Juwan Howard Should Be Severely Punished, Not Fired, for His Actions

The NBA all star weekend will have to wait until tomorrow. Today I have to talk about the unfortunate incident that happened at the end of the Wisconsin-Michigan basketball game yesterday.

This was a somewhat easy win for Wisconsin, with Michigan going ice cold in the second half. Wisconsin won, won with ease and put a dent into Michigan's tournament hopes. Near the end of the game Wisconsin called a timeout, up 14 points, while Michigan still had a few starters in, and they were pressing, with about 10 seconds left in the game. I feel like both head coaches made a mistake here. Michigan should not have been pressing. They were down, they had no chance to win and the starters should have been out. Wisconsin had the win in hand, they could have let the clock run and there was no need to even worry about using a pointless timeout that late in the game. None of this is against the actual rules, but it is part of the unwritten rules in the world of sports. Each coach made multiple unwritten rule mistakes.

During the handshakes at the end of the game, which I was totally happy not having last season due to COVID, Juwan Howard tried to quickly walk past Greg Gard to avoid letting his temper get the best of him. Howard was, for some reason, fuming about the late timeout. And I guess when Howard walked by Gard he said, "I will remember this shit". That was not needed. But Gard grabbed Howard, I guess to try and explain. Again, that was not needed. Things just escalated from there. When Gard grabbed at Howard and stopped him, Howard went off. He started to yell and grab at Gard and the other Wisconsin coaches. It got to the point where the players got involved. People were gathering in a big circle and yelling at one another. At one point Howard open palm slapped a Wisconsin assistant coach. Then players, pretty much all Michigan players, threw punches. Howard had to be pulled back by some of his players. Moussa Dibate and Terrance Williams threw hands. The players and coaches all moved the big circle back and forth, and things were eventually settled.

After the game each coach gave their side of the story and every single website and sports app in the world had their own personal take. I sat and stewed in it for a while. At first I just kind of forgot about it. Then I thought some more about it. Then I slept on it. And then my dad and I texted about it this morning.

I believe that there needs to be punishment handed down, and it needs to be stern. After the football offseason and this basketball incident, Warde Manuel, Michigan's AD, needs to flex his muscles. It has not been great to be a Michigan fan the past couple months, what with Harbaugh openly flirting with the NFL, the basketball team struggling and now this post game handshake incident. Howard needs to be suspended, maybe for the rest of the season, including the Big Ten tournament, and any postseason tournament they may get invited to. Howard also needs to feel the punishment in his wallet. The fine should be pretty significant. I'm thinking, at the low end, at least 20,000 dollars. My dad also brought up that maybe they should send Howard to anger management, I hadn't thought of that, but it seems like a good idea, being this is not the first time Howard has gotten physical with another coach. Whatever it may be, the punishment needs to leave a mark.

As for the people saying Howard should be fired, that is nonsense. These things do happen, and this is not even close to the worst thing that has happened on a college basketball floor. Let us not forget about Bobby Knight throwing a chair or grabbing a player by the throat. Or the time Coach K openly chastised Dillon Brooks for shooting a late 3 in a tournament game that ended Duke's season. We have all the off field stuff with Iowa football last season, and Kirk Ferentz did not even miss a game. Howard putting his hands on another coach is very, very wrong, and needs to be addressed. But there is no world in which he deserves to lose his job. He is having a rough year, he let his emotions get the best of him and he will most likely pay a heavy price. But lose his job? Come on. That is too, too far. But he does deserve a swift and painful punishment. This is also a chance for Warde Manuel to hit the reset button and show the coaches of the sports teams that they work for him, not the other way around.

Yesterday was a bad game marred with a horrible on court incident involving the head coach of the basketball team. Now we wait to see what Howard's punishment will actually be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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The Big Ten is Screwed

I was going to write about the season five premiere of "The Eric Andre Show" today, but it will have to wait another day due to some sports news I saw this afternoon.

The Big Ten, after one week of games being played, already have to cancel a game. I read at the beginning of the week that the Wisconsin freshman QB, who looked dynamite against Illinois last Friday, tested positive twice for COVID. The backup QB did too. Then today Wisconsin confirmed that twelve people within the program, including the head coach, have tested positive. They now have to pause all activities for at least seven days, and the players who tested positive may have to sit upwards of twenty-one days.

