March Madness

[Trotsky]

Princeton up on Kentucky 42-37 in the second half.  It wouldn't exactly be payback, but I'd like it.

[billhoward]

Kind of nice if another 13-seed from the Ivies does well. That 14-4 (so far) Kentucky run doesn't bode well for the Tigers.

Trying to follow the Kentucky players using last year's Cornell-Syracuse program. Not much help.

[Rita]

Bummer. Princeton is going to have to wait 4-5 years to get that NC$$ tourney victory over Kentucky.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Final 59-57 favor of the cheaters.  ::barf::

[Jordan 04]

Bummer. Princeton is going to have to wait 4-5 years to get that NC$$ tourney victory over Kentucky.

Rita,

You like to repeatedly make this joke re: Kentucky, but you do realize that neither Cornell nor Princeton get wins if Kentucky is forced to vacate wins down the road?  Vacate =! forfeit.

Too bad for Princeton. Terrible job to not even get the shot off in time.

[phillysportsfan]

And it looks like Princeton is about to lose their coach to Fairfield. Only thought he would leave for a big 6 conf job considering how much he loved the school and was crying in the post game press conf about how proud he was of the team. Then again cant really blame him, Fairfield had a decent team this year, has better facilities, and will probably double his salary

[mountainred]

I'm stunned that SJ would jump to Fairfield, I figured he would wait for a Big 6 job too.

[billhoward]

I'm stunned that SJ would jump to Fairfield, I figured he would wait for a Big 6 job too.

We can be prouder of where we lost our guy to.

[phillysportsfan]

I guess, I just hope Donahue has enough success to stay there for awhile

[billhoward]

I guess, I just hope Donahue has enough success to stay there for awhile

Right. Fairfield seems like a steppingstone coaching job.

[phillysportsfan]

[phillysportsfan]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/Former-Kentucky-basketball-staffer-Bilal-Batley-broke-NCAA-rules-040111

But forgotten in Calipari's quick turnaround of Kentucky is a native of this bustling metroplex who was instrumental in the Wildcats' resurrection: Bilal Batley.

Batley abruptly resigned as assistant director of basketball operations/manager after he violated NCAA rules by rebounding for a player during a workout in July 2009. Kentucky self-reported the secondary violation and sent Batley a letter of admonishment.

Batley's job did not allow him to have on-court interaction with players. When he resigned, a team spokesman said he did so to return home because of an illness in his family.

But a nearly two-year FOXSports.com investigation revealed that Batley also broke NCAA rules by making repeated impermissible telephone calls while at both Memphis and Kentucky to recruits such as DeMarcus Cousins and their parents.

When approached by a FOXSports.com reporter after his news conference on Friday, Calipari refused to address any questions concerning whether he was aware of Batley's calls and whether or not Kentucky self-reported the violations.

NCAA rules state that all telephone calls made to or received from a recruit, his parents, legal guardians or coaches must be made and received by a team's head coach or three countable assistant coaches.

According to Memphis and Kentucky, Batley was not a countable coach at either school. NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson declined comment to FOXSports.com on the alleged violations.

But Cousins, a Sacramento Kings rookie forward who played for Kentucky as a freshman last season and then left for the NBA draft, said Batley played a "big role" in him committing first to Memphis. He then followed Calipari to Kentucky shortly after the coach's hiring in April 2009.

Ironically a foxsports.com investigation revealed today that a former UK assistant made improper phone calls when recruiting Cousins which is against the rules because only the 3 assistants and the head coach can make phone calls. Hard to root for either of the cheaters tomorrow Calhoun and Calimari, I just hope Butler or VCU wins it all

[billhoward]

The new Wall Street Journal is trying very hard to be a relevant national newspaper with some sports coverage and this is one of their better efforts. It points out that while this final four is great for discussions, it's not going to be very good basketball Monday night. It could but the odds of such poorly ranked teams taking down UConn or Kentucky are improbable.

Even with Butler and VCU not going down in the round of 16, you know there'll be clamoring for even more teams and soon we'll have a field of 128, which increases the odds the favorites will slip somewhere unless say the top 32 (gag) or 16 get the first game off. The NCAA would love a six game tournament for everyone. I suppose at most schools it won't hurt the academics. Kentucky players will be one and done regardless and Princeton players will still wind up on Wall Street.

[Trotsky]

Princeton players will still wind up on Wall Street.

Working for the Journal.

See what I did there?

[phillysportsfan]

I wouldnt assume that UK, UConn are automatically going to destroy Butler/VCU. VCU dominated Kansas for most of the game and has been on quite the roll beating all their opponents by double digits except FSU who was a tough matchup given their good defense against 3pt shooting. The only thing I worry about VCU is that their hot 3pt shooting falls back to what it was during the regular season or that they get distracted by all of the hype they got this week. Everyone has been picking against VCU and they just keep winning, keep doubting them and they will end up winning it all. And Butler just finds a way to win whether it is a tip in at the buzzer against ODU, a fluke foul against Pitt, or coming back from 11 in the 2nd half against Florida.