NCAA Tourney Possibly Expanding to 96 Teams?

Sick rumor or “done deal?” (CMForums)

An ESPN source said, “It’s a done deal with the expansion of the tournament. Depending on how soon a (TV) deal is done, the added teams could start next year. The NCAA confirmed that bidders would be interested in 96 teams, so they’re going with it.”

Another ESPN source confirmed to me that the network was in the formative stages of pondering a bid for the expanded tournament.

John Ourand and Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reported this morning that if the NCAA opts out of its current broadcast rights deal with CBS, the governing body will consider, “expanding from a 65-team tournament to either 68 or 96 teams.”

NCAAB regular season ratings are already in the tank, this would add to the irrelevance.  And now fans will become exhausted by 6 weeks of March Madness.  Why ruin a good thing?  I wonder if Vegas had a hand in this.  This is Nirvana for a degenerate gambler.

NCAA in negotiation to expand tournament to 96 teams (RTC)

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Dustin Dvoracek arrested; Jose Offerman throws a punch (Video)

Defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek was arrested early Saturday in Norman after an altercation at a bar on Campus Corner. The altercation occurred at Seven47, and he was charged with public intoxication, assault and battery, and interfering with an official process

  • Jose Offerman punches umpire in Dominican Winter League Game (Canadian Press)

Former major league all-star Jose Offerman threw a punch at an umpire during an argument in a Dominican winter league game Saturday night, the second time in 2½ years that he’s attacked someone on a baseball field.

Offerman, manager of the Licey Tigers, appeared to hit first base umpire Daniel Rayburn in the face or neck with his fist during a heated discussion in a game against the Cibao Giants. Rayburn fell to the ground.

See Punch after the Jump

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David Cutcliffe now staying at Duke. La Tech’s Dooley to UT

Various Duke media outlets have reported Cutcliffe will remain in Durham, conflicting with earlier reports.

David Cutcliffe will remain the head coach of the Duke Blue Devil football program a source confirmed to TDD early Friday morning – effectively ending a 48 hour courtship with the University of Tennessee that had many analysts believing the third year coach would depart.

Information we extracted yesterday all but confirmed his departure to UT.  The Knoxville News Sentinel ran an article that stated Cutcliffe was in the process of putting together a staff for his return to Tenenssee.

UPDATE:

The new coach at Tennessee is former La Tech head coach Derek Dooley.  I’m speechless.

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Big night for Sundiata Gaines

The story behind the Utah Jazz dramatic buzzard-beating 97-96 win over the Cavs on TNT is a look at the sport in its purest form.  The game-winning shot was attributed to the least likely of players, Utah’s Sundiata Gaines.  Sitting out the first three quarters, he scored 9 pts in the 4th quarter, including:

Gaines, recently called up from the NBDL on a 10-game contract, was able to generate a state of heroics for which allows for friendly rhetoric, if there ever was such a thing.  Its rare when a player comes virtually out of nowhere, after gutting out a meager subsistence for the hopes of stardom, and finally has that one day he will always remember, and was shared by millions around the world.  The internet has already provided a lot of articles, and a lot of words, to a story worthy of many.

Sundiata graduated from the  University of Georgia after the 2008 season, a team marked by an incredible underdog run through the SEC tournament.  After watching this video, this couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

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Duke’s Cutcliffe to Tennessee

The AJC and many Tennessee media outlets are all but confirming the current Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is to be the next head coach at the Tennessee. For now, timing is the most important factor to consider, National Signing Day is just a few weeks away.

Vol fans are having trepidations about hiring the former long-time Tennessee assistant. Not sure why, he did a fine job as purveyor to the Tennessee offense to prominence in the mid-90s, and his brief stint at Duke has been anything short of remarkable.

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