Not Bowling For Dollars (and other stuff)

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Unless they are playoff games that lead to the national championship, college football bowl games are glorified exhibitions. Always have been, always will be.

So bravo to Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, LSU's Leonard Fournette and a few other college stars for opting out of their teams' meaningless games so they can take a positive step toward what just about every student's goal is: getting a good job after college.

Almost immediately, some coaches, media mopes and other idiots started whining about these athletes' "selfishness."

Funny, I didn't hear that Tom Herman was "selfish" after he bolted Houston to take the Texas coaching job. Herman's move came only a few weeks before the Cougars were to play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Oh, and he left Houston only months after having signed a $3 million per year contract to stay there through 2020.

McCaffrey and Fournette don't have eight-figure contracts to fall back on.

Despite making billions of dollars for their universities, college athletes don't get paid. If one of them suffers a career-ending injury in the TaxSlayer.com Bowl, he goes from being a multimillionaire to being a zero-aire in the blink of an eye. Even more likely: a concussion. And if a player suffers a bad enough concussion to make NFL teams question his long-term health, it would cost him big-time.

So any coach who is outraged or even slightly miffed by the actions of McCaffrey and Fournette is just a run-of-the-mill hypocrite. What else is new? Hypocrites are everywhere in college sports, especially in the coaching fraternity.

Some are predicting that this is just the start and that, in coming years, more and more future pros will skip non-playoff bowl games.

Well, if this is the beginning of the end for the Quick Lane Bowl and the Poinsettia Bowl, so be it. Somehow, America will survive.

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And now we go from smart jocks to one who should be smart enough to know better ... but apparently isn't.

What's the deal with Grayson Allen? The dirty Dookie got caught tripping an opponent for the third time in 10 months. Coach K at first wasn't going to suspend him but, after public pressure built, he decided to suspend his best player "indefinitely."

After watching this latest incident, I'm pretty certain Allen needs some psychological help. I am not saying this with the least bit of sarcasm.

He leg-whipped Elon's Steven Santa Ana and then glared at his fallen victim -- as if Santa Ana had been the one who had done something wrong. Assessed a technical foul and taken out of the game, Allen pounded the bench with his hands, screamed and started wailing. I almost felt sorry for him -- almost.

There already are yahoos saying the reason Allen is being suspended is that he is a white kid from Duke and people hate the likes of Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and J.J. Redick.

Here we go again ... poor Whitey just can't get a break in this country! Just ask President Tweety.

Face it ... had Allen been a black player at, say, Miami, he'd be called a "thug" and a "punk" -- and many of those defending Allen now might be screaming, "Lock him up!"

I hope Coach K keeps Allen off the court until the kid can undergo several counselling sessions. Allen needs to come to terms with why he keeps doing this and needs to come up with ways to stop.

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And speaking of President Tweety ... here's hoping McCaffrey's pro football career begins and Allen's tripping tendencies end before the world gets blown up as a result of Arms Race 2017.

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My Scholars Academy Eagles have reached Xmas break with an 8-1 record. We were unbeaten before losing our last game before break by 4 points to one of our conference rivals. A similar thing happened last season; not long after the regular-season defeat, we beat them in the playoffs en route to our championship, so I'm not sweating it too much.

Since the game, we had a fun team party and then said our goodbyes for two weeks. I hope the girls don't forget how to play basketball!

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I had been so busy with basketball that I hadn't done much writing for Seeking Alpha. I finally got around to doing an article a couple of weeks ago, and I followed that up with my latest piece on the Dividend Growth 50 portfolio that I created and funded.

Feel free to check it out HERE. With every click, I get a penny. And if I make enough pennies, I can buy some fashionable, made-not-in-the-USA Trump ties.

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I have 8 days to mail in my ballot with my Baseball Hall of Fame votes. I plan to give it a lot of thought over the next few days, and that will be the subject of my next TBT.

Till then, Merry Whatever You Celebrate. (Hopefully, life itself).
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Mike's March Madness Mulligan

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Those who golf with me know I'm not a big mulligan taker. I mean, if I shank my drive into the woods, re-tee, hit one down the middle and make a birdie, who am I fooling? I know I didn't really get a birdie. So why bother? I'd much rather scramble after a horrendous drive and hack my way to a "good bogey" than pretend I got a birdie. But hey, maybe that's just me.

