Indiana Basketball

            There isn’t much more that Hoosiers love than the sport of basketball. We have produced legends like Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, and John Wooden. Current players in the NBA from Indiana include Mike Conley, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Jeff Teague, and Gordon Hayward. Indiana University has won five national championships. Purdue has been to the Final Four twice. Butler played in consecutive national championship games in 2010 and 2011. The Indiana Pacers won three championships in the 1970’s when they played in the ABA. We may not have the long list of accomplishments that California, Texas, Ohio, or North Carolina does, but we also don’t have the population they do. That is what makes basketball special here.  

            In 1954, the tiny high school of Milan, Indiana sent their boys basketball team to compete for the Indiana State Basketball Championship. They were a school of less than 200 going up against a basketball power house of the time, Muncie Central. The Milan Indians shocked the Hoosier State by winning the game 32-30. The next day, tens of thousands of people converged to Milan to celebrate the team’s state championship.

            So why I am I telling you this story? Well, for one, it’s a great story; the one that inspired the movie “Hoosiers”. Second, it is the biggest voice of reason behind the calls for change in the way the Indiana High School Boys State Tournament works. Since 1997, there have been four “classes” in boys’ basketball. These classes divide schools into equal sections based on their enrollment. Class 4A is for schools with the biggest populations and 1A is for schools with very small populations. Seems like a good way of doing things, right?

            
            Thousands of Hoosiers believe the “class system” is the unholiest act that could happen to Indiana basketball. One of the many upset is Indiana State Senator Mike Delph. He is trying to persuade other State Congress Members and the Indiana High School Athletic Association that the people of Indiana want to return to the single-class format. The commissioner of the IHSAA and Delph will hold townhouse meetings throughout the state during April and May to find out how people truly feel. 
          I’ve gone through several Facebook posts made by local news stations about this issue and I have found that there are only two reasons people want to get rid of the class system. They say it dilutes each class champion and that the single class system is more exciting. They also look at college sports and point out how small schools like Oral Roberts, Butler, Lehigh, and George Mason are able to win games in the NCAA March Madness Tournament. If those aren’t valid points, I don’t know what are.
          
            I am not in favor of single-class sports. I don’t care how long you wait; you will NEVER see another Milan-type team a state championship.  The money spent on athletics these days is astronomically higher than money spent on sports in the 50’s and 60’s. Based solely on money alone, small schools that play in 1A or 2A will never win a state basketball title. Schools like Carmel, Ben Davis, Pike, and Warren Central have weight rooms, coaches, trainers, home and away uniforms, practice uniforms, the best equipment, practice gyms, and playing gyms. Milan had one gym and one set of uniforms. The high school I went to (2A Broad Ripple) had a practice gym, playing gym, small weight room, and a handful of coaches. There are schools today that are just as small as Milan but don’t even have half the athletic budgets that bigger schools do. (I can’t find any exact numbers, of course, but I did find an article that said Carmel’s budget for freshman and junior varsity sports is $134, 894. I would estimate the varsity budget being around $150,000)

            I don’t believe the current multi-class system should be changed. However, I do believe that something has to be done about private schools. In Indianapolis, that would include establishments such as Bishop Chatard, Park Tudor, Cathedral, Guerin Catholic, Brebauf, and Covenant Christian. Chatard, Park Tudor, and Cathedral, in particular, really dominate their classes. Since they allow such a limited amount of students into their school, they can compete in lower-tier classes. Those schools are located within 5 miles from the center of Indianapolis, which is a city of 750,000+ people. They are able to scout the entire city and offer the best athletes scholarships to play for their school.

            In the current class system, the 1A and 2A should be for the true small schools, the ones that are located in the hundreds of small towns that make up the backbone of Indiana. However, the private schools dominate nearly every sport in those classes. That is especially true in football and baseball, when money is even more vital to success. If it was up to me, I would make each private school play in the class above the one they should be in. For instance, Park Tudor (located on the north side of Indianapolis), is currently a 2A school for the 2011-2012 year. For 2012-2013, I would make them compete in the 3A class for all sports.

