Live Blog - NCAA Tourney

Okay, so I am not “the man” in the bar watching four games at a time but it is almost time for the 7:10 pm tip offs and our favorite team is set to go…Go Purple Eagles!!

Unfortunately, I don’t have bar patrons to comment on but comment I will on the games. I am particularly looking at what game is going to be played and the fact that I have to watch Niagara on CBS’s Sportsline. At least I am watching.

Off to get a glass of merlot - I know, not a St Paddy’s drink or a sports fan drink but it is what is here and I am going to be back and blog about roundball.

7:05 pm - Got the game on the laptop. Got the glass of merlot. Am very annoyed by the fact that I am watching the lovely game on the small screen.

7:28 pm - Okay so watching the game on my daughter’s laptop didn’t pan out. Of course, my new Vista OS machine isn’t participating properly either. To this end, my older daughter has her laptop on the game. I have the tv on mute and the IL-VA Tech game on there and am listening to Niagara - Kansas. Did I ever tell you that I think they ought to retire Billy Packer? I have never heard such inane dribble in my life.

7:47 pm - Okay, this is not working too well. I have to get up from my warm recliner to get to the computer to type a blog entry. Niagara is doing all right but not good. IL and VA Tech is probably, much to the chagrin of my daughter who is home from Niagara on spring break, the better game. The first thing the Illinois-Virginia Tech game has going for it is that Billy Packer is in Chicago where Niagara is. The other is, at the moment I turned my back on the tv, it was a closer game. I would take my daughter - yes, she of spring break time - to a sports bar where we could watch both games but the roads are so bad here. We are in the middle of a winter storm.

8:05 pm - The local Niagara student is not happy. Somehow a slight lead for Kansas turned, in five minutes time, to a huge lead. Kansas by 25 at the half. Niagara came out good but seemed to lose its game somewhere. Hopefully, Joe will show all those AD’s at big name schools why he has a winning record at Niagara and why he is a top prospect for other head coaching jobs. Motivation!

8:40 pm - Okay, I am heading off the computer. Niagara is not playing their game. They will not pull it out. I am off to check my bracket. It was in good shape at the end of yesterday. Hopefully, it has survived today.

Thank you, U of Dayton

While the Niagara University Purple Eagle men’s basketball team was unhappy to be playing in the play-in game for the NCAA tournament, they did meet up with an unexpected acquaintance. The University of Dayton pep band - who had played for Niagara at NIT events at HSBC Arena several years ago - met up with NU fans in Miamisburg, Ohio and played for the team during the play-in game against Florida A&M on Tuesday.

The pep band from U of Dayton is also traveling with the Purple Eagles to Chicago for first round games. I am not sure how they are getting there but they will meet up with NU students who are being bussed from campus to the game also.

Go Purple Eagles! And, thank you to the pep band from the University of Dayton!!

Town Interferes in School District Vote

If you have read my blog at all, you will know that the school district I live in is putting up a capital project for a major vote. The vote includes expanding both the middle school and the high school with additional classrooms which will “eat into” current athletic fields. To offset this problem in a district where approximately 40% of the students are student-athletes, the district has included in the proposal before voters the purchase of additional land near one of the elementary schools in the district. Previously, the town where the land is located wanted to buy said property but thought the price was too high. The price the school district has negotiated is considerably less than that the town would have paid. I do not know why. I do know that the sellers would like the sale to take place and want to sell the land as soon as possible. If the capital project does not pass, the land will not sell to the school district.

In the town meeting last night, the town passed a - I don’t even know what to call it. The town is campaigning to have the citizens of the town vote down the upgrades to the educational facilities because they want to buy the land. The town supervisor and town board are not paying any attention to what is best for the majority of the taxpayers and for the students of the school district. The town just wants the land. The town doesn’t see that an improved school district will bring additional building to the area. The town doesn’t see that additional building should mean additional tax base. The town doesn’t see the big picture.

Mountaineers & Orange Make History

MSNsportsNET.com - the official site for WVU Mountaineer sports - has the following quote in an article about WVU being on the bubble to go dancing.

According to West Virginia SID Bryan Messerly, only twice in the existence of the Big East Conference has a 20-win team not made the tournament: 20-8 UConn in 1980 when the tournament field was only 48 teams and 2002 when 20-11 Syracuse was left out. That means 107 of 109 20-win Big East teams have gotten into the Big Dance. That is 98.2 percent.

Will 22-9 West Virginia make history? Mountaineer fans certainly hope not.

Unfortunately for WVU and Syracuse University, both teams have made history. Neither Syracuse at 22-10 nor WVU at 22-9 were invited to dance in the NCAA tournament. If I were a Syracuse alumni, I would be outraged. As a WVU alum, I am outraged.

I am outraged that all the national news mention the blatant ignoring of SU but not of WVU. I am outraged because WVU should have played Louisville during the regular season which would have helped. I am outraged because WVU should have been in the tournament.

I am also outraged that a conference tournament champion - Niagara University - was told they had to play in the play-in game.

Dancing but is it really?

My daughter was all excited. First, her sister’s women’s soccer team won their conference championship at the end of October last year. The team and university members were gathered in the lower level of the Gallagher Center to watch the selection show. The team - which plays in a small Division 1 conference - was pitted against perennial powerhouse Penn State at Penn State in the first round.

