Duke Wins 4th National Championship

Add another National Championship banner to the three that currently hang from the rafters of Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last night, Duke captured the 2010 NCAA men's basketball National Championship by beating "Cinderella" upstart Butler 61-59 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. All four of the Blue Devils' National Championships have come under the stewardship of head men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Congratulations to Duke and to Coach Krzyzewski.

Drive and Dish picked Duke to cut down the nets in our 2010 NCAA Tournament Bracket. Duke seems like the obvious pick now, but when the brackets came out, Kansas and Kentucky were the popular choices to win it all. We, however, were never big believers in either of the schools whose are known by a combination of "K's" and "U's" -- UK and KU (Kentucky and Kansas), respectively.

On a side note, last night's Championship game served as something of a reunion for the Drive and Dish founders. We had a good time at the game. And as it happens, we sat in the vicinity of the ex-Duke players' seating section at Lucas Oil Stadium, so Duke super-fan Mark Buckets got to rub shoulders with some of his boyhood heroes. Strangely enough, Mark Buckets also got into an epic stare-down with Orlando Magic back up point guard Jason "White Chocolate" Williams. White Chocolate attended the game with his Magic teammate, former Duke All American shooting guard J.J. Redick. Apparently, White Chocolate didn't appreciate it when Buckets laughed at him for posing and trying to look "hard" (the Drive and Dish brain-trust disagreed over whether or not he successfully pulled off looking "hard," but we agreed that he looked a lot like post-90's, Nu-Metal-era Vanilla Ice). At one point, it almost seemed like an altercation was about to ensue between Buckets and J.Will.

It was kind of ridiculous.

Fortunately, nothing happened, because if it had, we would have been kicked out of the game for sure.

Funny stuff, though.

The following are pictures that the Drive and Dish cameras snapped at the game:


Photos © 2010 Trashtalk Superstar/Drive and Dish

Final Four Picks

Today marks the start of the Final Four in Indianapolis, and like just about everybody else, our official 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket didn't hold up particularly well (view our bracket below).



Only two of our four Final Four picks -- Duke and West Virginia -- will take the floor in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium. On a positive note, we were correct when we predicted that a team from the much maligned (actually habitually maligned) Big Ten Conference would confound the college basketball "experts" by making it to the Final Four. The problem is, we didn't pick the right Big Ten team: we had Ohio State losing to Duke in the National Championship game, but Michigan State is the only Big Ten team to be a Final Four participant.

On the bright side, Duke was our pick to win the National Championship. And they look like the team that's most likely to cut the nets down after winning the Championship game Monday night. West Virginia is a very good team, but we expect Duke to pick the Mountaineers' 1-3-1 zone apart.

Finally, although it should come as no shock to anyone, Butler is the Final Four team that surprised us the most by advancing to Indianapolis (we thought the only trip Butler would take to Indianapolis would be a to return to their Indianapolis campus after getting knocked out of the Tournament by Xavier). When filling out our bracket, we toyed with the idea of picking dark horse Xavier to advance to the Final Four from Butler's regional. But in the end, we chickened out and chose Syracuse instead because we thought the Orange had significant match up advantages over all their potential opponents (despite having a strong suspicion that the 'Cuse was overrated, and would be knocked out early in the Tournament). We knew that Butler was a very good team, but we never considered them to be a serious Final Four contender.

Oh how wrong we were.

But enough of the bracket talk, it's time to get down to "brass tacks." Here's what we expect to see in tonight's games:

Michigan State vs. Butler

We expect Butler to give Michigan State all it can handle for thirty minutes. We anticipate a very close game as the buzzer signals halftime (quite possibly a tie; definitely not much more than a four point lead for either team). And we think Butler will come out strong early in the second half. But at some point, we expect Michigan State's size, strength and speed to wear Butler down (particularly on the interior). Even though Michigan State lost All Big Ten point guard Kalin Lucas to a season ending injury early in the Tournament, we think Butler's back court will struggle with the Spartans' quick and aggressive guards. Butler's guards have committed more turnovers in the Tournament than one would expect from an elite level team, and if Butler big man Matt Howard gets in foul trouble, it will likely be very difficult for the Bulldogs to stay in the game.

In the end, we expect Michigan State to put the game away in the second half and to advance to Monday night's National Championship game.

Duke vs. West Virginia

As evident by our choice of Duke to win the National Championship, we expect Duke to beat West Virginia and exact some measure of revenge for the Mountaineers' big Sweet Sixteen upset win over what was a very highly touted Duke team in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Additional Thoughts

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo gets more out of his teams than any other coach in major college basketball. The Spartans don't attract top tier talent on an annual basis. They get good players, but they'll never beat North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Syracuse, Georgetown, etc. in a battle for elite recruits. But Izzo finds good players who fit his system -- augmented with the occasional elite level recruit -- and who stay in school for three or four years. Izzo has now taken six different Michigan State teams to the Final Four since taking over as head coach in the 1995-96 season.

So has Tom Izzo proven himself to be the best coach in college basketball? That's debatable, but with one National Championship under his belt, he trails Duke's Mike Krzyzewski by two Championships. Despite the fact that prior to this year, his recent teams haven't lived up to their hype in the post season, Coach K is still generally thought of as the top coach in the game. This Final Four has to be particularly sweet for for Krzyzewski, given the fact that his teams' recent Tournament flame-outs have caused him to come under increased scrutiny. For rumors of Coach K's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Duke is two games shy of handing Krzyzewski his fourth National Championship.

A potential face off between Michigan State and Duke in the Championship game would pit two of the best coaches, if not the two best coaches, in the college game against each other. That would be fun to watch.