          One of the solutions that I have seen thrown around is to go from four classes to two classes. I could live with that, but I don’t believe that’s the best answer. If you’re going to lower the number to two, you might as well make it just one. I’ve also seen some people say there should be a class for public schools and a class for private and charter schools. That is definitely not the right answer. Classes split like that would truly dilute the champions. There will always be the question of “Could School A beat School B if they would have played”?

           

It will be interesting to see what happens after the IHSAA conducts their spring meetings. When they make an announcement on the future of Indiana High School Basketball you will definitely be able to read about it here.

IndyCar Season Preview

            It seems like just the other day when the IndyCar Season came to a horrific end last October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was on that day that Dan Wheldon, one of IndyCar’s most popular and successful drivers, was killed in a crash early in the race. That day was not just the end of the 2011 season, but it was also the day that ushered in a new era in IndyCar.

            
            That new era begins tomorrow at St. Petersburg, Florida. In the time between that fateful day and now, so much has changed in the IndyCar Series. There are brand new cars, drivers on different teams, new race tracks, new officials, and new engine manufactures.

New Car

Gone is the previous Dallara race cars introduced in 2003.  Now, the brand new model, the DW12, takes its place. The DW12 also brings in different engine manufactures into IndyCar for the first time in nearly a decade. Previously, only Honda supplied engines to the teams. They will now be joined by Chevrolet and Lotus. Nobody knows for sure how the new cars or engines will perform in race conditions. Although we do know that the new car is faster on the street/road courses. That is evidenced through testing and was further proved when Will Power broke the track record today in qualifying.

The new car is also easier to drive because of the down force produced by the new bodies. This is something that is not appreciated by the drivers, esp. after what happened at Las Vegas. Equal cars create pack racing on ovals and makes it harder to pass on all tracks.  One of the aspects I hate about NASCAR is that nearly all cars equal. Dozens of drivers having an equal chance to win a race doesn't always produce exciting racing.

Schedule

11 of the 16 races of the schedule will be on street/road courses. Cue the complaining!!! Believe me, people have been complaining nonstop. It’s important to know that IndyCar President, Randy Bernard, is working diligently to get more oval tracks on the schedule. For now, the road courses are something we all have to live with. The first oval race is the Indianapolis 500 on May 27^th. An oval track will also host the final race of the season. That track is the Auto Club Speedway in California.

First four races of the 2012 season: 3/25- St. Petersburg. 4/1- Birmingham. 4/15- Long Beach. 4/29- Sao Paolo.

Drivers

One of the biggest stories in the IndyCar season is the addition of Rubens Barrichello to the KV Racing Technology Team. Barrichello is an 11-time winner in Formula 1 and one of the most popular drivers in the world. He has over 1 million Twitter followers so you have to figure at least 25,000 of them will be tuning into each race to watch their favorite driver. That kind of exposure only helps the IndyCar Series. You will also notice a certain female driver not racing in IndyCar this series as she moved over to NASCAR.

The roster of drivers may be one of the most competitive and well-rounded IndyCar has had in a long time. There are about eight drivers that have a legitimate chance to win a championship. Then there’s around ten or twelve drivers that could win on any given day.

Engine manufacturers

As I said earlier, nobody knows how the engines will perform in each race. Honda and Chevrolet are expected to have an advantage over Lotus though. That’s only because they have more cars and a better roster of drivers. 

Here's a breakdown of each manufacturer and their drivers:

Chevrolet: Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter, E.J. Viso, Rubens Barrichello, Tony Kanaan, J.R. Hildebrand, Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, Will Power.

Honda: Mike Conway, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball, James Jakes, Justin Wilson, Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden.

Lotus: Alex Tagliani, Katherine Legge, Sebastien Bourdais, Oriol Servia, Simona de Silvestro

New officials

Last year, chief steward Brian Barnhart received a lot of heat for some questionable decisions he made during races. He was removed his head of race control position but remains as the president of operations and will oversee safety development and event logistics. Taking his position will be Beaux Barfield. IndyCar also hired former drivers Arie Luyendyk, Johnny Unser, and Gary Barnard to assist Barnhart and Barfield.

