ATLANTA -- Five things we learned from the ACC tournament:
ATLANTA -- At the final buzzer, Tyler Hansbrough amicably grabbed Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo and congratulated him on a great game. Moments earlier, the two seniors staged a 40-minute battle which ended when Vassallo got off a three-point attempt that almost forced overtime. Unfortunately for Virginia Tech's NCAA tournament hopes, the ball bounced out, and North Carolina inched into the ACC semifinals with a 79-76 win (RECAP | BOX).
ATLANTA -- Dave Odom was sitting at courtside, enjoying his first ACC Tournament since leaving Wake Forest after a 12-year run in 2001. He was watching his friend and former foe from Maryland work the sidelines, and he said, "No one is better with his back against the wall than Gary Williams."
On Wednesday, coach Keno Davis was pushing the position that Providence (19-13, 10-8; RPI: 71; SOS: 60) didn't have to beat Louisville to get an at-large. That was unlikely to begin with, but even Davis probably realizes that an 18-point loss to the Cardinals doesn't even qualify as a moral victory for consideration. The defeat leaves the Friars just 2-8 against the RPI Top 50 and 6-13 against the Top 100. As bubble peers like Minnesota (21-9, 9-9, RPI: 41; SOS: 41) continue to advance in other tournaments, it looks like the NIT for Provy.
You got questions, man? Then you need answers, man.
What's the power of a missed call? Ask Virginia Tech, which should have had the ball down three against Duke had Jon Scheyer been called for his back-and-forth pivot/moonwalk in the final 30 seconds Saturday in Blacksburg. Instead of having a chance to tie, the Hokies went on to lose by seven, and in today's updated bracket, they are the second team left out of the field of 65.
If Dr. Jack Kevorkian was overseeing Bubble Watch this season, he'd quickly go out of business. Nobody wants to die.
Dan Stacey sent between 30 and 40 VHS tapes to college football programs as a senior at Father Ryan High in Nashville, Tenn., in 1997. Each tape featured Stacey with his head between his knees, rocketing the football to the punter or the holder. "I got a lot of letters back," Stacey said. "Most of them said no." Had Stacey, who eventually walked on at Tennessee and started at long snapper from 2000-01, been born 12 years later, he might not have spent so much time at the post office. College coaches might have called him.
Let's nip this one in the bud, shall we?
Selection Sunday is still almost two months away, so the first bubble picture of 2008-09 is understandably grainy. That said, there already is one aspect to this season's selection process that seems a virtual certainty: It's going to be a terrible year for mid-major leagues.
ATLANTA -- Five things we learned from the ACC tournament:
ATLANTA -- At the final buzzer, Tyler Hansbrough amicably grabbed Virginia Tech's A.D. Vassallo and congratulated him on a great game. Moments earlier, the two seniors staged a 40-minute battle which ended when Vassallo got off a three-point attempt that almost forced overtime. Unfortunately for Virginia Tech's NCAA tournament hopes, the ball bounced out, and North Carolina inched into the ACC semifinals with a 79-76 win (RECAP | BOX).
ATLANTA -- Dave Odom was sitting at courtside, enjoying his first ACC Tournament since leaving Wake Forest after a 12-year run in 2001. He was watching his friend and former foe from Maryland work the sidelines, and he said, "No one is better with his back against the wall than Gary Williams."
On Wednesday, coach Keno Davis was pushing the position that Providence (19-13, 10-8; RPI: 71; SOS: 60) didn't have to beat Louisville to get an at-large. That was unlikely to begin with, but even Davis probably realizes that an 18-point loss to the Cardinals doesn't even qualify as a moral victory for consideration. The defeat leaves the Friars just 2-8 against the RPI Top 50 and 6-13 against the Top 100. As bubble peers like Minnesota (21-9, 9-9, RPI: 41; SOS: 41) continue to advance in other tournaments, it looks like the NIT for Provy.
You got questions, man? Then you need answers, man.
What's the power of a missed call? Ask Virginia Tech, which should have had the ball down three against Duke had Jon Scheyer been called for his back-and-forth pivot/moonwalk in the final 30 seconds Saturday in Blacksburg. Instead of having a chance to tie, the Hokies went on to lose by seven, and in today's updated bracket, they are the second team left out of the field of 65.
If Dr. Jack Kevorkian was overseeing Bubble Watch this season, he'd quickly go out of business. Nobody wants to die.
Dan Stacey sent between 30 and 40 VHS tapes to college football programs as a senior at Father Ryan High in Nashville, Tenn., in 1997. Each tape featured Stacey with his head between his knees, rocketing the football to the punter or the holder. "I got a lot of letters back," Stacey said. "Most of them said no." Had Stacey, who eventually walked on at Tennessee and started at long snapper from 2000-01, been born 12 years later, he might not have spent so much time at the post office. College coaches might have called him.
Let's nip this one in the bud, shall we?
