The Case for Expansion

VCU and Alabama, enough said. It is time for 128.

VCU could cost Vegas

We tweeted about it last night, asking what were the opening odds on VCU to win the tournament? A little bit of research has revealed that VCU was part of what the casinos label "The Field" bet, a group of nineteen teams where any one of them winning paid 200 to 1.

Jay Kornegay, executive director of the race and sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton said, "I've been doing this for 22 years, I can't remember a field team making it to the Final Four." But apparently there was not much action at that point, supposedly the bets that are really poised to hurt Vegas if VCU wins the tournament were made just before the Sweet Sixteen. At that point, VCU had beaten Georgetown and Purdue. Vegas offered new odds on each Sweet Sixteen participant to win their tournament and set VCU winning the title at 80 to 1. Word is they took some big money action. Now they are worried.

Kentucky is the 8 to 5 favorite of books looking at the four teams left. VCU, if one were to hop at their bandwagon at this late date, only pays 13 to 2. My, my what a long way they have come.

D'Antoni fails to use the bench

Fun times

New York Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni is one of the worst coaches in the league when it comes to under-utilizing his bench. This is not news to Phoenix Suns fans. He did it there, too. Last year with the Knicks, he had the productive shooter and defensive stopper Toney Douglas pinned to the bench simply because he was a rookie.

This year is more of the same. The Melo trade, by getting rid of the Knicks depth, just gave D'Antoni a built-in excuse. The Wall Street Journal breaks down just how bad D'Antoni's substitution patterns are here.

We would be very surprised if both D'Antoni and General Manager Donnie Walsh are back with the team next year.

Evidence mounts

At Madison Square Garden evidence continues to mount that having two no defense playing, All-Star caliber power forwards gets a team a lot more razzle-dazzle than it does wins. The Knicks lost again last night. Melo managed five points in the second half and no field goals in the fourth quarter, while the Celtics rallied from a fifteen point deficit to beat the Knicks.

The Knicks are now under .500, 7 up and 9 down since the Anthony trade. The Nuggets meanwhile are surging. The Knicks lack depth, play no defense, and already there are signs of chemistry issues between the two big guys, Amare and Melo. Amare chastised anonymous teammates early this week for not buying into Coach Mike D'Antoni's system, while Melo bellyached and whined a day or two later that time to mesh may mean that successes are postponed until next season. (when the Knicks could have had 'Melo for nothing but Benjamins and could have kept Ray Felton to spell the geriatric Chauncey Billups).

As things stand, the Knicks will be unlikely to win a game from either the Bulls or the Celtics in a first round playoff series. The Miami Heat, who are even softer inside than the Knicks, are somewhat more vulnerable. If the Knicks could lure the Heat into high scoring battles, playing games in the 110's or 120's they might win one or two from the Heat, then as sphincters tightened in South Beach, they would have a puncher's chance against LeBron and D-Wade.

At Auburn, no way?

Very legitimate...

Well, well, well we can hardly believe what we are reading on ESPN.com this morning. Four players from Auburn's football team were arrested for five counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree burglary -- both of which are felonies -- and one count of third-degree theft. Reportedly, three men entered a house off-campus, displayed a gun and robbed the residents.

Their vehicle was stopped by police, a pistol and stolen property were recovered, and the four players were taken into custody. They are being held on $511,000 bail. Three of them were part of Auburn's 2010 recruiting class. The fourth was their leading tackler in the national championship game last year. All four have been kicked off the team.

Read more here.

Knicks find a pothole

Former Syracuse star, Andy Rautins, breaks it down for Knick teammate, Landry Fields. That's right, Stanford, it snows here, in New York. Snow, ice and salt breakdown roads. Yes, Long Beach, this leads to gaping potholes. Apparently Fields, with Rautins in the front seat, hit a huge pothole getting on the Major Deegan Expressway. Ouch.

Harvard Hoops

Harvard Coach Tommy Ammaker learned from the best...

The Clarion Content was on this story many moons ago. Duke alum, Tommy Ammaker, and his Harvard Crimson, have a shot at the school's first Ivy League Men's Basketball title in 100 years of competition. They are the only one of Harvard thirty-four varsity sports not to have won a single league title. They are the antithesis of Jack Nicklaus, having finished second only twice in school history. Once was under Coach Ammaker, with a star, who has since matriculated to the NBA, Jeremy Lin.

This year Coach Ammaker's squad is the youngest in the Ivy League. With wins in their remaining games against league pillars Penn and Princeton, this team can do something never accomplished in the history of Harvard basketball. The New York Times quotes the coach, "I’m not sure you can walk anywhere on this campus and find something that hasn’t been done before," Amaker told the Times this week. "But we are on the verge of doing it."

Read the whole story here.