The Big Ten was very stringent in the protocols to follow if/when positive tests came out, and the players are hit hardest by this. The rule was stated at the beginning that, if a player tests positive more than once, they have to sit out three weeks. It makes sense to me, it seems like that was a big deal in the restart of the season and we all knew it would come to this, just maybe not this early. But, with the Big Ten waiting so long to start its fall season, this leaves no room for making the game up. The Big Ten has a strict eight week conference only schedule, with the ninth week having the top two teams from each division playing for the Big Ten title, and the rest of the teams playing an extra game for bowl positioning. The caveat, for the time being, Wisconsin and Nebraska will only play eight games, at the most. The rest of the conference, if there are no more outbreaks, I doubt it, will all play one extra game.

Nebraska didn't really have a shot at the CFP, but Wisconsin might have. Nebraska got crushed last week, and they were more than likely going to get beat this Saturday after seeing what Wisconsin did to Illinois, whose defense is much better than Nebraska's. They were staring down an 0-2 start. But I do feel a little bad for Nebraska because they were one of the first schools in the conference to push back against the original cancellation of the season. They were so primed to play that they took a case to court, and they had ideas to play as an independent for this season. Now they have to miss a game because Wisconsin has an outbreak. That seems unfair to them. But this is what the Big Ten will look like all year. The more outbreaks amongst the conference, the more cancellations. They have a set date to finish the year, December 12th, and they are sticking to it. That may mean that some teams will play 7, 8 or 9 games. Or, at this rate, some teams may only play 5 or 6 games.

As for Wisconsin, this stinks on so many levels for them, as a football team. This freshman QB looks like the real deal. He only had one incompletion. He and Justin Fields, who is a legit Heisman contender, had almost identical stats. Now he has COVID, as does his backup and upwards of ten or eleven more players. That is brutal. First of all, this virus has proven it is rough, add on the missed games and practices, and it is like a lost season for these kids. As for the team, this is even more brutal because, as I said, Wisconsin had some real playoff aspirations. They looked like they had opened the offense. The defense shut down Illinois. They pretty much had this Nebraska game in the bag, and more than likely they would have been heading to Ann Arbor in two weeks 3-0, and probably favored in that game. Now they have to miss a full game. The players who have COVID will have to miss, at least, two games. The coaches are going to miss a full week, at the very least, of practice during the season.

This is a blow to the program for this very odd season. But, and I say this again and again and again, how did the players and coaches get COVID, and were they not following safety protocols? I know the University of Wisconsin has seen a surge in positive COVID cases due to parties on campus. Were these players at said parties? Were they not wearing masks? Were they not social distancing? No one knows except the people involved. But more likely than not, if I were a betting man, I'd say that they were going to parties because they are young college athletes who are always the big men on campus. Wisconsin loves their football, and the players are treated like royalty. So the dumb actions of a few are screwing this team and their chances at playing in a big bowl game, or even the CFP.

I fear that this is just the start. I know some universities have already had outbreaks. The university of Ohio State, Rutgers, Michigan State and Penn State all had to pause football activities once already due to outbreaks. Iowa did as well, and they have the whole racial injustice issue going on. The University of Michigan currently has its dormitory residents on stay at home orders. It just feels like things will get much worse before they get better. I would hope that this will be a wake up call for the other members of the Big Ten because any stoppage screws these teams from any major bowl games or the playoff. I wish that were the case, but time will tell. Again, these are young kids that are treated better, and they get invited to everything. If there were ever a season or a year to skip those parties, and just hang out at home, this is the year and the season.

The Big Ten better wake up and take this seriously, or else they will be shut out of any important postseason play. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The 2017 List of Idiotic Decisions from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee

The selection comittee is hard at work

The NCAA tournament field is set. Tomorrow I will do my full tournament preview and predictions, but today, I want to point out some teams that I think got screwed and who got a little too much credit from this dreadful selection committee. There were some big time missteps and incorrectly seeded teams for this upcoming tournament. There were also some egregious bubble teams that got left out, but not as much as usual. Let's get at it.

