The Morning Dish – Wednesday, October 15th
NABC Summit: Today is the National Association of Basketball Coaches mandatory meeting in Chicago, where coaches will address the number of problems and scandals that have happened in the past year, from the St. Bonaventure scandal, the Georgia scandal, the Iowa State scandal, the Fresno State scandal, and of course the Baylor mess. Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson, NABC President, said that it’s in the best interest of coaches to preserve the game and improve the perceptions of basketball coaches. The summit’s timing was not popular, as basketball practice is less than 72 hours away, and several coaches were not in attendance due to previous commitments, but had to be officially excused or they faced losing their NCAA Tournament tickets. Hoopville staffer Nick Dettmann is at the summit in Chicago, and will have an update from the meeting tomorrow.
Big East Law: As mentioned yesterday, the Big East has formalized a lawsuit against the ACC’s expansion efforts. The new 82-page suit, the second in the matter, claims that Boston College, BC’s athletic director, and four ACC officials have conspired to weaken the Big East and take their share of television broadcast revenue. The first suit levied the same charges against the ACC and Miami, but the ACC portion of the suit was dismissed because the ACC doesn’t do business in Connecticut, where the suit was filed. Our opinion is that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumentahl needs to lighten up, Francis. Here’s a quote from the AP: “It’s the story of betrayal and treachery that violates the law.”
Meanwhile, ACC Commissioner John Swofford stated that, “It is a sad day for higher education and intercollegiate athletics when universities initiate this kind of unwarranted action: suing faculty members and conference officials over an institution’s freedom to associate itself with whatever conference it chooses.” While Hoopville doesn’t have an official position on conference expansion (unless it looks really dumb on a map), the ACC made it’s move, and the Big East is crying foul because it wasn’t as proactive in securing it’s prize possessions. The opinions of Miami, Virginia Tech and BC fans all seem in favor of the move, happy to be in a “real conference” as some Miami alums have said. The school faculty and administration are definitely in favor of the move (why else would they jump?). From a basketball perspective, the ACC is actually diluting itself, but last time I checked, the Big East still has the same four basketball schools that were in the Sweet Sixteen in their conference (national champion Syracuse, UConn, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh). The Big East is losing the popularity battle, because everyone likes a winner, and no one likes a poor loser, and that’s how it’s shaping up outside of the Connecticut court room vacuum.
Click and No Tix?: The University of Pittsburgh athletic department has found that technology isn’t necessarily wonderful. This season, students were able to purchase season tickets online, but a web site described as temperamental caused hundreds of students to walk down to the Petersen Events Center ticket window. The system, which was brought with new AD Jeff Long from Oklahoma, was guaranteed to work by ticket sales provider Paciolan. Students may now be forced to purchase single-game tickets, depending upon availability. Last season, an unpopular lottery system prevented many fans from purchasing tickets.
Tucker Out: Wisconsin sophomore forward Alando Tucker, who last week broke a bone in his right foot, underwent surgery yesterday. The recovery and rehab time for the surgery, which was called a success, will make Tucker miss 8-10 weeks, pushing his debut into the Big Ten Conference schedule. Tucker averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds per game while playing in all 32 Badger games, starting 27.
Calling all Panthers: Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced yesterday that the school has reached an agreement with Milwaukee’s U.S. Cellular Arena to host certain home games this season, and the Panthers’ full schedule for the next thee years. The school has not played regularly in the arena since the 1997-98 season, but hosted this past year’s Horizon League Tournament, in which a record 10,000 fans saw the Panthers defeat a favored Butler squad to go to the NCAA tournament. The school has played at the on-campus Klotsche Center the past five seasons. U.S. Cellular Arena is home to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
Oh, Boise: Boise State has replaced what was voted as the ugliest college basketball floor last season in a CNN poll. The old court in The Pavilion featured blue, white and orange pinwheels that were as “distinctive” as the school’s blue “Smurf Turf”, is no more, replaced by a new court installed over the weekend. The first game on the court was last night’s NBA exhibition between the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks, won by the Jazz 81-65. The new court, along with a new floor for the auxiliary gym in The Pavilion cost $185,000, which was discounted for trading in the old court to the Illinois flooring company.
