Category Archives: indiana hoosiers

NCAA Allows Unlimited Texting to Basketball Recruits

As of today, Division I men’s basketball coaches are able to send unlimited texts and make unlimited calls to recruits who have finished their sophomore year in high school.

Kelvin Sampson was so ahead of his time. He got in trouble by making too many phone calls to recruits when he was the coach at Oklahoma and then was caught doing the same thing as the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. That act basically cost him his job, his career in the college ranks, and put the Indiana basketball program on probation.

I explain the old rules the coaches had to obey and how the new changes will affect the way NCAA men’s basketball coaches use social media. Will more followers mean more blue-chip recruits?

Under current NCAA rules, coaches can call a recruit just once a month from June 15 after his sophomore year to July 31 after his junior year. The recruit is permitted to call coaches as often as he wants. Coaches can make two phone calls a week to a recruit starting Aug. 1 after his junior year. Text messages are strictly prohibited. A coach cannot publicly message a recruit on Twitter or any other social media platform.

Those rules are no longer valid. All contact via phone, text, or tweet will be unlimited. I wonder how many of ESPN’s Top 100 will block certain coaches’ numbers?

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors adopted the rule that was recommended by its leadership council. They believe that it will help make a closer bond between the player and coach. Transfers will be reduced and the student athlete will receive the most out of their basketball career.

The Board of Directors has its heart and mind in the right place with this rule. If they want to help secure a bond between the coach and a player, why will they still make a player sit out a year if the coach that recruited him takes another job? If the NCAA wants to keep saying that a player signs with a school and not a coach, this rule goes against that notion. They need to tweak the transfer system if they want to avoid speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

Can you imagine if this rule was implemented while Bob Knight was still recruiting? His Twitter account would be the most followed of all NCAA coaches. He would go on post-game tirades and throw virtual chairs at referees with RTs from upset fans. Oh, what a great time that would have been.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

2012 NCAA Tourney – South Region Picks

The South region contains a few of my underdog predictions that I picked before the field was set. Kentucky is the huge favorite to come out of this region, but will they stumble on the way to the Final Four? Will an underdog shine and make a few upsets? VCU was one of the tournament darlings last year, can they repeat and make a long run in 2012?

#1 Kentucky vs. #16 Mississippi Valley St./Western Kentucky – Even though Vanderbilt knocked off Kentucky in the SEC Championship game, I don’t see this game will be close. Not only does Mississippi Valley State and Western Kentucky need to compete in the play-in game, but Kentucky gets to rest. This game will be the normal #1 vs. #16 blowout.

Predicted Winner: #1 Kentucky Wildcats

#8 Iowa State (22-10) vs. #9 Connecticut (20-13) Iowa State has been a surprise team this year and deserved better than a #8 seed. Connecticut started off the year sluggish, but the defending champs had a strong Big East regular season. Even thought UConn will be a popular upset pick, due to experience, I love Royce White and the rest of the Iowa State Cyclones. It’s a shame that they will have to play Kentucky in the 2nd round, because I really like them.

Predicted Winner: #8 Iowa State Cyclones

#5 Wichita State (27-5) vs. #12 Virginia Commonwealth (28-6) VCU will be a popular upset pick. The Rams are a known entity and have the experience from the run they made last year. The Wichita State Shockers have been inching their way into the Top 25 for most of the year. They were my underdog favorite going into the tournament. VCU is coming off a conference tournament win and Wichita State didn’t win the Missouri Valley conference tournament. WSU’s Garrett Stutz will need a great game to keep VCU’s backcourt from taking over the game. I like the Shockers to win a close game.

Predicted Winner – #5 Wichita State Shockers

#4 Indiana (25-8) vs. #13 New Mexico State (26-9) – Indiana lost Verdell Jones III with an ACL injury, but they shouldn’t miss him against New Mexico State. The Aggies haven’t played anyone at Indiana’s level all season. Their lone marquee win came against New Mexico, only to lose to them later in the season. Cody Zeller should dominate the game and the Hoosiers will win this contest.

Predicted Winner – #4 Indiana Hoosiers

#6 UNLV (26-8) vs. #11 Colorado (23-11) – Colorado is coming into the NCAA Tournament hot from the PAC-12 tournament win. The Buffaloes will be a popular upset pick, but don’t sleep on UNLV. They knocked off, then #1 North Carolina team earlier this season. Mike Moser has been dominating the paint all year and they have played a very tough schedule. This game will be more lopsided than most people think. I like UNLV to be a sleeper underdog pick for the later rounds.

Predicted Winner: #6 UNLV Rebels

#3 Baylor (27-7) vs. #14 South Dakota State (27-7) – Which Baylor team will show up in Albuquerque? They shouldn’t have that much trouble against The Summit League champions. If Baylor wants to advance, they need big games from Perry Jones III, Pierre Jackson, Quincy Acy and Quincy Miller. All four of these players need to be consistent, because consistency has been lacking for Baylor all year.

Predicted Winner: #3 Baylor Bears

#7 Notre Dame (22-11) vs. #10 Xavier (21-12) – This game is going to be a close one. Xavier’s Tu Holloway is one of the most-talented players in the entire tournament. He has a poor first-half of the year, but has turned it up as the season progressed. Notre Dame was supposed to have an off-year, but they ended as the Big East regular season champions. A lot of people point out that the Fighting Irish knocked off, then #1 ranked, Syracuse. I will remind you that the Orange were without Fab Melo for that game. Notre Dame needs excellent guard-play to beat Xavier. I am picking Holloway and the Musketeers to upset Notre Dame.

