ND Paid Chuck Weis Almost As Much As Brian Kelly in 2010-2011

Reader Gregg chimes in with yet another quality find and assessment of it. He sends along this link to a Chicago Tribune story detailing how much Notre Dame is still paying Charlie Weis -- at about $8.7 million and climbing. From July 2010 to June 2011, Weis made over $2 million from ND, while Brian Kelly netted $2.4 million. 

Three more years, suckas!

In addition, it appears that Weis will continue to receive buyout money through December 2015. Amazing, really. But I wish I had such a contract.

Gregg's commentary with the link was as follows:

Basically, Charlie Weis has, ahem, "earned" $8.7 Million dollars since he was fired from Notre Dame, and will continue to get paid through 2015-- note that this figure does not include his ridiculously high salary from his coaching days-- this is merely his buyout so far (after all is said and done, the buyout will reportedly total around $20M). 

Not bad for a guy who went 15-22 in his last 3 years, and a lifetime coaching average of .564-- and even then, this number is inflated because 2 of his "victories" came from NCAA-mandated forfeits of opposing teams (USC and North Carolina were forced to vacate their wins for tainted seasons).  So it really is a .532 average.  UND was that desperate to get rid of this loser-- I have a colleague with a connection to a big shot within the alum association, and trust me, they passed the hat around.  His current salary at Kansas?  $2.5M.  Dude does less with more than anybody I've ever seen in CFB. 

If mediocrity has a price, I guess the going rate at Notre Dame is $20M.

Well-said, Gregg, and thanks for stoking the embers of Weis-hate. They always keep us cozy and warm. 

The Morning After

It doesn't feel any less lousy this morning. The Boilermakers still lost a game that they led nearly wire-to-wire. They lost a game where they shot a better percentage -- albeit with a serious dropoff in the second half -- than a presumably much better team. They lost a game where, perhaps most frustratingly for me, they didn't force Kansas to make a play, to win it. Kansas simply took Purdue's turnovers and long rebounds and won the game with breakaways. Sure, they count just as much and the Jayhawks won and move on, but it doesn't feel like it was supposed to end like this.

We all knew there was a good chance that this would be the seniors' final game. But after 38 minutes of basketball, it just felt like it couldn't end now. When you lead a game the entire time and -- to their credit -- find ways to edge the lead back up each time the powerhouse Jayhawks cut into it. In fact, the lead did get to double digits in the second half. And in most years, with a Matt Painter coached team, if I said you had a double digit lead anytime in the second half against pretty much anybody, I think you'd take it.

So many odd things happen in the tournament. Rob goes for 22 in the first half but just 4 in the second. However, that can be credited to Kansas, who while they were outcoached by the Purdue staff, clearly is good enough to go into the locker room and say, "Let's guard Hummel and not let him beat us... let's make someone else beat us." It was a smart approach and it worked.

In other games recently, it might have been Terone Johnson who beat them, and Zero showed with 10 points in the second half, but his teardrop was just not splashing like it has of late. In other games, it might have been the little man, Lewis Jackson, who has gone for 18 (vs St. Mary's), 17 (vs IU), 20 (vs Minn) this season, for example. But Lew's patented high-speed, running layup was just refusing to fall, slowly rolling off the rim at least three separate times. Lew shot 2/11 for the game. How often does that happen? (Not often.)

It could have been Ryne, another favorite of BS. But Ryno was only 1/2 from the floor last night, hitting his only real shot and just missing the last-second prayer that, quite frankly, as about as good a look as Purdue could expect in the situation they were in. Who could have expected that Ryne would have just three points in two tourney games? It's unusual and not something you could have predicted.

Purdue had trouble on the glass all year. Yet here, against two of the better big men in the nation, the Boilers were only outrebounded 35-32 -- damn near a wash. And when you look at the starting five's rebounds for the Boilermakers you see this column of numbers: 9-6-3-8-4. Guys were gutting it out and doing everything they could.

