Big Four Classic in Iowa

The four Iowa Division I men’s basketball teams will be together Saturday for the first annual Big Four Basketball Classis.

In the past Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa (UNI) and Drake scheduled home-and-away games with each other. This tournament will replace games on the respective campuses.

The schools agreed to a four-year arrangement with all games at the Wells Fargo arena in the Iowa capital city of Des Moines.

Apparently, Iowa and Iowa State pushed for the tournament because these schools wanted greater freedom in non-conference scheduling. Some say it was big brother (Iowa and Iowa State) telling little brother (UNI and Drake) the new conditions of the basketball arrangement. UNI and Drake apparently bemoaned the loss of revenue and exposure of playing games on their campuses. UNI and Drake will still receive revenue for the tournament but will loss the domino effect for its campuses and communities.

In this year’s matchup, Iowa will oppose UNI in the first game and Iowa State-Drake follow in the second one. One sorry aspect is the television package. There is no statewide coverage on any local station. The Iowa-UNI game will air on the Big Ten network and the Iowa State-Drake will air on a another cable company will limited Iowa coverage.

This whole tournament seems to be about the money. That’s a common and dangerous trend in college sports today. But maybe the new format will become the new normal similar to happiness with $3.50 gasoline.

What do you think about this new tournament?

College Basketball In Iowa

Iowa is a small state. I think the population is around three million. But small or not, Iowans enjoy basketball. Tonight, many Iowans’ eyes and some others (on the Big Ten Network) will watch Iowa host Iowa State in the big rivalry game.

The Iowa State-Iowa games are friendly rivalries. Sure, there is some trash talk going back-and-forth, but nobody sets fires to the other team’s cars.

The 2012 men’s basketball portion should offer a competitive game. Both have two losses each. All the losses have come against quality opponents. Nearly all of the two team’s victories have come again non-quality opponents so it’s difficult to measure the real strengths and weaknesses of each team.

This game should be a type of measuring stick particularly for the road team—Iowa State. The Cyclones are looking for their third straight win against Iowa and maybe a resume builder for the NCAA tournament.

Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffrey has awoken Hawkeye fans from their basketball slumber. McCaffrey has brought an up tempo style back to Iowa City and some solid recruits. He’s building a program and the Iowa faithful would enjoy earning a NCAA bid this year after going to the NIT last season.

With Fred Hoiberg at the Iowa State helm and McCaffrey at Iowa, this rivalry should be in good shape for a number of years.

College Football Media Days

In case you missed it, we have added another season to the college football calendar—football media days.

We can thank the 24-hour news cycle once again for bringing us this new season.

In the old days, media people as a group would actually go to a college campus and interview coaches and players. For example, if the media was on the Big Ten Conference tour one day they would travel to Wisconsin. The next day, maybe Purdue. The media would go to all 10 teams. That was of course before conference expansion.

Now, the coaches and players are brought to a central location where media people can interview them all in one place. Another change is networks such as the Big Ten and ESPN televise the gatherings.

I don’t know about you, but I have more important things to do than watching Joe Coach talk about the upcoming season. I call this “vanilla” TV. The coach doesn’t reveal any deep secrets or change in strategy. It’s basically a rah-rah speech.

But apparently some people watch these rah-rah speeches or obviously the media days wouldn’t be on TV. I’m more than willing to wait however until training camp or read a football preview magazine to prepare for the upcoming season.

Do you enjoy media days’ coverage? If yes, why?

Say It Ain't So, Gus

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Gus Johnson and CBS have parted ways.

If the news is correct, Johnson will no longer call NCAA basketball games for the “eye” network. According to the report, many young viewers enjoy Johnson.

I’m not young, but I appreciate his work. Gus is plenty excitable and it rubs off. He has his own signature words and I love the one “pure.” Johnson shouts that out when a player hits a clean jump shot.

Johnson has done college CBS games for 16 (I think) years. He will be missed. Jim Nance is serviceable, but Johnson is the better announcer. Johnson probably knew that Nance would not release his No. 1 announcer position soon.

But Johnson shouldn’t be totally gone. Hopefully, the Big Ten Network will continue its association with Gus. That way, I can still receive my fix of “pure” calls. I have to have some reason to watch the Big Ten Network.

Texas Longhorns Get Their Own Network

They say everything is bigger in Texas and that holds true for Texas Longhorn athletics.

According to reports, Texas and ESPN will join forces to offer a 24-hour Longhorn network later this year.

Now you know why the Longhorns didn’t jump to the Big Ten conference or any other conference. Texas doesn’t want to become part of the pie, it wants to become the whole pie.

Notre Dame was the first school to televise its games exclusively. Then the Big Ten rolled out its network and put millions of dollars in its member-schools laps. By the way if you have cable or satellite, you are contributing to the Big Ten’s bottom line.

So now it’s Texas’ turn to make the big splash and the big dollars. Maybe Texas football coach Mack Brown will get a pay raise. That’s my attempt at a joke, sorry. For my foreign readers, Brown is making 5.1 million per year. That is huge American dollars.

My biggest question in this is what’s ESPN’s role? Will the sports network plaster Longhorn ads on its other channels? Will they give Texas more game exposure on its other channels? Will ESPN become an arm of the Texas athletic department?

