As the old saying goes, March Madness brings April Sadness. The tournament field is down to four teams, and if the first two weeks of the tournament served as any indication, the last three games have all the makings of a classic finish in Atlanta. In fact, only nine people out of 3 million participants in the Yahoo bracket challenge picked the Final Four teams correctly.

Florida Gulf Coast’s Cinderella run ended with a whimper against big brother Florida, Michigan staged an unbelievable comeback against Kansas in the only overtime game thus far, and nine seed Wichita State is in their first Final Four since 1964. Jim Boeheim and Syracuse’s oft-shaky squad have used a seamless 2-3 zone defense to get to Atlanta, while Louisville hasn’t let off the gas since their opening round throttling of North Carolina A&T.

The two games on Sunday afternoon weren’t even close, and the most shocking aspect of the day was Louisville’s Kevin Ware breaking his leg after contesting a shot from Duke’s Tyler Thornton. When Ware landed, his right shin snapped in half, exposing a considerable among of bone and leaving the entire arena shuddering. ABC News’ Liz Neporent explained the injury. Louisville players fell to their knees and wept on the court, and gathered around Ware as he was wheeled off on a stretcher. He told them to go win the game, and they abided. With the score knotted at 42, Louisville used a stellar 17-2 run to ice the game. Louisville’s stellar guard play, size and athleticism in the paint, and emotional crusade to win for their fallen teammate, the Cardinals are the favorite to win it all. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2013 NCAA Tournament field is down to 16 teams, your bracket is destroyed, and apparently Florida Gulf Coast University has a basketball team. Upsets abounded, the madness was unparalleled, and the first three rounds of the Big Dance reminded us that the title “Expert Analyst” is flimsy at best.

Of the remaining 16 teams, 30% are between seeds six through 15. For the first time in history, a number 15 seed team (Florida Gulf Coast) is in the Sweet 16. Ninth seeded Wichita State upset number one Gonzaga in a stunning third round match in which the Shockers shot an incredible 54% from three. La Salle, a 13th seed, shocked Kansas State and Mississippi to advance. The games have been unprecedented from a competitive standpoint, as Kansas and Gonzaga nearly became the first one seeds in tourney history to lose to a 16 seed.

Though predicting how the rest of the mayhem will play out makes me as mad as a March hare, I’ll play Cinderella and give it the old college try.

Midwest Region

Shocking Upset: No. 12 Oregon 74, No. 4. St. Louis 57

Sweet 16 Match Ups:

No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 12 Oregon

Two teams that are playing devastatingly efficient, I think Louisville’s size advantage and inspired guard play will topple the under-seeded Ducks.

No. 2 Duke vs No. 3 Michigan St.

Michigan State will finally meet some complimentary size in the paint, but with Mason Plumlee dominating down low and Seth Curry lighting up all over the court, the Blue Devils will roll over the outmatched Spartans. Read the rest of this entry »

Dweebos, geeks, hipsters, foodies, motorheads and burnouts take notice: March Madness is here, and I know you all care. Parity in college basketball has helped small schools play significant roles come NCAA tournament time. Athletes at blue blood programs are declaring for the NBA draft earlier than ever, giving mid-major programs the opportunity to develop quality players that challenge big name schools with unsexy, yet seasoned, team-oriented recruits. That’s right smart kids, your schools are in the mix this year. Private schools, Jesuit universities, and mid-majors, and even an Ivy League school are in the Big Dance.

Let’s break down some of the NCAA tournament’s impact players, possible upsets and exciting potential match ups.

Midwest Region

Top Overall Seed: No. 1 Louisville

Don’t Sleep On: No. 4 Saint Louis

Potential Upset: No. 10 Cincinnati over No. 7 Creighton

Creighton big man Doug McDermott is a versatile scorer who can reel off 30-plus points if he’s feeling it. But Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright can score too, and their team’s solid defense and rebounding should help them prevail. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, the country’s top high school football players announced which universities they will attending. More importantly, which college football teams they’ll be playing for. Here is a list of the nation’s top 10 football recruits and where the schools with which they signed

• Robert Nkemdiche – Ole Miss



• Max Browne – USC
• Reuben Foster – Alabama
• Su’a Cravens – USC
• Thomas Tyner – Oregon
• Laquon Treadwell – Ole Miss
• Laremy Tunsil – Ole Miss
• O.J. Howard – Alabama
• Henry Poggi – Michigan
• Ty Issac – USC

See more at the New York Times and MaxPreps.com. Read the rest of this entry »

The countdown has more than begun. The next college football season in 2013 will be the last year for the BCS.

In 2014 the new 12-year contract with ESPN for the 10 FBS-level conferences will go in to effect. According to USA Today Sports, an anonymous source (due to subject sensitivity) gave them the information that about $400-600 million will go to these 10 conferences annually…and that’s not including the sales coming from tickets and merchandising from the championship game.

Since this revenue is going to be drawn out over the 12-year contract, numbers on how much goes to whom are yet to be decided. It’s being estimated that the revenue total will actually be less than $400 million during the first year but will progressively grow throughout the life of the contract to up to $600 million for the last year of the contract in 2025.

