All About College Sports: Spring Cleaning

In this part of the world there is an annual ritual this time of year: spring cleaning. But in parts of the United States, it doesn’t even feel like spring. Cold, rain and snow are making the weather news.

But it’s time to perform a spring cleaning of my blog “All About College Sports.” College football and college basketball produce the most interest of any college sports and those playing seasons are over. Consequently, I will limit my blog posts considerably in the next few months. From time-to-time, I will see write blogs on the “hot news” items, but it’s time for a break.

I have been doing this blog since 2008. It’s been an opportunity to produce fresh content for my readers based on the wonderful world of college sports. I consider myself a college sports junkie. It’s fun following the sports and the personalities. Sometimes I take winning and losing a little too seriously but that’s part of being a fan, I guess.

Early in the basketball season, I questioned whether I wanted to continue this blog. There are tons of sports voices out there seeking to be read. Mine frankly is pretty small. But, I guess that’s okay.

I would enjoy hearing from my readers as I wrestle with my decision. What do you enjoy about my blog? What don’t you enjoy? What kinds of things should I write about? It would be great if you flood my blog with comments. I will read all of the comments.

Numbers are sometimes interesting. According to the numbers, the best read blog has been in a landside “Bobby Petrino’s family. That was an extremely sad story. Interestingly, No. 2 is “Vanderbilt’s Basketball Court.” The set-up is unique and so cool with the benches behind the baskets. Another surprise is No. 5 with “Dave Diles-College Football Scoreboard.” Like me, you folks must have keen memories of Diles reading those scores each Saturday.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to read those blogs, I invite you to take a peak.

Thank you for your faithful readership. Again, I would enjoy hearing from you in the comments.

Best, Paul

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my readers. It is a blessed time of year when we celebrate Jesus coming as a baby. This is the true meaning of Christmas.

Thank you for reading my blog and even commenting on my posts. I am blessed to have readers here in the United States and across the seas.

I plan to take a break for the holidays but will return with words and comments about the wonderful world of college athletics.

Blessings,

Paul

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my United States readers. We have much to be thankful for in this country despite our challenges. God has truly blessed us. Enjoy the day.

Bubbles, Bubbles and More Bubbles

And you thought the political season was taking a rest.

Not so. The bids for 68 NCAA men’s basketball tournaments slots are available.

This is political. That’s why if you haven’t heard of the term “bubble” and you are anyway connected with college basketball, you have really been outside the United States.

For my foreign readers, the team “bubble” refers to teams hoping to land a spot in the NCAA tournament. Frankly, they are at the mercy of the NCAA selection committee.

The national sports press daily updates fans with teams squarely on the bubble, those beyond the bubble (expected to get in the tournament) and those off the bubble. It creates fan interest but also high anxiety for the bubble teams.

Bubble teams are usually ones who has an average or above average conference record. They also have respectable overall marks with some quality wins and some bad losses.

With the NCAA tournament only a couple weeks away, you listen to lots of campaign speeches. You will hear conference coaches praising other teams in hopes their league will get more teams in the tournament or “Big Dance” as it’s called. Conference commissioners will provide a similar speech. I even heard a couple conference announcers tell their world how wonderful a few of their teams were. I thought to myself…please.

But the bottom line is if teams take care of business on the court, they will impress the selection committee and earn a bid.

Unfortunately, we will continue to hear about the bubble until we are bubbled out.

Tony Bennett the Basketball Coach

There are two famous Tony Bennetts in the United States, but this is a piece about the less famous Bennett.

Most people have heard about the singer Tony Bennett. But there is also another Bennett laboring as head coach at the University of Virginia.

The basketball Bennett is having a tough season. In year two of his tenure at Virginia, Bennett’s team is just 12-12 and 3-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In all fairness, Virginia lacks bodies (injuries) and talent. In the ACC, you need talent or you go to the bottom of the league. It’s basically Duke and North Carolina on a yearly basis. Oh sure, there are exceptions with the likes of Georgia Tech, Maryland etc. occasionally, but this is generally a two-team league.

Bennett is a good coach. He did it at Washington State. He is building a basketball family at Virginia. Bennett needs time and better players. He needs patience from the administration and fans. This obviously will not be a quick fix. Will he be able to compete in a Duke-North Carolina dominated league? We wait for that answer.

I am a huge Tony Bennett supporter. I met the guy when he was playing professional basketball in New Zealand. I was impressed with his genuineness and humility. Word has it he is the same guy today.

Bennett will not failure due to lack of effort or love and care for his players. The guy is a winner no matter what happens.

Happy New Year

I want to provide you warm wishes for a great 2011. The year 2010 is about in the books here in the middle section of the United States. Lots of interesting stuff happened in the college sports world in 2010 and look for the same in 2011.

I'm thinking the Stanford women's basketball team will remember 2010 for a long time. The Cardinal will recall that Dec. 30 it ended Connecticut's 80-game win streak.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I hope my United States readers are having a blessed Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for even in tough times. And I am sure my readers outside the states have much to be thankful for too.

Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate your support.

Paul

Basketball in Rwanda

Editor's Note: This blog was written in Rwanda. Maybe in the future, Rwanda will supply players for college teams in the United States.

I sat down with the technical director of basketball here in Kigali, Rwanda, Shema Didier, to learn more about the state of Rwanda basketball.

Didiers' role involves competitions, training and clinics. He met with AIA staff last May to coordinate our visit.

Didier said that Rwanda started playing basketball in 1977. It sponsors senior, second and junior level teams. They are no professional teams. Rwanda participates in different African championships. It finished just 12th in Angola in 2007, but improved to 9th in Liberia in 2009. Rwanda hopes to make the finals in 2011. It also hopes to participate in world competitions in the future.

The technical director appreciates AIA's presence. He believes AIA offers a good program with expert coaches that teach Christian principles.

“That (Christian principles) is so, so good for the development of players,” he said.