Tom Jones

i am confused about the portal dates. The NCAA site ways that the portal opens tomorrow, yet sounds like a lot of players are already in it. ???? perhaps those "in it" have simply signaled that they intend to enter it as soon as it is officially open. Or maybe the "open" dates refer to when schools can make contact. Anyone know for sure?

yup. he put his personal interests ahead of his contract, his responsibility, people in the Athletic Dept, and the fan base. Boo! And he let all his supporters find out only via leaks from the TX media.

yes, there always is. always! But I do accept* TA's explanation that this was the basis for it. Three times in my own work history (once inside it and twice having a view from outside but very close up) I have seen organizations in a prolonged state of leadership instability. Many positions at multiple levels of management being occupied by people in an "acting capacity". It's a toxic environment with superiors in "lame duck" status and therefore being unable to really be sure that people with comply with the directions they give. People wondering if they really have to be taking direction from a superior bc they wonder how long he or she will even be there. Employees wondering who their new boss will be and those in the "acting capacity" not sure that they will be appointed to the position permanently and, if not, if they will have jobs to return to. It can be a real mess. *accept it as being true and accurate even if incomplete. But I still think he had a responsibility to put the enterprise and his staff above his personal interests. He was a rare island of stability in a very unstable ocean and his leaving only accentuates the instability.

Yes! Yes, Yes, YES!! He is a skilled, talented, experienced genius as a VB coach. Perhaps he has, or could develop, abilities as an administrator or CEO. But it's a huge "maybe". His experience is in recruiting/coaching/mentoring/motivating and even when necessary disciplining 18-22 year old student athletes and a small staff. In a single program. And at two institutions. And he has been as successful as anyone at it. But does that portend an ability to preside over and apply those skills to a range of personnel and programs that are 10, 12, 15, or 20 times larger than the VB program? And, for lack of better words, to supervise and direct the work of adult coaches all of whom have had (lesser but still significant) successes of their own? And who have done so in a variety of other institutions? "The Peter Principle" describes and explains a phenomenon that occurs in virtually all areas of employment. And it explains one reason why things go wrong. It occurs when individuals demonstrate skill and ability at one position such that they are promoted to a higher position - at which they demonstrate such skill and ability that they rise to an even higher position. And so on. Until they reach a level at which they cannot continue to succeed. And there they stay. under matched to their responsibilities and no longer totally competent. They seldom go back down a rung. I like JC right where he is.

I agree with Merlin that the most likely explanation is TA's disappointment with the leadership situation at UNL. But i feel it was his responsibility - after having signed a multi year contract - to be a pillar of stability. To stabilize the programs from his position on down. His not having done that .... well, for me I have never in my life been more disappointed in the decision of a public official. Not that I ever knew TA personally, and not that my opinion matters, I feel that I have never been more wrong in judging the character of a public official. We don't know that this part is true, so I will say "if true" his failure to alert anyone one in the department - not his top aides nor his coaches - that this was a possibility and to let them (and all fans) get first wind of this only via a leak from the Texas media .... and then to notify all the people who supported him only via e-mail .... well the most apt adjectives that come to mind for me are profane. So I will just say "cold blooded".

here is how bad it is: "The only person at the top within the leadership (UNL) infrastructure currently serving in the position they were originally hired to fill is UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett. And he’s only been with Nebraska since July." This is from Amy Just's column

I so don't believe that it has anything to do with Scoggins. While much about the incident is unknown to us, if his oversight/conduct in the Scoggins case was so egregious as to cause him to leave NU .... why would it be overlooked by A&M? A&M knew, probly before but certainly after contacting TA, about the Scoggins thing and during negotiations TA would have to have made full disclosure. A&M was not going to get hoodwinked into buying a "pig in a poke" like that. I am still hopeful that the whole deal falls apart.

the "window" opens Monday, March 18, 2024 and ends on May 1.

Hmmm. NCAA doesn't think so. Gina Cross was selected to work the final four in 2022. Felicia Grinter was named co-winner 2020 Naismith Award for College Officials of the Year. Bugs, you seem to call them ALL garbage. Are there ANY college bb officials whom you think are at least competent?

yes! two offensive fouls - one per team - called in the first minute of the game. Given the last three games in this tourney and the start of this one all personnel should take note of the

In the Iowa vs Mich game, two offensive fouls have been called in the first ONE MINUTE - one against the ever non-fouling Caitlyn. All personnel should take note of this change in the charge-block dynamic

which one this time. is your comment related to any particular play or are these "bad call" posts just randomly generated?

AFTER THE ELBOW TO THE SHOULDER!