First and foremost, Wisconsin got royally screwed by the selection committee. This is coming from someone that is vehemently opposed to all things Wisconsin, except for the city of Madison. I loathe the Wisconsin Badgers sports programs. But, they got hosed. All season long they were the second best team in the Big Ten. Yes, the Big Ten stinks this year, but still, they had over 20 wins, and not too many, if any, bad losses. Sure, they had a rough go of it for a week near the end of the season, but an eight seed they are not. I would have been upset if they were a 7 like many predicted. Wisconsin has a good team. They should, at the very worst, be a 6 seed. To put them in the eight spot is ridiculous. They have a rough first round matchup with a decent Virginia Tech team. Then, if they beat them, they have to presumably face the overall number one seed in the tournament, Villanova. That is unfair to both teams. Both Villanova and Wisconsin had good enough seasons that they should have, on paper, an "easy" path to the Sweet Sixteen. To put Wisconsin on the 8 line is a total slap in the face of the Big Ten. Wisconsin, in my opinion, is just as good as Purdue, and Purdue got a 4 seed. That is too big a disparity between the number one and number 2 team in the Big Ten. Wisconsin got hosed more than any team in the tournament.

The second most screwed over team is Wichita State. WSU is 30-4 and they got a 10 seed. The committee claims it is due to competition, but a 10 seed, come on, that is stupid. When will the NCAA and the committee realize that WSU has a great basketball program. They are ridiculously good every year. Sure, the level of competition in their conference isn't great, but neither is Kentucky's competition in the SEC. I think WSU is going to have a deepish run in the tournament this year, but a 10 seed for a team that won 30 games is outrageous. They also have to face a very good Dayton team in round one. That is simply unfair. WSU deserves the respect from the committee that they give any major conference team. WSU is the new Gonzaga.

Going back to the Big Ten, my team, Michigan, I think should have gotten a 6 seed. They had a magical run in the Big Ten tournament. First off, I wrote this team off months ago, and they have made me look stupid. Secondly, they almost did not even make it to D.C. for the Big Ten tournament. Everyone knows the story by now. Apparently they had a team meeting and decided to fly out the next day after the crash, and they went on to win the whole Big Ten tournament. I assumed, after everything they'd been through, they would probably lose to Illinois. Instead, they smashed them by 20 points. Michigan beat Illinois so bad in fact, they fired their head coach. Then they had to face Purdue, who worried me. Michigan had a rough start, got down 9, but kept plugging along, got some stops, pushed it to overtime and eventually won. Then they barnstormed Minnesota in the first half, let them tie it up in the second half, but instead of folding, Derrick Walton Jr became possessed and lead that team to victory. Then in the final yesterday, they pretty much controlled the tempo throughout and ended up winning by 15. So, I was excited to see where the committee would put them. They gave them a 7 seed and a first round matchup with a very good, very underrated Oklahoma State team. To put it in perspective, the committee looked at Michigan, who went 24-11, won the Big Ten tournament and may be one of the hottest teams in the country right now, and only seeded them one better than Michigan State. MSU lost 14 games this year and they have beaten no one outside of the Big Ten that is any good. Yes MSU has history, but they do not belong in the tournament this year. But, the committee pretty much thinks that MSU and Michigan are relatively equal. That is insane. Michigan's first game is going to be very tough, then if they get passed Oklahoma State, they will probably have to play Louisville. That is crazy.

And quick note on MSU, they don't belong in the tournament and neither does Syracuse, no matter what Jay Bilas or Joe Lunardi say. Yes, Syracuse beat three really good teams in UNC, Virginia and Duke, but Indiana beat UNC and Kansas, and I don't hear the same stories coming in defense of Indiana as I do Syracuse. Syracuse is a mediocre team and they do not belong in the field, just like MSU shouldn't be in, and Indiana rightfully did not get selected for the tournament.