As for Butler's young coach Brad Stevens, he's definitely a rising star. His teams feed off his calm sideline demeanor and his analytical approach to the game. We don't think his Butler Bulldogs will knock off Izzo's Michigan State Spartans, but with a Final Four already under his belt at just 33 years of age, his future is obviously quite bright.

On a side note, in a past life, our own Trashtalk Superstar crossed paths with Coach Stevens one summer in the mid/late 90's, when both were college students and small college basketball players. Trashtalk was around 21 years of age at the time -- which would have made Stevens about 19 -- and although he didn't know Coach Stevens particularly well, he recalls hearing Stevens sing "Laid" by the British shoegazer band James during basketball warm ups. Trashtalk doesn't remember much about Stevens, but does recall thinking it was "really gay" to sing a James song -- especially one that talks about dressing up in women's clothes and playing around with gender roles -- before a basketball game.

Not that it's terribly significant, it's just one of those dumb things that sticks in one's memory.

Drive and Dish 2010 NCAA Tournament Picks

Drive and Dish has been very quiet this year. Blogging about college basketball has taken a back seat to other more pressing matters. Mark Buckets retired from basketball blogging shortly after Duke was upset by West Virginia in 2008 (long time readers may recall that Mr. Buckets' live blog of that game ended abruptly around halftime ... when it became obvious that the Blue Devils were in store for a long day), and the once verbose Trashtalk Superstar -- who kept Drive and Dish afloat from the 2008 Elite Eight through the 2009 National Championship game -- has been uncharacteristically quiet as of late.

But we still have readers who occasionally stop by to get our take on the ins and outs of college basketball. So the least we can do is reprise the time honored Drive and Dish tradition (more here) of releasing our hand-written NCAA Tournament brackets on the eve of the Tournament's Thursday tip off (we missed the Wednesday night deadline this year; our brackets will have to suffice as last minute Thursday morning arrivals).

Drive and Dish attempted to contact Mark Buckets in hopes of soliciting a special, one-time, freelance guest bracket from our former Atlantic Coast Conference/Mountain West Conference/College Basketball Trivia Senior Editor. Mr. Buckets failed to respond to our request. It is believed that Buckets -- known to be a phenomenally devoted Duke fan -- may now be living in Northern Wisconsin's North Woods or in the the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, possibly in a van down by the river (although some retired detectives who specialize in profiling have suggested that he may be traveling by backpack through Southeastern Europe, dancing the nights away while rollin' on ecstasy in Ibiza, or hiking through the indigenous villages of the Amazon basin in search of ayahuasca-induced elevated consciousness).

Long story short: we have no bracket from Mark Buckets. But, in order to make up for Mr. Buckets' missing bracket, Trashtalk Superstar was instructed to fill out both an NCAA Tournament bracket and an NIT bracket. The NIT bracket should carry added currency with readers who are fans of the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Thus, without further ado, we present the official 2010 Drive and Dish NCAA Tournament Bracket, and the official 2010 Drive and Dish NIT bracket (click to enlarge):

2010 NCAA Tournament




2010 N.I.T.



Notes:

1.) Kentucky is the most talented team in the Tournament. Normally, when determining our picks to win the National Championship, we look for teams that have more than one likely future NBA player on their rosters. As a general rule, teams that win NCAA Championships feature at least a couple sure fire NBA first round draft picks. And with DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and John Wall, Kentucky has three future first round draft picks. But Cousins and Wall are Freshmen. With a few notable exceptions, Freshmen almost never lead their teams to National Championships (that's why it was such a big deal when Carmello Anthony led Syracuse to the 2003 National Championship as a Freshman).

Kentucky clearly has enough talent to win the National Championship, but we think that the Wildcats' youth and inexperience -- particularly at point guard, where John Wall's jaw-dropping talent won't make up for his lack of NCAA Tournament experience (point guard is the most important position on the court in college basketball: he handles the ball more than anyone else, he's responsible for initiating his teams' offensive plays, and he's expected to make good decisions and exhibit leadership) -- will prove to be their downfall.

2.) Kansas is the popular pick to win the Tournament. Everybody and their grandmother picked the Jayhawks to win their bracket. But while Kansas is talented, we're just not sold on them. We see them as perhaps the most vulnerable of the 1 seeds. It's not widely known, but Kansas has some major holes, and they don't always play with the sense of urgency one would expect from a Championship caliber team. In our opinion, Kansas won't make it to the Final Four, let alone win the National Championship.

Why? For starters, their lineup isn't nearly as well balanced as that of the Kansas team that one the 2008 National Championship. Senior Sherron Collins is a tremendous point guard -- he's tough, talented and experienced -- but he's diminutive, and his back court running mates aren't versatile enough to make up for the defensive match up problems that his lack of height present. Seven foot center Cole Aldrich is a load. No doubt about it. But Kansas isn't particularly strong at the 3 or 4. So the Jayhawks' front line goes as Aldrich goes. If he gets in foul trouble, Kansas will be in perilous shape. And with tough, physical teams like Final Four contenders Michigan State and Ohio State in their regional, Kansas probably has the toughest road to the Final Four of any 1 seed.

We picked Ohio State to beat Kansas and win the Midwest region (where Kansas is the No. 1 seed), but we wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Michigan State beats Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen. In fact, we debated long and hard -- and actually favored Head Coach Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans before being scared off by MSU star point guard Kalin Lucas' questionable health -- before eventually settling on KU in that game.

But despite having picked Kansas over Michigan State, we have a sneaking suspicion that Izzo's Spartans will put Kansas away before they get the chance to get knocked off by Ohio State.

Oh, and by the way, we wouldn't be completely stunned if Northern Iowa does the unthinkable and upsets Kansas in the second round. Most of the country has no idea how good Northern Iowa is. They ran away with the Missouri Valley Conference, and while the Valley only got one team into the Tournament, it's a much better conference than most people realize. We expect Northern Iowa to give Kansas a run for its money before the Jayhawks' combination of superior size, athleticism and depth eventually wears them down.