Sandi Marcius, for all the abuse he's taken from Purdue fans, played hard and did what he was asked. Sandi had 11 DNPs in the Boilers' final 21 games. Yet when he was asked to be a body, use his fouls and grab rebounds, Sandi didn't sulk, pout or give a lackadaisical effort. He gave an effort to be proud of, because that's what Boilermakers do.

The effort was recognized on the other side, too, as Bill Self clearly had loads of respect for the Boilers. Interestingly to me also was the way Self's players quite obviously respected Purdue's effort and Rob Hummel in particular. Those guys didn't seem like a great group of dudes but in the handshake line, Jayhawk after Jayhawk stopped Rob to do more than give the typical "good game." He scared them and almost beat them single-handedly and those guys wanted to let him know they respected it. 

I saw some raw emotions after the game last night on the instantaneous medium that is Twitter. I stopped looking after a few trolling IU losers did their usual sad-life, antagonism routine, but before I did -- immediately after the game -- I saw some harsh criticisms directed at a couple guys in particular that I'd like to address here.

Lewis Jackson -- For anyone who wants to batter Lew for those final two possesstions, especially the second to last one where he ended it with a turnover, I guess you're entitled. But the isolation play was called for Lew, a senior who has been as much a part of Purdue's successes over the past four years as anyone. Lew, a senior who has repeatedly shown an ability to use his quickness to get a layup even when, as Steve Kerr put it during the broadcast, the other team knows it's coming.

Purdue had been shooting cold in the second half and the Jayhawks defense had, as mentioned, bottled up Rob. So why not keep it in the hands of your senior leader? No, Lewis didn't come through in that particular moment. But do not let that cloud your memories of all the times Lew has come through and all the games Purdue won in large part due to his contribution.

He's one of ours and he sold out and risked his future back health for the old gold and black. Do not forget that.

Matt Painter -- I don't quite understand this, but there are those out there who seem to think Painter isn't a good coach. Maybe it's the drama we saw last year and the resulting bigger contract dollars. Regardless, if you think Matt Painter "cost" Purdue that game, then I don't think you know a whole lot about basketball. Throughout this game, I kept thinking that if Purdue was indeed able to pull this win off, that I'd be writing about this game as Matt Painter's best performance as Purdue head coach. And you know what? I still kind of think it is.

Matt even got the Jayhawks to change their game. Withey, the 7-foot center, played well below his averages in minutes, points and rebounds, largely because Coach Self and company decided to go with a smaller, guard-heavy lineup at times -- something that we as Purdue fans were fine with.

Coach Matty took the parts that he had at his disposal -- parts that did not match up in any way to the bigger, skilled Jayhawks -- and found a way to make it work. He found a way to get this team to rebound with Kansas. He found a way to get contributions from guys who -- as mentioned -- were no-shows or one-minute players for the past couple of months. If that's not good coaching, I don't know what is.

Season Over

Coming into this one, I read, watched and studied the same material that Painter and co. did...to a lesser extent of course.  And I saw a bloodbath as imminent.

5-start talent backed up by four-star talent and superior size at every position.  This team reminds me a lot of aOSU, but a bit of a caricature of them in that they are so physically-strong.  And Purdue's struggle all year has been against physical, talented and large teams.

But Matty and company had a good plan and fired every bullet in the chamber at the 'Hawks...and it almost worked.

J and I talked away from the site about how it would take someone throwing the team on their back to win this one. To no one's surprise, #4 played like he did versus aOSU a few years ago at Mackey and went crazy in the first half...but got bottled up by great defense in the second half.  But, it was more than just Hummel that kept Purdue in the lead for most of this game.

That said, Hummel's 26 points, 9 rebounds and a block were huge.  I'm not sure if Hummel's knee had been sore coming in...but tendonitis wasn't an issue in this one.  Hummel played frenetically away from the ball, and with surgeon-like precision with the ball.  In the one-on-one battle with Kansas AA, Robinson, he won...but I'm sure he would have gladly traded stats for another game in the left hand column.

