With all due respect to Andy Williams and Santa Claus, this is the most wonderful time of the year.

I live and die with USC Trojans football. When the Trojans are winning—I vaguely remember that— Autumn Saturdays are pretty darn spectacular. Even when they aren’t winning I still love college football Saturdays. Having said that, there is nothing quite like the next month.

March Madness.

College football has one winner at the end of the season. Other teams win bowl games, but they have become mostly unimportant to everyone involved. I think one of my favorite things about March Madness is Championship Week. All these smaller schools earning a chance to be on the big stage by winning their conference tournament.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville will likely lose by 30 next week in the first round. It won’t matter because they already won. And maybe they do something like this.

 

Whether the Cougars or Lipscomb or High Point or Omaha or any of the other little guys become the next UMBC or just the next victim of a top seed, these teams have already won. See, if you are a little guy, getting to the Dance is the big win. Look at SIUE coach Brian Barone explaining their journey to use a pair of scissors to cut down the nets after winning the OVC automatic bid.

 

We get an entire week of that kind of cool stuff. And we also get the tears and hugs that come with falling short. Stay tuned for the Weekly Shiny Penny. It is all just such good stuff. And all that comes before we ever tip off the actual March Madness.

I am pretty sure I don’t even turn off my TV in my rec room. My butt cheeks have made an impression in my sofa. Sleep is put on hold in order to see the late games. This year I will actually have a rooting interest since Louisville and Pat Kelsey has revived the Cardinals. That makes this stretch of weeks even better.

Regardless of rooting interests, this is all simply fantastic.

Now that the regular season is over and Championship Week is in full swing, here is how I see things and observations about all I’ve seen so far.

ACC

  • Duke over Clemson in ACC Tournament 
  • Duke(1), Clemson(6), Louisville(7)
  • North Carolina will get in as a last 4 in. I am not suggesting they deserve to be in with a 1-11 quad 1 record, but they will get in. They are playing well right now, have a 40 NET and 37 KenPom, and are North Carolina. Beating Duke in the semifinal of the ACC Tournament would seal the deal.

Big East

  • St. John’s over Creighton in Big East Tournament
  • St. John’s(3), Creighton(6), Marquette(7), UConn(7), Xavier(11)
  • Villanova played their way to the wrong side of the bubble last week. The Cats will need to make a magical run in the Garden this week to be dancing.

Big 12

  • Texas Tech over Houston in Big Twelve Tournament
  • Houston(1), Texas Tech(2), Iowa State(3), Arizona(5), BYU(6), Kansas(7), Baylor(10)
  • I think West Virginia gets in. That is a change from last week. With 6 quad 1 wins, the Mountaineers will sneak into the field as a last 4 in.

Big Ten

  • Maryland over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament
  • Michigan State(2), Maryland(3), Wisconsin(4), Oregon(5), Purdue(5), Michigan(6), UCLA(6), Illinois(7), Indiana(10)
  • I have thought Ohio State is out for two weeks now. I am changing that thought. If the Buckeyes win their opening Big Ten tourney game against Iowa they are in. The computers love OSU, and if Indiana gets in it would be hard to deny the Buckeyes.

SEC

  • Florida over Auburn in the SEC Tournament.
  • Auburn(1), Florida(1), Tennessee(2), Alabama(2), Kentucky(4), Missouri(5), Mississippi(5), Mississippi State(8), Vanderbilt(9), Georgia(10), Arkansas(10)
  • Oklahoma and Texas finished 6-12 in the SEC. No matter how difficult your league is, you can’t take teams that are 6-12 in their league. Both teams have average resumes otherwise. The Sooners and Longhorns are out, or at least should be.

What about everyone else?