3.) The Big East conference is over hyped and overrated, but it's still probably the best conference in men's college basketball, if for no other reason than the sheer volume -- the conference has sixteen member institutions -- of good teams in that league.

4.) Old Dominion is a potential Cinderella. We have them beating Notre Dame and Baylor to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. That may be a bit of a stretch, but don't sleep on the Monarchs from ODU.

5.) The Big Ten is underrated yet again. Like clockwork, each year the experts talk endlessly about how weak the Big Ten is. And like clockwork, each year more Big Ten teams advance deep into the Tournament than expected (there's almost always a Big Ten team in the Final Four). It will happen again this year.

6.) We thought that Duke was over hyped and overrated all season long. And until we began to fill out our Tournament Brackets, we thought Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils would struggle to advance beyond the Sweet Sixteen. But after scanning the bracket and considering how Duke would match up at each position against their potential Tournament opponents, we think they have the clearest road to the Final Four.

And Duke has the requisite combination of talent (two or more likely future NBA players? -- check . . . it's close, but it's still a check) and experience to be in prime position to cut the nets down on April 5.

Only One ACC Team In the Top 25

For the first time in over thirty years, only one team from the Atlantic Coast Conference is ranked in college basketball's AP Top 25. In the rankings that were released today (rankings are released every Monday during basketball season), fifth-ranked Duke is the lone representative of the vaunted ACC.

One year after winning its second NCAA National Championship in five years, North Carolina (14-12 overall, 3-8 ACC) has endured its worst season since Roy Williams became head coach (Williams succeeded Matt Doherty after Doherty's teams finished 8-20 in the 2001-02 season, and 19-16 in the 2002-03 season respectively). Wake Forest and Clemson began the season with much fanfare from the national media, but those teams have failed to live up to the lofty expectations that were placed upon them (which comes as no surprise to the Drive and Dish staff). Georgia Tech looked very good early in ACC play, and they had an impressive win over Duke in January. But they've fallen off as of late.

So Duke stands as the only ranked team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The ACC has not suffered for lack of media attention over the last ten to fifteen years. But despite North Carolina's recent 5 year mini dynasty in college basketball, the ACC has been in a quiet downturn in the last few years.

As for today's updated AP Top 25, aside from the aforementioned No. 5 Duke from the ACC, the rest of the top 10 is made up of three teams from the Big East (No. 4 Syracuse, No. 7 Villanova and No. 8 West Virginia), two teams from the Big Twelve (No. 1 Kansas and No. 6 Kansas State), two teams from the always maligned Big Ten (No. 3 Purdue and No. 9 Ohio State), one team from the SEC (No. 2 Kentucky) and one team from the non-BCS Mountain West conference (No. 10 New Mexico).

AP Top 25:

Ranking	Record	Pts	Pvs
1. Kansas (61)	26-1	1,621	1
2. Kentucky (4)	26-1	1,559	2
3. Purdue	23-3	1,470	4
4. Syracuse	25-2	1,455	5
5. Duke	23-4	1,323	6
6. Kansas St.	22-4	1,302	7
7. Villanova	22-4	1,189	3
8. West Virginia	21-5	1,183	8
9. Ohio St.	21-7	1,097	9
10. New Mexico	25-3	997	12
11. Georgetown	18-7	846	10
12. Pittsburgh	21-6	806	19
13. BYU	25-3	795	16
14. Michigan St.	21-7	794	11
15. Butler	25-4	673	18
16. Vanderbilt	20-6	599	17
17. Wisconsin	20-7	528	14
18. Gonzaga	22-5	506	13
19. Tennessee	20-6	480	20
20. Temple	22-5	452	21
21. Texas	21-6	445	15
22. Texas A&M	19-7	225	24
23. Richmond	22-6	202	25
24. Baylor	20-6	147	22
25. N. Iowa	24-3	128	--

Others receiving votes: UTEP 86, Virginia Tech 76, Maryland 57, Missouri 17, Illinois 14, Xavier 13, Marquette 11, Louisville 9, Mississippi St. 5, Oklahoma St. 4, Utah St. 4, Cornell 2, Murray St. 2, Wake Forest 2, Clemson 1.

Vintage NBA Trash Talk

Yours truly blogs here at Drive and Dish under the somewhat ignoble moniker "Trash Talk Superstar." The moniker came about in part because my original/official moniker, "Have Jump Shot Will Travel" -- which is a fairly accurate description of me -- is too long and isn't sufficiently catchy (blame the "suits" in the Drive and Dish marketing department with their graphs and flow charts).

But the moniker was appropriate in the early days of this blog. My then-blog partner, Mark Buckets, wrote fairly straightforward posts from the standpoint of the hardcore college basketball fan, and I contributed with a combination of straight basketball analysis and highly pointed (maybe even contentious and swaggering) commentary. I was, therefore, a pretty good trash talker. And people took notice ... often by calling me a douche bag or an asshat in the comments sections (which, by the way, I welcomed wholeheartedly -- being controversial certainly didn't prevent this blog from attracting eyeballs).

But some time after crossing over the threshold of the "Big 3-0," I started to mature, or at least tire of, the snarky, sarcastic, flame-throwing writing style that proliferates on sports blogs. So I started writing in more professional, almost newspaper-style prose. And I stopped talking trash.