No, sir! i watched it again. Yes the defender fell/flopped after the contact. but AM's elbow into the defender's shoulder BEFORE the flop was an offensive foul. The call was correct. All coaches and players should know by now that the balance is changing between charge and block in favor of defenders. It's time to adapt to this.

looks great with making all those threes. my fear is that the Terps are more likely to keep hitting those penetration lay ups than we are to keep hitting threes.

which one? The call on Markowski (elbow) was spot on. and after the way OFs were called yesterday, all players should be on alert

Yeah, more chirping from guys who have never worn the stripes. Mitchell went on to say "It’s like it’s impossible to avoid an offensive foul and impossible to get a defensive foul." Hmmm, let's see how that stands up to the objective facts. Well there were a total of 32 fouls called. I could pour over the play by play to refine this, but I will go forward with my recollection that 6 of those were offensive. Now comparing the whine with the facts ... As an indication of offensive activity, there were 121 shots taken with, let's say, 6 offensive fouls. This first impossibility (avoiding an offensive foul) was accomplished 115 times. Conversely, the impossibility of getting a defensive foul was actually accomplished (remember - Mitchell thinks it was impossible) 26 times. While the occurrence of offensive foul calls was higher than in typical games, it was reasonably consistent between teams. We say that consistency is what we hope for. Personally, I think restoring a balance between the aggressiveness permitted of shooters and defenders has been long overdue. Too often I see offensive players go out of their way to create contact unnecessary to their shot in hopes (often successful) of getting to the line. And let's stop and ponder. Do we really think that the NCAA and the conferences talk among themselves saying "Let's go out and see if we can recruit some dolts, morons, clowns, and stooges who really don't know much about basketball to referee our games! This would help us market our product, don't you think?". Or are those in charge doing the best they can to hire, evaluate, retain or discontinue individuals based on their performance ? Criticizing the officials with invective name calling and colorful hyperbole is easy and it's kinda fun. Comporting the criticism with the facts is far more difficult.

Wow! A lot of work went in to that - compiling and recording that data. It's interesting and encouraging. Thanks for making the effort to set that forth.

Bugs, I can't take that deal. I can't stop trashing the coach and the players .... can't stop because, like cocaine, rock climbing, and devil worship, I never started. Yes, I have made reference to what I think are comparative performance deficits by some players and some coaching decisions I didn't understand ... but nothing .... NOTHING ... i have ever said can reasonably be called "trashing". Players, coaches, referees, and fans ... they are all people - they are human beings ... they are not trash or garbage. Half of your suggested bargain is out of reach. Can't stop doing what I never started. But the other half .... well, that's up to you. Now, as to the particular crew whose histories I made reference to above ... you will be ultra hard pressed to find a group of refs with better credentials who are available to work this tournament. These are as good as it gets. In the judgement of BiG, NCAA, and WNBA administrative personnel, they are sufficiently competent to be hired and assigned games - important games - over and over and over again.

Often – very often – this forum has comments alleging poor officiating. Today’s MSU game thread is host to a usually high number of such complaints and some of them are unusually harsh. Words and phrases such as “garbage”, “BS”, “worst officiating ever”, “stooges”, “these guys don’t know what they doing” and even “should never be permitted to referee another game” – are becoming common. To hear it on here, the record for “worst ever” is repeatedly broken as past atrocities fade away and are replaced my even more egregiously bad calls. Several such comments were made about today’s game which was officiated by Angie Enlund, Cameron Inouye, and Mark Resch. I thought I would check the credentials of this team of alleged know nothings and see how badly their records really stink. The results: Angie Enlund has been a collegiate women's basketball official for 24 years, and for 21 of those years in the Division 1 level. She has made appearances at 14 NCAA Division 1 tournaments, 2 WNIT National Championships, 1 WBI National Championship and 5 Division 2 Elite Eight tournaments. Mark Resch (from a newspaper article published in 2020) … Resch has been working for the NCAA traveling all over the country to officiate ‘high level’ Division I women’s college basketball, while he has been officiating women’s basketball for the last 20 years, including a total of 12 at the Division I level. Resch has also worked the biggest gig in college basketball — the NCAA Women’s Tournament — every year since 2014. He has (or will) officiated at the ACC women's basketball tournament every year since at least 2020 Cameron Inouye – has officiated at various levels of college ball and in the WNBA. She has officiated THREE final fours in her career. Nuff said about her right there. Administrators in several conferences, in the NCAA, and, in one case, the WNBA obvious consider these three to be competent. As I said in an earlier post, reffing from the on-the-court view is quite a difficult job. In some ways, fans sitting in the lower bowl and those watching on TV really do have a better view of the action than the people wearing stripes on the court. We may disagree with the specific calls, but I think the personal invectives I see on here are way over the top.

no way, we are in - win or lose

what bothers me the most is the lackadaisical passing resulting in turnovers. AS's pass intended for Hake (I think) was done as tho she didn't realize that there were defenders on the court. Other passes were lazy like that and some were just crazy - trying to pass thru too many defenders. And these resulted in an unacceptable number of fast break points against us. Look at it this way - every one of those takeaways that scored for Purdue could have been scored for us is we had gotten shots off. That game could have been put away much earlier were it not for bad passing.

let's get the Gessert twins. Huskers lose at least four players after next year so there's plenty of room. And those 6 foot 1 backcourt players looked Power Five to me!

I think that a week to rest up and get ready for a known opponent outweighs any accumulation of rust. This, along with the Rutgers loss, reveals a serious problem with consistency.

yeah, and take note of her quiet/calm focus/determination in the fourth quarter. Trailing by nine against a very active defense - not an ounce of panic or even worry was evident. Also, when she got robbed on her way to the basket after a steal (I think it was McCabe who fouled her three times on her drive up the lane) .... no CC style antics. No acting out. No looks of disbelief - just got up off the floor and went back to work.