The Aftermath of Being Fleeced By Gonzaga: Three Steps To Recovery

Washington State University athletic director Bill Moos has become known as the savior of Cougar athletics, thanks to his hiring of Mike Leach and the facility improvements for football, but that reputation is rapidly coming under fire after thethree-year contract with Gonzaga was leaked. Most Cougar fans were not happy with losing a home game for an expected neutral site game, and now that it’s been confirmed that the game in the Spokane Arena is a home game for the Bulldogs (and therefore WSU will get exactly $0 for the game)…many Cougar faithful are irate.

It’s ridiculous that a Pac-12 school is submitting to a WCC school, and the fact that it’s one of the Cougs’ biggest basketball rivals is even more ridiculous. Especially when you realize that all Washington State is getting out of this is a promise of good seats for alum and being allowed to bring the spirit squad…no, I’m not kidding:

“I didn’t think we could close the deal and I thought we were in jeopardy of losing the rivalry,’ Moos said. ‘So I conceded, and I appreciated their dilemma. I conceded that with the stipulation that we could bring our spirit squads and band, and that we get some good tickets for our fans.”

In other words, Moos got fleeced by Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth and men’s basketball coach Mark Few.

The fact that the Cougars got fleeced is quite agitating, and disappointing. Now Cougar faithful need to begin to move on from the pain…and we at Sports with Neil and friendshave a list of three things that can be done by Cougs everywhere to get over Gonzaga’s power play: Continue Reading->

Follow @sportswithneil Follow @nvr93

[gigya allowScriptAccess=”always” src=”http://funds.gofundme.com/Widgetflex.swf” quality=”high” flashVars=”page=5ppcb0&template=4″ wmode=”transparent” width=”258″ height=”338″]

According To a Report: Gonzaga Threatened To End Its 107-Year Rivalry With Washington State

Cougfan is reporting that Gonzaga Bulldog’s men’s basketball head coach Mark Few and athletic director Mike Roth threatened to end the 107-year old rivalry with Washington State, unless the Cougs agreed to play two games in Spokane — a road game at the Kennel and a home game at Spokane Arena. According to Cougfan’s article, WSU athletic director Bill Moos was tempted to cancel the rivalry but decided that having the game was more important than not having it.

The contract between the two schools mentioned in the article has WSU traveling to play Gonzaga in “the Kennel “(WSU lost this match-up, 74-90), in Spokane Arena (2014-2015 season), and in Pullman (2015-2016). This contract was agreed to before the most recent basketball season — which ended for the Cougs in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament — and remained hidden from the public eye until it was leaked in an article in the Gonzaga Bulletin (Gonzaga’s student newspaper) on April 17th, 2014. Continue Reading->

Follow @sportswithneil Follow @nvr93

[gigya allowScriptAccess=”always” src=”http://funds.gofundme.com/Widgetflex.swf” quality=”high” flashVars=”page=5ppcb0&template=4″ wmode=”transparent” width=”258″ height=”338″]

Battle of the Blue Bloods Goes to UConn Huskies

In an ultra rare match-up between a seven and an eight seed in the National Championship game, it felt more like a battle of two traditional powers who are ranked number one. While both teams have a pedigree of championships, both of these teams are on the way back up form a down turn the last few years.

To read the rest; please continue to Kody’s Sports Korner.

Mustangs Race Past Tigers to Advance

SMU Mustangs defeat Clemson 65-59 to advance to NIT finals

In a recurring theme in the NIT tournament, the Mustangs came out looking sluggish and had trouble getting started in their semi-final game at Madison Square Garden, and they once again went in at the half with a deficit. But in True SMU fashion, they fought back and snatched victory in the final minutes.

To read the rest; please continue to Kody’s Sports Korner.

Regardless of Ending; Mustangs’ Season Has Been a Special One

Mustangs heading to New York to try to win NIT

When the season started, most “experts” and people around the program were thinking SMU would show a vast improvement from last season and probably finish around the middle of the conference. But I don’t think anyone would have expected the Mustangs to start out like they did and make it nearly the whole season without losing at home.

In fact, they finished the season with only one loss at home, and the lone loss was to defending National Champion Louisville. Even though the Mustangs lost their last three games to end the season and were “snubbed” by the selection committee, they have risen to the challenge and are taking the NIT by storm. While it isn’t the marquee tournament, the NIT is a great showcase for this program which looks to be just starting a rise to national prominence.

To read the rest; please continue to Kody’s Sports Korner.

The Opportunist: Wally Szczerbiak’s NBA Career

As the Sweet 16 boils down to the Elite Eight, I’d like to turn your attention to a man who turned his knack for striking while the iron’s hot into a decade-plus-long NBA career. It was during the tournament in 1999, when Wally Szczerbiak stormed onto the national scene. His Miami, Ohio RedHawks were the 10 seed, facing the heavily-favored, seventh seeded Washington Huskies.