Yet fret not, loyal Drive and Dish readers: although I'm older and my sensibilities are (arguably) more mature than they were in the early days of this blog, I can still enjoy the occasional exchange of verbal jabs. What's more, my trash talking skills are as sharp as ever -- I just refrain from utilizing them on this blog. Furthermore, I remain one of the foremost authorities on the art of trash talking on the North American continent. As such, it's my view that while there's a lot of decent trash talk out there today, the best trash talkers who ever lived roamed the NBA hardwood from the the mid 1980's to the early/mid 90's. That was the golden era of trash talking in the NBA, if you will. The following old school video, titled "NBA Freedom of Speech," offers an excellent snapshot of the legendary trash talk that flourished in the league during that time period (bonus: Dick Versace makes an appearance in the video, and Vinny Del Negro plays the "I'm Italian: I got family 'connections', if you know what I mean" card):

Update:

It appears that Youtube has removed the video. Too bad. It was reel to reel of vintage 80's and early 90's NBA footage. It really doesn't get much better than that. Oh well, it was great while it lasted.

Scouting Santa

Drive and Dish has a Christmas Eve tradition of posting detailed scouting reports on Santa Claus. This year, our advance scouting team has been either crunched for time or under the weather and, as a result, hasn't had the occasion to write up a current scouting report on the jolly old elf. So we'll have to refer all who are looking for the inside scoop on Santa to last year's scouting report.

But for those looking for a history of St. Nicholas, our 2008 scouting report contained several links to historical information on St. Nick (our 2007 scouting report took license with the history of St. Nicholas and developed a narrative that followed the man through his transformation from church father, saint and Bishop of Myra to "man-myth-legend" of European and American St. Nick/Father Christmas//Sinterklaas traditions. Finally, a new book documents the historical St. Nicholas through his transformation from Bishop of Myra to Santa Claus.

Bradley Upsets Struggling Illinois

The Illinois Fighting Illini don't have much to be thankful about after taking part in the Las Vegas Invitational Thanksgiving tournament. Illinois entered the weekend ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25, but after suffering back-to-back upset losses to the unranked Utah Utes and Bradley Braves in the Invitational, they'll soon be joining the ranks of the unranked themselves.

As for Bradley, Saturday night's 72-68 win over Illinois will be one to savor for some time. In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Bradley upset Kansas and Pittsburgh and earned a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. And although Saturday's early season, neutral court, tournament win over in-state rival Illinois doesn't carry quite the weight of their upset wins in the '06 NCAA Tournament, it is, nevertheless, almost every bit as sweet for everyone involved with Bradley basketball (players, coaches, alumni, fans, athletic department staff, university administrators, etc.).

Bradley University is a Missouri Valley Conference institution with a rich basketball history. Bradley is located in Peoria, IL, approximately 85 miles from the Urbana, IL, campus of Big Ten basketball powerhouse Illinois. But although both teams represent basketball crazed schools from central Illinois, Bradley and Illinois rarely face each other on the basketball court (Bradley's last win over Illinois came in 1974). Thus, while a win over a nationally ranked opponent from a major conference would be a big win for mid-major Bradley in any circumstance, beating No. 20 Illinois gives Bradley bragging rights over a powerhouse program from down the road which effectively serves as its college basketball "big brother."

That said, there's no question that Illinois is struggling. They return three starters from a team that lost in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, but they start two freshmen in the back court. And although they cruised to easy wins over lower level Division I opponents to start the season, Illinois hadn't played a serious opponent until the weekend. Against Utah, the Illini blew a 16 point second half lead and lost the game in its final seconds. The following night, they came out flat against Bradley. Illinois coach Bruce Weber recounted in a post game interview that during his pregame talk, he told his players that Bradley would be the best team they had faced thus far in the 2009/10 season. But Weber said that players "rolled their eyes" at the statement. Against a Bradley team that wanted nothing more than to cut the legs out from under their in-state "big brother," the Illini players' collective disinterest was a recipe for disaster.

Illinois needs to regroup quickly. They play at Clemson on Wednesday in the made-for-ESPN ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Clemson is an experienced, athletic team. An upset of Clemson would likely go a long way in c0mpensating for the bad weekend in Las Vegas. Illinois must truly hope that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

But that shouldn't take anything away from Bradley. It was a monumental win for the Braves. Bradley people will probably never forget how sweet it was to take down the big, bad Illini (even if they had to travel to Las Vegas to do so). At the very least, Bradley has major bragging rights in the heart of the state of Illinois. But if Illinois eventually gets their ship in order and proves to be a good team that merely experienced some early season, Thanksgiving tournament growing pains, Bradley's win over the Illini could help position them (and/or position other Missouri Valley teams -- remember, conference RPI is one of many factors which the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee weighs when selecting the NCAA Tournament field) nicely for post season consideration.

(Photo: Bradley's Milos Knezevic drives past Illinois' Dominique Keller -- AP/Laura Rauch).

Happy Thanksgiving

Drive and Dish would like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. It's become a Thanksgiving tradition to spend the afternoon watching the moribund Detroit Lions lose another game (it doesn't matter what year it is, the Lions are always terrible), but we ask the following question: why waste the day watching bad NFL games when there's lots of good college basketball on television?

Well, whatever your sports viewing inclinations, it's always a good idea to take inventory of, and give thanks for, the things for which you are grateful (even if you're a Lions fan). Happy Thanksgiving.

(Image: the first Thanksgiving-1621).

Is the Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged By Time Travelers?

When the Hadron Collider was under construction, there were many people who warned that running the Collider could cause the world, or even the universe, to blow up. Since its completion, the Collider has been plagued by setbacks that have kept it from being fully operational. Now Time Magazine reports that two highly regarded physicists have a theory as to why the Hadron Collider has had so many problems: the physicists think that time travelers may be sabotaging the Collider.