So even if I go 15-0 with the March Madness Mulligan I'm about to take, I promise I won't pretend I did anything special.

Before getting to the MMM, I'll allow myself a couple of back-pats ... but only a couple: Nice job on N.C. State and Wichita State. OK, that was quick. I'd have had more success with my bracket if I had let my pooch Simmie make predictions with tail-thumps.

Now, here goes ...

MIDWEST

Kentucky easily over West Virginia ... Notre Dame's luck runs out against Wichita State ... The Wildcats chew up overmatched Wichita State.

WEST

Wisconsin survives a challenge from North Carolina ... Arizona crushes Xavier ... Bucky Badger beats Arizona in a thriller.

EAST

N.C. State pulls off another upset, this time against Louisville ... Michigan State keeps getting better and beats Oklahoma ... Sparty goes to another Final Four after a narrow win over N.C. State.

SOUTH

Duke struggles but holds off Utah ... Gonzaga finally gets a second-weekend win, beating UCLA ... The Dookies have too much firepower for the Zags.

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So our new, improved Final Four is Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke and Michigan State. Three No. 1 seeds and a No. 7 ... but not your run-of-the-mill No. 7. It's kind of funny that Michigan State is suddenly an underdog darling, no?

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In one national semifinal, Kentucky and Wisconsin put on a sensational show, with Kentucky's superior interior defense prevailing. In the other, Duke has too much offensive balance for Michigan State.

One thing hasn't changed from my original bracket: Kentucky still ends up 40-0.

Translation: "Bet everything you have on West Virginia to beat Kentucky on Thursday night."
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Mortal Lock for NCAA title: Either Kentucky or UConn!

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Well, I've embarrassed myself enough trying to make tournament picks, so I'll just slink away from basketball prognosticating for now!

Still, I do love the NCAA tournament. I love it when everybody is wrong, even when one of those everybodies is me. It is the one sporting event that never, ever disappoints -- and this year's tourney has been one of the best ever.

Funny that Kentucky and UConn, two of the most successful, big-time, big-name programs of the post-Wooden Era, have become underdog darlings, no?

Obviously, I wish Marquette had been one of the two darlings remaining, but we Warrior Eagle fans got our surprise a few weeks ago when Buzz Williams took less money to take an inferior coaching job, at Virginia Tech. There's way more to this story than we've been told, because that kind of thing simply doesn't happen.

Buzz gave us five excellent seasons (and one not-so-excellent season) and was an improvement on his predecessor, Tom Crean. And now I'm hoping our new guy, ex-Dookie Steve Wojciechowski, is an improvement over Buzz.

Awww ... who am I kidding. I'm just hoping I don't have to spell Wojciechowski too often! Let's go with "Wojo" from now on, OK?

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Finally, appropos of nothing, I received a bit of an honor a few days ago when a highly respected Seeking Alpha writer named me one of the 25 best authors on the financial Web site.

I'm not gonna lie: It's always nice to have folks say nice things about you!
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Hey Derrick Rose: Even MJ knew he didn't ALWAYS have to be The Man

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The Bald Truth

Love Derrick Rose's game. Love it! As he matures, however, he has to realize that he need not always take the final shot -- even though he's by far the best player on the Bulls.

Late in regulation time Tuesday, the Bulls had two chances to beat the Heat on the road and even the series. Both times, Rose tried to take jump shots over LeBron James, who is at least a half-foot taller and can jump just as high. Predictably, both shots missed.

On both occasions, Rose had open teammates. Luol Deng, who has hit numerous big shots, would have been an obvious alternative.

(Overall, I've been impressed by Tom Thibodeau's coaching -- and, in fact, lobbied three years ago for the Bulls to hire him instead of Vapid Vinny Del Negro. Still, it's hard to say Thibodeau wasn't out-coached by Eric Spoelstra with the whole LeBron-on-DRose situation.)

Doesn't the superstar always take the big shot? Didn't Rose's hero, Michael Jordan?