Championship

The obvious favorites, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, combined to win nine races last year. Franchitti won his fourth championship last year and is chasing A.J. Foyt’s record seven championships. Power has never won a championship but has finished second the past two years. Franchitti’s Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon is also hungry for a championship. Dixon won his last championship in 2008 and has finished second, third, and third the past three years. Power’s Penske teammates, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, will also be looking to win the championship this year. Briscoe is a good driver, but he always been considered the third-best in the Penske lineup.

Other drivers to watch: # 26 Marco Andretti, #27 James Hinchcliffe, #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, #38 Graham Rahal, #83 Charlie Kimball, #20 Ed Carpenter, #8 Rubens Barrichello, #11 Tony Kanaan, #22 Oriol Servia, #4 J.R. Hildebrand, #98 Alex Tagliani

Pacers News!

            The last post I had about the Pacers, I gave the article the title, “Pacers Struggling to Win”. That seems like an understatement given their past eight games in which they went 2-6. We are beating teams we should, but severely struggling against quality teams. Against the Bulls, Hawks, Heat, and Magic (all teams currently in the playoffs) we were beaten by an average of 10 points. We only lost to the Heat by two, and it was in overtime, but we’re past the point of trying to find “moral wins”. The Pacers are not the team they need to be to even compete in the playoffs.

            
            The biggest problem I see on a night-to-night basis is nobody on the team is consistently productive. Some nights Danny Granger and Paul George will be making shots but nobody else will. Then the next game those two will struggle but George Hill will have a good game. That is not how a great team plays.

There is only one man on the Pacers’ roster that you can count on to have a good game every night. That would be David West. West, the starting power forward, is averaging 12 points and nearly 7 rebounds a game. If you want to consider yourself a true Pacers and basketball fan then you have to appreciate what West does for our team. He doesn’t showboat, he doesn’t run his mouth (as Danny Granger did before the Knicks blew us out), he plays unselfishly, he doesn’t force shots (Granger and Paul George), and he plays hard every game. The only problem is the power forward position isn’t exactly a game changer in basketball. Besides Dirk Nowitzki, I can’t think of any MVP-caliber power forward. That doesn’t diminish West’s role though. He is a key player for our team and his experience plays a huge role on such a young team.

What has really been missing for the Pacers is All-Star center Roy Hibbert. Big Roy has been basically non-existent since the All-Star Break. Pre-All-Star Break, Hibbert averaged 13 points, a 51% field goal percentage, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. Post All-Star Break, Hibbert has averaged 9.6 points, a 41% field goal percentage, 7.4 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game (somehow he has more blocks). I’m not sure what is going on with Hibbert. It just seems like teams are playing him tougher and double-teaming him more often.

Ok, so how about some good news? The Pacers traded away a 2012 2^nd-round draft pick to acquire Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa comes from the Toronto Raptors where he averaged 12 points over his career. He also earned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2006. This is exactly the kind of move the Pacers had to make. Our bench is way too weak but this will give that unit some serious firepower. Now, George Hill we become the point guard and Barbosa will be the shooting guard. Those two on the court will be a formidable force against any other teams’ backup squad.

I’ll admit it, I’m a little behind my deadline of posting this story. I meant to have it done before last night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but obviously that didn’t happen. That is not necessary a bad thing though. I set out to do nothing but complain about the Pacers woeful playing in the past two weeks. As you read above, I did just that, but after watching the Pacers cruise to a victory against the Clippers, my mindset on the rest of the season has completely changed.

The Pacers played magnificently against Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. We took great shots, played great defense, had production from the starters and bench, and never let the Clippers have the lead in the second half. Everything that I complained about in the four paragraphs above was nonexistent, and that is beautiful. If we played like we did against the Clippers every night then we would be way above 30 wins. Five players scored in double digits, including newly-acquired Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa may be the best pick up the Pacers have had in years. I know it was just one game, but he is definitely going to make a huge impact on how our bench plays the rest of the season.