The most recent setback was a bizarre event in which a bird shut the Collider down by dropping a baguette into the Collider from from its beak. But the physicists think that maybe it occurred for a reason:

While most scientists would write off the event as a freak accident, two esteemed physicists have formulated a theory that suggests an alternative explanation: perhaps a time-traveling bird was sent from the future to sabotage the experiment. Bech Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, Japan, have published several papers over the past year arguing that the CERN experiment may be the latest in a series of physics research projects whose purposes are so unacceptable to the universe that they are doomed to fail, subverted by the future.

Wow. Not sure what else to say. But it's amazing that physicists are actually proposing a theory as seemingly outlandish as time travelers sabotaging the Hadron Collider. It's equally amazing that the opponents of the theory didn't dismiss it out of hand, but rather, made scientific arguments to rebut it.

You'd expect other physicists to laugh the time traveling bird theory out of hand as being absurd. Yet they didn't. Even though they don't agree with the theory, they apparently don't automatically dismiss the concept of time travel (or even of time traveling birds). It must be because they're (apparently) theoretical physicists. It's been my experience that theoretical physicists are a special breed.

But they're also the guys who push the game forward.

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter has more.

Happy Halloween.

The entire staff here at Drive and Dish would like to wish Happy Halloween to all of our readers (err, well, that would be the entire staff minus Atlantic Coast Conference Editor Emeritus and former roving reporter Mark Buckets -- he started drinking early, and he's already way too drunk to speak, or in this case text, intelligibly).

(Picture: Drive and Dish/Trashtalk Superstar).

New Continental Basketball League to Begin Play in April 2010

Via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The Continental Basketball League announced Friday that they will kick off their first season in April, 2010.

The CBL will join the minor league basketball landscape and will feature a minimum of seven teams. According to the release, 14 teams have submitted applications for membership.

The league champion will be determined through a single-elimination tournament in June...

The league has yet to announce locations and details involving scheduling, rules and regulations.

Investment, Suicide Scandal Schocks Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israeli Basketball

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club manager Moni Fanan (pictured above) committed suicide last week. It now appears that Fanan checked himself out just as the proverbial "other shoe" was set to drop. USA Today reports:

Authorities suspect Moni Fanan was running a multimillion dollar investment scheme for some of Israel's top sports figures, and that he was deep in debt. The scandal has overshadowed the opening of Israel's basketball season this week and tarnished Maccabi Tel Aviv, the most successful team in the country's history.

Huge losses, estimated at more than $20 million, are now believed to have driven Fanan to hang himself in his Tel Aviv apartment last week.

Top players are believed to have lost millions of dollars in shady investments, tax authorities have raided Maccabi's offices, and there are even suspicions that referees in charge of Maccabi games had invested with Fanan.

Maccabi spokesman Nitzan Ferraro denied any wrongdoing inside the club and said team officials were cooperating with the authorities. "We have nothing to hide," he said.

Maccabi has dominated Israeli basketball for decades, winning 38 of the past 40 league titles. Its budget dwarfs that of all its competitors, and it has grown into a European powerhouse. Last week, Maccabi toured the U.S. for a series of exhibition games against NBA teams.

For years, Fanan was the face of Maccabi to the Israeli public, holding a position that ranged from bench coach to logistics manager to chief troubleshooter for his players.

During his 16-year tenure, the team won 15 league titles and three European championships. His son, Regev, was a backup for five years.

Fanan was particularly popular with the team's dozens of foreign players, some of whom went on to play in the NBA. But last year, he was forced to step down and give up his small stake in Maccabi, after a falling out with other team executives.

Since Fanan's death, Israeli newspapers have reported that he ran a private banking network in which he invested large sums of money for his players, opposing coaches and league referees in return for promises of double-digit returns.

The Israeli media have given the story nonstop coverage, saying Fanan's murky financial dealings were well known among team officials. Most of the reports have cited players speaking anonymously, since many were invested with Fanan and could be charged with tax evasion for their earnings.

One former player, Doron Jamchi, broke the wall of silence over the weekend when he told Israel's Channel 2 TV that "everyone on the team knew."

Israeli tax authorities this week raided Maccabi's main office, confiscating boxes of documents. The team's former coach, Tzvika Sherf, and two ex-stars, Nadav Henefeld and Oded Katash, have been questioned. Tax Authority spokeswoman Idit Lev-Zerehia confirmed the agency is looking into possible tax evasion and money laundering.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is, far and away, the most successful professional basketball club in Israel. As of late, they've battled Olympiakos Greece for superiority in Euro League basketball. They've also been known to pay players better than any other Euro League team. Perhaps not surprisingly, they've become a destination for American players who head overseas (it also doesn't hurt that English is widely spoken in Israel--American players don't experience as much of a culture clash in Israel as they do in many European countries).

Recently, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned from a trip to the United States in which they played exhibition games against several NBA teams. Maccabi made news while playing the Knicks in Madison Square Garden when head coach Pini Gershon got ejected from the game after being called for his second technical foul. Gershon refused to leave the sidelines, despite his ejection. His antics caused play to be delayed for nearly ten minutes. Even more bizarrely, a rabbi ran on to the court and attempted to persuade the referees to allow Gershon continue coaching (pictured below).

In 2005 (October 15, 2005), Maccabi Tel Aviv made news for beating the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

Division III Adds All Star game to 2010 Final Four

The 2010 NCAA Division III Final Four will include an all star game. The game will be sponsored by the NABC and will tip off three hours prior to the Division III Championship game on March 20.

According to D3 hoops.com, "plans are for two teams of 10 players apiece to be named. At least one spot on each team will be set aside for players from teams who lose in the national semifinals the previous evening, the teams who normally would play in the third-place game. "

"Creepy" College Mascots

Life magazine has a problem with several college basketball mascots (which is news to us, since nobody here at Drive and Dish was aware that Life magazine still existed). Namely, Life thinks the mascots in question are "creepy."