Most of the time, yes. But not always.

John Paxson hit the championship-winning 3-pointer in 1993, with Jordan later saying: "Once Paxson got the ball, I knew it was over."

In 1997, it was Steve Kerr who took a pass from Jordan and won the title with a 15-footer. In the time-out before the play, MJ went out of his way to tell Kerr to be ready if John Stockton left Kerr to double-team Jordan. Stockton indeed left Kerr, and both Jordan and Kerr were prepared to make history.

Even Jordan's famed 55-point "Double Nickel" Spectacular at Madison Square Garden in '95 ended with Jordan feeding Bill Wennington for the winning basket.

So yes, Rose should be prepared to carry his team. That's what MVPs do. Sometimes, though, the shot simply isn't there. And on those occasions, the MVP has to be smart and brave enough to trust his teammates.

That's what they're there for.

The End Is Near

I will be very sad when the Bulls-Heat series ends, and it has nothing to do with the Bulls' precarious predicament.

The end of the series means the end of TNT's broadcasts. And that means no more Marv Albert until next season (if there even is a next season for the NBA).

The guy is such a pleasure to listen to, it makes me want to wear a toupee and bite some broad's back.

The Balder Truth

Good thing for the Bulls that Bennett Salvatore wasn't officiating Game 6 of the '98 NBA Finals.

In the closing seconds of regulation Tuesday, he ignored the unwritten NBA commandment "Thou Shalt Not Call Fouls On Superstars With The Game On The Line" and had the cajones to make a great offensive foul call on LeBron -- who had used his free arm to shove Ronnie Brewer.

It's fun to wonder if Salvatore would have made a similarly bold call against Jordan, who clearly shoved Utah's Bryon Russell out of the way before hitting the famed jumper that won the title in MJ's final game as a Bull.

Just Asking

In three years under Coach K, how is it possible that Carlos Boozer didn't learn to play even a little defense?

THE BALDEST TRUTH

How hard up must ESPN be for NBA analysts if they are turning to Vapid Vinny for insight into the Bulls-Heat series?

As usual, Del Negro offered nothing of substance and repeatedly used cliches. He even disagreed with TNT's outstanding analyst pair -- Kerr and Reggie Miller -- by saying it was Rose's responsibility to attempt those difficult jumpers over LeBron.

Yep, Vapid Vinny truly sounded like a guy who deserves to coach the Clippers.

Marquette over Carolina? A man can dream ... that Duke showed Carolina how to lose

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If you're a Marquette fan like I am -- and really, isn't everybody? -- you have to be at least a little encouraged from the results of Thursday's games:

-- A nice victory by fellow Big East survivor UConn.

-- A superb team effort by the anti-Jimmers of Florida.

-- Butler's cool takedown of Wisconsin (leaving Marquette as the lone Cheeseheads still alive).

-- And especially, Arizona's defeat of defending champion Duke.

Wait? Did I say defeat? Arizona didn't just defeat the Dookies; the Wildcats destroyed them.

And so maybe, just maybe, another underdog can take down another ACC heavyweight.

All I know is that Marquette already is playing with house money. Many critics said The Gold shouldn't even have been invited to the tournament, and now here they are one of the final dozen still standing. So win or lose, it already has been pretty sweet.

My wife and I will be joining some fellow Charlotte-area Marquette alums area to cheer on our beloved Golden Warrior Eagles. We'll probably be outnumbered 50-to-1 at the sports bar, meaning there is potential for great public embarrassment if the Tar Heels thrash our lads from Milwaukee.

Nevertheless, this is sports. And in sports, you really do never know ... which is why it's the only reality TV worth watching.

The Dookies went down hard. Maybe next it will be Carolina's turn to fall.

I've got to admit I'd be a little more confident if Arizona would let us borrow Derrick Williams for a couple of hours.
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High 5s

Just remember when you're doing your brackets next year, kids:

Despite what the "experts" say, the 12s don't always beat the 5s.

Sometimes the 5s not only win, but two of the suckers go all the way to the Final Four.

On another note, I was glad Duke won. There should always one overdog in any tournament, one team you want to root against.

