alabama.

IU will have to wait through another rebuilding. Sure, Bruce Pearl has turned things around in a year at Tennessee, but that’s a different world.

Tennessee fans are still hungry for their first championship.Indiana fans are spoiled rotten on a past generation’s hunger and hard work. The harsh reality is that IU is 19-years removed from the last banner year and Davis can only take responsibility for 6 of those.

As long as IU fans live on that old money with one eye over their shoulder, the Hoosier nation will continue wallowing in the misery of mediocrity. It will take the unified hunger and loyalty of yester year to bring back the glory of old IU.

I don’t see unity coming next season, just more division with the hiring of a new coach. We can’t even agree on whether we’d want Knight back – even if he would have us. There is one – and only one – person that I think we could all agree on and that’s Larry Bird. I doubt he is interested. Do I hear www.hirelarrybird.com, anyone?

Sparky Sparks Sports

2006-03-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, I am a writer. My friends call me Sparky.

Writing about what’s on my mind gets me through.

However, I am very personal. Much of what’s on my mind won’t make it here. My friends will still have to read that stuff in emails and letters.

My friends will be glad to know that this page is intended to provide a place for them to visit for my thoughts on sports, at their own will. They can take it or leave it.

If you know me, you’ve been trapped in a seemingly endless conversation about “why Mike Davis got a raw deal” or how “baseball is terminally ill.”

This outlet should help you and me. I have a place to get it off my chest and you can leave it here, if you like.