Selection Sunday is still almost two months away, so the first bubble picture of 2008-09 is understandably grainy. That said, there already is one aspect to this season's selection process that seems a virtual certainty: It's going to be a terrible year for mid-major leagues.
There's no disputing the fact that many of the once-sacred traditions of bowl games have irreparably changed over the past decade. In this, my sixth-annual ranking of all 34 bowl games (there were 28 when I started it, including the Silicon Valley Classic), I think you will find that the date a game is played no longer bears any correlation to the quality of its matchup.
For about 90 percent of the nation's major football schools, opening weekend went off without a hitch. The fans of those few that didn't wasted no time going into full-out panic mode.
The college football season kicked off with a number of top games, some of which turned out to be surprisingly lopsided. Even more surprising was the poor play by a number of highly rated prospects, many who must use the oncoming weeks to turn their draft stock around.
At his conference's preseason media event last month, SEC commissioner Mike Slive stood before a room full of reporters and rattled off his league's impressive list of recent accomplishments -- three BCS championships in six years, an NCAA-record seven bowl wins in 2007 and the first 1-2 finish in the polls by a single conference (No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Georgia) since 1971.
Calling a spring game "football" is like saying reality television is steeped in reality. The quarterback is largely off limits to defenders, the score doesn't count and if you're Ohio State, you even let the likes of former stars Cris Carter and Mike Tomczak help call the shots as honorary coaches. The glorified scrimmages often seem like fun and games, but let's be clear: Spring games and spring practices do ultimately have very real consequences.
Erin Sheehan was a freshman last year when Seung-Hui Cho peeked through the door of her German class. The next hour of her life would become a struggle for survival.
Welcome to SI.com's real-time Bubble Watch. The following chart will be updated continuously between now and Sunday to reflect the results of the conference tournaments.
MOBILE, Ala. -- Today was the North's final opportunity to impress NFL scouts here. Wednesday is always the most important day of the week at the Senior Bowl and the practices are heavily attended. Several players took hold of the chance to showcase their skills.
Last April, the Kansas athletic department passed out over 700 Virginia Tech T-shirts to its student-athletes and officials as a tribute to the 32 victims of the tragic shooting spree on the Blacksburg, Va., campus on April 16. Women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson, who worked at Virginia Tech for 14 years before coming to KU, spearheaded the effort, and the baseball and track teams wore the shirts in competition that weekend.
In the chaotic hours following the final, upset-laden night of the 2007 regular season, coaches and fans from as many as seven different teams made their case to earn one of the two spots in the BCS National Championship Game.
Here's how SI.com's playoff works. Using the final BCS rankings, we seeded the top 16 teams in order. To avoid inter-conference matchups in the first round, we made two simple adjustments (swapping Arizona State and Florida in the seeding process, as well as Illinois and Boston College). For the purpose of this simulation, we are going to assume that all "banged up" players (Tim Tebow, Glenn Dorsey, etc.) will take part in the action. We will be crowning a champion next week. So start voting and let your voice be heard.
It is only good manners, before we take a hydraulic jackhammer to this FUBAR Bowl Championship Series, to congratulate its biggest beneficiaries. Felicitations, Ohio State, for having the good sense to be idle last weekend, while No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia were pratfalling their way out of the national title game. Don't take it personally, Buckeyes, if the rest of the country doesn't share your joy. People remember what happened last year when you made it to the game known as the 'Ship (Florida 41, OSU 14).
NFL scouts get a slight reprieve this week as the college schedule offers just a handful of regular season games and several conference title games. Still, the conference championships figure to offer scouts the best opportunity to see some of the nation's top prospects. Here's who they'll have their eyes on (* -- denotes underclassman).
Over the past several years, the first Monday in November has become something of my own, personal Groundhog's Day.
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- For 57 minutes of a rain-soaked Thursday night, it looked like you could put "Matty Ice's" Heisman campaign and Boston College's perfect season on, well, ice.
Breaking down Thursday night's top 10 ACC clash in Blacksburg.
Following the mother of all Upset Saturdays (and Fridays), I put more time and energy into this week's rankings than any I've ever compiled. I tinkered and revised and scrutinized and re-revised until I could barely see straight, all in an effort to produce something that will likely go up in smoke again as soon as this weekend. But that's OK -- if polls were a perfect science, there would never be any upsets, now would there?
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Sergio Render will not start at right guard for No. 17 Virginia Tech or play in the first quarter Saturday against North Carolina due to internal disciplinary actions, coach Frank Beamer said Tuesday.
Freshman quarterback Tyrod Taylor will get his first start Saturday when No. 18 Virginia Tech plays host to Ohio.
LSU is closing in on Southern California in the AP Top 25, and Appalachian State is getting some recognition -- but not a ranking.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU coach Les Miles would rather I not provide you my honest assessment of his team's 48-7 demolition of previously ninth-ranked Virginia Tech here Saturday night.
