Its almost here

I was looking at the preseason USA Today men's basketball and I saw that the season tips off in a little less then three weeks and for one I can not wait. Here are my thoughts on the USA Today Preseason Top 25:

• I never thought that I would see Kansas State above Kansas in the preseason rankings. Will the Big 12 be colored purple this year, maybe.
• Two teams outside of the preseason Top 25 that are going to make noise are: San Diego State Minnesota.
• With Hummel gone to another knee injury there is no way Purdue is going to be a top 10 team.
• Texas forward Thirstan Thompson will be this season breakout player. He is too skilled not to be a star. 
• With one of the top recruiting classes in America, Memphis is going to be a fun to watch. Can a Josh Pastner lead his tiger cubs back to the NCAA Tournament.  

Trouble from the Start

Arthur Brown (above) was supposed to be the next great linebacker at Miami, and his brother, Bryce was supposed to be the next great running back at Tennessee, but the brothers have proven that neither will happen.

Arthur Brown came to Miami in 2008 as the type of player that would help rebuild the program, but that did not happen. After struggling as a freshman, Brown moved from his normal weak side linebacker position to the inside and flourished. But that did not make Arthur happy as he returned home to Kansas transferring to Kansas State.

Bryce (right) was supposed to join Jamal Lewis and all of the great Tennessee running backs, but that did not happen as Bryce proved to have issues from the start. On February 22, 2008, Brown chose to follow his brother and orally committed to the University of Miami.However, Brown did not sign a letter of intent on National Signing Day 2009, but instead planned to announce his decision on March 16, naming five other "finalists" despite his oral commitment to Miami: LSU, Tennessee, Oregon, USC, and Kansas State, according to wikipedia

At the time ESPN.com′s Tom Luginbill said “If I was Randy Shannon and the Miami staff, I would tell the kid and Brian Butler to go jump in a lake. I got to imagine that deep down, Miami's coaches have to be thinking, ‘This is getting ridiculous,’” according to wikipedia. Prior to his announcement, Brown paid official visits to Oregon and Clemson, and finally took an impromptu visit to Tennessee on March 13Citing an anonymous source, the Associated Press reported the University of Miami would not reissue a national letter of intent to Brown to replace the one that expired Wednesday, February 18. Brown's advisor Brian Butler told AP he was unaware those scholarship offers have an expiration date, but reiterated that Brown would not sign until March 16.According to Palm Beach Post′s Jorge Milian UM coach Shannon called Brown on Tuesday, February 17, and allegedly told him the University of Miami was no longer interested in his services. However, Brown later told Wichita Eagle that Shannon still wanted him to be a Hurricane. Due to NCAA rules, Shannon was not allowed to comment. On March 16, 2009, Brown announced at a press conference at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita, Kansas, that he will attend the University of Tennessee, according to wikipedia.

After leaving Miami in the dark, Bryce has done the same thing to his current school. Bryce texted new Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley to let him know that they was not returning to for this season. Ok if you want to leave, its fine, just meet with the coach like a man and then tell him, but Bryce decided to skip a scheduled meeting and just send a text, which is totally bush league. Its a good bet that Brown will now be joining his brother at Kansas State.

Sure both of these kids have a ton of talent, but sometimes someone has to put their foot down and just say it. This is out of control.

They're no Cinderella

OK lets put a stop to this before it start, Butler is not a Cinderella. If you call them a Cinderella then you know nothing about college basketball. This is a good team. During the regular season they beat UCLA, Ohio State, Xavier, and Siena. So during the regular season the Bulldogs beat two teams that where in the Sweet 16. Then in the tournament add Syracuse and Kansas State. Now those are quality wins. Hey when was the last time a top 10 team was considered a Cinderella.

Big 12 Coaches South Park Style

Everyone is getting into this coaches South Park characters, today the Big 12.

Bracketology with Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump

With the brackets out here are a couple of quick thoughts about what the selection committee has done.

• A week ago, everyone in the Philly was talking about there would not be a Big Five team in the dance. Boy was everyone wrong cause half of the group are part of the field.
  
• Tim Floyd and USC knocked out Kevin Durant and Texas last year, this year he gets his shot at another Big12 freshman hot shot in Micheal Beasley and Kansas State, in the game of the first round.
• The selection show is cruel and the committee and CBS made Baylor wait to the last spot before announcing their name. Its good to see the Bears in the dance following all that they have had to gone through over the last decade.
• The committee did not do A-10 regular season champion Xavier favors as they hooked them up with SEC Tournament Champion Georgia.
• After three years of using the city of the regionals as the name of the regionals its good too see that they have gone back to the East, South, Midwest, and West.
  
• It's fair to say that Villanova was the last at large team in the dance.

Now that is a coaching tree

People always talk about the great coaching tree that former Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson had at the U. Those staffs included Tommy T, now at Auburn, among others. But some people over look the great coaching tree of Bill Snyder, the former Kansas State head coach. When Snyder took the job in the Little Apple, the Wildcats were the laughing stock of college football. Now they are program that expects to go bowl games every year.

One of the reason that Snyder was able to turn the Wildcats into a good program was a staff that included some of the best head coaches currently coaching in college football.

Here is a list of them:

• Phil Bennett (SMU).
• Bret Bielema (University of Wisconsin).
• Jim Leavitt (University of South Florida).
• Mark Mangino (University of Kansas).
• Bob Stoops (University of Oklahoma).
• Mike Stoops (University of Arizona).
• Dan McCarney (Former head coach at Iowa State University).

For years people have been talking about the great coaching trees in American, its about time that Bill Snyder gets some kind of respect.

You can choke your chicken but do not throw it

The fan base at Kansas State is classy. For years they have been smuggling live chickens into games against Kansas and then throwing them at the players of their hated rival. The chicken throwing was done to mock Kansas’s mascot, a Jayhawks.

During the game earlier this month, Wildcat fans throw chickens at the bench area.

Now that is all coming to end. Kansas State has said they will not put up with it anymore. And people thought that Bob Huggins was the only weird thing at KSU.