Before Drive and Dish weighs in with our take on Life's list of "creepy" mascots, we offer the following disclaimer: it has long been our official position that the adjective "creepy" is overused and annoying (not to mention nebulous). Make no mistake, calling someone "creepy" is a power play. It's a tactic primarily employed by females who are attempting to shame males into modifying their behavior. And it's effective. The prospect of being called "creepy" is usually enough to prompt guys to jump through hoops in order to prove to their female accusers that they are not, in fact, "creepy." And that's why, in recent years, use of the word "creepy" has all but become the de facto means by which girls assert their power over guys.

Worse yet, when used as a "shaming word," it has no objective meaning. "Creepy" is a subjective term which can be utilized to describe almost anything its user wishes:

"OMG!!! That guy is totally looking at me! He's totally checking me out! OMG! That guy is sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! I'm a hot girl, and I'm interested in that cute guy, but he totally doesn't notice me. WTF!?! What's wrong with him!?! He's must be gay. Or maybe he's a little wussy boy who's intimidated by me and doesn't have the balls to approach me. He's like, sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy's such a dirtbag! He's like, a total player! He doesn't care about any girls. He's just all about, like, ya know, getting in girls' pants. What a creepy dirtbag!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy is such a total geek! He has, like, NO game at all! I'm sure he never gets any ass. And he probably doesn't even care, cause he probably just goes back to his room and plays World of Warcraft! OMG!! He's such a L-O-S-E-R! He's totally creepy!!!

"OMG!!! That guy held a door open for me. He probably just wants to get in my pants! OMG!! He's sooo creepy!!!"

"OMG!!! That guy didn't hold the door open for me. That's sooo rude. Who the hell does he think he is? He's sooo creepy!!!"

Females accuse males of being "creepy" so often, and for so many disparate reasons, that the word has begun to lose much of its meaning. Insofar as "creepy" means whatever the person using it wants it to mean, it's become the ultimate post-modern adjective. But even with its diluted meaning, "creepy" remains an enormously powerful tool, as it conveys sinister (and often sexually predatory) overtones.

So it's not without at least a bit of trepidation that Drive and Dish entertains the notion of Life Magazine's list of the "creepiest" college mascots. Having said that, several of the mascots strike us as being, indeed, pretty damn creepy. Our thoughts:

1. The Stanford tree is undeniably wacked out. Life Magazine opines that it seems to have been inspired by a bad acid trip. Yours truly isn't exactly a big hallucinogenic drug user, but senior Drive and Dish editors have conferred with lower level Drive and Dish employees who are, in fact, big hallucinogenic drug users, and the consensus among the Drive and Dish acid eaters is that the Stanford tree does, in fact, seem to be inspired by a bad acid trip.

Worse yet, the current incarnation of the Stanford tree bears even less of a resemblance to an actual tree than its previous incarnations. At least the old Stanford tree (circa 1996-98) was actually green -- the new tree looks like it's supposed to depict five unrolled condoms stacked on top of each other, topped off with a Cowichan warrior's headdress.

And the 1980's boat shoes with black socks just add insult to injury.

There's no doubt about it -- anyone (Stanford student, alumni, or otherwise) who's willing to admit to liking the Stanford tree has probably just smoked a few trees.

2. The Oklahoma State Cowboy (known as "Pistol Pete") looks like the Burger King's long lost brother/cousin. Life can't be easy for a rough and tumble Oklahoma cowboy; I wonder if he knows that he's related to royalty. He might want to tell the Burger King to send some $$ his way.

Worse yet, Oklahoma State has no claim on the nickname "Pistol Pete." "Pistol Pete" was the nickname of Pete Maravich, who was one of the greatest and most iconic -- arguably the greatest and the most iconic -- college basketball players of all time. Pete Maravich was a three time NCAA All American who, forty years after his final season as a collegian, remains college basketball's all time leading scorer. In his three collegiate seasons (1968-70), he amassed 3,667 points and averaged an astonishing 44.2 points per game. What's more, Maravich played long before the advent of the three point shot in college basketball. It's been estimated, based on footage of Maravich's old games, that if the three point shot had existed, he would have averaged more than 57 points per game.

More on Pete Maravich here, here and here.

So it's not surprising that a college basketball mascot would use the nickname "Pistol Pete." It is, however, surprising that Oklahoma State's mascot uses the nickname.

The original "Pistol Pete" played at LSU.

3. Louisiana-Lafayette's mascot looks too much like Carrot Top to be taken seriously (well, to the extent that college mascots can be taken seriously).

4. Why does the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi mascot dress in traditional Hawaiian garb?

Corpus Christi, TX, is a coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, Corpus Christi has palm trees and an ocean, but other than the fact that both are warm weather locales situated on large bodies of salt water, the Texas Gulf Coast has almost nothing in common with Hawaii.

Growing up, my paternal grandparents lived near the Texas Gulf Coast. I spent countless hours in my grandfather's boat, fishing in the Gulf. I like the Texas Gulf Coast. But let's face it: the Gulf Coast isn't exactly a haven for surfers, and Texas isn't known for hula dancers in grass skirts. Thus, the grass skirt clad, Tiki themed TAMU-Corpus Christi mascot doesn't really make sense.

5. Austin Peay's "Governor" mascot may be "creepy," but the school's student body chant -- "Let's go Peay!" (pronounced "pee") -- stands alone in its genius.

6. The UConn Husky looks like a furry.

(Photo of the Stanford tree: courtesy of Life Magazine).

Former NBA Forward Horace Grant Wins Arbitration Case vs. Mutual Fund

Add former Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Lakers forward Horace Grant to the list of investors who got burned by exposure to collateralized debt obligations tied to residential mortgages. Fortunately for Grant, he won an arbitration case against case against a mutual fund he claimed misrepresented the risk levels of the bond funds it sold him. Morgan Keegan & Co. of Memphis, TN, has been ordered to pay Grant $1.46 million for losses incurred via his position in funds heavily invested in the aforementioned collateralized debt obligations.

