March Victorious

USF's season just ended with a loss to the Ohio Bobcats in the NCAA Tournament's round of 32. While I won't claim a moral victory by insisting the Bulls were victorious in defeat, the trek here was indeed an accomplishment on the part of USF.

For reference: USF had a lot of history behind it, and little was good. Before this year, USF was nursing a two decade drought from NCAA tournament participation, at the time the 4th longest. The Bulls were one of three teams from a Big Six (read: BCS) conference never to have notched a victory in the tournament, its only company being Northwestern, which has never made the tourney, and Nebraska. And seven years ago, when a far-from-powerhouse basketball team was thrust into the mighty Big East conference, it seemed we had little hope of even finishing out of the bottom half of the league's teams.

Wins, particularly those in conference, were hard to come by under former head coach Robert McCullum, and didn't seem to show immense improvement under Stan Heath, with two notable exceptions. The Bulls found themselves in the league's bottom three with the exception of 2009-2010, when USF was an NIT first round knockout, and this year, where, tied for 4th in the conference, USF was invited to the Big Dance as a "First Four" participant.

I'll be honest. First Four still sounds a whole lot like play-in to me. After all, if you don't even get your own line on a bracket, face it, it's a play in. Still, I was impressed to see USF's dominance in that initial game vs. Cal, and was particularly pleased when USF pulled the upset of 5 seed Temple. After all, while the first win was, technically speaking, a tournament victory, without the Temple win, USF would have remained one of the schools never to have reached the round of 32.

At that point--perhaps before--I knew we were on borrowed time. Still, I started feeling pretty good about our Sweet Sixteen chances, especially when a 13-4 upset by the Ohio Bobcats meant we'd actually be the higher seeded team in the matchup. Unfortunately, Ohio proved too much for the Bulls, and the tourney trip ended in the first weekend.

Still, I'm proud of them. In my schizo world of college hoops (I follow three-and-a-half teams; my two alma maters, my current employer, and I keep an eye on UMCP) it was nice to be paying full-on attention to USF. And with a talented freshman point guard leading the way, I think the future's bright.

Tales from Asheville

 I made the trip out to Asheville this weekend for the Southern Conference tournament. While I was there to support UNCG, the ultimate decision to make the trip was helped along at least in part by the lure of seeing eight of the 12 pep bands in the conference live.

I started out around 8 or so on Saturday morning. Asheville sits about three hours to my west, and the first game--UNCG's--tipped off at noon. On the way up, when stopping for breakfast, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a couple of young ladies--presumably students--also headed westward.

Getting into town, I was reminded that Asheville, where I've spent precious little time, is a damn cool city. The short walk between the deck where I parked and the arena took me past quite a few cute little shops and eateries, and walking that drag a couple more times during the day took me past street musicians and a generally vibrant community. Walking towards the arena, I almost got hit by a Western Carolina fan turning a corner. He paused briefly and, noticing my UNCG apparel, told me to be sure to beat

Headed into the arena, it actually felt quite a bit like what I remember from the NEC tournament, though I haven't attended that one in a decade. I walked in right next to the UNCG pep band (actually just shortly after having gotten a tweet from the director) and rested there for a moment before settling in behind the basket, still adjacent to the band. The first half was a bit tough on the Spartans, falling behind App double digits and being pushed around inside by the Mountaineers' beast of a center, Butts (12 year old humor not lost on me). Both bands were holding their own, though I'll confess it's easy for me to be stagnant on the Bands of Sparta since I hear them at home. App State did bring an advantage in the horn swing department, but their tunes seemed all built for short timeouts, often leaving them space before play resumed.

The Spartans rallied in the second half, and ultimately won going away, 65-55, advancing into the semifinal round. I did a bit of walking around on the concourse following our game, running into some fellow UNCG employees, who were headed to a nearby postgame social. They invited me along, but I had dedicated my way to basketball and pep bands. I've got no regrets in doing that, but again, given the city of Asheville, I wish I would have built a little time in to just enjoy that.