Here are some things that stood out to us:
-Marcius started...played hard and pulled down 6 big rebounds in 16 minutes. Ryne Smith came off the bench. Carroll and Lawson also played in an effort to match-up with the Jayhawks.
-We've been begging and pleading just for a tiny taste of zone defense for years from Matty.  Tonight we got to see it.  Sure, it kind of looked like they had never played the match-up zone before...but this showed how much gutting and grinding the coaches really did in their preparation for the contest.
-Purdue's scrappy, frustrating defense that we thought we'd see this year returned for this game...and that bodes well for next season.
-Byrd finished with 10/3. TJohn had 10/8...and LewJack had 5 pts, 5 ast, 4 reb.

All of this and a Purdue team that was selling out time and again led to a one-point lead, 59 seconds on the clock...and Purdue ball.  Purdue 60 Kansas 59. I knew it would take perfect execution or tremendous luck for Purdue to win...Purdue got neither.

After a timeout, Painter ran an isolation play for LewJack, but Kansas' defense made it two defenders v. LewJack.  After the ball was knocked away, Kansas finished on the other end quickly and had a one-point lead. Purdue 60 Kansas 61. But Purdue would have another shot.

Purdue used another timeout and had :24 seconds to make something happen.This time, the offense made much more sense...and Hummel got a good look from the right side...but it didn't fall. After a defensive rebound, Kansas got another runout and finished again...Purdue 60 Kansas 63.

Purdue used the final 2.4 seconds to get the ball in Smith's hands who took a runner from about 29 feet.  It banked off of the glass, hit the front of the rim and fell to the ground.  Final: Purdue 60 Kansas 63.

Season over...and the same goes for Hummel, Smith and LewJack's careers in gold and black...and that's what stings.  For some reason, bidding these guys farewell is really hard for J and I...but we've loved watching them for the last 4/5 seasons.

Purdue's players looked crushed as they walked through the line with Kansas after the game.  I don't think there's any doubt that they thought they should have or could have won...but it didn't happen.

Painter wanted a team in the middle of the season that would fight hard; at that time, he didn't have it.  But, by mid-March, he had found one that fought hard and consistently.  Perhaps if the team we saw play tonight had existed back in December, they wouldn't have had to play Kansas in the second round...but, this group was playing their best basketball this evening...and if nothing else, they went down swinging.



"Ever Grateful. Ever True."

A Look Ahead to Jayhawks

Georgetown just got done doing what Georgetown do: Bowing out of the tournament early.  The end result is NC State is heading to St. Louis to play the winner of Purdue v. Kansas.

Now let me tell you what I think about this evening's match-up (Look away if you have a weak stomach):

This game is about match-ups...and here's what we know.  Purdue's two victories versus ranked opponents came against UM and St. Mary's.  Both teams used guard play as the strength that led them to a ton of wins.  Our Boilers have few problems when playing guard-happy teams.  They have good defensive and offensive players in the backcourt who can play against anybody...in the frontcourt, the story changes.

Here are some teams that controlled Purdue from wire to wire in one or more contests this season: Alabama, MSU, aOSU and IU.  What do they all have in common? Good big men...athletic, long, strong players who Purdue simply has no answer.

So here comes Kansas.

They have not one, but two skilled big guys in their starting line-up.  One is a player of the year candidate, the other gobbles up space and averages nearly 10 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks. So who guards Robinson and Withey?  I have no idea.

My guess is that we'll see Hummel, Byrd, Carroll, Marcius and Lawson all try to juggle Kansas' large pair.  And I also think this group effort will yield a pretty big struggle as none of them are great match-ups for Robins and Withey.  Byrd's not big enough, Hummel's not quick enough, Carroll's not strong-enough, Marcius isn't skilled enough and Lawson has a hard time finding position in the post.  If we could combine all of them, we might have a pair of formidable post players; sadly I don't think we have the technology to do that just yet.