Summer Break Winding Down

Drive and Dish has been more or less silent for the last two or three months. Our dearth of blogging activity has not been entirely by choice. Drive and Dish's Atlantic Coast Conference/Tobacco Road bureau chief, Mark Buckets, has retired from sports blogging, and the last several months have been particularly taxing and challenging for the sole remaining full time Drive and Dish writer, yours truly, Have Jumpshot Will Travel (a.k.a. Trashtalk Superstar).

From late February to the conclusion of college basketball in early April (roughly the point at which I began to be abnormally crunched for time), I did my best to continue dishing out basketball commentary. Unfortunately, our NCAA Tournament and Final Four coverage was considerably less extensive than it had been in previous years. And after North Carolina carted their fifth NCAA National Championship trophy back to Chapel Hill, Drive and Dish went into a late spring/early summer period of hibernation (yeah, spring/summer is a strange time to hibernate, but -- quick, somebody tell Al Gore -- it has been an unusually chilly summer in Chicagoland).

By necessity, I've had to spend an unusually large chunk of the spring and summer on the road (hey, things can get hectic when you're running from the authorities). At first, I managed to knock out several blog posts from airports and hotel rooms. But as my schedule became more tight, my blogging productivity ultimately dwindled.

But take heart, loyal Drive and Dish readers: in the coming weeks, Drive and Dish will return to it's normal summer level of blogging activity (which roughly amounts to a blog post or two per week). And once we pocket the millions in federal set asides that the Stimulus Package allocated for bloggers with Blogspot and Wordpress sports blogs, we should be going full tilt, with both barrels blazing!

In the meantime, you can check out Drive and Dish's thoughts/ramblings in 140 characters or less at Twitter.

Sooner Legend, Longtime NBA Player Wayman Tisdale Dies at 44

Former University of Oklahoma star, longtime NBA veteran forward and accomplished jazz guitarist Wayman Tisdale died Friday morning. He was 44.

Tisdale played 12 seasons in the NBA and averaged 15.3 points for his career. He was a member of the U.S. team that captured the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In 2007, Tisdale was diagnosed with bone cancer. His right leg was amputated in August, 2008.

The Indiana Pacers drafted Wayman Tisdale out of Oklahoma in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft. The 6'9" Tisdale played with the Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns before retiring in 1997. Tisdale released his debut jazz album, "Power Forward," in 1995, while a member of the Suns (where he played from the 1994-95 season until 1997). "Power Forward" rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Tisdale's career as a jazz musician took off when his basketball career came to an end. He was one of the most successful musicians in the contemporary jazz scene up until his death.

RIP Wayman Tisdale.

Associated Press video: here.

North Carolina Wins 5th National Championship

Monday night, North Carolina breezed past Michigan State 89-72 at Ford Field in Detroit, capturing the 2009 NCAA National Championship. With the win, the North Carolina program now owns five National Championships (tying with Indiana for third place on list of programs with the most National Championships, behind only Kentucky and UCLA). North Carolina had previously won National Championships in 1957, 1982, 1993 and 2005.

North Carolina dominated Michigan State from start to finish. The Spartans surprised the "experts" with their Final Four run. They had upset supposedly superior teams in Louisville and Connecticut to advance to the Final Four and Championship game. But North Carolina was clearly the superior team. The Tar Heels were simply too talented, too athletic, too deep at every position, and too focused for the Spartans.

Congratulations to the 2009 NCAA National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels.

(Image: USA Today).

Bennett to Virginia; Calipari to Kentucky: Done Deal?

Tony Bennett has been hired as the new men's head basketball coach at Virginia. Bennett coached Washington State to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Drive and Dish discussed the Virginia basketball program when Dave Leitao was forced to resign earlier in March. We acknowledged that while the University of Virginia is an esteemed academic institution with a gorgeous campus and outstanding basketball facilities, it has a tough time recruiting and competing against rival powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference programs:

Virginia is an outstanding school with a beautiful, historic campus. And it has top-notch basketball facilities. But in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Cavaliers have to compete against basketball powers like North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland. And they have trouble keeping the best players from Virginia in state, as the traditional ACC power programs and Georgetown usually raid Washington, D.C. and Virginia of its best basketball talent.

Despite it's many strengths (at least on paper), the Virginia men's basketball program remains something of an enigma. In theory, there's no reason why U.Va shouldn't be able to consistently finish in the top five of the ACC. After all, if a football school like Clemson can become a player in ACC hoops, certainly Virginia, with its outstanding facilities and strong basketball tradition, can reassert itself as one too.

But for some reason, a sustained return to basketball prominence just hasn't been in the cards. for Virginia.

Then we asked why -- given the difficulties that Virginia has encountered in trying to be a player in ACC hoops -- an in demand, up-and-coming coach would agree to take on the challenge that is Virginia basketball :

(u)nderstandably, the University of Virginia wants to replace Dave Leitao with a coach who can resurrect the Cavalier basketball program and generate excitement among Virginia fans and alumni. Virginia will likely spend big money to lure a hot, up-and-coming coach to Charlottesville. But Pete Gillen and Leitao were once hot, up-and-coming coaches who appeared to possess the qualities that would allow them to rebuild the once-proud Virginia basketball program.

Why Virginia has been unable to field a consistently competitive basketball program remains somewhat unclear. Why an in-demand, up-and-coming coach would accept the Virginia job, especially considering how the tenures of Virginia's recent coaches have ended, remains even less clear.