The lowest college over-under on the board at Caesar's Palace, as of Thursday night, belonged to Virginia Tech-LSU. It checked in at a measly 38 points. By comparison, the line for Hawaii-Louisiana Tech was double that, at 76 points, and even a major inter-conference tilt such as Oregon-Michigan was at 64.5. That ominous 38, however, is something of which the Hokies and Tigers can be proud. They own perhaps the two most feared defenses in the nation, and Vegas knows it. There's a strong chance that the final score of this game won't even break 30, yet it'll still go down as one of the season's best duels. Are you ready to stay up late for BeamerBall vs. Les ... well, Les what? LesPointsAllowed? LesYardsYielded? That one still needs some work.
It finally happened, and I might have been the only one watching -- other than a few thousand diehard University of Virginia fans.
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- When I sat down with a sweat-drenched Sean Glennon following Virginia Tech's practice here Wednesday, I started by asking the junior quarterback how camp is going. I asked him what his training regimen has been like since the end of last season, where his confidence level is at and what his expectations are for the Hokies' offense this season.
Erin Sheehan is one of the almost 28,000 students making the bittersweet return to the Virginia Tech campus for fall classes, a journey she was afforded only because of some quick thinking in April.
By now, unless you've spent the past week in Antarctica -- or perhaps had your head buried in that 8,000-page Harry Potter book everyone's so ga-ga about -- you've probably heard a little bit about Michael Vick. Mainly, that he's a very bad guy who, according to a federal indictment, did some very bad things to dogs.
PINEHURST, N.C. -- Along Interstate 85 in North Carolina and South Carolina, far removed from the Virginia Tech campus where tragedy struck April 16, are white billboards featuring a black ribbon behind the VT logo, another reminder Hokie Nation has engulfed the entire nation.
Based on the arrival of offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, other changes to the offensive staff and the return of 15 starters, Florida State expects to be significantly improved.
You love the Mailbag. You really love it.
Bells tolled Friday at Virginia Tech to honor victims of the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus, and mourners, many wearing orange and maroon, bowed their heads, embraced and held hands in a moment of silence.
If you like surprises, basketball hasn't very good to you this year.
He was the professor who loved debating an equation with his students for hours. A civil and environmental engineer regarded as brilliant, his humility defined him. He once told his wife, "There are people who are better than me," as he tucked his prestigious awards inside his closet.
"Today, we are all Hokies."
Reema Samaha was a beautiful, creative dancer. Ryan "Stack" Clark went out of his way to make new band members feel welcome. Daniel Perez Cueva spoke four languages and hoped to change the world.
Virginia Tech's football program has canceled its final four days of spring practice, including Saturday's scheduled spring game at Lane Stadium, in the wake of a campus shooting-spree Monday in which 33 people were killed, Hokies coach Frank Beamer said Tuesday.
The day after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, Virginia Tech students and townspeople were absorbing what happened and trying to show unity.
When you follow the world of college sports for a living, it's easy to get sucked into its vacuum.
If you happen to run into a member of the NCAA selection committee this week, be sure to shake his hand or pat him on the back. A few complimentary words would be nice, too. Considering how much flak these guys usually take this time of year, a rare acknowledgement of a job well done will undoubtedly be appreciated.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Southern Illinois is in the Sweet 16. This should be a really big deal, right? Time for the talking heads to fall all over themselves in shock that some school from Carbondale, Ill., is still alive in the Big Dance while the likes of Duke, Arizona and Wisconsin have gone home. Time for fans around the country to break out the inevitable "What's a Saluki?" line.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A jubilant Seth Greenberg walked over to press row, slapped hands with Virginia Tech's radio announcers and shouted, "How'd we do that?" The rest of Nationwide Arena was wondering the same thing.
What have we learned during this college basketball season? Well, after four months we've learned that it's a felony to possess 'shrooms in the state of Washington (who knew?); that the most genuinely touching moment of the year would feature a teary-eyed Bob Knight; and, not least, that there's no clear favorite heading into the NCAA tournament.
While reading through yet another brilliant article written by Pete Thamel in the New York Times, I was struck by a brief item that appeared in Pete's college basketball spotlight column on Sunday. The item contained a quote from Brown coach Craig Robinson (aka Barack Obama's brother-in-law) indicating a postseason tournament in the Ivy League may be in the offing. "It's closer than I would have ever imagined it," Robinson said.
Also in this column: • Teams to keep an eye on • Complete projected bracket
Also in this column: • Teams to keep an eye on • My complete bracket projection
When you see Davidson freshman Stephen Curry is averaging 19 points per game, and you hear he is the son of former NBA standout Dell Curry, the assumption is father taught son the ins and outs of how to ball.
Even by the standards of today's message-board, short-attention-span, instant-gratification, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, 24/7 media culture, the cacophony of criticism directed at sophomores Greg Paulus and A.J. Price is a tad extreme. Yes, the intense scrutiny comes with the territory when you play point guard at Duke and UConn, respectively. Even so, a tiny bit of perspective is in order.
Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick was sentenced to 30 days in jail after being convicted last week on charges related to a party with underage girls.
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