At the very least, prepare yourself to see plenty of the burnt orange color scheme and the hook ‘em Horn’s symbol.

What do you think of Texas’ plan?

Minnesota Golden Gophers Need a Splash Hire

The Tim Brewster watch is finally over at Minnesota.

Not many coaches get fired in mid-season, but a change was necessary. The bleeding wouldn’t stop. So instead of having a lame duck coach for the rest of the year, Brewster is gone.

Brewster received a nice going away package—reportedly $600,000. Not bad for a coach who won one game this season and couldn’t beat teams like North Dakota State and South Dakota.

Brewster will be fine. He will resurface as an assistant coach somewhere. That is the usual former head coach route.

But the Golden Gophers are in trouble. This season is pretty much a wash. The coaches and athletic director will say all the right public relations things, but it will be tough to salvage this season.

Right now, Minnesota clings to basically two positive things: a beautiful, fairly new stadium and money from the Big Ten Network.

Minnesota need a wow hire as its next football coach. No, Glen Mason or Brewsters this time around. The Gophers need to spend money on a name coach or a so-called can’t miss rising young star.

Two guys who jump out are Mike Leach and Skip Holtz. Leach had his well-documented problems at Texas Tech but would bring some excitement to the Gophers with a high-scoring offense. Holtz keeps winning at East Carolina and might want to jump to Minnesota if asked. His famous dad, Lou had a short stint with the Gophers.

The bottom line is things cannot become much worse with the Minnesota football program. The selling hope program gets old.

The Gophers simply need results. And soon.

The Tim Brewster Watch

Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster is in big, big trouble. He came into the 2010 season needing victories to probably save his job.

But it’s not happening.

The Gophers enter their game at Wisconsin Saturday with a 1-4 marking including fourth straight loses at home. Let me repeat four straight losses AND at HOME.

The lone victory was at Middle Tennessee State. Ouch!

Brewster needs a football miracle now. The problem is negativity is as powerful as the positive stuff. And after four straight losses and talk of Brewster’s dire circumstances, will these college kids respond with fight or accept their plight?

For Minnesota fans, the Brewster era seems like a broken record. The Gophers haven’t been competitive for a number of years. Sure they have been to bowl games but with records generally around the .500 mark. Glen Mason preceded Brewster and his tenure was also rocky. Gopher fans who watch the Big Ten Network see Mason sitting on the set and probably think “The nightmare just continues.”

Being located in Iowa, we experience the good-natured Minnesota-Iowa jokes. But come the last regular season game of the year when the Gophers play Iowa, the Minnesota coach will probably be without a laughing attitude.

Because it may be his final game as coach.

The College Sports Lull

I don't care how many hours ESPNU or the Big Ten Networks spends televising track or college baseball and softball, count me out.

Fortunately, my college sports desire doesn't need a sport for every season. Frankly, track, baseball and softball holds little interest. I turn my attention to the Major Leagues during this time.

I do enjoy reading stories about the various athletic departments going out this time of year to promote its teams. That helps raise my excitement level somewhat for the upcoming football and basketball seasons. I have never attended one of the those events, but it sounds fun.

The college football magazines will be coming out in a few weeks. Again, I don't need my football fix yet. I don't care if the University of Louisiana-Monroe is ranked the 112th best team in the nation or if Florida International comes in at 121st.

But about the middle of August, I will get ready for the football season. Sports Illustrated will feature its preview issue around then, and it will spark my interest. That is when I will look at where the University of Louisiana-Monroe and Florida International are ranked. Those schools will probably never go beyond the three-digit ranking, but it is good to see this teams receive exposure. You might also learn that one of your favorite BCS universities will place schools like these this fall.

What do you do to survive the summer months with major college sports?

What's Really Going On With the Big Ten

Media reports said that the Big Ten Conference had offered Missouri, Nebraska, Rutgers and Notre Dame spots in the conference. But Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith stated that was not the case.

So who is right and wrong in this seemingly cat-and-mouse game? Are the media just trying to break a story? Is the Big Ten playing coy because its pieces haven't fallen together yet?

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is his usual quiet self. No word again from him. You can bet your retirement plan that media will hound him next week at the conference meetings. You can also bet Delany will be lost for words.

But for the sake of argument, let's say the media reports are true. If Rutgers and Notre Dame join, the college football picture wouldn't change that much.

Rutgers should jump at the opportunity. Despite its location and TV sets, this university isn't an athletic force. Here in the Midwest, I cannot remember seeing (for example) any Scarlet Knight apparel in sporting goods stores.

Notre Dame would be a great addition for the Big Ten. But unlike Rutgers, Notre Dame would probably lose with membership. Notre Dame with its own network must be thinking "Do we want to eat the whole pie or just have a piece?"

But a Missouri and Nebraska transfer would cause a ripple effect and probably destroy the Big 12. Missouri, like Rutgers, would probably jump at the chance to join. According to reports, the Tigers feel unloved in the Big 12. Can Nebraska benefit other than the money (from the Big Ten Network)? That is an interesting call.

So with most things in life, we will need to wait. I will although bet my retirement plan on Big Ten expansion. It's just who and when.