So now we've got three pretty darned good underdog stories ... and the effen Dookies!

Only BCS format can save sucky NCAA hoops tourney

NCAA pooh-bahs had better fix the way they crown their men's basketball champion, because, as usual, the tournament has been a horrible bore.

Overtimes, one-point games, stunning upsets, wild finishes, stirring storylines ... yawn ... wake me when it's over, OK?

Obviously, NCAA honchos should have adopted the always-thrilling BCS model, declared Kansas and Kentucky the two best teams in the land, had the Jayhawks and Wildcats wait 4 or 5 weeks until they meet in an overhyped mythical title game, and let all the other teams play in dozens of glorious basket-"bowl" games.

After all, that formula always produces such a satisfying conclusion to the college football season, right?

And while they're at it, they can tell their basketball programs to stop scheduling games against quality opponents before conference play begins. In football, the best teams spend September fattening up on Cupcake U - yummy morsels for the every-game-counts crowd.

It's hard to beat Florida vs. Central Eastern State College for none of the marbles, I always say.

Clearly, following the NCAA basketball tournament model could never work in football.

I mean, who would want to see the best teams from a cross-section of the country go at it round-by-round until a legitimate champion gets crowned?

Kentucky has tradition - but not the best job

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Sunday's final four:

1. Why, why, why on earth would Tom Izzo, John Calipari, Billy Donovan or any other coach who already has built a top-tier program be even the least bit interested in going to Kentucky now that another good coach has been driven away from Bluegrass country?

Izzo is back in the Final Four with Michigan State, which for the last decade has established itself as the premier program in the Big Ten and one of the very best in the country - far better than Kentucky, in fact.

Calipari is worshipped in Memphis, where he is king of Conference USA and where he successfully recruits some of the very best players in the land.  According to several ratings services, he is bringing the No. 1 class of 2009 to Memphis. At Kentucky, the alums and other hard-core fans probably would expect him to do better than No. 1. Who needs it?

Donovan has won two national titles at Florida and continues to bring top talent to Gainesville, where he is revered for having already given the thumbs down to Kentucky once.

As a bonus - a huge, enormous, gigandulous bonus - none of these guys faces the kind of scrutiny and pressure in his current job as he would at Kentucky. As an extra bonus, all are paid the same kind of outrageous salaries they'd get from the Bluegrass boyz.

There are a handful of traditional powerhouse programs and Kentucky is one of them. (Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana and UCLA also leap to mind.) But I'd say that many others, including Michigan State, Memphis and UConn, have pulled alongside - and, in many cases, surpassed - those traditional powers. 

Funny thing about tradition in sports: It guarantees nothing. Just ask the Cowboys how much tradition has been worth on the playing field the last few years. New traditions get established all the time in sports; witness the Red Sox now being clutch winners while the Yankees have become chokers.

Tom Crean left Marquette for Indiana, saying it was a slam-dunk decision because "Indiana is Indiana." Well, Indiana hasn't been Indiana for awhile now, including Bobby Knight's last half-dozen years there, and Marquette - thanks in great part to Crean - has surpassed Indiana by miles. Crean is counting on tradition helping him recruit better players to Indiana than he did to Marquette, but most ratings services say his Marquette replacement, Buzz Williams, will be bringing in a group as good as or better than Crean will to Hoosierland.

Of course, once upon an Al McGuire time, Marquette was one of those traditional powerhouses. 

Yes, Kentucky has tradition out the ying-yang. But so do many other places where the pressure isn't so great a coach feels like killing himself 50 times a year. There are too many other fantastic schools at which a coach can win big without putting himself through the torture.

2. Saturday's Villanova-Pitt game was so good, I found myself actually cheering several plays - something I very rarely do because I'm more of a detached appreciator of excellence than I am of a fan. I must admit: It was pretty darn fun.

3. As usual, the "experts" couldn't stop talking about the distractions facing UConn after word of possible NCAA recruiting violations surfaced before the weekend. Ridiculous. Why would UConn players be even the slightest bit distracted by this? Turns out, they weren't, as the Huskies took down Purdue and Missouri to get to the Final Four.