As far as some snubs, Illinois State got screwed. They are 27-6, but since they did not win their conference tournament, the committee left them out in favor of teams like MSU, Vanderbilt and Seton Hall. I do not care what conference you play in, if you win 25 plus games, you should be a solid lock to make the tournament. Illinois State is better than MSU and Vanderbilt by ten thousand miles this year. Looks like the committee still has a bias against mid major teams.

I also think California should be in the tournament. They had an up and down year, but they won 21 games, won 10 games in the Pac 12 and played tough all year. Again, they are more deserving than some other teams that got in based on history or conference.

I do think the committee got the 4 number 1 seeds correct, but to have Gonzaga as the fourth number one seed is dumb. They should have been the second number one seed, behind only Villanova. I trust Gonzaga way more than I trust UNC or KU. Gonzaga lost one game all year. Both UNC and KU lost at least 5 games and were bounced very early from their conference tournaments. Gonzaga is the second best team in the country.

I also do not think Duke deserved a one seed, much to Seth Davis' chagrin. He is the biggest Duke backer, but they are fine as a 2 seed. I'm sure they prefer it that way. They have a very easy path to the Final Four, and that is where I think the committee did everything they could to make Coach K happy. Their toughest potential matchup would be in the Elite Eight against Villanova. They will skate in their first game, easily beat the winner of Marquette-South Carolina and then crush whomever they face in the Sweet Sixteen, be it, most likely, Baylor or SMU. This is just the committee rewarding Duke without giving them a 1 seed.

I'm sure there are other teams I left out, but these are the teams I feel got unfairly treated, or too fair treatment, from the selection committee. The committee was a mess this year and it showed during the selection show yesterday. Come back tomorrow for my full tournament preview. I just had to get this off my chest today.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He left off the University Missouri being robbed of any seed in the tournament. They won 8 games this year, what else do the Tigers have to do? Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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All Hail the ACC, Kings of the College Football Bowl Season

The crown is not that heavy

After yesterday's 2 bowl games, I am quite disgusted in how my conference, the Big Ten, has performed, but it is not just the Big Ten, most other power 5 conferences, except for the ACC, have been pretty mediocre.

Let's get the Big Ten out of the way.

First off, the top three teams in the conference all lost their bowl games. Michigan, my team, played piss poor defense all game, didn't wake up until the fourth quarter, and they lost the lead as quickly as they took it from Florida State. Michigan was clearly the better team, but 4 or 5 plays were the difference in that game. I'm still so angry at how they performed and how unprepared the coaching staff had them at the start of that game. It was brutal.

But, not as brutal as Penn State blowing the Rose Bowl yesterday. They blew 14 point leads twice in the second half. In fact, they had those leads in the fourth quarter, and still found some way to lose the game. They looked overmatched in the first half, but came out guns blazing in the third quarter. But, none of that mattered because of poor play calling and terrible defense, by both teams, for them to blow it. Also, Penn State should not even have a program after what happened there, but I have talked and talked about that whole situation enough. But, with a 7 point lead late in the fourth, they could not get a first down after running all over USC all game and gave them the ball back with 2 plus minutes. They then proceeded to get 2 pass interference calls against them, and then give up a 27 yard TD pass. So, I figured overtime, but Trace McSorley, who is not nearly as good as he thinks, chucks the ball in the air with 40 seconds left, and naturally, the ball was picked and returned to put USC in field goal range. Of course USC made the kick, and of course people said it was a "moral" victory for Penn State, but all in all, it was a terrible game, with no defense played and piss poor play calling, but hey, it was a "moral" victory. What a crock.

Then, there was the abomination that was the University of Ohio State(you all know what I'm doing by now). They had no business in the playoff, and I'm more than thrilled that Clemson absolutely crushed this team. They looked over-matched in every area of the game. Clemson is ten thousand times better, and they proved that tenfold.

In fact, the only Big Ten teams to win their bowl games were 6-6 Northwestern, 8-4 Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wisconsin's win was forgettable, but they won. That almost hurts more than anything else. The Big Ten laid a big, big egg this bowl season, going 3-7.

