KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive has suspended Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl for the Volunteers' first eight conference games as punishment for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators.
In essence this is a slap on the wrist for willfully lying to NCAA investigators. We feel former Indiana coach Sampson did LESS and was fired and practically banned from coaching. Are you kidding us? Yes, Sampson was scum and Pearl is a likable guy and winning coach. But should that matter?
Michigan State just gave coach Tom Izzo a $500,000 raise. In case you're keeping track of stuff like that he now makes $3.49 million a year.
But wait, there's more!
Instead of offering him the perk of use of a car from the university pool this publicly funded institution decided to give Izzo use of a private plane. For personal use.
Can't close games. Horrible three point shooting. Can't win the games they should. No signature wins. Ever. Dependent on other teams doing badly. 2nd tier recruits.
All those demons were exercised last night. At 1:30 am we discovered we had a good basketball team. A really good basketball team. At HOME Gonzaga only led once during the game. SDSU made the three point shots they had to make in the second half. And they closed the game by playing nearly error free basketball, outside of that charge call with 38 seconds left. DJ Gay and Kawhi Leonard can flat out ball. And the Aztecs leave Spokane with their first signature win.
Usually we do liveblogs but for various reasons it didn't pan out. So we are going to do a running commentary of the various games. Keep refreshing this page for the latest moronic things we say.
7:48 pm - Overheard during the Ohio State/Florida game: "Florida has proven they are not ready for elite competition." We think about the SDSU/Gonzaga game later tonight and collectively start to bite our nails.
8:50 pm - When Louisville guard Preston Knowles made a long range 3 late in the first half against Butler Gabby shouted "Woooooo! Fresh Food Fast!"
9:00 pm - There's a fucking Evan Williams Bourbon bar at the University of Louisville's basketball center!?
9:25 pm - Exacto...
9:55 pm - There seems to be long stretches of time where Dick Vitale and Dan Shulman aren't even paying attention to the Butler/Louisville game.
10:32 pm - Louisville fittingly plays "Happy Trails" to Butler and we are T minus 27 minutes until the game of the centurydecadeyearweek night.
11:01 pm - Oh no they didn't! We are forced to watch the beginning of the SDSU/Gonzaga game on ESPN 3 because of some danged football game still going on ESPN 2. Why won't you just DIE, Temple?
11:24 pm - We are starting in familiar territory. Aztecs are missing open looks...
11:29 pm - Gonzaga fan screams at ref "What the hell are you lookin' at?!?!" Nice.
11:49 pm - Oh no they didn't 2! They cut away from SDSU/Gonzaga to show the closing seconds of Tennessee/Belmont? Why? Just because the Volunteers are up by only 3?
The hype machine has begun. The pressure is on. Can the California State University, San Diego's basketball team fulfill expectations? Is this a team worthy of the praise and accolades, hopes and dreams? In short, is this a team of destiny?
Gabby - Former Sports Illustrated.com contributor and all around college hoops addict Gabby is our editor-in-chief and so called "visionary".
The Gang - Associated tag alongs and suck ups who provide any support necessary for El Jefe.
We're just folks with the dream of enjoying every bit of college basketball possible. Don't expect in-depth analysis or serious picks. We just do color commentary on the wonderful thing that is the madness of NCAA Men's Basketball.