I seriously believe this game will be the point in the season when the Pacers get back to playing outstanding basketball like they did in December and January. We are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference Standings with a 26-18 record. There are 22 games left (13 of which are at Bankers Life Fieldhouse) and I don’t see why we can’t win at least 14 of those. That would give us a final record of 40-26 and hopefully a fourth seed in the playoffs. That is my expectation for the rest of the season. This team is too talented to achieve anything less.

Final games in March:

3/22- at Washington Wizards (10-34)

3/23- vs. Phoenix Suns (23-23)

3/24- at Milwaukee Bucks (21-24)

3/26- vs. Miami Heat (34-11)

3/28- at New Jersey Nets (15-32)

3/29- vs. Washington Wizards (10-34)

3/31- at San Antonio Spurs (29-14)

            Seven games in nine days is a tall task, fortunately five of the games are against below-average teams. We came pretty dang close to knocking off the Miami Heat a couple of weeks ago. This final game against them may be the time we finally beat them. Plus, I will be going to this game and the Pacers are 5-0 with me in attendance this year. The game in San Antonio will be interesting. George Hill started his career in San Antonia but we traded Kawhi Leonard for him in the 2011 Draft. This will be the first chance for the Pacers to see what we gave up in Leonard.                    

UPDATE 3/21/2012: Longtime Pacer Jeff Foster announced he is retiring from basketball. The center has been fighting back problems all season. Foster was the last remaining player from the team that played in the NBA Finals in 2001. 

This leaves the Pacers' backcourt as this:

C- Roy Hibbert

PF- Lou Amundson

PF- David West

PF- Tyler Hansbrough

PF- Jeff Pendergraph

SF- Danny Granger

SF- Dahntay Jones
Indiana's front office will have to shop around the free agency pool and find another big man to take Foster's spot. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of great options available. The only two names I even recognize on NBA.com's list of free agent centers are Erick Dampier and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Both last played for the Miami Heat and both have 15 years of experience in the NBA.

March Madness Baby!

            March Madness is finally here! The time has come to crown the college basketball national champion by playing 63 games in 18 days. 64 teams all start off with the same dream but only one will remain on April 2^nd to cut down the nets and claim the 2012 championship.

            
            Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so fascinating is that everybody in America is a part of it. Besides the 64 schools representing nearly every state or region in the United States, more than 35 million Americans will fill out brackets. Everybody, from your grandma to your wife to your boss, will fill out a March Madness bracket. This means all those people will have teams to root for besides their own. Maybe they won’t watch every game, or even just one, but you know if they finish with a better record than you you’re gonna here about for a long time.

            
            This year’s bracket seemed a lot easier to predict than the past couple of years. The teams that have earned a seeding from #1-#4 are in an elite group all their own. Kentucky, Syracuse (not anymore since their best player is ineligible for the tournament), Michigan State and North Carolina all earned #1 seeds. The #2 seeds are Duke, Ohio State, Missouri, and Kansas. I really can’t imagine any of those teams not winning the national championship. Sure, Butler has played in the last two national championships and VCU made it to the final four last year but this year is different. Looking at the bracket I can’t seriously picture any team seeded four or higher making the same kind of run Butler or VCU did.

            
            A month ago I had the expectations of four to five schools from Indiana making the NCAA Tourney. As it turned out though, only three were selected. Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame all earned a spot to play in March Madness. The Hoosiers are seeded #4 and will play New Mexico State Thursday night. Purdue is a #10 and faces St. Mary’s Friday night. The Irish earned a #7 seed and goes up against #10 Xavier late Friday night. I expect all three teams to win their first game, although Notre Dame and Purdue face really good teams. Even if those two do win, they will have to face a #2 team. That is why I only predict Indiana will make it to the Sweet 16.

            
            Speaking of predictions, here are some of my picks I made in my 8^th and final edition of my bracket.

