The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

Archive for the month “April, 2013”

08 Apr 2013

What’s New in Conference Expansion

The Confidential is going to take a quick look around the conferences to see what is going on in conference expansion news:

The Big 10–the commentators over at Frank the Tank are busy arguing over whether the Big 10 will be taking some of the ACC or all of the ACC.  The blog author, himself, is focused on the division realignments with Rutgers and Maryland coming aboard soon enough:

It appears that the Big Ten office is heeding the calls for the “Keep It Simple Stupid” approach of dividing the soon-to-be 14-team conference into East and West divisions, with Michigan State heading East with Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers and Maryland, the West having Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota and the only debate being where Indiana and Purdue will be placed.  IU-PU will then be the only protected cross-division rivalry.

It’s a pretty Big 10 centric place.  They are trying to decide whether 14, 16, 20, 80, or 200 teams is best.

The SEC–Mr. SEC has quoted the Missouri athletic director Mike Alden as essentially saying that the SEC will stay at 14 teams unless it decides not to.  Sounds like they are not doing anything.  Unless they do.

The Pac-12–This conference is in Monopoly jail.  Nowhere to go expansion-wise.  Unless Texas decides to come west, who would they add?  Boise State is not academically suited, nor is UNLV.  San Diego State and New Mexico are not worth expanding.  BYU is too religious.  So much for that.

The Big XII–nothing new to report on this front.

The ACC–nothing new to report on this front, other than the expectations of future pillaging.

The Big East–is now a basketball conference, having added Butler, Creighton, and Xavier.  They also have the name The Big East, having taken that from the Big East leftovers.  With Marquette and DePaul joining those three in the West, and Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova, St. Johns, and Providence in the East, that is not too shabby of a hoops conference.

The Big East leftovers now have a new name– the American Athletic Conference.  Tulsa is the latest addition to this group.

Conference USA– is thinking about going to 16 teams.  Heck, the Confidential did not even know that they had 14, especially after the American Athletic Conference has taken so many.  Western Kentucky will be taking Tulsa’s spot.

Beyond that it just gets way too confusing.  Too many moving parts.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Conference News, Conference Realignment and tagged , ,
07 Apr 2013
2 Comments

Plenty to Criticize–Here is Something to Praise

Not going to waste words here.  This is one of the cooler things you can possibly see.  This would be incredibly awesome for any young fan, and it is great that this young fan got a brief respite from his day-to-day struggles to be a hero for a moment.  As someone on Youtube commented: “Faith in humanity, restored.”

See it for yourself:

Posted by acaffrey in Football, Something Positive and tagged , , , , , , ,
06 Apr 2013

State of the Pack: QBs and more

There was an interesting email in my box yesterday from our own administrator Anthony Caffery (aka Commander Caffrey). It referenced the possibility of Drew Allen, Oklahoma backup, transferring to State. Unfortunately the article he directed me to seemed to indicate that Allen is leaning toward Syracuse.  Here’s the link:

Since as the article states he will be eligible immediately following any transfer that makes him a player in the mix for us if he decides to come to State.  Which begs the question: what does the QB situation look like for the Pack in 2013?
The two leading candidates to start are Colorado transfer Pete Thomas and soph Manny Stocker.  Thomas seems to have a slight edge right now and is getting more first-team snaps. Coach Doeren told the Charlotte Observer that he wanted to go with the guy who makes the fewest mistakes. Link is here:
Of course we will continue to look at the QB and other positions on the Wolfpack roster as the spring and summer progress.  New coaches and coordinators, new season coming…I am starting to yearn for fall.  At least the part after the less-than-ambitious non-conference schedule.
Here are a few items about other Pack teams:
Basketball:
The 2013-14 edition of the Wolfpack will not look much like this season’s, and perhaps that is a good thing.  But TJ Warren says he will stay, and he was one of the brighter spots on the Cardiac DOA Pack.
On the women’s side, former Pack assistant Wes Moore was hired as the new HC.  Moore comes from UT Chattanooga with an impressive career winning percentage of .767 and 16 trips to the Big Dance, so it seems the ladies are in good hands.
Baseball:  Finally, a quick baseball update. I admit to not really following college baseball until CWS time, but now that we are “in-between” the two attention-grabbing sports, why not take a peek?
Happy to report that the Pack is fine, ranked #25 and coming off a 14-inning win over #30 Virginia Tech.  As a matter of fact, the ACC is fine with the following Top 30 teams:  UNC #1, Virginia #6, Florida State #7, Georgia Tech #16, and as stated already, the Wolfpack at #25 and the Hokies at #30. As for the Futures, we have Louisville at #14 and Notre Dame at #24.
Posted by mikemab2000 in ACC only, Baseball, Basketball, Football, NC State Correspondent, Rankings, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
06 Apr 2013
20 Comments