So, methinks it'll take some hot shooting- something we haven't seen in a few games, to just keep it close. Byrd, Smith and Hummel are all due for a good game offensively...especially Smith and Hummel.  But there are no guarantees...One thing that Purdue can control though is being smart on offense.  They can make the extra pass (I'm talking to you, Robbie), not take hasty threes out of the flow of the offense (I'm talking to you, DJ) and let the game come to you (I'm talking to you, Ryne).

It can happen...Purdue can go to the sweet 16; we've seen the underdog come through time and again during this tournament.  But there's a reason those games are exciting- they're rare and unexpected, even at this time of year.

Kansas is a a team that hauls in 4 and 5-star athletes with regularity and sends them off to the league just as quickly.  On this year's Jayhawk starting line-up, there are probably three future NBA players.  They've been ranked between 3 and 7 for the last 12 weeks or so.  The RPI likes them as much as humans- they landed at 6 at the end of the season.  And while rankings don't really matter, their #2 seeding puts them in exactly the place they should be this Spring; among the elite of the nation.

Our Boilers on the other hand struggled for much of the season to figure out who they were and how to play together.  This 4 month game of grab ass reaped a 10 seed.  Sure, our Boilers played their best ball in the last month, there's no question about that, but no one called Purdue elite in '11-'12.  All this means is that Purdue has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Purdue's Captains might be holding all the cards

Some (myself included) might argue that Purdue is already playing with the house's money...and is already ahead.  Winning one game in the tourney (let alone two) is really a gift...and as a fan, I'm pretty pleased with my alma mater's basketball team already.  I'm positive that Matty isn't as pleased as I am...and his three Seniors are probably more motivated than they've been in the last four years to defy the odds; something they've already done a few times.

That said, Ryne, LewJack, Robbie and co. are sitting in the perfect place to sneak up on some people- hopefully they do just that to Kansas.  Tip-off is in just under 5 hours, at 8:40.

Day 2: Dancing According to Form

Don't get me wrong- I wouldn't trade Day 1 of the tourney for my bestest day of work...and I like my job.  But, Day 2 is why I love this time of year like a third child that my wife and I don't have- It's not just upsets, it's back-and-fourth basketball, and guys selling out as if they know they might never play anything but church league ball again...and Duke losing.  That was the cherry atop a ginormous sundae of college basketball placed in front of me on Friday.

Happy Fun Time

-I had Missouri in my Final Four- good pick, right?  But, no part of me was rooting for the tigers as Norfolk State calmly controlled that game as if they'd been there. Sure, three or four of the green-clad NSU players had names that sounded like they came from Dublin, and there's no doubt a little luck of the Irish didn't hurt them so close to St. Pat's Day.  But their players were amazingly sportsmanlike, it seemed- I saw those guys helping up Mizzou players after contact time and again.  Tough not to like an underdog; let alone one that is amazingly-classy.

A ton of Purdue fans this year thought aloud about how Painter must feel about Mizzou's success.  Painter answered that question on Thursday by saying he was happy to see those coaches and players doing well as he knew them and thought of Mizzou's AD as a good guy.  Who knows if Matty would have led the Tigers to 30 wins this season...but I bet he wouldn't have let that group bow out in the first round.  No matter- a Big12 Championship is a pretty good season- I just wish I hadn't bought into the Tigers on my bracket...must be the colors that blind me- I also have Vandy in the Final Four.

-I sarcastically picked Lehigh to beat Duke during the HH this week...and of course I was right.  I don't have much to say about this game other than this wasn't a typical Duke team, and it showed on Friday.  The Plumlees are goons (normal Duke type goons), and they have guys that can shoot and D up anyone...but Rivers seemed to play his own game pretty often...so they just weren't that great of a cohesive team.  By the way, they never were all season...and the ACC (as a whole) stunk this year, so they fit in nicely.

