02Ram54

It was not even close to questionable. Really dumb play.

With the other candidates losing momentum (on and off the field) I'm starting to think AJ gets the "Lifetime Achievement" award.

Is this the most disappointing 10-1 season in History? I know a team going to 10-0 then losing last game of the season is bad, but the Cards lost semi early then continue to win...I don't know one friend that is a Card fan that hasn't pretty much already moved on to basketball. Disappointing loss, Heisman Campaign that just never got going, unsatisfactory wins...Did beating a poor Florida team last season set the Card expectations too high for this season?

Gee, I think "poor" is a bit strong, considering they beat three teams ranked in the top 10 and finished with one loss in the SEC.

No one thought they were anything less than classic SEC tough until they lost to Louisville. Last year's Florida and this year's are different teams.

You have to consider that the official attendance counts tickets sold, not necessarily butts in the seats.

At UK, maybe, but not at Louisville. You car say that they're not being honest, but they report tickets scanned.

Hate to be that cynic, but it still could have been consensual. This doesn't look good for Winston though. I do question why some people are indicating his silence as guilt. If accused of a criminal charge, there is the whole 5th Amendment thing.

As to this case, who knows? I personally always thought Kobe was guilty of poor screening rather than rape, but that seemed to be at best a 50/50 split on this board at the time.

All those UK players played for what coach?

I'd say something, but I'm pretty sure you'd rather not hear about Cal's players (or Eddie's, or Tubby's).

I believe the Behanan deal is still connected to the Washington fellow from Nelligan.

It's not. From Eric Crawford.

The car was registered to a person who had the same name as the sports marketing official, but it wasn't that person. It was another person of the same name. The car, a late-model sports car (aren't they all?), in fact belonged to a U of L student, a female, who was a friend of the player and who was in the car with the player at the time of the incident.

The last thing he said, about not worrying about his image because he's still the same person no matter how he's perceived, is a really healthy attitude IMO for someone who becomes suddenly famous, so I hope that it is true and remains true.

Pitino was not a happy camper during the postgame tonight. He said the media needs to do their homework.

On the Chane stuff, he's absolutely right. Some people should have maybe checked whether there might be more than one Chris Washington in a metro area of 1.3 million people.

Terrible schedule. Pitino knew he had a solid team back. He should have scheduled 3-4 marquee games.

The other top teams were already scheduled for their big event, and I don’t think a lot of teams after the elite tier are eager to play the mostly returning defending national champions in the first few weeks of the season. Louisville tried to get something worked out with IU, but Dwight isn’t interested. Louisville can’t play in Atlantis/Maui every year. They SHOULD get a chalk game against UNC on a neutral floor (who, again, was supposed to be pretty good) and I’m pretty sure later in the year they have a game against what I’ve heard is the greatest assemblage of basketball talent since Jordan defended the planet Earth with Bugs and Daffy.

They play Western, then at FIU in what was supposed to be a more meaningful game when the contract was signed, and then the afore-alluded to unstobale basketball force, on their home turf no less; then it’s on to conference play.

To recap:

Who? Not Indiana. Not other marquee teams who had no room to play the Cards, and I don’t think Louisville looked like an attractive dance partner to teams outside of the elite, especially since…

When? Louisville would only have had room for an early game. UNC is this Sunday, then they have Southern Miss (good not great last year, really a hard luck team that I felt like were a couple of bounces outside of the tournament, even ignoring how that is literally true as they lost in overtime against Memphis in the C-USA tournament), then after a pair of actual cupcakes it’s WKU, cupcake, contracted game @FIU, @UK and on to conference games.

Where? Louisville plays UNC in Connecticut and Kentucky in Lexington. WKU is the home headliner until 2014. Outside of maybe IU in Indianapolis, Louisville would have wanted that game at the Yum, which compounds with the above: if you’re a team like Ohio State, do you really want to play at Louisville a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, when you could play Marquette instead and get plenty of big-game hype in the B1G anyway? If you’re Marquette, haven’t you had quite enough of playing Louisville lately, anyway, and maybe it can be someone else’s’ turn?

