Hump Day Headlines

In this April Fool's Edition of Hump Day Headlines, no fooling anyone in the AP All American Picks, the Broncos have finally decided to trade Jay Cutler, coaches not named John Calipari get new deals, and how far did the Notre Dame basketball program fall in just one year...

• The AP First Team All-American team was announced yesterday, and all five picks seem obvious to me. Oklahoma's Blake Griffin was a unanimous pick (shocker!), while North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, Davidson's Stephen Curry, Pittburgh's DeJuan Blair, and Arizona State's James Harden rounded out the rest of the first team. All five players are obviously deserving, and they show that while the college game has lost some great players to the NBA, there are still some fantastic players at the top in college basketball. How good these guys will be at the next level? It's hard to say. Blake Griffin will probably be the top pick in the draft, and figures to be an impact player right away. Scott was clearly not impressed with James Harden. Tyler Hansbrough's draft status is unclear, Steph Curry may or may not go pro this year (and if he does, is he the next J.J. Redick?) and DeJuan Blair might be too short to be an impact player as a back to the basket 6'7" forward. Whether they're good or not though at the professional level, let's enjoy the fact we got to watch these guys be great college hoopsters. As an avid college hoops fan, I enjoyed watching all of them.
• The Denver Broncos soap opera released its latest episode today: the news that they will in fact deal their star quarterback somewhere. Jay Cutler will be on the move, and it appears that there are at least six teams that will be involved in some capacity to try and acquire the Pro Bowler's services. The Jets, Buccaneers, Bears, Lions, 49ers and Browns are all apparently interested, and the Jaguars "may" be interested. (You know who I'm rooting for in that sweepstakes.) There are also reports circulating that the Redskins might be interested even though they have Jason Campbell. Before you start complaining that this story is getting annoying, let me remind you one simple fact: at least we're not talking about T.O. or the Cowboys.
• Missouri Head Coach Mike Anderson was awarded with a new seven year contract worth between 1.3 and 1.5 million dollars per year. This comes after he impressively took the Tigers to the Elite Eight this season. The former UAB head man has shown why he always had the Blazers competing down there and now at a bigger school his coaching efforts have realized their potential. Good for him. Another coach rewarded for his success was former Washington State head coach Tony Bennett, who has moved on to the ACC and the University of Virginia. Bennett will be paid $1.7 million annually after he lead Wazzu to a 68-30 record in three seasons out west. People need to start getting used to the fact that the football and basketball coaches are now the highest paid people at many Division I Universities.
• Finally, remember when Notre Dame was a top ten team at the beginning of this college basketball season? This must seem like eons ago, because the Fighting Irish finished off a highly disappointing season by losing in the NIT Semifinals to Penn State. Notre Dame finished just 21-15, and Mike Brey must be searching for answers after he had second team all-American Luke Harangody (overrated, but still) Kyle McAlarney, Ryan Ayers and Tory Jackson on that team. Far too much talent to finish the way they did. Maybe Mr. Mock-Turtle himself should be considered for the hot seat? What a horrific year for Notre Dame sports teams. First more mediocrity from Chuck Weis, now this.

The Tournament Case For Davidson

Around this time of year, it gets called into question which teams will be "bracketbusters" and which teams won't, which teams will make a miraculous run into the field of 65 and which teams will go home to the disappointment of the NIT.

While taking in some College Gameday this morning on ESPN, I noticed in the preview of the game between #22 Butler and Davidson, the analysts on the panel were debating whether the Southern Conference leading Wildcats were still a tournament team if they don't win their conference (and would have to earn one of the 34 at-large selections).

Thankfully, my father doesn't have a vote on this because his belief is that no team from a conference outside of the power six should ever be ranked, and should never make the tournament unless they win their conference. So while he likely hasn't watched Davidson play more than 30 seconds this season that's where his vote goes.

I on the other hand have only seen a handful of Davidson's contests. But here's where they rank in terms of resume:

Entering today's game against the Horizon League's finest, the 22nd-ranked Butler Bulldogs, Davidson has a 22-5 record and a 15-2 record in the So-Con. There are no ranked teams in the So-Con, and there are just two other teams in the conference with more than 15 wins this season.

Davidson's RPI rating is currently 50th in the country (through Sunday, February 15th) and their strength of schedule ranking is a mere 150th in Division I. Their key wins have come at West Virginia (won 68-65 December 9th), and at home against NC State (72-67 December 6th).

Of their five losses, three of them have come against top 15 teams, and all of them came on the road. They lost November 18th at then-#12 Oklahoma by four (82-78), at then-#13 Purdue in Indianapolis by 18 (76-58) and at then-#2 Duke 79-67 at Cameron. Their other two losses came to the College of Charleston and to The Citadel, both at home. But it should be pointed out that the loss to The Citadel came without the services of superstar guard Stephen Curry, who missed the game with a high ankle sprain.

Having digested all that, if they beat Butler, they'd have a win against a ranked team, which certainly would help their cause. But to me, win or lose against the Bulldogs, they're a borderline team. If they win the So-Con, we're not even having this discussion. If they don't, they'll still get in for one reason.

Steph Curry.

Come on, you think if the NCAA tournament committee has the choice of a midly compelling Big East team vs Steph Curry in the tournament again they'd choose against the nation's leading scorer?

I don't think so!

If Curry's in the tournament people are watching. Is it fair? Not really. But it's the fact. I'm definitely watching any game he's in over watching two teams who ranked 7th or 8th in a power conference play against each other.

Curry is a great player, and because he's been hurt for a few games it has hurt Davidson's resume. And while the Wildcats are a bit different this year, we know how good they were last year when given a chance to show it against the big bad "power" conference teams. The tournament doesn't necessarily need Curry in it, but he sure would help ratings.

What do you think? Are they a tournament team? Should they get in just because of Curry? Let us know.