For the games that follow, I admittedly had more of an interest in the bands than the basketball. As such, I moved around and got close to each band (I didn't do this during the Spartans' game, so my apologies to App fans looking for their band). The second game of our session was Western Carolina vs. Wofford. Western's band was probably my favorite of the day, and that probably makes sense, as their cut from the cloth of a Sudler Trophy-winning band. Western's contribution to halftime was their indoor drumline, Purple Thunder Productions. This was a welcome treat, and they were well-received by the folks assembled. There was a bit of a clash of styles between Wofford and Western; Wofford, with a bass, tuba, and bari sax driven low end came off more as a jazz combo with a horn section, which Western favored a brass-heavy sound. It's also worth noting that in each game, the bands were not on equal footing. The designated home band was in the corner on one end of the court, while the visiting band was along the endline on the opposite side.

Western's win over Wofford ended the first session, but being there only for Saturday's games, I bought tickets to both sessions. It was my intent to head back to the car between sessions to charge my phone (the Droid battery life struggle is REAL) and when making my exit I realized that the arena could re-scan tickets for re-entry. Having been used to no re-entry policies, this was a new one on me, but a welcome bit of information I tucked away for the second session.

Headed back to the arena, Davidson-Furman was on deck next. My big takeaway from this game was that it featured the least horn swing from the two bands. Davidson went with the common rugby-striped shirt as their pep band attire, and in their colors of red and white, they resembled Waldo. Davidson was one of the ensemble whose director also played an instrument, a red trombone in his case. One of Furman's conductors was a woman, and it only just then dawned on me that I don't see that a whole ton.

I cut out from this game, an eventual Davidson victory, a little bit early to take advantage of the scan-out policy. I headed down the street to a crepe place and enjoyed a meatball crepe (don't knock it till you've tried it) and a bit of the Duke-Carolina game before heading back in for the nightcap, Elon vs. Georgia Southern.

If I recall correctly, GSU was the one band that didn't use electronics at all. Their brass sound was huge, easily the biggest low end wih five sousaphones. Elon, was notable in that I believe they were the only tuba section (of one) to opt for a contra instead of sousaphones. That said, I only made it just past halftime on this one before hitting the old dusty trail and taking the 3 hour return trip I had ahead of me.

Having wrapped up this trip, I enjoyed being there for the Spartans, but enjoyed just as much being there for the rest of the basketball and pep band action. With that in mind, while I may consider following UNCG up the hill again next year, I'm considering instead taking the trip--only slightly longer at 3 1/2 hours--up to Richmond for the CAA tournament. There's a touch of local interest in that they've got east coast based teams, including my home state Delaware Blue Hens and Baltimore crosstown school Towson, but more importantly, they take pep bands seriously up there, so much so that they host the Breakfast with the Bands Pep Band Jam each year. That's a conference tournament I can get behind.

It's a Yes for Wes

Press conference welcoming Coach Wes Miller

Yesterday afternoon, UNCG held a press conference announcing Wes Miller as the new head coach for men's basketball. Miller had served as the program's interim head coach since December, and recently finished the season in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament. After a considerable turnaround that restored honor to the UNCG program (I'm only half exaggerating and Coach of the Year recognition in the SoCon, Miller was announced as the coach, fittingly at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, where the Spartans play their home games. Many Spartan fans attended, but perhaps the most notable figure in attendance was UNC coach Roy Williams, who coached Miller during his playing days.

Congrats, Wes. From everything I see, this seems to be an outstanding hire. A friend of mine thinks that we may in the future be speaking of him in "we knew him when..." terms. Regardless, as is always the case in coaching, I'm sure there's a thin line between "great hire!" and "that bastard..."

Reunited-does it feel so good?

Was this really what you came up with, Temple?

Welcome (back) to the Big East, Temple.

Back in 2004, the Big East and Temple broke up, or to put it more accurately, the Big East dumped Temple for low attendance. Now, the Big East finds itself in dire straits at the risk of only having seven football members for the 2012 season after WVU's departure. Guess who's on the phone to their ex?

Temple would have been well within their rights to tell the Big East to kick rocks, but the lure of the likely-soon-to-be-non-existent AQ was too much to resist. Temple football will bolt the MAC immediately, heading to the Big East in time for the 2012 season.

On the selfish-o-meter, I ain't mad. I've already got plenty of reason to be in the Philly area. So while you wouldn't be anyway for other reasons, don't be surprised if you should find me in Lincoln Financial Field rooting for a team in green.

