U of Miami's Illicit Booster Benefits

You may have seen yesterday that Ponzi schemester Nevin Shapiro admitted to providing millions of dollars worth of illicit payments and benefits to 72 U of Miami baskeball and football players.

Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.

Nevin Shapiro said this photo was taken during a basketball fundraiser in 2008, in which the booster donated $50,000 to the program. From left to right are men’s basketball coach Frank Haith, Shapiro and University of Miami president Donna Shalala. Shalala is holding Shapiro’s donation check, which the booster has said was entirely comprised of Ponzi funds.

Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.

While perhaps the most egregious case of illicit boosterism that we've seen in years, and one with greater cause for concern due to the involvement of NFL-level agents and pro-football officials, this is neither the first or last we'll see of this until the NCAA recognizes that big money sports will draw this type of behavior. Trying to crack down on players without addressing the larger institutional problems will do little to change the way boosters, coaches, agents and players behave.

If you haven't seen it, check out the HBO Real Sports special, "Dirty Money," and discussion about money in the NCAA. Clips included below.

Dirty Money:


NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 1:


NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 2:


Overtime:

The Demise of the Regional Conference

If you've turned on ESPN in the last 24 hours, you've heard the big news: Colorado will be leaving the Big 12 to join the Pac-10, and Nebraska is headed off to the Big 10. Rumors suggest that Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State may also be on the way out, possibly all also over to the Pac-10 (soon to be known the "Pac-16"!?!). Making a play on Notre Dame (in addition to picking up Nebraska), the Big 10 may also soon compete as a "super-conference," the kind that used to be unheard of except for, you know, the Big 12.

While it's true that Arizona and Arizona State are located in a state that does not sit on the Pacific Coast, there was still undoubtedly a regional coherence to the Pac-10. Same can be said for the Big 10 and Big 12, the Big East and SEC. But with the departure of Colorado signed in ink, Nebraska not far behind, and the Texas schools smelling blood (a.k.a. big media market money) in the water, the Big 12 seems on its last legs. The Big 10 may still make some claims to being a regional conference, but a Pac-16 including Texas and Oklahoma can make no such assertion. Throw in there the potential that Notre Dame basketball may go along with the ride for Notre Dame football to join the Big 10, and you see the death of the Big East as well.

At the end of the day, will the only regional conference left be the SEC? Is it time to abandon this conference nonsense altogether and just create four regional super-conferences once and for all: Pac-16, Big 16, ACC, and SEC (and possibly abandon the NCAA in the process)? And even though Football is King, what does this mean for basketball powerhouses outside of the new super-conferences (especially those in the dying Big 12 and Big East, like Kansas, KState, and Gtown)?

Lots of questions, but no clear answers yet for how this will all settle at the end of the day.

Say it Ain't So Jim Delany!

In an interview on Wednesday with USA Today, Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany told the newspaper that he thought expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams was "probable."   An expanded bracket would mean 31 additional tournament games and lots and lots of money for the NCAA and the broadcast network(s) that secures the rights to broadcast the larger tournament.

Is expansion good?  Me, I'm pretty indifferent.  I like the tournament the way it is now, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind more action, excitement, and heartache.  I do worry, however, that rather than allowing more "Mid-Majors" to battle with the big boys, expansion will just give mediocre teams in power conferences more of an opportunity to blow-up our brackets.  (Also, I would kinda miss the NIT... GO MSG!)

Does Domination of A Sport Help or Hurt Popularity?

The L.A. Times profiled the UConn Huskies Women's Basketball team, the overall top seeded team in the women's Final Four and three games away from their 6th national championship in 15 years. They are also 13 games away from tying the all-time winning streak record, established by John Wooden's UCLA Men's Basketball team.

The story poses and interesting question: does too much winning hurt a sport's popularity?

Are the Huskies good enough to be considered America's most dominant team? "They're making a case for consideration," Burke said.

But their success raises another question: Are all those blowout victories hurting a women's game that must fight for respect and attention?

Even [TV sports analyst Billy] Packer, who admires their style, concedes: "To be quite honest with you, because so many of the teams they play have no opportunity to be competitive, I don't watch many of their games."

