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Mizzou Indefinitely Suspends MBB PG Michael Dixon

Coach Mike Anderson has indefinitely suspended point guard Michael Dixon for an unspecified violation of team rules.  At this point there are only rumors about what Dixon might have done, and I won't speculate on what he might have done.  

Dixon had started all 9 games this season and averaged over 24 minutes and over 10 points per game.  Moreover, the heir-apparent at the PG position, Phil Pressey, is a true freshman who is just getting his feet wet in college competition.  I have no idea what happened, but I applaud Anderson's decision to suspend a such an important player on the Tiger team.  

Troubles for North Carolina Football

If this "money trail" is found out to be what some are implying, then file it under "non-price rationing."

Since the NCAA and state of North Carolina probes began in July, UNC also began its own investigation into potential academic fraud involving a tutor. Multiple Tar Heels football players have been suspended from games and practices this season, and Blake resigned on Sept. 5, less than one month after a Yahoo! Sports report revealed his former position as an employee of Pro Tect. In a statement, Blake stated that he decided to step down because his presence was becoming a distraction to the football team.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The problem with corruption in the NCAA is not the fault of agents.  It's the NCAA's own steadfast sticking to the "amateur" status of athletes in football and men's basketball while their member schools rake in millions of dollars.  As long as player are not compensated by an amount less than they generate in terms of revenue and donations for NCAA member schools, we will continue to see these stories pop up in the press.

Why Did Mike Anderson Flirt with Oregon So Publicly?

So, coach Mike Anderson, aka CMA, the Missouri men's basketball coach, has chosen to remain at Missouri rather than go to Oregon.  Joe Walljasper has an amusing take on what he would have liked to have seen in terms of an announcement.

"Here was my vision for today’s Missouri basketball postseason banquet: Coach Mike Anderson takes a seat behind a microphone and places hats from Missouri and Oregon in front of him. After explaining that there are many things to recommend about both schools, he declares his allegiance by donning the appropriate headgear."

I would rather have seen him don the head of the team's mascot, ala College Gameday on ESPN.

But why would CMA have flirted so publicly with the Ducks in the first place, especially given what he's building at Mizzou and the fact that two sons of one of his best friends are members of CMA's highly-ranked 2010 recruiting class?   Bryan Burwell has an interesting take:

"Two words: Phil Knight.

Knight, Nike's chairman of the board, is one of the most powerful forces in the business of sports and he essentially runs the Oregon sports program with his limitless checkbook. He also carries so much clout in college basketball because of those lucrative shoe and apparel deals schools like Missouri sign with Nike. And if you weren't aware of it before, Mizzou is considered one of Nike's favorite high-profile clients (remember the special uniforms Nike designed for Mizzou football for the Kansas game last year? They don't give that star treatment to every program).

The most popular theory in college basketball circles is that when the Nike chairman beckons — particularly if you are working at a Nike school — you are obliged to listen.

So it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that even if Anderson wasn't truly interested in the Oregon gig, he had to at least go through the motions in deference to Knight."

I think that's the right take.  I would have been disappointed to see CMA take the Duck's job, but I wouldn't have held it against him if he had. Reports suggested he may have made at least $500,000 more per year at OU.  Because of the toxic political cesspool that is academia, it doesn't take much for the winds of change to start blowing against you, so you have to do what's best for you and yours.  If that means taking the money and running, then so be it.  Besides, I doubt he really had much interest in the Oregon job (see the next-to-last paragraph here).

Zaire Taylor's Winning Shot at Iowa State

When told that he was to take the last shot in overtime against Iowa State last night Zaire Taylor responded "game over."  He hit game winners at the buzzer against Kansas and Texas last year.  And last night, despite missing his first seven shots, Taylor hit his last three:  one to force overtime, one to tie the game late in overtime, and the game winner.  Talk about a guy with cajones of ice-cold steel.  That's why they call him "Bigshot."

Should the NCAA Expand Its Men's Tourney?

My latest at The Sports Economist, a short post about the potential of a larger MBB tourney in the NCAA, is up. 

USC, Mayo, Price Ceilings, and Third Party Punishments

My latest post is up at The Sports Economist.  I write about the recent announcement that USC has self-imposed some harsh penalties for the O.J. Mayo side payments flap.