In Defense of Rutgers’ Athletic Director Tim Pernetti

Look, the Confidential is no friend of Rutgers.  Do not believe us?  Check out this post.   Yeah, pretty harsh.  That being said, the Confidential MUST opine that society is on a slippery slope where the only thing that satisfies anyone is when a person committing an offense loses his or her job.  So, regardless of whether Tim Pernetti advocated for the termination or suspension of Mike Rice, the news that Tim Pernetti was fired or resigned under pressure of same is simply absurd.

Let’s not forget that Tim Pernetti was not the one being abusive to players in practice.  He was not the one that crossed the line.  Sure, he hired that guy.  But Tim Pernetti is not someone with an anger control problem, nor does he pose any danger to student-athletes.  What Tim Pernetti was fired for was doing a poor job at managing an already ugly situation.

Now, Rutgers sent Rice to anger management classes.  Why not send Tim Pernetti to basic management classes?  Rutgers is a proud university; certainly somebody at that institution teaches a management class that Tim Pernetti could take for a grade.  Maybe even an ethics class?  The Confidential finds it hard to believe that Tim Pernetti–the athletic director–was beyond salvaging.  Instead of faculty recommending that he audit a class taught at Rutgers, the faculty did the easy thing–advocated for his termination.  Mission accomplished.

The sad part is that Tim Pernetti oversaw the transition of Rutgers from a middling athletic program in the Big East, to being Big 10 bound.  This is the equivalent of winning the lottery.  Only Tim Pernetti will not be around to spend it.  Some other guy or gal will fill his role and get to go on a spending spree.  That is really too bad.

What is worse is that this just keeps happening again and again.  Our overly-litigious, overly-critical, overly media-frenzy driven society just cannot handle anyone making a mistake.  Instead, mistakes are now unforgivable.  Which is fine for the rapists, murderers, and abusers.  But when it comes down to poor judgment in response to a situation, the Confidential thinks that it is time for everyone to take a step back before advocating for termination and only termination.

Rutgers was not Penn State.  The “kids” abused by Rice were adults.  They had the ability to speak out.  They had the ability to group together to demand his ouster.  Some had the ability to say enough is enough.   So nobody should even go down that road.

If there is a more compelling analogy, it is Bobby Knight.  Mike Rice was no Knight when it comes to wins, obviously.  Heck, Mike Rice (111-61) has only a few dozen more wins than Pat Knight (73-72).  But nobody fired Bobby Knight for a long, long time.  The fact that Tim Pernetti did not fire Mike Rice is not a mortal sin or a crime.  It is a mistake.  We need to stop firing people over mistakes.

The interesting thing about all of this is that Penn State, Indiana, and Rutgers are all about to be part of the same conference.  For a conference that purports to be so much more cultured than the SEC, it sure does have its disproportionate number of problems with coaches and abusive behavior.  But, if anything, Rutgers overreacted with respect to Tim Pernetti.

Posted by acaffrey in Opinion and tagged , , , , , , ,
05 Apr 2013
3 Comments

ACC Fans… Are You Rooting For Syracuse and Louisville?

There is no secret here… Syracuse is joining the ACC later in 2013 and Louisville will be joining in 2014.  While the two went to bowls games this past season in football, both schools are known for having near-elite, if not elite, basketball programs.  It is not the least bit surprising that Syracuse and Louisville are part of this Final Four.  The question is whether YOU, the grizzled ACC fan raised on a rivalry with the Big East, will be rooting for Syracuse.