Sweet 16

South- #1 Kentucky, #4 Indiana, #3 Baylor, #2 Duke

West- #1 Michigan State, #4 Louisville, #3 Marquette, #2 Missouri

East- #1 Syracuse, #5 Vanderbilt, #3 Florida State, #2 Ohio State

Midwest- #1 North Carolina, #4 Michigan, #6 San Diego State, #2 Kansas

Ok, so I didn’t go with any upsets in the South or West. That’s just because I don’t believe any of those teams will lose. The only teams I could see losing is Baylor or Indiana. Baylor has not impressed me all year and Indiana has a tough second round matchup. In the West, Louisville and Marquette may trip up in the second round. In the Midwest, I have San Diego State beating Georgetown in the second round.

Elite 8

South- #1 Kentucky, #2 Duke

West- #1 Michigan State, #2 Missouri

East- #5 Vanderbilt, #3 Florida State

Midwest- #1 North Carolina, #2 Kansas

Pretty boring picks here, I know. The only shockers, obviously, are Vandy and Florida State. Vandy will be going up against Syracuse who is without their best player.

Final Four

#2 Duke, #1 Michigan State, #3 Florida State, #1 North Carolina

Everybody and their mom has Kentucky winning it all. Not me. In at least the last two tournaments, the overall # 1 seed hasn’t even made it to the Final Four. Furthermore, only two #1 teams have made it to the Elite 8 in the last four tournaments. That’s basically why I’m going with Florida State and Duke, because the law of averages has to play out.

Championship

#2 Duke vs. #1 North Carolina. Duke wins by one point.

How much more epic can it possibly get? This is the biggest rivalry in all of college basketball and perhaps in all of college sports. These two played each other twice during the regular season and split the series. How exciting would it be to see these two storied programs go at it for the national championship?

Pacers Struggling to Win

Maybe it’s time to realize these Indiana Pacers are a team that is building for the future. They entered this season with the expectations to just make the playoffs. Their early season success has led me, and others, to believe they should be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. However, their inability to defeat fellow playoff teams leads me to believe they won’t be able to win just one playoff series this season. They are currently 23-14 and fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Pacers began their second half of the season with games against the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans. That’s two teams that have combined records of 27-49. We beat both teams handedly and outscoring each team by more than 15.

Indiana had established a six-game winning streak and the next game was a road trip to face the Chicago Bulls. Even though the Bulls were the top team in the East, we had already beaten them once on their court so why couldn’t we beat them again? Indiana played tough against Chicago in the first half and even had the lead at halftime. That completely changed in the second half when the Bulls outscored the Pacers 50-29. The final score was 92-72. How do you go from having such a great first half to playing awfully in the second half? Coaching is part of it, but so is the heart and determination the players have.

That lack of heart and determination presented itself Tuesday night in a home bout versus the Atlanta Hawks. The two teams played a close game but the Pacers could never get the lead down the stretch. In a close game like that, the final result often comes down to the team that makes more “hustle plays” and who wants it more. It just seemed like the Hawks were playing at a 100% level while the Pacers were playing at 85%. The Hawks’ players were moving on offense and making great passes and getting open. On defense they were rotating and not allowing any Pacer to get open looks. The Pacers just stood around and didn’t make much effort to get open shots or play any defense.

On the final play of the game, Danny Granger shot a contested three that went off the rim and out of bounds. Roy Hibbert chased down the ball and while leaping out of bounds, caught the ball and threw it back onto the court. The only problem was it went right to an Atlanta Hawk.

The telling picture of the whole scene was that after missing the shot, Granger went to the other half of the court to get ready for defense; even though there were just seconds left on the clock. Had Granger stood his ground where he took that shot, he would have been in perfect position to catch Hibbert’s inbound pass.