[UConn Coach Geno] Auriemma offers a different perspective. He talks about Microsoft's dominance of the computer software market.

"Eventually, other people have to catch up," he says. "You either compete or get out, so everyone will compete."

It's hard to think of teams that have been as dominant in recent history, but I'd tend to think that assigning low-popularity to over-dominance is a pretty flawed claim. It's not like people stopped watching the NBA during the Bull's two Jordan-led three-peats from 1990-93 and 1995-98. And the dominance of Tiger Woods clearly single-handedly exploded the popularity of golf-as-spectator-sport.

When you see "team makes history" in the headline, your bracket is screwed

Only one game into the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championships and a #1 seed is already out. University of Denver was the top ranked team in their conference and ranked #2 overall. They have won seven hockey championships (only one school has won more championships than Denver but I'm not going to tell you who it is; as a Hawkeye I am obligated to hate them.) Denver's hockey program has a long history of excellence. A number of Denver alumni have gone on to play in the NHL, including Paul Stastny, who plays for the Colorado Avalanche and helped Team USA win a silver medal at the Olympic Games this year. Matt Carle, another Denver alum, won the Hobey Baker award in 2006 and currently plays for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Rochester Institute of Technology is a Division III school in every sport except for Men's Ice Hockey. They became Division I for hockey in 2006.

Redeem yourself with a whole new tournament!

Were you certain that Georgetown would make it to to the Final Four? Did you pick Kansas to go all the way? Do you wish you never heard the words "Northern Iowa"? Now is the time to redeem yourself! The NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship starts this afternoon. The first and second rounds are this weekend. The Frozen Four is April 8-10 at Ford Field in Detroit.

A more legible version of the bracket can be found here. Anyone brave enough to go in on a bracket contest?

Kentucky's Center: Basketball is "not a spelling bee"

On the mismatch that is 1-seed Kentucky vs. 12-seed Cornell.

DeMarcus Cousins, the star Wildcat freshman big man, said the game would not be determined by “who can read the fastest.”

Cousins added: “We’re here to play basketball. It’s not a spelling bee.”

It's funny because Cornell is an Ivy-League school, and as we also all know, the Ivy League has dominated NCAA Division I Spelling Bee and Men's Speed Reading for the last several seasons.

Women's Spelling Bee has notably been dominated by Pac-10 schools since the 1995-96 season.

Bracket Busters.....Do they really indicate parity? Update

So #12 Cornell just finished "upsetting" #4 Wisconsin.   This win comes on the heals of #9 Northern Iowa beating #1 (and #1 overall) Kansas, #10 Saint Mary's over #2 Nova, #11 Washington over #3 New Mexico, and #5 Mich St. over #4 Maryland.

As my bracket is already busted (as are many others...thanks Big East), and I went to Cornell (GO BIG RED),  I am all for the "upset." 

Here is my question.  Does this year point to incredible parity in college basketball, or is it that the Committee did a terrible job?  I have to lean towards a bad job by the Committee.  It is crazy that this year there were probably 5-10 teams who were favored (or almost even money) to win in the first two rounds as the lower seed.  I understand that (1) the Committee sees less of the "mid-majors" and (2) the Committee has to finalize these brackets in only a few hours, and they do the best that they can. This year, however, not such a great job.

And why do they have so little time to finish the bracket? Why doesn't the NCAA make all conference tournaments end on the Saturday before selection Sunday.  That would give the Committee almost 24 hours to put these brackets together (and hopefully watch more tape of mid-majors).

But hey, maybe the NCAA would rather have it this way.  Bad brackets means more upsets. Upsets mean interest and gambling.  Interest and gambling = money. And as we all know, that is the only thing the NCAA really cares about.

Thoughts?

Maryland v. Houston

The Terps really turned it on in the second half tonight. It looked like they needed to shake some rust off from 11 days off. 5 early turnovers in the first half kept Houston in the game. Maryland was able to pull away a bit due to Houston's terrible free throw shooting. Both teams played sloppy, up-tempo ball.

Jordan Williams is a beast. NBA ready? Not yet. After next year? Maybe, look at his hands!