  • Memphis could worry about lot of teams if they see them in their region.
  • The WCC will still be just a two bid league barring a Pepperdine or San Francisco upset. The Dons are close yet again, but not quite good enough for an at large bid. It will be St. Mary’s and Gonzaga, with the Gaels having the better shot of advancing further.
  • Drake has 30 wins and could scare the bejeezus out of teams in the tournament. They are also a great story with all those division II players on the roster.
  • St. Francis(PA), Delaware, and Navy will all go for championships in their respective conferences with losing records. Some hate that, but I think it is simply the beauty of March.
  • High Point, SIUE, and O,aha are all making their debut in the Big Dance, while Lipscomb makes its second appearance.
  • Of the little guys that made it so far, keep an eye on High Point. They will compete with anyone and have a couple guys that transferred in from power conference schools including Bobby Pettiford, who won a national title at Kansas. These kids won’t be intimidated on this stage.
  • One of the big questions later in the week will be how many teams can the Mountain West get. New Mexico and Utah State appear to be in. That leaves Boise, San Diego State, and Colorado State. This tourney should be hotly contested with those other three teams trying to seal their own fate.
  • Wofford making the tourney out of the SoCon means we get to see these beauties in the Big Dance.

 

hey @davidjroth.bsky.social does this Wofford big shooting free throws granny-style qualify as a Humble Beeflord?

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— Bobby Silverman (@robertsilverman.bsky.social) Feb 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM

The big boys don’t start playing until today, and already there have been great games. All of the teams playing to this point know this is their one chance and the games have been competitive and exciting.

It is March. It is must watch TV. Inject it into my veins.

Nothing beats the Madness.

Two Cent Takes

College Hoops

~I have wondered all year why Cooper Flagg rubs me the wrong way. He seems to fit into the white Duke douchy guy. Well, it turns out the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

 

Tar Heel fans… What do you think about what Kelly Flagg, Cooper Flagg's mom, had to say about the “ENTIRE” Carolina fanbase?“also a big F-you to the entire Carolina fan base for being classless a-holes.”

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— 🐏 Chris Smith (@chrismithunc.bsky.social) Mar 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM

~USC head coach Eric Musselman was brutally honest about his team’s shortcomings after UCLA humiliated his Trojans. He also got a last second dig in on his home crowd by acknowledging the Pauley Pavillion crowd as a “real” home court advantage. Surely he knew how fickle the LA fan base is before taking the job. Put a winner on the floor and they will come. Otherwise, get used to 5,000 a night.

~Michigan State and Michigan got into a little scuffle Saturday and I hate both coaches responses.

~https://x.com/twh_chris/status/1898898853970980965?s=61&t=oha1zo6P3f51Jlz2410QNA

If you click the link —suddenly I couldn’t publish a tweet half way through doing this column. Maybe Elon should spend more time keeping his social platform from being hacked instead of running the country— you can see the incident.

Michigan coach Dusty May tried to play dumb. He knew what was going on and so did his players. Just say so. Admit you thought it was BS and move on.

Tom Izzo is the only person egotistical enough to think it is appropriate to hold up the end of a game for 15 minutes while his seniors slowly walk to half court and kiss the logo —a stupid tradition— then wave to the crowd and walk off. He does this one player at a time, and it is ridiculous. Izzo would hate this happening to his team. Salute your seniors, obviously, but don’t hold things up for that long.

MLB

~Gerrit Cole is the latest star pitcher to need Tommy John surgery. Guess the Pirates knew what they were doing when they traded those damaged goods.

~Sounds like Pirates catcher Henry Davis is having a great spring. Hope this kid gets one more chance. Has anyone given him a first baseman’s glove?

~How is it possible that opening day is only about two weeks away?

NFL

~It is amazing how the NFL almost always dominates the sports news cycle. The free agent signings were coming fast and furious all day long yesterday, with more yet to come. There were too many to discuss, so I will focus on the Steelers moves.

  • DK Metcalf on a 5 year deal. Love adding Metcalf, but not sure what this means for George Pickens. It may be that he gets moved at some point before the NFL Draft.
  • Most of the quarterbacks are off the board. The Steelers appear to be left with someone out of Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Gardner Minshew, Jameis Winston, and Daniel Jones. Can you say yuck?
  • Darius Slay should be an upgrade and solid mentor for Joey Porter, Jr.
  • Two years in a row the Steelers raid Baltimore for a linebacker. This time it is Malik Harrison. Eh…
  • The Steelers let Najee Harris walk. Harris only got a one year deal with the Chargers, so the Steelers apparently didn’t want him back. Harris was as tough a runner as there is in the league, but he was outspoken about things in Pittsburgh.
  • Someone paid Dan Moore 82 million dollars. That someone was Tennessee. God bless the Titans.