For the Big East, in addition to a continued stay of execution, Temple brings access into the Philly market (you'll note I didn't say they bring the Philly market) during football season, another large, eastern metro area (lest the Big or East be eschewed), and a football program that has woken up considerably since the 2004 departure. Temple hoops will find a natural rival in Villanova, and for the year or two that they coexist, Temple and Pitt football can battle for the Keystone State. The MAC, meanwhile, will quickly reload with their planned addition of UMass.

There's a press conference scheduled for tonight at 5:30. I first thought it was an odd time, until I realized exactly what they were doing: Getting out of the way of the Big East basketball tournament.

All Champions Conference

I've posted before about how Hopkins to the ACC as a lacrosse-only member could be an interesting power play that no one is thinking of. It has remained on my mind for a bit, and this weekend, watching future conference game UVA-Syracuse, I continued to think about just how much sense it could make.

First of all, I know that the only that that would lead either the ACC or Hopkins to even consider this would be money. To oversimplify things, the addition would have to be more than six times more lucrative than Hopkins' solo TV deal, or, for the ACC, add more than 1/5 the total value of the league with Duke, UNC, UVA, UMCP, and Syracuse. This doesn't get into anything more complicated or nuanced about the way the league splits revenue, but you get the picture. But with the impending addition of Syracuse and hypothetical addition Hopkins, the ACC in lacrosse would likely become the single most dominant conference in any collegiate sport.

Some may argue that ACC lacrosse is already that, and poised to solidify that position with the addition of Syracuse. But four teams do not a conference make, even if they try to justify it by holding the tournament of redundancy tournament each season, and even at five teams they fall short of the minimum to earn the AQ that has been unnecessary for the teams assembled. But at six members, there would be no question to their conference status.

While there would be no need for any sort of divisional structure in a six team conference, things do put themselves into neat little packages. The six teams consist of three rivalry pairs: Carolina-Duke. College Park-Hopkins. UVA-Syracuse. Each pairing is public vs. private, and save for UVA-Syracuse, driven by geographic proximity.Rivalries extend beyond that as well. Hopkins are the two programs with the most titles, and until the advent of Big East lacrosse a couple years ago, were both high-powered independents. Hopkins already regularly schedules UVA and has had tilts with Duke and Carolina as well. And based upon basketball success, Syracuse has oft-unrequited natural rivalries with Duke and Carolina that will likely come to a head with conference membership. Syracuse will also carry the banner of upstate NY lacrosse into Maryland when facing the Jays and Terps.

But the most key piece of this partnership is the level of competition, and this would be the reason it could prove lucrative for all parties involved. ESPN has already shown that they value the Hopkins program with an exclusive TV deal with ESPNU. They also televise Syracuse-UVA on ESPN proper while most lacrosse is relegated to ESPNU or ESPN3. The conference games you'd add, plus conceivably a tournament for the ages--a four team tournament prestigious enough to leave out two of the league's powerhouses--would make ACC lacrosse quite attractive. And, of course, there's the NCAA tournament, which routinely outpaces nearly every other NCAA tournament. If you consider that this league would likely occupy six of the 16 spots in the tournament and has always to this point been represented (often twice) in the championship game, I think both parties stand to gain from the association. In a landscape where ACC football has seen better days, the conference may very well be able to parlay lacrosse into an additional revenue sport.

Tonight We Dine on Turtle Soup

Perhaps two of the sports victories that feel the best are a win over a big rival and a "reach" win over a team you have no business beating. There may be a bit of discrepancy as to what kind of win it is when UMBC beats College Park in men's lacrosse, but damn, it feels good!

I'm not ashamed to admit that there's a bit of little-sibling, big-sibling rivalry between UMBC and UMCP. As the state's flagship, College Park often gets the lion's share of attention, resources, and prestige. It's no secret that the Terps' athletic programs are higher profile, and in fact, in most cases, I wish for them to do well. I don't pay them much mind during football as a USF fan, but living in ACC country, I tend to pull for the Terps amongst the Tar Heel, Blue Devil, Demon Deacon, and Wolfpack supporters here in NC. Even in lacrosse, I generally want to see them do well, if only to make the victory more of an accomplishment. As it were, the Terps entered tonight's tilt ranked #4 in the country with wins over Hartford, Georgetown, and Duke before falling 8-7 to UMBC.

