Is Jim Tressel Bullet-Proof?

Jim Tressel's five-game suspension has been the least talked about piece of important news in sports recently. Is the Ohio State head football coach getting enough criticism for this incident? Tressel essentially knowingly allowed his players to break NCAA rules for nine months and did nothing to stop them. When they were caught, he never made mention of the fact that he knew what they were doing. It was later found out that he did in fact know of the violations. This sounds almost similar to the situation that may ultimately result in Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl losing his job. Why is Tressel hardly being criticized for what many people would view as blatant disregard for the rules. The reactions of both the media and college football fans have really puzzled me since this story broke. Remember when we found out Bill Bilicheck was a cheater? Why has Tressel not received Spygate-type media attention for this fiasco that he allowed to take place for nearly an entire calander year? Are we allowed to talk bad about Jim Tressel?

What About the Girls?

The NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tournament completed its first round this weekend at various sites around the country. The field began with 64 teams and has now been cut down to 32 after two days of action. The women's tourney doesn't feature many first round upsets and doesn't begin to get competitive until the second round (which begins today). Here's a breakdown of what has happened so far and what we can look forward to in the next few weeks on the road to Indianapolis. 


BLOWOUT CENTRAL - The first round of the women's tournament doesn't produce a lot of great games like the men's tournament, but some of the blowouts are absolutely epic...

• Tennessee took out Stetson 99-34. The Lady Volunteers led by 35 at halftime and never let up.
• Duke downed Tennessee-Martin 90-45. Duke only led by 10 at the half before outscoring UTM 49-14 in the second half.
• Connecticut eliminated in-state rival Hartford with a 75-39 beating. This margin of victory is a little bit low for Uconn's high standards.
• Texas A&M absolutely drilled McNeese State 87-47. The Aggies led 41-15 at the half and obviously didn't slow down in the second half.
• Baylor didn't score a lot against Prairie View A&M, but the Panthers barely scored at all. The Lady Bears won 66-30, but PVAM had to rally to get those 30 points after going to halftime down 36-8.

WELL, THEY ALMOST PULLED OFF AN UPSET - On the women's side of things, upsets don't happen very often. That's why we appreciate the teams that keep it close...

• Hampton took Kentucky to overtime before falling 66-62 in the most thrilling upset bid of the weekend.
• Green Bay has only lost one game all year, but the Phoenix was close to losing their first game of the NCAA's. Arkansas-Little Rock tested Green Bay until the final minute before falling 59-55.
• Northern Iowa had a chance to tie the game on their final possession but couldn't convert, allowing Michigan State the opportunity to escape with a 69-66 victory.

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, CINDERELLA HAS ARRIVED - Only three double-digit seeds advanced to the second round. Two of them where 10-seeds, the third team is...

• The Gonzaga Bulldogs have out-grown their mid-major label on the men's side of the gym, but the ladies are working to rid themselves of that tag as well. The 11-seeded Zags took out Iowa 92-86 behind future pro Courtney Vandersloot's career high 34 points and now look to extend their tourney run into the second weekend. The Bulldogs are the lowest remaining seed in the field but they don't have the look of an underdog. They look as if they have just as much of an outside shot at the Final Four as every other team outside of the top 8 overall seeds.   

The women's tournament may not possess as much pizazz as the men's tourney, but the ladies definitely know how to play, and the tournament picks up a lot of intensity in the later rounds. The Final Four could be one of the best ever if all four top seeds make it through.

Only The "Sweet Sixteen" Remain

After one week of NCAA tournament action, only 16 teams still have a chance to cut down the nets two weeks from today in Houston.  The tournament was as thrilling as ever, with all the upsets and buzzer-beaters that one would expect in March. Here's a rundown of what happened and what's left to come. 

THE UPSETS - The teams that shocked the world and ruined brackets nationwide...

