A Helping of Coach Sanctions, ND Really Sucks, Everybody Hates Chris(?) and Wisconsin Tonight!

There's just so much we could write about today, but there are only so many hours, so many posts.... and, hey, we have jobs, you know.

We'd be remiss if we didn't continue our crack investigative following (which can be summed up by: "He's a cheater!") of Kelvin Sampson, or Coach Sanctions, as we affectionately call him.

Coach Sanctions is back in the news, now appealling his NCAA penalty. Let's go to the article:

In November, the NCAA, which found Sampson had committed two major violations, slapped him with a five-year show cause penalty -- meaning that if he applies for another job in the next five years, the school hiring him must appear before the NCAA and show why it should not be subject to penalties.

Sounds simple enough. So what's the basis for the appeal?

The first point of appeal claims that the NCAA infractions committee misinterpreted testimony by former Indiana assistant Rob Senderoff, leading it to conclude that Sampson knowingly placed impermissible recruiting phone calls, according to the report. The second point of appeal claims the NCAA's enforcement staff was biased and indicated an assumption of guilt by requesting a hearing before all of its interviews were complete.

Oh, I see. We're back to the, "But I didn't know they were impermissible phone calls!" argument. Gotcha. And as for the second point, about indicating an assumption of guilt without completing all the interviews, well, this isn't the United States judicial system we're talking about here. You're not protected by the laws of the constitution. No one is charging Coach Sanctions with a crime. I'm glad everyone paid attention in their fourth-grade social studies class, but "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply here. If the NCAA decides they've seen enough, they are allowed to act on the "where there's smoke, there's fire" approach.

But hey, I'd be curious as to what program out there would consider hiring this lying jerk.

Chris Kramer is Hatable?

Storming the Floor has released a list of the most hated players, in their opinion, in college basketball. And, shockingly (to me, at least), Chris Kramer made the bench of the all-hated team. Keep in mind, this team includes guys like Hansbrough, Paulus, Blake Griffin, etc. And their justification is "Everybody hates a great defensive player."

Well, we don't. We love Chris Kramer. And from what I've seen, there aren't many opposing players or coaches who truly dislike Kramer. Think back to Brian Cardinal -- now that was a guy we would have hated if he were on another team. But I'm surprised about Chris being included on this list.

We Told You So

Hey, yeah, I think Notre Dame has been exposed as a fraud. Yes, I'm sure the Big East is just that tough and that's why the Domers are 12-7 overall and 3-5 in conference. Of course, that doesn't explain why Marquette is 7-0 in conference (and just beat those tough guys from South Bend in South Bend). Huh. Maybe Notre Dame just sucks. And to see that idiotic display on Saturday when College Gameday was there and they were screaming like green-clad, a-holes, as though they're just mad about basketball in South Bend! Give me a break.

Boilermakers In Cheese Country

And tonight, our Boilers face off in Madison against the angry and desperate Badgers. At least they won't be distracted by attractive co-eds. Zing!

Boilerdowd may be by later to give more of a legit preview -- I'm never sure (we're about as seamless as Obama taking the oath of office around here -- hey-yo!). But we'll be sure to weigh in on the game and what it all means afterwards. But let's just say the Boilers have left themselves no margin for error after that 0-2 conference start. They're on a good roll right now but need to get a little more healthy.

The Boilers also are among the best in the nation in FG percentage defense, which, to me, is a little misleading. Because, while the Boilers do play very good defense, sometimes a few bad shooting days by your opponents helps this kind of a stat. (Think of Davidson's awful shooting day as well as Minnesota's, as a couple of examples -- was that all us? Or maybe 50/50?)

Point is, though, the Boilers have been playing good defense, shooting well and the Badgers have been struggling and not shooting well. Tonight's game in Madison is critical as the Boilermakers try to stay within a game of MSU in the Big Ten. The Boilers should honestly win this game if they're as good as they're supposed to be.