The Weekly Shiny Penny

With all the buzzer beaters and celebrations we see this time of year, there is the other side of things. A lot of kids have the realization their careers are over. Some will not play organized basketball again. All realize their time at their school is over. In this portal era, there are still some guys that play several years at the same place. Nebraska went in the tank to end the season and managed to miss the Big Ten tournament. Sunday, Juwan Gary realized it was over and through tears he received hugs from unexpected sources. Pretty cool scene that even made Fran McCaffrey laugh. Good for the Iowa kids.

https://x.com/benscottstevens/status/1898804048490295802?s=61&t=oha1zo6P3f51Jlz2410QNA

A Penny For My Final Thought…

Naming rights.

It is out of hand.

Whatever happened to philanthropy? Supporting something in your community for the good of the cause is a thing of the past. Now money earns you the right to have your name attached to something. Everything.

Ah, the almighty dollar.

My hometown is building a new sports facility at the high school. Everything from the stadium to the field to the press box will have a name attached to it because those businesses or individuals donated the right amount of money to the project. I guess the pride and kindness of knowing you helped the local school and the students who will benefit from it just isn’t enough.

Sad.

Even the student section will have a name attached to it.

Even Sadder.

Yesterday, Penn State became the latest to sell its field naming rights to the highest bidder. It only took 50 million dollars to use  the ridiculous moniker West Shore Home Field.

The naming rights run through 2039 which means it is only about 3 million per year. That really isn’t all that great of a deal for Penn State.

 There was a real push by alums, especially former players, to name the field after Joe Paterno. I mean the man only made the university. Instead they took chump change for an idiotic name that nobody will use. And that is the key. Everyone will continue to simply say Beaver Stadium. Literally nobody, other than announcers who will be ordered to use the name, will call it West Shore Home Field.

But back to the Paterno thing. It is stunning how the current administration continues to try and wash Paterno’s name from everything. I am on record as saying Joe was at least partially responsible for the Sandusky stuff. Inaction in a situation like that makes you guilty.

It is a tricky subject, but Paterno wasn’t the criminal. He just should have done more. As always seems to happen, there is no middle ground. For some Paterno may as well have been the abuser. For the Paterno acolytes, led by his goofy sons, he was completely innocent and should still be thought of as God at Penn State. Again, never a middle ground.

Bill O’Brien had his fill of the Paterno crazies, and one would assume James Franklin has dealt with his fair share. Some think Franklin wants nothing to do with any mention of Paterno. I would think enough time has lapsed that Franklin isn’t worried about anything Paterno related.

The Board of Trustees and other alums obviously have pushed aside the former players and Paterno loving alums, which included 8 BOT members who voted no to this proposal. Most notably, those no voters included Anthony Lubrano, Jay Paterno, and Matt McGloin. The Board makes it clear with every decision that there will be no Joe Paterno anything in Happy Valley.

A school spending 700 million dollars to upgrade the stadium yet taking chump change to name the field rather than name it after a legendary coach seems peculiar. Clearly Paterno’s punishment for inaction is a lifetime ban at the school he gave so much.

Members that voted no were in favor of naming the field after Paterno, and they assert that it would have raised 5 times as much money as West Shore Home is donating.

It is a curious position for Penn State right now. They claim to “desperately need” the 700 million dollar renovation to Beaver Stadium, yet say that this 50 million dollars to be paid over 60 years was necessary for the future of the university. Meanwhile, they are also closing branch campuses. So the question arises of how does an apparently cash strapped university “desperately need” 700 million dollars worth of renovations.

Paterno suffered the ultimate disgrace for his inaction. He was rightfully fired by the university he helped build. He was scorned in the view of public opinion. Again, inaction has its consequences. But time is supposed to heal all wounds. Not naming the field after Paterno is like the NCAA stripping wins from teams as if we never saw those games occur.

As for naming rights, it is completely out of hand. Penn State is the latest of many to whore themselves out. West Shore Home is operated by a PSU alum. He didn’t want to quietly help out his former school? I am not sure this will bring as much positive feedback to his business as he thinks.

And my high school naming the student section of bleachers after someone? Haha. C’mon man. I am pretty sure if I were in charge my team would play in an open field before I sold my soul(and facilities) to millionaires and billionaires.

Obviously this is why I am not in charge.

Just my two cents…