4. In honor of  Tiger Woods officially being back, it's time to take a mulligan on my Final Four picks. What other choice do I have, since I managed to go a sterling 0-for-4?

As much as I appreciate Izzo's Spartans, UConn can play whatever game Michigan State wants to play - and play it just a tad better. On the other side of the bracket, I'm going with the upset: Villanova's tough, talented perimeter players, augmented by vastly underrated Dante Cunningham, making Carolina blue.

And in the all-Big East title game ... UConn 80, 'Nova 74.

Call your bookies and pull out those wallets, folks. I mean, I haven't steered you wrong yet!

A League of Its Own

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Thursday's final four:

1. Two words, my friends: Big East. Instead of wondering if there will be four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four for the second straight year, we probably should wonder if one conference will capture all four spots for the first time ever.

2. How 'bout Mizzou? Or maybe a better question is this: How the hell did the Tigers get trounced by Illinois back in December? DeMarre Carroll just might be the best player most of America doesn't know. As usual, the kid was everywhere for Missouri in its impressive win over Memphis to reach the Elite Eight. It's hard to imagine the Tigers taking out UConn in the West final, but they've done a pretty good job smacking around doubters - and opponents - so far.

3. In Villanova, Duke ran into a faster, stronger, defensively superior version of itself. The result was so predictable ... I'm mad as hell I didn't predict it.

4. Hey, look at those oft-maligned (quite oft by me) Chicago Bulls! They're playing so well lately, they probably could win a couple of NCAA tourney games.

Coach K puts it on the line for Duke

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Saturday's final four:

1. In the final seconds, with Duke at the line trying to extend a 3-point lead, Coach K did what far too few coaches do: Instead of having nobody line up in any of the free-throw rebounding positions, thereby surrending a missed shot to the opponent, he had a player take one of the spots. Sure enough, when the foul shot was missed, David McClure kept the ball alive for the Dookies. Teammate Gerald Henderson emerged from a scramble with the ball, got fouled and iced the game with two free throws. Given the funny bounces the basketball can take, why do coaches so often just concede the rebound to the opponent? I know the answer: They are afraid of a player being called for a loose-ball foul. But think about it: A coach trusts players to do all manner of things during the course of a game but won't trust them to steer clear of a foul in a key situation? Well, Coach K trusted McClure. Rather than trying not to lose, he was trying to win. Just another reason Coach K is one of the best ever.

2. And speaking of free throws ... I felt really good about my upset pick of Western Kentucky over Gonzaga. And the Hilltoppers probably would have pulled it off if they hadn't gone 5-for-14 from the line. Texas, meanwhile, was 16-for-25 in losing the close one to Duke. This time of year, if you don't hit your free throws, you're dead.

3. Illinois certainly missed Chester Frazier and Marquette misses Dominic James ... but please. Ty Lawson, an NBA stud in the making, showed Saturday just what North Carolina had been missing when the superstar point guard was out with his toe injury. Yeah, but Lawson has so much more talent around him, right? Right - and yet he still took over and was the difference in the second half when the Tar Heels needed him against LSU. What a player.

4. As is the case going into Sunday's meeting, Marquette and Missouri were the 3 and 6 seeds in the 2003 tourney (although back then, unlike now, Marquette was the 3 and Mizzou was the 6). That game was an overtime classic, with Travis Diener and Steve Novak - not Dwyane Wade - carrying the day for a talented Marquette team that used the victory as a springboard to the Final Four. Sounds like a plan! Hey, a Golden Warrior Eagles fan can dream, right?

Bo should know the NIT

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The Bald Truth

If Wisconsin gets invited to the NCAA tournament, it will because of reputation alone.

The Badgers are 19-12 and have one victory all season over a ranked team - at Michigan in their Big Ten opener. That also serves as their most "quality" road victory. 

They even lost at Iowa - and that's not easy.

Though the selection committee might end up ruling differently, logic suggests the Badgers had to beat Ohio State in the conference tourney Friday to sew up an NCAA bid ... and they couldn't do it.

Bo Ryan is a great coach, but this isn't one of his better teams. It certainly isn't a team worthy of playing in the NCAAs. 