• Virginia Commonwealth was a controversial invitee to the Big Dance, but they have made the most of their appearance. As of today, the Rams have won more games than any other team remaining in the field (three) after starting their tournament journey in the "First Four" promotional gimmick games. VCU has already sent home USC, Georgetown, and Purdue, and will face an unlikely opponent that will be featured later in this list. The Rams did not even watch Selection Sunday as a team, having no idea that they would be invited to the NCAA Tournament, but they have justified their questionable inclusion by proving to be a very difficult team to send home.
• VCU's Sweet Sixteen opponent will be Florida State. The Seminoles throttled Notre Dame on their way to the tournament's second weekend.  The 'Noles have plenty of NBA-type talent on their roster, and they finally played like it against the Irish. Now FSU finds themselves two wins away from one of the most unexpected Final Four runs in recent memory. 
• Richmond was a popular upset pick but that didn't make their first round victory over Vanderbilt any less impressive. After benefitting from a broken bracket, the Spiders played their second game as a 12-seeded home team against Morehead State. Richmond handled the Eagles impressively, but now must face Kansas in Sweet Sixteen. 
• Morehead State won't be dancing next weekend, but the Eagles left their mark on the bracket by ridding the tournament of fourth seeded Louisville in thrilling fashion before bowing out to a hot-shooting Richmond team two days later.  
• Marquette got past Xavier in a game that people didn't think of as an actual upset, but the Golden Eagles definitely became a Cinderella story after they defeated Syracuse to make the Sweet Sixteen. Now Marquette will meet North Carolina for a spot in the Elite Eight.
• The Butler has done it again. For the second year in a row, the Bulldogs knocked off a top seed from the Big East to advance in the NCAAs. Last year Syracuse took the fall, but this year it was Pittsburgh who had their run cut short in a wild and controversial ending. Butler has an excellent shot at reaching the Final Four for a second straight year, a concept that nearly seems unfathomable when you look at the resources afforded to the tiny school from the Horizon League.

THE BUZZER-BEATERS AND NEAR MISSES - These were the games that make March a month of Madness...

• Freshman Brandon Knight dropped a driving lay-in to lift Kentucky over Princeton 59-57, killing the potential for one of this tournament's biggest and unlikeliest upsets.
• Georgia guard Travis Leslie couldn't knock down an off balance three to force overtime against Washington. The Huskies survived 68-65.
• Derrick Williams swatted Wesley Witherspoon in the final seconds to preserve a 77-75 victory for Arizona over Memphis. 
• Juan Fernandez buried a leaning jumper with .4 seconds left to send Temple past in-state rival Penn State 66-64. 
• Vanderbilt could only manage a desperation heave from Rod Odom in the final seconds against Richmond. The "Hail Mary" heave was ultimately a prayer unanswered and Vandy went went home early again, this time by the score of 69-66.
• Morehead State decided before the game that if they trailed by two in the final seconds, they would go for the win against fourth seeded Louisville. The Eagles didn't back down from that decision in the final moments. Demonte Harper drilled a triple with four seconds left to secure the 62-61 win in what has so far been the biggest and most exciting upset of the tournament. 
• After a play that featured mostly mass panic and chaos for the Butler Bulldogs, Matt Howard laid in a loose ball that was batted into his waiting hands with just a second remaining. The ball filled the cylinder as time expired, giving Butler the 60-58 victory and crushing Old Dominion.
• Michigan State came back from 23 points behind to give UCLA quite the scare before Kalin Lucas traveled on his half court buzzer-beating attempt. The shot wasn't close, but Lucas traveled first. The Bruins barely escaped with a 78-76 victory.
• Controversy marred the ending of Washington's loss to North Carolina. Referees failed to make sure that the clock was correct before Washington attempted to tie the game on the final possession. The Huskies, down three, got an off balanced look at the basket from Isaiah Thomas  in the .5 seconds that were alotted to them that fell short. Video replay later confirmed that well over a full second should have remained on the clock for the final play. The referees of the game claimed that they would have checked the clock if they had been asked by the UW bench. Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar told the media that he did ask the refs about the clock and was told that the clock had already been checked. We'll never know what the outcome of this game would have been if Thomas could have gotten the ball with the proper time remaining on the clock.
• Michigan point guard Darius Morris missed a runner on his team's final position, failing to fully complete a 15 point second-half comeback. Duke would hold on to beat the Wolverines 73-71 in one of the best games of the tournament so far.
• Arizona got a three-point play from Derrick Williams in the final seconds before smothering Texas on their final possession and escaping with a 70-69 win over the Longhorns.
• The best finish this tournament has seen so far came from Butler and Pittsburgh, due to their final second fouling spree in DC. After Butler took a one-point lead on a well executed play. Butler's Shelvin Mack fouled Gilbert Brown with two seconds remaining. Brown would split the free throws, but after missing the second attempt, Nasir Robinson inexplicably hacked Butler's Matt Howard as he secured the rebound. Howard nailed a free throw to give the Bulldogs a 71-70 win.

THE BRACKET - These are the 16 teams that remain on the road to the Final Four...

EAST REGIONAL (Newark, NJ) 
(1)Ohio State
(4)Kentucky

(2)North Carolina
(11)Marquette

WEST  REGIONAL (Anaheim, CA)
(1)Duke
(5)Arizona

(2)San Diego State
(3)Connecticut

SOUTHWEST REGIONAL (San Antonio, TX)
(1)Kansas
(12)Richmond

(10)Florida State
(11)Virginia Commonwealth

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL (New Orleans, LA)
(2)Florida
(3)Brigham Young

(4)Wisconsin
(8)Butler