But why lacrosse? For one, it's the sport in which the two schools consistently play one another. UMCP is looked upon as a bit of a powerhouse in the sport. They are a perennial tournament team and have final fours and national championships to show for their effort (though it's worth noting that UMBC has a national championship more recently than College Park in men's lacrosse). What's more, lacrosse has a special place in the fabric of the state of Maryland. It is one of a handful of hotbed areas in the sport, and in fact, lacrosse is the state team sport. So beating the Terps is quite literally beating them at their own game--beating the state flagship in the state sport. Being able to say we took four of the last six from them comes with a certain degree of bragging rights.

So SoCon

I'll give you all a full update soon, but I at least wanted to share the pictures and videos from this past weekend's SoCon tournament quarterfinals in Asheville, NC.

Enjoy!

It's Tourney Time!

It's tourney time, but surprisingly enough, I'm leaving Tournament Town.

Yes, Tournament Town, AKA my current home of Greensboro, NC. It's a fitting moniker with which the city affixed itself because of its regular hosting of tournaments, most notably college basketball. If I recall correctly, it began in 2006 where in three consecutive weekends, the Greensboro Coliseum played host to the ACC women's tournament, the ACC men's tournament, and the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. But this time, I'm actually headed up to the mountains for the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville.

I'll admit, sometime early this basketball season, I all but laughed when I was at a UNCG game and I was next to a table handing out literature for the SoCon tourney in Asheville. Times were different then. UNCG was a conference cellar dweller coming off of three consecutive single digit win seasons. The conference tournament wasn't a time to celebrate, unless the celebration was that another season was poised to be mercifully curtailed. Things have since changed, and UNCG is entering the conference tournament as the 1 seed in the North with a first round bye.

At some point, a trip to Asheville started to seem plausible, even a good idea. A few things started to make it a little more concrete. The Spartans were winning. It seemed my wife and daughter were going to be out of town that weekend. My buddy Brian had moved east and would also be within reachable distance of the tournament. So now, while the Spartans ended their season dropping three straight, my wife and daughter made their trip last weekend, and Brian's unavailable this weekend, I'm still committed to heading up to Asheville for SoCon.

It's been some time since I've been at a smaller conference tournament. I've attended ACC men's and women's the past couple of years but it's been since 2003 that I've been at a smaller conference tournament, and that was the Northeast Conference women (our men didn't make it that year) from behind the drumset as a member of the Down and Dirty Dawg Band at UMBC. Now that I'm making the trip, I'm doing it just as much (if not more) for the bands than for the basketball. I'm only going up for Saturday's quarterfinal matchups, but I'll take in both sessions, catching four games and hopefully eight pep bands. Keep an eye on Twitter (@80mins) for the updates on how the SoCon gets down!

[CLASSIC] Getting Ready to Dance

With tonight's victory over #18 Louisville an amassing 12 conference wins with one game remaining, it's beginning to look undeniable that USF will find its way into the NCAA Tournament this year. While I realize it would take everything lining up just so, it's not lost on me that the possibility exists that my alma mater will be lined up for first and second round action right here in Greensboro. I'm reminded of the time my other alma mater, UMBC, made is first and so far only trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2008. Starting (and ending) their dance in nearby Raleigh, I was able to attend, but here, lifted from my LiveJournal with minimal editing, is the recap of the 24 or so hours in which I was That Guy.

*                *                *

Alright, when I do something, I admit it. I own up to it. And so today, I'm confessing to you:

for 24ish hours, I was "that guy".

I think everyone knows what it means to be "that guy", though few can define it. You can be "that guy" about any number of things, and doing any number of things, and this time I was that guy about first round tickets.

So in case my excitement was transparent, I was a little bit stoked about the fact that the UMBC Retrievers are heading to their first ever NCAA tournament, and even more so that they'll be in nearby Raleigh for the game. So naturally, I was on the horn first thing yesterday in attempts to secure tickets. the UMBC Ticket Office had a pre-recorded message in the morning saying that info wasn't in yet and to check back in the afternoon. Ok, admittedly, I called back at 12 something. That's after noon, right? Same message, I tried back several more times over the next few hours until the message changed.