In a 59-58 win over Washington, Szczerbiak scored a remarkable 43 points. He took 33 shots from the field–the rest of the Red Hawks attempted just 22 shots. He collected 12 boards and shot 5-12 from three-point land. The team advanced to the second round, where they took on the 2-seeded Utah Utes.

It was a showdown featuring Szczerbiak versus Utah’s future NBA sharpshooter Andre Miller. Miller did his best, scoring 20 points and grabbing six rebounds, but it was Miami of Ohio, behind Szczerbiak’s 24-point, 8-rebound effort, continuing their Cinderella run to the Sweet 16. Miami finally lost to Kentucky, but Wally Szczerbiak became a household name (once households learned how to pronounce it).

Wally went sixth overall to the Timberwolves  in that year’s draft. His tourney foe Andre Miller went eighth. After an impressive rookie season, two more solid years followed for Szczerbiak, including his 2002 campaign–his best as a pro. He made his lone All-Star game appearance in 2002 for the T-Wolves. And that off-season, seeing what they had in Szczerbiak, Minnesota decided they NEEDED to keep Wally in the Twin Cities, so they gave him a 6-year, $63 million extension, the structure of which was heavily back-loaded.

Six  years and several teams later, Szczerbiak was one of the richest bench players in the NBA and an annual member of the NBA’s All-Expiring-Contract team, the players of which are constantly on tour throughout the land, and whom are traded mid-season almost every year (See: Raef LaFrentz). He was somewhat famously involved in the trade that sent Ray Allen to the Celtics, as he moved to Seattle before their final season as the SuperSonics in 2007-08.

He now works in broadcasting, as a member of the MSG network post-game crew for Knicks games. In total, Szczerbiak played parts of twelve seasons in the NBA, and was a pretty good player (14.1 PPG). But he always carried the “ridiculously overpaid” moniker. I say he was simply one of the most opportunistic players the game has ever seen. It’s good work, as they say, if ya can get it.

Mustangs Use 2nd Half Run to Whip Tigers

The SMU Mustangs defeated the LSU Tigers on Wednesday night in front of a sold out and crazy Moody Coliseum. While the final score was 80-67, the game wasn’t always in hand for the Mustangs. The Tigers seemed to control the first half and kept the game in their control for the better part of the first half. LSU came out and seemed to find ways to keep LSU against the ropes during the early part of the game. SMU also had a slow start in their first round match up against UC Irvine, but much like the last game, SMU was able to find some rhythm to get back in the game.

To read the rest; please continue to Kody’s Sports Korner

SBM Exclusive: The BLAST-CAST – Volume 13: How the “Bracket” Has Simultaneously Made and Destroyed College Basketball

Now that the NCAA Basketball Tournament is down to the Sweet Sixteen,  Ryan Meehan from East End Philadelphia and J-Dub from Dubsism have taken it upon themselves to educate you, the podcast-listening, blog-reading public as to how the cultural phenomenon known as the “Brackets” has been both a boon and a bane to college basketball. It’s a complex conversation, but one that will expose some truths about college basketball you may not have known.

Click here to listen to or download the Blast-Cast (MP3 format)…The Blast-Cast is also available on Itunes; just search “SportsBlogMovement.”

Yet Another Year Where My Brackets Call For a Disaster Analogy

Dubsism

Obviously, there’s a black hole out there that swallows airliners and J-Dub’s brackets.

Last year, the analogy I made to the disaster that is my bracket was to a crashing airliner.  Last year was the first in all my years of this basketball-driven self-flagellation where I lost my champion in the first weekend.  This year marks the worst bracket I’ve ever had while still keep all of my Final Four intact.  Somehow, I managed to end up tied for ninth in a sixteen-team pool.

There’s two weird part is that despite the fact that I’ve already lost three of my Elite 8, I am in a perfect position to make up some serious ground next weekend. Not only do I have all of my Final Four, but in the Schadenfreude portion of this blog, it’s time to  look not at how intact my bracket is, but how fucked the…

View original post 285 more words

SMU Mustangs Defeat UC Irvine to Advance in NIT

SMU Mustangs advance in NIT

The SMU Mustangs defeated the UC Irvine Anteaters 68-54 on Thursday night in the first round match up in the NIT tournament. The mood was set early on with the Crowd starting a chant of “SMU” before the opening tip, unfortunately for the Mustangs, they had a little bit of a sluggish start, but were able to adjust during the course of the game to turn a slow start into a fast win.

To read the rest; continue to Kody’s Sports Korner