THIS IS REALLY GOOD. You’ll see, even though it is “anonymous”, it’s still not 100% accurate… but it’s pretty good. Coaches will still be self-serving and self protective even when being anonymous. It’s as close as I’ve seen to the “truth” though.
By Dana O’Neil ESPN.com
The image of college basketball has taken a beating in recent years, with rumors, murmurs and innuendo about cheating spreading like wildfire. Cynics believe no one is trying to follow the NCAA rulebook and that the game has fallen victim to the begging hands of agents, runners and hangers-on looking to collect on the next NBA star.
Is it that bad? What are the real problems? And is the NCAA doing enough to fix those problems?
To get the answers, ESPN.com went to the sources. During the EYBL Peach Jam last week, we interviewed 20 high-profile head coaches, representing each of the six power conferences. With the promise of full anonymity, we asked them to tell the truth about their sport.
And they did.
What is your least favorite part of summer recruiting?
No one likes the constant travel, the bad basketball and the emphasis on individual skills instead of team play.
Coaches travel everywhere to watch high school kids in July, but can’t keep an eye on their own.
But of the coaches surveyed, many — eight of the 20 — cited the time away from campus and their own players as the biggest problem with the summertime.
“I have my team over for a barbecue before I leave in July,” one coach said. “Little do they know it’s a farewell, not a welcome barbecue.”
“You walk into a living room and promise a mother that you’ll be there for her son,” said another. “And as soon as they get on campus, you’re gone.”
“They’re all on campus and I’m on the road,” added another. “If they do something stupid, I’m going to get fired — but I can’t be there to see what they’re doing.”
Some other popular grievances:
“What don’t I like? All of it. I don’t think there should be summer recruiting, period. They want to clean it up? Get rid of it.”
“I’ll tell you another problem — 70 percent of the kids we’re sitting here watching should be in summer school. They shouldn’t be here.”
“What don’t I like about summer? Everything. The babysitting, the ass-kissing. Does that cover it?”
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 11:54 AM. Add a comment
Interesting… The Sporting News (Digital Edition) released today all the Men’s Division I basketball attendance figures for the 2009 – 10 season. There is both the Top 100 individual schools as well as the conference by conference breakdown.
The page is linked below.
Division I Men’s 2009-10 Attendance
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:47 PM. Add a comment
From Associated Press
Players on teams headed to the NCAA women’s tournament are graduating at a higher rate than those in the men’s field, a study released Tuesday showed.
An annual report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida also found that the graduation gap between white and black players is smaller among women than men.
There were 19 women’s teams that had a 100 percent graduation rate compared to six men’s teams. And 51 women’s teams graduated at least 70 percent of their players compared to 29 men’s teams.
Richard Lapchick, director of the institute, said overall graduation rates for men and women have continued to increase at a similar pace, so the disparity is not that alarming.
“For me, it’s not as worrying as the gap between black and white,” Lapchick said. “The gap between black and white, for me, is a continuation of a historical pattern that dates back to segregation when everybody was not afforded the same opportunities. In this case, women have turned the tables on past inequality and are getting recognized.”
NCAA spokesman Chuck Wynne said the collegiate sports governing body was “extremely proud” of the increasing graduation rates for women but did not address specifics about the gender or racial gaps.
“From baseline to baseline, our game continues to get better even as our student-athletes continue to excel academically,” Wynne said in a statement. “It’s a tribute to our student-athletes and coaches who work so hard to make it happen.”
Looking at just the women’s tournament, the report found that 50 teams graduated at least 70 percent of their white players, but only 40 teams graduated that same percentage of African American players. That makes for a 14 percent gap; the men had a 48 percent disparity in the same category.
Lapchick said the pull of the NBA and international men’s basketball leagues have put the emphasis on playing professionally and have taken the focus away from education.
“There’s that belief that so many men have had since they were boys that they would play in the NBA, Europe or somewhere else professionally,” he said. “There is a culture in men’s sports that focuses on playing professionally. The women’s game has historically had more emphasis on education” because going pro was less of an option.
Jarrod Chin, director of violence prevention and diversity at Northeastern University’s Sport in Society, said the gender gap is a social issue that goes beyond athletics.
“The educational gender gap has been increasing not only in sports, but overall,” Chin said. “We tend to think of women as more book smart, so we value education more with them. Men, unfortunately, we value athleticism more. So we don’t place as much emphasis on education.”
The report measures six-year graduation rates for the freshman classes that entered college from the 1999-2000 through the 2002-03 school years. The report relies on information provided by the NCAA and not federal graduation rates, which don’t account for transfer students.
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago at 6:23 PM. Add a comment
Here is a look at ALL the Men’s NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament results so far:
Posted 5 months, 4 weeks ago at 8:52 AM. Add a comment