At some point, probably early in the 3:00 hour, I got a different message. It said that tickets were available to students, faculty, and staff only at this time. Admittedly, this is the point where I pertnear flipped my shit.

OK, so there was a question posed not long ago. It asked what, if anything, you feel entitled to. Frankly, I could think of very little. Well, I felt the burn of entitlement at this point. I'm a proud UMBC alumnus. I'm a 4-year starter with the Down and Dirty Dawg Pep Band. I'm a DONOR, for goodness sakes. How in the world are you gonna shut me out? Especially for some faculty and staff? I know, as a staff member of a university, that I like UNCG well enough, but damned if I should get the chance to go over some blue-and-gold bleeding, bona fide UNCG alum!

So that's when I got buck and decided to attempt to pull some rank. I e-mailed Tom Maier, Associate Athletic Director who oversees the ticketing process and also the pep band, so I actually know him. It was a nice e-mail, but I was pretty insistent that we should hear something for alumni.

And then? I start calling again. Calm down, man! I finally get a person at 4 something, who tells me that later that afternoon there should be some info about alumni. And then I have the nerve to worry if she was just making that up to shut me up!

But true to her word, at 5:36pm, less than 24 hours after the selection special began, the e-mail came through about ordering tickets. So I went ahead and did that and now I'm content.

Patience, Curtis. Patience.

Interesting note: Along with the tickets comes a reception with Dr. Hrabowski at the team hotel. Good stuff! And it actually includes tickets for the entire session, which means we also get to see Davidson-Gonzaga, a clash of the mid-Major titans that may be one of the more anticipated first-round matchups in the tournament.

So Friday, live, in living color, Megan and I will be in the place to be to watch our Dawgs take on Georgetown. A common sentiment for G-town opponents is "WTF is a Hoya?" I'll tell you what a Hoya is: DAWG FOOD!!

They don't call it Good Friday for nothin'.

Rose-Colored Glasses

From the time that any talk begane regarding a playoff in major college football, two conferences, partners towards a common purpose, have remained in stalwart opposition: The Big Ten and the Pac-12. Within the past few weeks, we learned that at least one's position has softened, as Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany put forth a proposal for a four-team playoff. Still, one part of his tune remains clear: Protect the Rose Bowl at all costs.

Indeed, the Rose Bowl has been the lynchpin to any postseason talk for the Big Ten and Pac-12, partners in the bowl game for the better part of seven decades. Since many have treated bowls and a playoff as though they are mutually exclusive, those two conferences have sided with the bowls, and specifically the Rose Bowl. And why shouldn't they? The Rose Bowl first came into existence over a century ago. It, and the Rose Parade, which predates the game by over a decade, have long been synonymous with New Year's Day in the United States. The Tournament of Roses festivities far predate bowl season becoming the corrupt, bloated, moneyed mess that is now is. Still, it's easy to see the Big Ten and Pac-12's previous stance as clinging to a singular event at the expense of progress.

Now full disclosure: I'm an east coast kid. I have no legitimate ties to the Big Ten or the Pac-12 save for a general admiration of the Big Ten's marching, and yet I share their reverence. For starters, I've been there. Not the game, mind you, but the Rose Parade, which I marched in my senior year of high school. In fact, if I may, I'll not-so-humbly point out that at five appearances, my alma mater has participated in Tournament of Roses festivities more than half of the Pac-12 and as much or more than 3/4 of the Big Ten. But it's more than that. The Rose Bowl, as much as any part of college football is about tradition. The parade. The fact that the contractually obligate the network to show at least a portion of halftime. The stubborn loyalty to appearances by those two conferences if at all possible. Even the fact that in a season rife with commercialization and corporate sponsors, the Rose Bowl at least forces theirs to take a back seat, being presented by Vizio as opposed to being the Vizio Rose Bowl. It is no mistake that we know it as the Granddaddy of 'em All.

While I am glad that Jim Delany has reversed course and we're now looking at a playoff option (interestingly enough, I've heard nothing from Larry Scott, Pac-12 commissioner) I am similarly glad that the commitment to protecting the Rose Bowl remains unchanged. In a college football landscape that is seeing century-old rivalries thrown out in the name of the money-grab that is conference realignment, it's nice to know that this stalwart may remain.