The Confidential will argue that you should  A Syracuse-Louisville matchup will look that much better for the 2013-2014 preseason.  Recruiting battles can be won by these two schools if they meet in the Championship game. Sure, these recruiting battles may be won anyway–but why not want them to have every edge.  You WANT these programs to be good.

The SEC is a great football conference because it is so very deep.  The Big East has been a great basketball conference because of its depth.  The ACC needs to put together that kind of basketball depth too.  The football should be deep, but it just is not there yet. Until the football teams rise up in out-of-conference games and the best programs stop getting upset, the ACC will have to ride its basketball teams.

Well, that starts this weekend.   Syracuse and Louisville may not have placed in the ACC standings in 2012-2013 (except here, of course), but they will be soon enough.  The better they do, the better for the ACC.

So you tell us… if you are not a fan of Syracuse or Louisville, are you going to be rooting for your future ACC brethren this weekend?

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Conference News, March Madness and tagged , , , , , , ,
03 Apr 2013
2 Comments

NCAA Tournament- Final Four Conference Breakdown

The tickets to Atlanta have been punched, and this time, only two major conferences remain. What’s left is a who’s who of the future of the ACC, an upstart underdog and a Michigan team that looks a lot like the Fab Five. Let’s see how they got there.

ACC

Tournament Teams (4)- Duke, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Remaining Tournament Teams (0)-

Verdict- No one was going to beat Louisville after what happened to Kevin Ware. No one. Not Duke, not the Miami Heat. No one. The raw emotion that Ware’s gruesome injury caused among his teammates, his coach and the crowd, were just too much to overcome for the Blue Devils. So while they went mostly cold in the second half, they can hang their heads high. After all, the season ended in a much better way than last year’s first-round flameout against Lehigh. An Elite Eight, while the standard for such a high-level program, is still an accomplishment. Coach K loses highly-productive seniors Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry this offseason, but he reloads next year with a class headed by #2 recruit Jabari Parker.

Big East

Tournament Teams (8)- Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Villanova, Georgetown, Syracuse, Marquette

Remaining Tournament Teams (2)- Louisville, Syracuse

Verdict-  We should really just merge this section with the  one for the ACC, but we won’t, because the Big East deserves one last send-off. It really is incredible that a conference that had such a bad first round has been able to rebound with such a great Final Four. It’s things like this that make the Tournament so incredible , and it’s what we’ll miss so much when basketball season ends. Syracuse looked impressive in a 55-39 sleeper against soon-to-be former conference rival Marquette, while Louisville cruised to an emotional win over soon-to-be conference rival Duke in the Elite Eight. Both teams have the potential to go all the way, and they proved this during this past round, but Louisville has the better matchup on paper this weekend. Since both remaining teams will be heading to Greensboro in the next few years, we’re not sure what type of foundation this leaves the “new” Big East…

 Big Ten

Tournament Teams (7)- Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois

Remaining Tournament Teams (1)-  Michigan

 Verdict- And one remains. The story all year has been about how great the Big Ten is, and here we are, with Michigan in the Final Four. Does this silence the critics? It’s hard to tell. The Wolverines have a lot to prove, but they look up to the challenge. Sunday’s game against Florida proved that they ‘re capable of handling elite teams and hanging with high-level programs. That’s a good sign. And it’s not to say that Michigan isn’t a high-level program too, but they haven’t experienced the same kind of success that the Gators have recently. That’s just a fact. Michigan is really quite an interesting team. They’re a talented team, but they’re not a surprise team like Wichita State. They’ve been a good team, but they weren’t expected to be here like Louisville. Can they finally bring a banner back to Ann Arbor? This time they won’t have to take it down…

 SEC

Tournament Teams (3) – Missouri, Ole Miss, Florida, Kentucky

Remaining Tournament Teams (0)-

Verdict- It’s hard to explain what happened to Florida. They just…couldn’t do it. They’re definitely as talented as Michigan. And Billy Donovan is a great coach. But sometimes it’s just not mean to be. Teams come out cold. They lose focus. They get in a hole early. And that’s what happened to Florida on Sunday. Unfortunately for them, it meant the end of their season. And unfortunately for the SEC, it meant the end of their tournament. While the conference may never be a hoops powerhouse, Kentucky once again becomes a team to watch in 2014. If they’re able to add Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins, they just might cut down the nets again next year. Not bad for a team that couldn’t even win one game in the NIT.