Roy Williams =! Chicago Cubs

Via Newmark's Door:

Roy's on notice:

If he loses, Roy's legacy would be that he was the Chicago Cubs of college basketball coaches—he could put a great team together, have it play out a strong regular season but ultimately falter in the postseason in dramatic fashion.

I wrote the following in the comments:

Um, no.  To be the "Chicago Cubs of basketball," you can have no rings.  None.  Nada.  Roy Williams would be more like the Atlanta Braves of basketball.  They had the best team of the 1990's, but only won one World Series.

Roy's on notice:

If he loses, Roy's legacy would be that he was the Chicago Cubs of college basketball coaches—he could put a great team together, have it play out a strong regular season but ultimately falter in the postseason in dramatic fashion.

Ha Ha!

Story here.

No, I'm not bitter.  Congrats to the Beakers.  They played a heckuva game and have had a heckuva season.  But don't be surprised to hear Self listen to other offers.  He's a damned good coach who's just won a championship.  He's the cream of a low-supply crop.  He's won everywhere he's gone.  And he's had three jobs in the past 8 years.  He can't do anything more at KU.

BTW, who knows the answer to this question?  In 1999, Missouri AD Mike Alden had two finalists for the Mizzou coaching job.  One was Quin Snyder.  Who was the other finalist?

More Trash Talk for the Heap

John Whitehead writes:

Phil: you could have been Tim's 50th participant. He is royally bummed out that he has fallen short on yet another one of his goals:

Hey John Whitehead

I tried to join your NCAA group via Environmental Economics, but I lollygagged and didn't get it done in time.  Too bad, cuz I would have been the winner!

Au contraire, mon ami, au contraire.

My experience leads me to the conclusion that sports economists really don't know all that much about sports. In the same way as environmental economists really don't know all that much about the environment. And labor economists don't work very hard. And macroeconomists ... [awkward pause] ... and macroeconomists don't know all that much about the macroeconomy.

Nein, nein mein Freund.  I know quite a bit about sports.  It's the economics that I have trouble with :-)

Phil: you could have been Tim's 50th participant. He is royally bummed out that he has fallen short on yet another one of his goals:

Hey John Whitehead

I tried to join your NCAA group via Environmental Economics, but I lollygagged and didn't get it done in time.  Too bad, cuz I would have been the winner!

Au contraire, mon ami, au contraire.

NCAA Infarction

In case you didn't see this:

The NCAA reversed itself Friday and threw out three violations and part of a fourth that occurred under former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O'Brien because the association's enforcement staff missed a deadline for filing charges.

...O'Brien was fired June 8, 2004, six weeks after he revealed to then-athletic director Andy Geiger that he had lent $6,000 to recruit Aleksandar Radojevic in 1999.

A subsequent investigation by Ohio State determined seven NCAA violations had occurred in the program while O'Brien was coach.

But the NCAA appeals committee said Friday its enforcement staff missed the deadline for notifying Ohio State of the charges regarding Radojevic by two days in 2005.

A little background from the Chronicle ($$$) in an article dated 2/16/2006:

An Ohio judge ruled on Wednesday that Ohio State University had no cause to fire James J. O'Brien as its men's basketball coach in 2004, even though Mr. O'Brien acknowledged having lent $6,000 to the mother of a talented young player who had visited the campus. The university could be on the hook for almost $10-million in damages.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether the loan was a "material breach" of Mr. O'Brien's employment contract. The university argued it was because such loans -- regarded as inducements to recruits -- are prohibited by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and NCAA violations are grounds for dismissal.

Mr. O'Brien said that the loan, which he made in 1998 and revealed to university officials in 2004, was a favor to someone in need,and that the basketball player could not be considered a potential recruit anyway because he had played as a professional in his native Yugoslavia.

For its part, the NCAA has yet to say whether the loan constituted a violation of its rules.

In his decision on Wednesday, Judge Joseph T. Clark of the Ohio Court of Claims agreed with Mr. O'Brien. Judge Clark ruled that "this single isolated failure of performance" -- the loan -- was "not so egregious" as to constitute a "material breach" invalidating the contract. In fact, Ohio State's haste to fire Mr. O'Brien, without even trying to work out some kind of compromise, was a much more flagrant violation of the contract, the judge ruled.

I'm confused.  Does this mean that a coach can make a loan to a recruit as long as the loan isn't too big and stays within the terms of his particular contract?