The Balder Truth

Syracuse players are many things, including tough, resilient and well-conditioned. Given their ability to follow a six-overtime victory over UConn with a run-of-the-mill single-OT triumph over West Virginia, "impressive" works well, too. 

OK, now can all commentators please stop with all the talk of "courage"?

The Orangemen didn't rush into a burning building to save lives, didn't go off to war, didn't even take a difficult public stand on a controversial issue.

They are basketball players who played lots of basketball.

Yes, they played it very well, but I sure hope that's not how we're defining "courage" these days. 

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Jon Scheyer clanked the front end of a 1-and-1. Boston College then grabbed the rebound and the Eagles, who trailed Duke by one point in the ACC quarterfinals, were steaming up court with a chance to win the game.

That's when coach Al Skinner called a time out.

And he wasn't finished showing how smart he was. Oh no, not even close.

BC got the ball inbounds and advanced it into the frontcourt ... when Skinner called time again. Now there were only 5.5 seconds left.

When play resumed, Duke overplayed Skinner's first option - Tyrese Rice - and BC ended up taking a wild, challenged shot that didn't come close to going in.

Why didn't Skinner simply trust his players, especially Rice, after that missed free throw? Isn't that why the Eagles had spent the last six months practicing, for those exact kind of situations?

With the Dookies scrambling to get back into defensive position, BC had every advantage.

Until Skinner called time. Twice.

Coach S apparently wanted to prove he was smarter than Coach K.

Gee. How did that work out?

Hoops, hoops and more hoops

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An elite eight's worth of observations from a wild (and wildly entertaining) weekend of college hoops:

1. It doesn't mean they'll win the title, of course, but the Pitt Panthers are the best team in the country. They beat UConn twice, have three big-time difference-makers and lots of fine supporting actors. And they're not coached by Dave Wannstedt.

2. Nine teams can win the national championship: Pitt, UConn, North Carolina, Duke, Oklahoma, Louisville, Michigan State, Kansas and Memphis. I'm already completely psyched for the NCAA tourney.

3. Most assume Oklahoma stud Blake Griffin will be the national player of the year, but the MVP apparently is Dominic James. Before he broke his foot, my Marquette Golden Warrior Eagles were in first place in the nation's best conference, were ranked No. 8 in the country and were 23-4. Without him, they've gone 0-4 and almost surely won't be seeded higher than sixth in the NCAAs. How could we have known that a 5-foot-10 guy who can't hit 50 percent of his free throws could be so valuable? OK, so maybe they would have lost to UConn, Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse even with James, but ...

4. The Big East is the best conference in the country - and the contest isn't close. Even after the beastly Pitt-UConn-Louisville troika, any of the next four Big East squads would have a good chance of finishing in the top two of just about any other league. I like Memphis' style and coaching ... but really, where would the Tigers have finished if they had to play a Big East schedule instead of a Conference USA schedule? 

5. There's a bigger difference between Michigan State and the rest of the Big Ten pack than there is between any other Big Six conference leader and the rest of its field. Aside from Tom Izzo's lads, the Big Ten features several solid-but-severely-flawed teams that won't survive the opening weekend of the NCAAs.

6. On the one hand ... Chris Lowery has demonstrated why coaches want to get theirs when the opportunity arises. Early in his tenure at Southern Illinois, he had great success with Matt Painter's recruits and received some overtures from major programs. Lowery stayed put - after getting himself a nice raise - and now the program is sliding backward. You have to wonder if he has any regrets about sticking around.

7. On the other hand ... Billy Gillespie had it all at Texas A&M - a huge contract, respect in an excellent league, university support and a great pipeline into his state's prep talent. But when Kentucky came a'callin', he simply had to go, right? I mean, after all, it is Kentucky! Well, there's a lot to be said about being rich, winning big and building a program in a less pressure-filled environment. Gillespie is flaming out in Kentucky, and it won't be long before they come a'callin' again - for his head. It's one of those no-win jobs; I don't know why any coach would subject himself to it.

8. Nice try, Northwestern. For a little while there, it was almost as if you were, um, someone other than Northwestern.