NCAA Football Pac 10 Basketball

Previously, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen had announced that he was stepping down at the beginning of July. The Pac-10 with its usual speed and decisiveness have done little to suggest they have narrowed down their list of candidates. Instead the list appeared to be growing, and the candidates will not be narrowed until maybe the spring.

Since last week, there was a growing rumor that after signing with the William Morris Agency, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a candidate for the position of Commissioner of the Pac-10. This would be a shift from returning to Stanford to teach, write and lecture as previously announced.

Here's how ESPN announcers Brent Musberger and Steve Lavin called the end of UCLA's 81-80 win over Cal, an ending that included a controversial call:

(Video via Awful Announcing) Musberger and Lavin are now facing heavy criticism for their seeming cluelessness about the controversial finish, which included a shot (maybe) going over the backboard, which would negate the fact that it then went through the rim.

Writes Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News:

That's the problem. Neither Musburger - who got involved in basketball shortly after Dr. Naismith invented it - nor Lavin, a former coach, even discussed the possibility Shipp's basket should not have counted. Considering ABC replayed the shot eight times, the voices had ample time to tackle the subject.

Writes Neil Best of Newsday:

What I find interesting is they did not discuss the potential illegality of the winning shot from behind the backboard, which was a major topic of conversation on SportsCenter.

I find it interesting, too. When Lavin exclaimed, "From behind the backboard, Brent," they should have addressed whether the shot was legal or not. They dropped the ball there.

But after the jump, see where I think they really dropped the ball.

ESPN is doing yet another 'Greatest' countdown, the newest one counting the greatest college basketball players in history. Although the No. 1 name hasn't been announced, it's going to be UCLA center Lew Alcindor. ESPN.com has a listing of Nos. 25 through 3, and Alcindor's name isn't on that list. On ESPN Radio this morning Mike Greenberg said that No. 2 is Oscar Robertson, so Alcindor is obviously No. 1.

Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is a fine choice, having been an All-American and Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament all three years of his college career. But looking at the Top 25 as a whole, one big problem stands out: ESPN and the corporate sponsor of this exercise, IBM, clearly wanted to pack the list with big-name stars, so it inflated the college greatness of players who eventually went on to have NBA success.

To echo something Matt Norlander has written, ESPN is calling this a list of the greatest college players, even though it's clear that the players' post-collegiate careers played a major part in where they were ranked. Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, for instance, are all ahead of Ralph Sampson.

'Revisionist history' is the nicest term for that kind of emphasis.

You know those ridiculous uniforms the Oregon football team wears? Yeah, that has now spread to basketball. The Ducks' hoops team wore jerseys over the weekend with their names spelled out on the back in sequins, and the Pardon the Interruption guys had something to say about it today:

I thought the sequins looked completely stupid, and I'm amazed that Tony Kornheiser said, "I loved the glitter to them." And even Michael Wilbon said he was OK with sequins but just wished they had been yellow so they stood out against the green cloth.

The NCAA released its Academic Progress Reports (APR) for every school and the teams for each sport. A total of 6110 teams are included. You can view each school's individual report (they are in PDF). The APR is supposed to be a rolling 4-year average, but the NCAA isn't at that point. This is only the third year so there are adjustments and leeway given to some teams. The grace period is granted only if they are showing that they are closing on meeting the magic number of 925 by the time the 4th year is reached. (The APR records started being kept in the 2003-04 school year.)

If a team is at 900 or so, they won't be getting penalized immediately. The penalties can range from warning letters, practice restrictions, lack of access to postseason competition, restricted membership and loss of scholarships for the teams that don't meet performance standards. Already, teams across various collegiate sports have been penalized with scholarship losses.

The BCS schools for football and basketball, generally are in good shape. Only a few programs are facing scholarship reductions. Many are close or have been warned, but scholarship reductions are rather limited. Some of the notable teams penalized after this latest report:

I like to think one of the general ideas college football and basketball fans can agree, is that it is a dangerous thing when the boosters have a little too much say (I'm looking for an A-MEN from Tommy Tuberville and the Auburn faithful, here) in the athletic department. They are vital for the money they provide and sometimes for their name recognition, but when they overtly begin meddling in the athletic department, it's like you can hear Mission Control counting down until KA-BOOM!

Now Oregon has always been a little different since the co-founder/CEO of Nike, Phil Knight, is a huge booster and influence. There's just been a different vibe, I guess. So maybe this is perfectly natural.

The University of Oregon has hired insurance executive Pat Kilkenny, an alum and prominent school booster, as its new athletic director.

Kilkenny replaces Bill Moos, who in November announced plans to step down next month.

Kilkenny is chairman emeritus of San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Inc., which he acquired in 1984 and sold in 2006.

Near as I can tell the qualifications Kilkenny has for the AD position are the following:

1. Ran an insurance company.
2. A powerful booster who gets along very well with uber-booster Phil Knight.
3. An alum, class of '74.
4. Part of the group that helped pay the $2 million settlement on soon-to-be-former AD Moos.
5. Gave $1.5 million towards the new basketball arena.
6. Willing to do the job for free.

I'm not kidding about the last part.

University President David Frohnmayer said Kilkenny will serve as AD for two years. He has agreed to return his salary to the school for "academic and athletic purposes."

I guess, he'll get a nice tax deduction from it, and the school telemarketers won't badger him for a couple years for new donations. It's the two-year term that just adds to the oddness of it. I'm not familiar with many ADs getting two-year contracts. At least, not real ADs. It just makes it seem that Kilkenny is simply some sort of figurehead AD.

Departing AD Moos recently extended Belotti. But if I'm basketball coach Ernie Kent, who came into the 2006-07 season on the hot seat, I'm not feeling particularly comfortable. Despite what had been a great season up until a couple weeks ago the Ducks are now struggling. A booster will now be his boss.

If I were Kent, I'd make sure the health care plan will still pay for that rotator cuff surgery he's putting off, regardless of the employment status in April.

The University of Southern California and University of California at Los Angeles renew their cross-town rivalry for the 76th time today with nothing less than the Bowl Championship Series Title on the line today. But the cross-town football rivalry is just one among many big games in Los Angeles on this Saturday. Consider what else is going on:

• Anaheim Ducks at Los Angeles Kings (1 PM PST): Consider this hockey's version of the Freeway Series.
• Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers (7:30 PM, PST): The "Hallway Series" has suddenly become competitive in recent years.
• Loyola Maymount at USC (6 PM PST): That would be basketball. Okay, maybe this isn't so exciting...but would be a good way to celebrate a win over the Bruins.
• Eric Gagne vs. Jordan Farmar (1 PM PST): It's Dodger versus Laker in Sandcastle Building in Santa Monica. For reals.

With everything that's happening in Los Angeles it almost makes you forget that after today, no one will be playing on Sunday--as they haven't for twelve years.