It all ends in less than a week. It’s been an exciting basketball season, and it really is too bad that it’s almost over. While there haven’t been any truly exceptional teams this year, the parity seen has created one of the most unpredictable tournaments in years. Don’t be surprised if the Shockers win it all on Monday.

Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, March Madness, UNC Correspondent
03 Apr 2013
3 Comments

The American Athletic Confidential Looms?

As we know, the Big East is no longer.  Well, that’s not true exactly, as the Catholic 7 are taking the Big East name, adding a few schools, and carrying on the business of basketball relevance.  The Big East leftovers, as they have been called, are apparently set to choose a new name–the American Athletic Conference.

Apparently, teams like Connecticut and Temple were tired of the jokes about the Big East having, albeit temporarily, San Diego State and Boise State in a conference in the “east.”  No longer will this be a problem, as the American Athletic is large enough to encompass anyone–from Maine to Hawaii.  If you are an American school, you can be invited someday.  And perhaps will.

The Confidential thinks the AAC members sold themselves short.  American Athletic Conference is a name that is waiting to be dissolved, like Conference USA.  There is nothing about it that fuses the teams together.  American?  Check.  Athletic?  Check.  Wanna be part of our conference?  Check.  Welcome to the Club.  Vanilla.

The question that begs is whether people will get the AAC and the ACC confused?  Maybe that is what the AAC is hoping for.

Of course, the Confidential wonders whether it is time to franchise.  Anyone want to star the AmericanAthleticConfidential?  C’mon, all you Houston, SMU, and Tulsa fans…

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , ,
02 Apr 2013
2 Comments

The Other Final Four Story

Update II: Disregard the below.  The CBI is a 3-game format.  Good grief. 

Update: Congratulations to the Broncos of Santa Clara for winning the CBI.

THE FINAL FOUR is in Atlanta this weekend.  But it is not the only final four in March.  There are three other tournaments, including the venerable National Invitational Tournament (the “NIT”), still ongoing.  The other two tournaments are the CIT and the CBI.  There are more champions to be crowned.

For the NIT, Big 10 basketball is coming to your television set tomorrow.  Although it is unclear who televises the NIT, the NIT semifinals include a barn-burner between Iowa-Maryland.  It is a barn-burner in the sense that, if Iowa loses, they will set their barns on fire.  Maryland, cash poor after being incompetently run for a long long time in the ACC for all these years, does not even have barns.  Yet.  So this is far from a true, double-barn barn-burner.  In any event, this matchup promises to be a preview of all the great Maryland-Iowa rivalry games to be seen in the future.  Jim Delaney must be so very proud.

If one game has a rather plain Big 10 aftertaste, the other game has some Big XII intrigue.  Current Big XII power Baylor takes on a school that most expansion experts like to shift right into a non-existent Big XII vacancy, Brigham Young University.  So we are looking at an NIT final–on whatever day the NIT final is–between teams between the Big 10 (kinda) and the Big XII (OK, a stretch).  One of these teams will take home the crown of being #69.  Commence giggling.

The CIT and CBI are both are past the final four stage.  The CIT is down to its final game, featuring a future member of the “Big East Leftovers,” East Carolina, and Weber State.  We are not sure what the CIT was thinking, they are holding this game on the same day as the NIT semifinals.  A lot of tough remote control decisions across America.

Did you know?  There is no state named Weber.  Weber State is in Utah. 

Meanwhile, the CBI, which may stand for the Cinderella Basketball Invitation, will hold a championship game between George Mason and Santa Clara.  Santa Clara made a name for itself by beating #2 seed, Arizona, in the 1993 Big Dance.  George Mason made a name for itself a few years ago, with a magical run to the Final Four.