Granger is the captain and veteran of the team, but he takes way too many bad shots. Since the All-Star Break he has shot 26-61. That’s a 43% field goal percentage. Shooting in the 40%’s isn’t that bad but it could seriously improve if Granger didn’t so many unnecessary jump shots on the fast break. I see that happen at least twice a game. Somebody will get a steal and then pass it down court to Granger. Instead of dribbling it in the lane to try and draw a foul, he’ll stand behind the arc or right within it and take the jump shot. Of course, the ball clangs off the rim and the opposing team grabs the rebound.  

            Heading into the rest of March with on a two-game losing streak is not where the Pacers can be. The next six games could all easily be losses if the Pacers don’t come out and establish they want to win, not just hoping to win.

Next six games:

3/10- at Miami Heat

3/11- at Orlando Magic

3/13- vs. Portland Trailblazers

3/14- vs. Philadelphia 76ers

3/16- at New York Knicks

3/17- vs. New York Knicks

The Heat have dominated us in the last two matchups so I doubt we’ll be able to win that game tonight. We have a 1-2 record against the Magic so this final game against them is vitally important. If they win, they would also win a tiebreaker at the end of the season to determine seeding in the playoffs. The Trailblazers are struggling so we should get a win there. The 76ers game is also important because we are battling with them for that #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Plus, they have already beat us. The Knicks are 18-22 and haven’t won since the All-Star Break. I would almost guarantee the Pacers find a way to end that streak for New York.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Manning and Irsay at today's announcement

            Manning and team owner Jim Irsay stood side-by-side Wednesday afternoon and made the official announcement that the two would end their 14-year relationship. That relationship began on April 18, 1998 and it ended today, March 7, 2012. It was a very emotional scene. Irsay got right to the point as his first sentence was “We’re here to announce the end of Peyton Manning’s career with the Colts”. After just five minutes, the tears began to run down Irsay’s face. He stumbled through the typical press conference mumbo jumbo until it was time for Peyton to take the stage.

                Peyton talked for about five minutes and thanked everybody in the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana for being great fans and supporters. I could tell he was shaken up by the whole ordeal. He had that trademarked “Manning face” on the entire time. You could see it in his eyes he was holding back the tears. It was a classy scene and one that truly showed just how great Manning is. He is the greatest quarterback in NFL history but he is also one of the humblest men to ever play the game. This was a far cry from Lebron James’s “Announcement”.

Manning after winning Super Bowl 41

                Manning’s departure is the second time in a six-month window that my favorite athlete has left my favorite team. After winning the 2011 World Series, St. Louis Cardinals’ first basemen Albert Pujols decided to chase the money and play for the Los Angeles Angels. Pujols has been my favorite for a long time, way before anybody outside the Midwest knew who he was. The difference in that situation is that the Cardinals organization has been around for over 100 years and has had tremendous success. The Indianapolis Colts have been around since 1984 and all their success came straight from Peyton Manning.

It’s hard to put into words the depression, sadness, and complete disbelief I am experiencing right now. For more than I decade I have watched Peyton Manning, the greatest quarterback of all time, lead my Colts to victory week after week. He created a football town in the middle of a state that only knew basketball. Manning was the foundation for the past decade of fantastic achievements the Colts have accomplished. Those achievements include 2 Super Bowl appearances, two AFC Championships and countless AFC South Championships. I would also go as far to say, that without Peyton Manning, there would be no Lucas Oil Stadium. And without Lucas Oil Stadium we would never have hosted Super Bowl XLVI. There’s also a possibility that the Indianapolis Colts would not even be in Indianapolis.

Finally, I would just like to say that if I was Jim Irsay, I would have handled the entire situation so vastly different. First I would have traded the 2012 #1 draft pick to a different team (i.e. Browns, Rams. Dolphins) for their 2012 first, second and third round pick plus two or three 2013 picks. Then in the 2012 draft I take running back Trent Richardson or wide receiver Justin Blackmon, if either is available. If both are taken then I would select Ryan Tannehill or Kirk Cousins, both of whom are quarterbacks. The point of selecting a quarterback like Cousins or Tannehill is that neither enter the draft with the high expectations that Andrew Luck has. Plus, neither will demand the huge amount of money Andrew Luck is. Then from there on out I select the best player available. Only exception to that rule is if that player is an offensive or defensive lineman because we have plenty of quality players already at those positions.