Next, my daughter was all excited. The basketball team at her university won their conference tournament and was second in the conference in regular season play. They were going dancing. But are they really?

Their RPI (a term foreign to most people except those who are truly college basketball fans) is/was 136. Nothing spectacular but better by many points at least five of the tournament champions/guaranteed and the at-large bids to the dance. Their opponent - 64/65 play-in game - is Florida A&M whose RPI is 171. Those teams who had worse RPIs then Niagara University were their opponent in Dayton tomorrow, Florida A&M and Jackson State - a 16 seed, Weber State - a 15 seed, North Texas - a 15 seed, and Central Connecticut State - a 16 seed.

Niagara is in a different class than these other five teams with low RPIs. They have won their last 11 games. They lost a lot of games at the beginning of the season when many of their starters were serving multiple game suspensions for an off-season incident involving another student-athlete at the university.

Unfortunately for Florida A&M, this lack of real consideration for the Niagara University Purple Eagles is going to make them more determined than ever. Watch out Kansas!

Sunshine Week

As I sat in my local school board of education meeting last Thursday evening, I had little idea how timely the discussion between a resident and the majority of the board was going to turn out to be. I opened the Sunday Press and Sun-Bulletin to find that Sunshine Week started on March 11th.

Sunshine Week is a week of awareness about the public’s right to know. It involves mostly emergency management plans for local areas - at least the 2007 week is concentrating on that. The web site for Sunshine Week says:

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.

My board of education experience, while not involving Freedom of Information, did involve open meeting law discussion. Since I have lived in the school district, there have been unhappy taxpayers who complain that the majority of the board’s activities seem to take place somewhere other than their twice monthly meetings. In recent years, since I lost my bid to be a member of the board, my opponent has been trying to make strides in keeping what is discussed in private to a minimum. Unfortunately, she is not meeting with support from the remainder of her fellow board members.

There is executive session - usually to discuss children with handicapping conditions but also used for other issues - where it seems no one but those in the room seem to know what is going on. The taxpayer at the last meeting wants the board to be more specific when they move to go to executive session. I can remember years when it was going to executive session with no description of what would be discussed. The board has improved. Now, the motion usually contains a small mention of what will be discussed.

The public deserves more detail. Instead of a motion to go to executive session to discuss personnel matters, the public deserves to know it is to discuss resignations or disciplinary issues or new hires. Instead of a motion to go to executive session to discuss contract negotiations, the public deserves to know it is to discuss the contract with NYSUT or CSEA or the union representing the custodial staff. The public also deserves to know, without having to ask, that said contract expires on “X” date.

Hopefully, the board member who is a strong supporter of open government and the taxpayer who wants to know more will keep fighting.

March Madness Arrives

Several blog titles of mine deal with March Madness, though not all refer to NCAA basketball. This one does and this year, in particular, it will be special.

This year March Madness has a special slant to it. My daughter’s college team won their conference championship so will be heading to the dance. It happens that this week is “spring break” at Niagara University so will not be missed classes for the athletes right away (see previous entry about March Madness). And tonight, at 6 pm, Lei and I will be ensconced in front of the television set with empty brackets. She and I both will be looking to see where NU’s first round play will take place and who their opponent will be. I will also be looking to see if my Mountaineers make it to the dance.

March Madness is coming ….

… and this time I do mean college basketball.

Tomorrow, I leave for the four hour one-way trip to pick up my daughter from college. Her university’s men’s basketball team won their conference championship on Tuesday night - or was it Wednesday night - of this week. They are going dancing.

So, while my daughter is home on spring break - at least it will not be negative temps while she is here - we will watch the selection show. We will watch basketball on Thurs and Fri and probably again on Sat and as much as she can on Sun. She has the opportunity to go to the first round game if she wants. She just is not sure she wants to cut her spring break short.

One way or another, she will be watching TV this week and the madness will begin on Sunday at 6 pm.

“A Matter of Class”

You all should read Mike Jarvis’s article on student-athletes in college basketball’s Big Dance.

While Coach Jarvis focuses on the basketball end of this, it is the same for most college student-athletes. I had a mother ask me about my daughter’s experience at a Division 1 school who happened to make it to the NCAA soccer tournament. She wanted to know specifically how much class my daughter missed. I was honest and upfront. My daughter was gone - off campus at soccer games, conference championship tournament, NCAA tournament - nine out of 16 weekends of the first semester she was at college. While many professors would allow extra time to finish assignments, they were not required to do so. She had to drop from 15 to 12 credit hours due to missing class. When all was said and done, my daughter managed to eek out a 2.9 for her first semester. All in all, not great but considering the number of classes she missed, acceptable.

The long and the short of it is parents and high school coaches push these students to be athletes. Teenagers wrap their identity around this part of their lives and then move to college where very few are the Top Dog ever again. Now, a student-athlete is missing classes, not getting to know what a professor feels is important and having a part of his/her identity redefined by a new level of play. The NCAA has to do something - podcasts, webinars - something.

And now the real work begins…

Competition is over. My job is done. Now, for the three teams that are going on to state competition, the real work begins.

Science Olympiad is a wonderful national program. Every school who starts is aiming, this year, for a trip to Witchita State in Kansas. Everyone wants to win and be at the national competition the third weekend in May.

Good luck to Horseheads Middle School, St. John the Evangelist and Maine-Endwell Middle School.