After expenses, here’s an estimated list of how the annual revenue is planning to be split:

• “Power” Conferences – 71.5%
• “Group of 5″ Conferences - 27%
• Notre Dame – slightly less than 1%
• Remaining FBS Independents - .5%

To give a brief idea on about how much revenue that could end up being, we’ll use $500 million as an example figure. After all expenses taken into consideration, about $350-375 million would be left to spread across the 10 FBS conferences (not including revenue from the contracts with the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls). Read the rest of this entry »

Sports enthusiasts know that when it comes to Olympic greatness, Michael Phelps holds the crown. In London alone Phelps dominated his opponents to bring home four gold and two silver medals, which made the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 total medals. If that isn’t bragging rights, I’m not sure what is.

But before Olympic fame and glory there was education, which is an important thing to remember for young athletes aspiring to walk in Phelps’ footsteps. And even though Phelps never pursued a formal degree, he did still see value in taking classes and coupling athletics with academics as an intentional career move.

Phelps, who was born and raised in Towson, Maryland, attended Towson High School where he graduated in 2003. While he started swimming at the ripe age of seven, it wasn’t until later that he realized his true talent. A series of swim clubs and competitions led to his qualifying for the 2000 Summer Olympics at age 15, at which point he became the youngest male athlete to make a US Olympic team in 68 years. And even though he didn’t win any medals, his next three Olympic appearances would more than make up for it. Read the rest of this entry »

In the world of college sports, back-to-school time truly only means one thing… college football season is on its way. USA Today has released their annual coaches poll for the top 25 teams for preseason college football rankings.

In the Southeastern Conference, seven of their teams made the top 25, and five of those are in the top ten. In the last six consecutive years, the Southeastern Conference has managed to take every BCS title. Leading the preseason rankings in the number spot is last year’s SEC champion LSU, followed by Alabama who beat out LSU for the BCS title.

This year is the first time since USA Today Sports started their coaches poll in 1991 that the team seated in the number one spot had fewer votes than the team placed in the second spot. Another record in this year’s preseason rankings is the tightest spread of 15 points among the top three teams in the poll.

The number one team, LSU, will be returning 15 of last year’s starters as well as 41 team members who lettered last year. Coach Les Miles was quoted as saying the team is fortunate to be in a place that allows them to compete for such a spot. “We recognize that it is more of a reflection of a body of work and understand that right now, it’s a spot that we hold and not one that has been earned. It’s a position that we enjoy. Now we have to go out and play in order to keep it,” he said.

There are six teams in the top 25 rankings that come from the Big 12 Conference, including the conference’s newcomers. Among those are last year’s preseason number one Oklahoma and newcomers TCU and West Virginia. After losing two key players to the NFL draft, Oklahoma State University has dropped to number 19, even after finishing last year’s season as the number three team in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Before 1972, female athletes practically didn’t exist beyond high school. Not only were women unable to participate in college sports because of their gender, there simply weren’t teams and programs in place for them to sign up for. But that all changed with Title IX.

The Title IX legislation was a portion of the Education Amendments of 1972, which stated in part that: “No Person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

The initial Title IX draft prepared in 1970, mentioned little of women’s athletics and its focus was instead on the hiring and employment practices of federally financed institutions. After two years of legislation, Title IX became law on July 23, 1972. However, it wasn’t until later – even 1988 – that it was ever fully carried out as the law had to be restored after essentially being ignored by college institutions for years. Read the rest of this entry »

Classes begin in just a few weeks for college students. For those who are returning from a summer break, the tricky transition of balancing classes, homework, a job, and a social life begins once more.

Imagine if you had to add “catching up” to the list because you’ll be missing the first few days of class due to the Olympics. Not from watching the games or even attending, but because you’ll be competing in the international event. Many of Team USA’s athletes will be missing class this semester while they go for the gold in London. In fact, 5/8 of the US men’s Olympic gymnasts are University of Oklahoma students!

USA Today recently compiled a list of 10 college Olympians to keep your eye on during these summer games. Read the rest of this entry »

By Dana Shultz

Pennsylvania State was dealt a heavy blow on Monday for its involvement in the child sexual abuse scandal that was centered around former football coach Jerry Sandusky. The NCAA handed Penn State a $60 million fine, banned the football team from competing in bowl games for four years, and vacated all of the team’s wins from 1998 to 2011. As well, legendary former coach Joe Paterno’s statue on campus will soon be removed.

After news of the scandal broke late last year, a grand jury investigation led to Sandusky being indicted on 52 counts of child molestation. Sandusky had founded the charity Second Mile in 1977, which aimed to help young boys in State College, Pennsylvania. The first investigation of sexual abuse took place in 1998, but no formal charges were filed. It wasn’t until 2008 that the mother of the first victim came forward and accused Sandusky of inappropriately touching her son when he was 11 or 12 years old.

The instances of abuse took place between 1994 and 2009, and some suspect even as early as the 1970s. Perhaps even more concerning was that Sandusky performed these acts either on or near Penn State campus. Read the rest of this entry »