Personally, I see an "It Factor" with these guys that not even last year's champions had. Last year, they really fed off the press, and at times played with a clear desire to impose their will on the other team; these Cards play like they NEED to dominate their opponents. Just a different group persona. I guess it probably has a lot to do with Siva and Dieng’s personalities as team leaders last year, as opposed to Trezl and Russ.

According to Jody Demling, the info about Chane is wrong. It's not the same Chris Washington that works at Nelligan.

I have never understood the need to drive that much over the speed limit. Maybe I am just a weenie, and always have been, but driving that fast would scare the crap out of me.

Looking at UL's schedule I only see a possible 2-4 losses at most...I think you can pretty much ink them into a #1 seed somewhere.

I'm not sold on Mich St, I think they'll be a #2 seed at best by the end of the season

Kansas I think will end up the overall #1 and could make a run at being undefeated going into post season play

Arizona should coast to a #1

and I think UK SHOULD end up with a #1, there doesn't appear to be more than 2-4 possible losses on their schedule either

So I guess you see:

South- Kansas

West- Arizona

Midwest- KY

East- Louisville

To be clear, my list wasn't predictive, I just meant at this moment.

Maybe UK could get a 2 seed in the Cards Bracket

Right now, I would actually fill out the top 2 for each as:

Midwest (Indianapolis)

1) Michigan State (Top overall)

2) Ohio State

East (NYC)

1) Louisville

2) Duke

West (Anaheim)

1) Arizona

2) OK State

South (Memphis)

1) Kansas

2) Kentucky

That top 4 would be pretty convenient for the tournament committee as far as filling out the top lines.

Coaches Poll:

1. Michigan State (22) 789

2. Louisville (8) 761

3. Kansas (2) 735

4. Arizona 684

5. Kentucky 658

Resembles everything of a guy with one foot out the door...who knows?

Also, the unit that Strong actually involves himself with (the defense) is playing very well. I don't think Strong can sleep-walk to holding Houston to 13 points, especially with the field position our special teams surrenders.

Resembles everything of a guy with one foot out the door...who knows?

Not really. Resembles who he's been from day one, in regards to bottom line messaging and publicly supporting his staff. The cover is just gossamer-thin in this case.

I love Coach Strong, but that's just garbage. Houston had no business scoring 13 points and having a chance to win the game at the end of the 4th quarter against this team. The offense isn't just not entertaining--it's predictable, and not getting the job done.

I'm not just talking about the pass-to-run ratio. I'm talking about specific plays and down-and-distance tendencies, things my wife is pointing out from the stands. I recognize the problem with the line, but at some point they need to realize that they're trying to keep Teddy in a case that says "Break Only In Case of Emergency" and that just isn't going to cut it.

In fact, more likely than not Teddy will play behind a bad offensive line next year as well, facing much scarier defenses. Babying him isn't going to make that transition any easier.

1st quarter 4:26 tied at 7

True but retention bonuses will be available where ever he goes. Spin it however helps you want that your coach won't leave because Florida can't afford him, but Florida can and will pay what ever it takes to get him IF they decide he's their man.

 

Your saying that you don't think FLORIDA will pay as much as Arkansas or Tennessee did for a new coach? If that's what you think fine but everyone knows Florida will PAY what it takes and the Razorbacks and Vols aren't going to out spend them.

 

$4.375 buyout is steep but spread over a 5 or 6 year contract that's not much considering what coaches get paid.

 

Not to call you out but...

 

Strong Contract

$3.7 2014 (year end June 30) this current season June 2013 to June 2014

$3.7 2015 (year end June 30) next season June 2014 to June 2015

$3.7 2016 (year end June 30) year after next June 2015 to 2016

$11.1 Total without performance/incentive bonus

 

Retention Bonus

$1.25 Retention Bonus paid if he stays through June 30 2015

$1.00 Annuity paid to him at age 65 if he stays til June 30 2015

$1.00 Retention Bonus paid if he stays through June 30 2016

$3.25 Total in retention Bonuses if in place through June 30 2016

 

$14.35 Total Owed to Strong without performance/incentive bonuses.

Your average comes out even higher than mine (I was including this season's salary, which I agree is ereoneous)

By your calculation, Louisville is paying Strong $4.8 million per year through 2016.

Retention bonuses aren't rare, but $3.25 million in the first three years of the contract is well outside the norm.

His LOI is in. He's a Card.