But, the Pac 12, SEC and the Big 12 have not fared much better. The SEC does have Alabama, and Florida and Tennessee and LSU had good wins, especially LSU, but other than that, they have been ho hum. Alabama will probably win it all, but other "blue bloods", like Auburn, Arkansas and Texas A&M looked rough. Auburn played good for one half last night, then proceeded to get crushed by Oklahoma(more on Brent Musberger's ridiculous Joe Mixon stuff tomorrow). Arkansas looked great in the first half, racing out to a 24-0 lead, but then got outscored 35-0 in the second half to Virginia Tech. I do love watching Brett Bielema lose though. And A&M got housed by a not so good Kansas State team. A&M was in the top 10 at various points this year, climbing all the way up to 4 in the initial playoff poll, but they looked awful against Kansas State. Overall, the SEC is 6-6 in bowl games.

The Big 12 was a bit better, at 4-2, but they only sent 6 teams to bowl games. Oklahoma roughed up an outmatched and very injured plagued Auburn team last night. K State crushed A&M like I said, and Oklahoma State cruised over Colorado. Baylor somehow won, but screw that team and everything that team should get punished for, Baylor is a bunch of slime bags and they do not deserve to have an athletic program, much like Penn State. But TCU got out played by Georgia. They made it close, but in the end, they did what they have done all year, and could not close it out. And West Virginia looked terrible. People thought this was when WVU would announced that they'd be a force next year, but instead, they got crushed. Sure, the Big 12 has a winning bowl record, but Baylor should not be playing, Oklahoma's star last night, I will write all about this tomorrow, should not be playing and Oklahoma State played an overrated Colorado team. Kansas State's victory is the only decent thing from the Big 12.

The Pac 12 has been up and down. USC won, but they gave up 49 points and needed a miracle last night, and they gave up a million rush yards. Utah barely beat a very mediocre Indiana team that fired its head coach before the bowl game and Stanford let UNC back into the game and needed a big stop on a 2 point conversion to win. Colorado, as I have mentioned, got hammered by Oklahoma State. That wasn't even a game. Washington State inexcusably lost to Minnesota, only scoring 12 points. This was the same Minnesota team that needed a late TD to beat Rutgers, Rutgers people. And then there was the unfortunate "playoff team", Washington. They do not belong on the same field, or even a field within 50 miles, of Alabama. That game was atrocious and boring. Terrible performance by them, but every team lays an egg when they play Alabama, especially when they have over a month to prepare for you. Washington was a paper tiger.

The ACC, the conference I am usually hardest on, has had a wonderful bowl season. I need to say, I picked an ACC team to win the title this year, Clemson, and that is still in the air, but the rest of the conference has had the best bowl season, by far, of the power 5 conferences. Where we sit now, they are 8-3 during bowl season. Clemson crushed the University of Ohio State, as I have mentioned, and they had a legit shot at Alabama next Monday. Florida State made the necessary plays and beat Michigan, who was much better than them. FSU just made the plays at the right time. Miami hammered what was supposed to be the coming out party for West Virginia. Virginia Tech dominated the second half and pulled away from Arkansas. Georgia Tech won their game fairly convincingly. Wake Forest, now that teams did not know what was coming, beat a much better Temple team. I mean, even the teams that lost played well. UNC fought all the way to the end with Stanford and Pittsburgh blew it against Northwestern, but they had just lost their offensive coordinator, and they still kept it close. Louisville was the only ACC to look really bad, but they had to play a swarming LSU defense and that defense absolutely shut down Heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Look, Clemson still has a shot to win it all, and that would be really, really big for the conference that everyone, including me, craps all over all the time. The ACC has been far and away the best conference during bowl season, and I can't believe it.

Good for you ACC, and I will be rooting for Clemson on Monday night to knock off the juggernaut that is Alabama football. Go Tigers.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Michigan losing by one was tough, Ohio State getting destroyed and embarrassed was glorious. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The SeedSing 2016 College Football Playoffs, Important Bowls, and Heisman Predictions

The College Football Playoff is set, for better or worse. We have the four teams, counting down from 4 to 1, Washington, The University of Ohio State(I know what I wrote), Clemson and Alabama.