Predicted Winner: #10 Xavier Musketeers

#2 Duke (27-6) vs. #15 Lehigh (26-7) – As much as I would love to pick against Duke, I can’t. Lehigh’s C.J. McCollom is a scoring machine, but Duke will double-team him and Lehigh lacks scoring depth. For a small school, Lehigh has done some impressive things this year. The Plumlee boys shouldn’t have any trouble with the under-sized Moutain Hawks.

Predicted Winner: #2 Duke Blue Devils

White Boy’s 2012 NCAA Tournament Coverage
2012 NCAA Tournament: West Region Picks
2012 NCAA Tournament: East Region Picks
2012 NCAA Tournament: Midwest Region Picks
2012 NCAA Tournament: 13 Possible Upsets

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Big Ten Preview: Indiana & Purdue

Friend of the White Boy, Joe Pasquali, starts off his 2009 Big Ten Preview with the lowest teams on the totem pole, Indiana and Purdue. One team starts out with a new coach (Purdue) and the other is stuck with an inept coach (Indiana). The 2009 season may be lost for these teams, but is there any hope for the near future, Joe discusses this and much more in this post.

Finishing #10 and #11 in the Big Ten
Indiana and Purdue (Predicted finish combined 5-19)

Summary– All twenty of you Purdue and IU football fans will surely be angry I combined your two storied (hahahaha) programs in my Big Ten breakdown, but I did for good reason. Both teams share so much in common that I couldn’t separate the two and was continually mixing them up as I tried to write. Both teams will not win a game September 19th EXCEPT for when they play each other November 21st. One of them has to win that game.. I hope..

Offense (D)– Purdue will once again throw the ball fifty times a game but all Boilermaker fans will be talking about what could have been since Justin Siller was suspended for the season. Purdue will be the worst team offensively in the conference…besides IU who could be worse. Dual threat QB Kellen Lewis was dismissed from the team and Ben Chappell will be taking over in his place. IU’s offensive line is very sketchy, and though Chappell has a strong arm he is not very mobile and will get hit. A lot.

Defense (C)– IU has two of the best defensive ends in the conference with Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton, both who received some national attention on All American lists. Austin Thomas and Nick Polk add legitimacy to the linebacker core and IU should actually be decent at stopping the run this season. Purdue is the exact opposite, with a weak front seven that should roll over like an obedient dog but a secondary that ranked 2nd in the Big Ten last season. The question is, did they rank so well because everyone just ran the ball on them? Probably, but I am trying to give them SOME credit.

Special teams (C)– Both teams have below average return games and place kickers who either did not get a chance to kick a lot of field goals (Purdue) or just missed a bunch (IU). Considering they have returning starters on special teams, this could prove to be a strong point. (insert applause)

Coaching (C-)– I am not saying Danny Hope (Purdue) and Bill Lynch are bad coaches, they will do as best as they can with the players they have, but they are not part of the Big Ten’s elite. Danny Hope is taking the reins from Purdue legend Joe Tiller and will catch a lot of flak for probably have a losing season, something Tiller only did twice in 12 seasons. Lynch had a great first season with IU at 7-5 but does not have the horses to make a dent in the Big Ten. Start hitting the recruiting trail.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Pray For Dante Love

I was watching the game against Indiana and Ball State on the Big Ten Network on Saturday night and it was turning into a really entertaining game. Nate Davis and Dante Love were looking good and were looking forward to getting the school’s first ever victory over a BCS team. Everything went from great to scary in the 2nd quarter.

Love caught a pass from Davis for a short gain, Love put his helmet down to get a few extra yards when the Indiana cornerback did the same and they collided helmet to helmet. Love instantly lost the ball and his whole body went limp. Indiana picked up the ball and went in for the touchdown, but no one really cared. Love laid lifeless near the sideline. He stayed there for over 15 minutes while the medical staff attended to him, they even called his parents from the stands to be with him. They took unscrewed the facemask off his helmet and put him on a board. As they took him off the field on a golfcart he never moved, not even a thumbs up from the crowd that most hoped for. They took him to a hospital in Bloomington and then they transferred him to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Ball State ended up winning this game and instead of an upbeat press conference after the game, Brady Hoke, Ball State’s head coach, said a short statement and went to see his star wide-receiver at the hospital. There wasn’t any word from the university after the game about Love other than he felt “tingling and numbness.”

This afternoon more about Love’s injuries came out, he is lucky to be alive. He underwent five-hour back surgery to stabilize a cervical spinal fracture. He is said to be moving arms and legs and is currently in the critical care unit.

I went to college at Ball State for a year, I loved the school, but didn’t fit what I needed at the time. The football program has never done anything at all. The most famous Ball State alumni that went onto the NFL is a punter, if that tells you anything. Dante Love is a huge reason for the recent success that Ball State has seen over the last three years. No word if this ends his potential pro career, but that isn’t important at the moment. He needs to focus on getting better and hopefully he doesn’t have any complications from this injury in the future. I hope the best for Love and for all his friends and family who needs everyone’s support right now.

Get well soon Dante Love.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.