-There's a new CDW commercial with a guy on it that looks like Hammer and Rail's founder, TMill's fat, dorky red-headed brother.

And speaking of commercials, any commercial with a talking baby or a monkey will get my attention...the rest of them are white noise and reason to turn the station or get a refill- make a note of it, ad execs.

-My Belmont as a darkhorse pick was as bad as Mizzou to the FF...and in a related note, the Big East kind of redeemed itself after a crappy first day. G'Town was dominant, Cincy punched a crappy Texas team in the mouth time and again, and South Florida scored more than 25 points in a half to beat Temple in a rock fight.

UND played in the least-likable game of the tournament thus far...and lost.  But really, we all lost for having to pick a side. Scott Martin's heroic 11 points couldn't stop Tu Holloway from zipping up the Irish's season.

-UM pooped on the B1G's perfect first round by doing what Beilein teams do- raise expectations only pulverize them via underwhelming, disappearing play. The florescent yellow and blue were in the top-15 for most of the year.  And their Friday foe was a flippin' MAC squad who hovered in the 50s for most of the year and played a schedule that was funny like a clown.  Yet, they didn't have many problems with UM.  Christian Laettner Novak and Douglass went out with a whimper combining for 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Next year, a new era of disappointment begins next season as Beilein welcomes 5-star recruit PF/C, McGary, Big Dog's son and some other guy.

-I was silly yet again this year as I looked at the bracket.  I thought, "Self, that Mountain West Conference is pretty-darned good...give them a few wins." So I did just that.  Stupid brain.

At the end of the second real day of the tourney and the first real round, SDSU, UNLV and Colorado State had all gone the way of the Doc Sadler era.  The only remaining Mountain Weak West member is pretty Steve Alford's New Mexico squad. I have them beating Louisville...so they'll be out soon as well.

-Day three of the best sports weekend of the year is already underway as "Bitchy" Jim Boeheim's team is already playing K. State.  Sadly, this one's going according to seed.

-Tomorrow night, Sunday, the Forces of Good will play the large and talented Jayhawks from KU at 8:40. Tune in and enjoy.  Hopefully the team sees this game for what it is- a great chance to gain much and lose little.

BS Research shows winning is better than losing.

Until then, savor the fact that this team just won and did it without barely a whisper from Hummel and a silent game from Smith.  Methinks they both are due.

A Handsome Look at the Tourney Field: HH 3/16/11

These handsome fellas get focused for the dance...

They talk about having faith...

They discuss tattoos...

And look at what makes an FF possible.

Tune in...Right now!!

(forward to the :47 second mark for the broadcast...get this- we had technical difficulties! [I know, hard to believe])

Listen to internet radio with Boiled Sports on Blog Talk Radio

KU Wins; Somewhere Roy Williams Cries Softly

I can't even imagine what it feels like to see your school win a national title... so congrats Kansas fans. This must be amazing, especially to win such a terrific championship game.

I've always liked Kansas personally, and I think I've picked them to win it all about a half-dozen times (at least) over the last ten years. Their a consistently solid program that just isn't as inherently hate-able as Duke, UNC, UCLA, etc. Sure, there are those who hate them, but I think it's generally harder to. Maybe that's just me.

I have never liked Memphis, however, especially since the day back in about -- what? -- '96 or so, when Lorenzen Wright ghetto-balled the Tigers way past the Boilers in the tourney.

Still, as much as I've never liked Memphis, as this game got down to the final minutes, I really did find myself feeling bad that somebody had to lose. The game -- and the Final Four, really -- had what we all want: Exciting games between the best teams in the country. Can't ask for much more... unless you root for Memphis, that is.

Memphis' free-throw shooting finally did do them in, though I think it was more that Kansas was just a very resilient team. Either way, good show. Put Dickie V, Digger and Old Man Knight back into their formaldehyde jars now.

Midnight Madness in just seven months.