Tony Bennett, however, is an interesting hire. He succeeded his father, legendary coach Dick Bennett, as the coach at Washington State (Tony had been an assistant on his father's WSU staff). Prior to the Bennetts' arrival in Pullman, WA, Dick Bennett built the once-moribund Wisconsin basketball program into a national power in the 1990's. Tony was a member of his father's coaching staff at Wisconsin when Dick Bennett's accomplished his most impressive feat as a Division I head coach (Dick Bennett had coached at several levels, including the NAIA): leading an improbable Wisconsin team to the 2000 Final Four. Dick Bennett retired from coaching shortly thereafter, but his reputation as a "program builder" prompted Washington State to pursue him to fill their coaching vacancy in 2003. When Tony Bennett took over the reins from his father in 2006, Washington State had already become a fairly competitive basketball program. But after he took WSU to the 2008 Sweet Sixteen, Tony Bennett became a hot commodity among Athletic Directors looking to fill coaching openings (Bennett was offered, but ultimately turned down, the head coaching jobs at LSU and at Indiana).

Tony Bennett is a young (38), and relatively charismatic coach. He was a great college point guard -- still the the NCAA's all-time leader in 3-point percentage (.497), he set Mid-Continent Conference records for scoring (2,285) and assists (601) while playing for his father at Wisconsin-Green Bay -- who played three seasons in the NBA before becoming a coach. Once at Washington State, he found immediate success as a first-time college head coach. What's more, the fact that the Bennetts have a solid track record of turning non-traditional college basketball powers into competitive programs makes Tony Bennett especially well suited for the challenge of returning Virginia basketball to prominence.

When Drive and Dish wondered why an up-and-coming coach would want to take on the massive task of trying to rebuild the Virginia basketball program, we didn't know that Tony Bennett was on U.Va's radar. Tony Bennett is a good fit for Virginia.


Calipari to Kentucky: Done Deal?

Earlier today, ESPN's Andy Katz reported that Memphis head coach John Calipari had met with officials from the University of Kentucky to discuss Kentucky's coaching vacancy. Later, Katz reported that Calipari was close to taking the Kentucky job, but had conducted several meetings with players and officials at Memphis.

This evening, Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis wrote that two separate sources characterized a Calipari/Kentucky deal as being somewhere between a "done deal" and "moving in that direction." Later in the evening, WMC TV in Memphis reported that Calipari was set to leave for Kentucky.

Drive and Dish has historically eschewed trafficking in rumors. Although our (former) proximity to the worlds of college and high school basketball -- albeit on the fringes -- prompted us to blog anonymously, we've always declined to publish confidential information that friends have relayed to us in private conversations (and we've had some damn good "scoops" over the years that we never posted). But for what it's worth, a "friend of Drive and Dish" who has "insider information" from the within the Kentucky basketball program told us this afternoon that Calipari is, indeed, headed to Kentucky, and that he's already notified Memphis of his decision to leave.

Since the Calipari to Kentucky story is already being widely reported, relaying the information transmitted by our friend doesn't violate Drive and Dish's "no snitching" policy. We'll continue to steer clear of the college basketball/NBA rumor mills. But the Calipari/Kentucky romance is in a different category ... at this point, it's one of the worst kept secrets around.

UConn, Michigan State, North Carolina, Vilanova Advance to Final Four

The first two rounds of the 2009 NCAA Tournament are over. The 65-team NCAA Tournament field has been whittled down to four remaining contestants. Connecticut, Michigan State, North Carolina and Villanova have survived and advanced, and, thus, constitute the field for the 2009 Final Four.

On Saturday, April 4, Connecticut will play Michigan State and North Carolina will play Villanova in Detroit's Ford Field.

As 1-seeds, North Carolina and Connecticut were expected to reach the Final Four. Michigan State and Villanova, while both seeded highly (2 and 3-seeds, respectively) upset 1-seeds in the Elite Eight in order to advance to the Final Four.

Michigan State's presence in the Final Four is particularly noteworthy. As members of the much-maligned Big Ten conference, most college basketball "experts" expressed the opinion that the Spartans did not have what it takes to reach the Final Four. Most experts expected Louisville to defeat MSU handily in the Elite Eight, and thus, become the third 2009 Final Four participant from the Big East conference. In fact, it was widely believed that Louisville would run Michigan State off the floor.

But Tom Izzo and the Spartans had different ideas. Izzo's superior game plan put his team in position to take advantage of its strengths (superior guard play, strong play in the paint), and neutralize Louisville's strengths (full court pressure defense, athleticism, three point shooting, switching zone defenses, depth). Most analysts expected Michigan State to wilt under Louisville's famed full court pressure. But the backcourt duo of Kalin Lucas and Travis Walton (along with occasional help from big man Goran Suton) broke the Cardinals' pressure with ease. And the Spartans' torrid three point shooting relegated the zone defense ineffective.

Also of note, since his promotion to the position of men's head basketball coach prior the 1995/96 season, Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to five Final Fours. Even more impressively, since becoming head coach, every one of Tom Izzo's who has completed his four years of eligibility has participated in a Final Four.

Although he's regularly overlooked by the Big East & Atlantic Coast Conference-obsessed national sports media, Tom Izzo is clearly one of the top coaches in college basketball. What's more, he's widely regarded as one of the true good guys in a notoriously shady sport (college basketball) that is filled with smooth-talking, but often unscrupulous coaches.

Drive and Dish expects Connecticut to beat North Carolina to win the 2009 National Championship (as we've said all year), but we tip our hats to Tom Izzo and Michigan State. We thought MSU would probably make it to the Elite Eight, but fall short of making the Final Four (even though we picked Kansas in our final official bracket). But we're thrilled to see Izzo and the ever-tough Spartans back in the familiar territory of the Final Four.