Did you know?  The CBI Tournament Championship Game was actually last night.  Do you know who won?  Seriously, let us know.  It’s hard to find the scores on ESPN.com. 

While the festivities in Atlanta promise to be memorable this weekend, just remember that there are other tournaments wrapping up.  We’ll even let you root for Maryland.  It would be cute if they won something, even if they do end up pawning the trophy to buy socks for their lacrosse team.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, March Madness, Non-Serious, Opinion, Sarcasm, Satire and tagged , , , ,
01 Apr 2013
5 Comments

Huge News: West Virginia to ACC in 2014-2015!

The ACC and West Virginia have scheduled a press conference for 3:00 p.m. today to announce that the Mountaineers will become a full-time member in the ACC for the 2014-2015 season.  West Virginia was able to extricate itself from the Grant of Rights on the basis that both sides just felt that it was a mistake, couple with the fact that Brigham Young is finally ready to join the Big XII.  With 13 teams being unwieldy, and no suitable schools for a 14th, this just made the most sense.  The oft-discussed cooperative efforts of the Big XII and the ACC came into play obviously too.

Winners:  West Virginia, obviously.  Gets to reinvigorate rivalries with Pitt, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech.  The ACC–gets a football school to help placate the masses, while awaiting a Notre Dame decision.  The Big XII–West Virginia was always a geographical outlier.  BYU–they almost lost out on being at the grown-up’s table.  This salvages that.  The Big East leftovers–this stabilizes expansion for a while.  Hopefully.

Losers: Connecticut and Cincinnati.  They are plainly on the outside right now.   They will have to wait for defections from the ACC, which seem a bit less likely now.  Maryland, who considers West Virginia a rival, for some reason.

Big Losers: Us, for posting this April Fool’s Joke in such a very cruel manner.   Those people who will not realize that this is an April Fool’s Joke and/or post on Twitter that it is.  Nobody likes a spoiler.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Conference News, Conference Realignment, Football, Non-Serious, Sarcasm, Satire and tagged , , , , , , , ,
01 Apr 2013
4 Comments

Things the Confidential Would Like to See In College Hoops…

Everyone is a critic.  Everyone has an opinion.  But not everyone has this forum for sharing it.  So here are the things the Confidential would like to see in College Hoops.  In no particular order:

  • How about an elimination of the timeout/timeout stuff during basketball games?  If a team calls a timeout with 16:20 left in the half, it must be a timeout that lasts for a commercial break.  Does anyone really need 30 seconds of play in between commercial breaks?  It is almost as bad as the NFL with its… commercial, kickoff, commercial crap.
  • Call us crazy, but we WANT to see Andy Enfield of Florida Gulf Coast go to USC.  First, it would be nice for someone to kick the crap out of Steve Alford, who left Iowa and has now left New Mexico.  We get that the 10-year contract means very little, but at least give it a year.  Not a week.  So the Confidential would love to see Dunk City shift over to L.A.  Second, Enfield plays an exciting brand of basketball.  That is needed on the West Coast.  Good fit.  Third, his wife has had motherhood take away from her modeling career.  Being back in the LA area would be nice for her.  Granted, if they do not want it, so be it.  But, if they do, it is fine with the Confidential.
  • How about some props for Jim Boeheim–perhaps even a few mea culpas by the talking heads?  A fourth final four, in four decades.  This team is not one of his most talented, but defense counts and they are very talented defenders.  An excellent tournament run.
  • Some prayers for Kevin Ware.  Plenty of people get injured each day, but not all of them have to do it in the floor in front of thousands and on TV in front of millions.
  • Charles Barkley retiring from the CBS host gig for March Madness.   His opinions are not that insightful.  Frankly, they are not even accurate.  While Barkley deserves credit for being opinionated and having the guts to share that opinion, even better would be if his opinions included sound basketball analysis.  He may know the NBA game, but there have to be 1,000 guys who know the college game more.
  • Give credit to Rick Pitino.  He has wasted a ton of time in the NBA, but still has 7 Final Fours.

What do YOU want out of college hoops?  Let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

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