So the 2012 season starts and Manning is top quarterback on the team. During mini-camp and summer practices Manning is able to show the young quarterback, whether it be Cousins, Tannehill or somebody else, how he prepares for the season. Then when the season starts he teaches that quarterback how to prepare for games, watch game film and work with the offense. If Manning gets seriously injured then worst case scenario, that quarterback we just drafted becomes the starter. Best case scenario, Manning stays healthy for a few years and gives that young quarterback time to mature and learn what it takes to win in the NFL.

                Another option would have been to trade the number one draft pick to the Denver Broncos for some of their draft picks and backup quarterback Brady Quinn. Why Quinn? Besides being my favorite player in Notre Dame history, he was also the most prolific quarterback at Notre Dame. He hasn’t had any success in the NFL but he has NEVER been given a solid chance. He has all the tools necessary to be a great quarterback he just needs a real shot. If you can get him then you could use the draft picks on players that aren’t quarterbacks.

                
            None of these hypothetical ideas really matter because the outcome has already been decided. Peyton Manning will never play for the Indianapolis Colts again. Fortunately, his #18 will never be worn again ever. That was the only good news I heard today. 

Bill Polian, Irsay and Manning before Super Bowl 41

Conference Tournaments Part II

             Over the weekend, five of the ten teams that play Division-1 Basketball in Indiana had their seasons officially end as they lost in their conference tournaments. Those teams were: Butler, IUPUI, IUFW, Indiana State and Evansville. Valparaiso, Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, and Ball State still have their tournaments to play. Valparaiso and Ball State will win need to win their respective tournaments to make it to the NCAA Tournament but it wouldn’t hurt the other teams to win a game or two.

Here is each team left and a preview of what they will need to do before Selection Sunday in six days.

-rankings next to teams are their seedings in their respective conference tournaments.

Big East Conference

When: March 6^th- March 10^th

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York City

Indiana teams: #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The latest bracket projections by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi have Notre Dame in the NCAA Tourney as a #6 seed. I expect their seeding to be close to that too, but not any higher. In a Sports Illustrated bracket, the Irish are a #7 seed. Seriously, why can’t the Irish get any respect? The other projected six and seven seeds are: Gonzaga, San Diego State, Florida, Murray State, Memphis, New Mexico, and St. Mary’s. Notre Dame would beat every one of those teams on a neutral court.

Anyway, the Irish have a double-bye in the Big East Tournament and don’t play until March 8^th. They will either take on Villanova, Rutgers, or USF. If they can win that quarterfinal game and a semifinal game they may be able to elevate themselves to a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Big Ten Conference

When: March 8^th-March 11

Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Indiana teams: #5 Indiana Hoosiers, #6 Purdue Boilermakers

The Hoosiers are projected to get a #3 or #4 seed and the Boilermakers #9 in the NCAA Tournament. A #3 for the Hoosiers seems a bit low for me. I would rather see them get a #4 seed because they have NO quality road wins. They could solidify a #3 seed if they win two or three games in the Big Ten Tourney. They face Penn State on Thursday and if they win, Wisconsin on Friday.

Purdue will likely get a #9 seed or so no matter how many games they win. I can’t imagine them getting any lower than #7 even if they win the whole thing. They will play Nebraska on Thursday then Ohio State if they win. They nearly beat the Buckeyes in Columbus so I would not be shocked to see them defeat Ohio State when they’re closer to home.

Mid-American Conference

When: March 5^th- March 10^th

Where: Cleveland, Ohio

Indiana teams: #9 Ball State Cardinals

The only way the Cardinals go dancin’ in March is if they win their conference tournament. Their first opponent is Western Michigan tonight. Then they take on either Northern Illinois or Eastern Michigan.

Valparaiso started their tournament last week but play in the championship tomorrow night against Detroit. That game is at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN.