I'd have rather the Bucks lost to Dayton in a somewhat exciting game than watch the boys lose a 44-35 insta-classic to Syracuse in the second round. (Kyle's full autopsy can be found over here; Chris' three things can be found this way, and the game distilled into one TwitPic is over yonder. Mike has a look at the state of Basketbuck recruiting over here.)
Real talk tho: Congrats to Dayton on beating the worst Thad Matta-coached team in recent memory. (And what's with UC's inferiority complex?)
I hope this leads to more games against Ohio schools. Ohio is a great basketball state, and anything to showcase that on a bigger level should be welcomed. If Ohio State loses, whatever. It's not like any of these Raggedy Annes are seeing them in football.
- As a bit of house-keeping, today is the last day to vote in the first round of 11W's Heart of It All Classic. The second round will open tomorrow, and folks... there will be some bangers to be had.
- Today's NSFW anti-work banger is one of 50 Cent's most underrated songs: Places to Go.
THE RISE OF BRI'ONTE DUNN. The former four-star recruit and son of the coolest mother in the world hasn't yet cracked the running back depth chart, but that might soon change. From Tom Reed at Cleveland.com:
The redshirt sophomore alertly picked up a blitz buying his quarterback precious time. He also snared a shovel pass and weaved his way down field 50 yards.
“I’m starting to see Bri’onte starting to act like he knows what the hell is going on,” running backs coach Stan Drayton said. “He’s learned the offense and he’s starting to play fast. We are starting to see the stuff Bri’onte already had within himself but it’s now coming through in his execution.
“We asked him to take a step back in his development,” the assistant said of the decision to red shirt him. “Get in the weight room and get stronger and get his body right and he did that. Now, he’s got another opportunity again.”
A lot is made of the wide receiver competition and the remaking of the offensive line, but it's going to be interesting to see which war horses emerge from the spring battle and crack the two-deep depth chart this fall.
Bri'onte Dunn could've packed it in and transferred out of Columbus, but he put his axe to the grindstone and now has earned himself another opportunity. That's worthy of a tip of the cap, even if he's beaten out again.
LEWAN TOUCHED BY THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW. You know, I honestly didn't expect this from a guy who once threatened to re-rape a sexual assault victim. From MLive.com:
Online records from the 15th District Court in Ann Arbor show Lewan is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. April 8. He is to be charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault or assault and battery.
The charges stem from a confrontation that took place about 12:30 a.m. Dec. 1 in the 1200 block of South University Avenue. The incident took place after Ohio State University defeated U-M, and two Buckeyes fans reported being assaulted.
In Michigan, assault and battery is a misdemeanor punishable by 93 days in jail or a fine of up to $500. Aggravated assault is a more serious crime, defined as a charge against “a person who assaults an individual without a weapon and inflicts serious or aggravated injury upon that individual without intending to commit murder or to inflict great bodily harm less than murder.” That charge is punishable by one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
This is why fighting is dumb. First, you're not the toughest guy in the world, and you could learn that hard, painful lesson in a way that lands you on WorldStar like this poor sap (NSFW). It's that or you kick the snot out of a guy and catch an assault case.
Taylor Lewan is an irritating creep whose Michigan career culminated in a 31-14 ass-kicking at the hands of a five-loss Kansas State team in something called the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Ultimately though, he'll have the last laugh.
This probably improved his NFL stock, because like ESPN's Tim Keown put it, the NFL needs guys like Richie Incognito (and Taylor Lewan). He'll plead this down, pay his fines and be living as a multimillionaire this summer because justice is a notion akin to Santa Claus.
- In other Michigan Man news, Brady Hoke suspended OL Graham Glasgow for part of spring practice and the season opener vs. Appalachian State because Glasgow's name popped up in an open criminal complaint. (No charges have been filed as of now.)
CIVIL UNREST IN SABANISTAN? Roughly a month ago I wrote about Alabama's struggles with player entitlement and it being something Urban Meyer needed to keep an eye on as he continued to harvest top-three recruiting classes.
It appears it's something with which tinpot dictator Nick Saban is still struggling:
Without naming names, Saban opened Wednesday’s press conference talking about immaturity in relation to some of his players and people in general.
“Immature people and immature players sort of think that life is going to give in to their demands,” Saban said. “Mature people know I have to give in to life’s demands.
“If you really want to advance in this world, you’ve got to do what you need to do to be successful and most of the time, that gets defined by somebody else, like your boss,” Saban continued. “He defines the expectations for you so if you want to advance, you need to do a good job. Well, we need everybody to buy in and do a good job and do what we need them to do so we can be successful as a team.”
Folks, I don't think I'm alone when I say: I hope the Tide lose five games this year. Saban might combust with rage at one of his post-game pressers.
Speaking of Nick Saban... Vico retweeted this into my timeline and I chuckled:
Nick Saban appears on al,com more than the past three governors and past 3 Auburn coaches combined. pic.twitter.com/vx1JZZ9E9M
— Mark P (@TheAuburner) March 20, 2014
That's a helluva business model there, Al.com. What happens when Nick Saban retires and Alabama slips back into insignificance? (Sell now, owner of Al.com, sell now.)
EX-FIESTA BOWL EXEC SLAPPED ON WRIST. One of the greatest jobs in America has to be that of a college football bowl executive. These guys all make middle six figures and they get to jet-set around the world in exchange for what? Organizing a football game once a year?
Humans have always struggled with greed, and it appears it got the better of of the appropriately-named John Junker. Yesterday marked the end of the Fiesta Bowl corruption case that saw six charged but only one prison sentence. From ESPN:
Former bowl leader John Junker was sentenced Thursday in state court in Phoenix to probation for his acknowledged role in an illegal campaign contribution scheme. A week ago, he was sentenced in federal court to eight months in prison on a conviction arising from the scandal in which bowl employees made illegal contributions to politicians and were reimbursed at least $46,000 for the donations.
The scandal exposed the lavish spending and perks that the Fiesta Bowl heaped on lawmakers and employees, but the investigation ended without any criminal charges being filed over those perks. And a former lobbyist who was implicated in the campaign finance case by Junker wasn't charged with any crimes related to his work for the bowl. The lobbyist pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in a similar campaign finance reimbursement scheme that involved his own business.
Nearly 30 lawmakers received free football or other tickets, and some got all-expense-paid trips from the bowl, but prosecutors declined to bring any charges against them. County Attorney Bill Montgomery has said the law covering legislator freebies was so vaguely written that he had no case. He recommended that the Legislature rewrite the law, but nothing was ever done on the matter.
John Junker made $600,000 a year but still had his hand in the pot. That's terrible.
And for the sake of my employment at Eleven Warriors LLC, I'm not even going to touch that third paragraph. I'm just going to leave it there to be admired.
THOSE WMDs. Can the Buckeyes bully their way back into the hunt for TE Chris Clark?... The inside story of a murderous conman... A retiree browsing Flickr may have discovered rare photos of Lincoln's funeral... Girl, help me murder my wife so I know it's real... Grant Hill has an interesting theory about why people hate Duke... The last two books of Game of Thrones series will be 1,500 pages each... 1950 "film strip" on good sportsmanship... San Diego State had the coolest name in sports until 1925... Mike Thomas is comin' yall... Meanwhile, in Charlotte... How to best pour a beer...