First off, the University of Ohio State does not belong in this field. They got beat by Penn State, who I will talk about later, needed overtime to beat Wisconsin and got a tremendous amount of help from the refs against Michigan, who I will also touch on later. They are strictly there because the playoff committee and the TV stations have a disturbing love affair with Urban Meyer. This University of Ohio State team is not as good as they have been in the past. They are still decent, but not the third best team in the country.

With all that being said, they have a shot to beat Clemson. Clemson does belong in this field. They did everything they needed to do to get in the playoff. They have been incredibly inconsistent all year long, but when they show up, they are very, very hard to beat. They have a great D line, a great defensive coordinator, Brent Venables, they have great skill guys like Wyatt Gallman and Mike Williams, and they have Deshaun Watson. This team is loaded, it is just a matter of them showing up, which they have for important games this year. If the team that showed up against Louisville and FSU shows up, they will blow the doors off the University of Ohio State. But, if the Clemson team that showed up against NC State or Pittsburgh shows up, they will be in trouble. I assume the team that played Louisville and FSU shows up, and Clemson beats the University of Ohio State in a decent game. If I had to pick a score, I'd say Clemson 38, the University of Ohio State 24.

The other matchup is going to look a lot like last year's Alabama-Michigan State game. Good for you Washington. You won the Pac 12 title game convincingly, but your butter soft out of conference schedule is going to rear its ugly head. The only time Washington faced a legit defense all year, USC, they got completely smothered. Alabama is better than USC. Hell, Alabama beat USC by 44 points in the first game of the season. If Washington had a hard time moving the ball on USC, they will not be able to move the ball at all against Alabama. Even their coach seems nervous about this matchup. There was an interview yesterday, and Petersen sounded like he was already preparing for next year. Jake Browning is good, and Washington has good skill players, but they have not faced a team nearly as good as Alabama. Alabama's defense is historically good. They are suffocating. They have stopped everyone that has come their way. Their defense and special teams are so good, they had -7 total offensive yards in the SEC title game after the first quarter, and they were still winning 16-9. Alabama is incredible, even if their offense is not great. Alabama is going to cruise over Washington to the tune of something like 35-7.

That would leave us with a rematch of last year's title game, but this time, it will not be a shootout. Alabama, and their defense, will shut Clemson down. Watson is great, but Alabama's defense is so much better. This is one of the most dominant and clinical teams that I have ever seen on a college football field. They are like a machine. If Alabama does not win the title this year, it will be a bigger upset than Cleveland beating Golden State in the NBA Finals last year. Alabama is clearly the best team in college football, and it is by a wide margin. Those are my predictions for the playoff.

As far as some other bowls go, I do not really care for anything else outside of the playoff and the New Year's 6 Bowl games. I could care less about a Nebraska-Tennessee matchup or a Navy-Louisiana Tech matchup or a Iowa-Florida matchup. None of those sound appealing to me. But, when it comes to the New Year's 6, obviously I have a huge interest in the Orange Bowl. Michigan is playing FSU. If Michigan shows up, and is not deflated by not making the playoff, they should roll. They have a great run defense, and all FSU can do is run. Dalvin Cook is incredible, but if Michigan can slow him down and hold him to below 100 yards, there is not much else FSU can do on offense. Michigan's offense should be able to control the ball as well. Michigan is a better team than FSU, and they should win the Orange Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is going to be a blood bath. Penn State is not the fifth best team in the country. But, before I go on about this game, I need to address what Gus Johnson said about Penn State winning the Big Ten title being a "milestone" in the "healing process" for what happened under Joe Paterno. This was a terrible oversight. What happened for 2 plus decades under Paterno's watch is despicable, disgusting, disturbing and Penn State's football program should have been shut down. The vile and heinous acts committed by the old staff were horrific and upsetting. The fact that the main media wants to gloss over this is troubling. No football win is any kind of "milestone", nor does it help anyone heal from what happened. Those people that were abused have to live with that everyday. Football games do not change what happened to them. Shame on Gus Johnson, Mark May, Kirk Herbstreit and any other media person that tries to shove the terrible tragedy at Penn State aside and only focus on football. Penn State should not have a football team.

With that being said, they will be exposed by a USC team that has only gotten better and better every week. They will shut down anything that Penn State will try and do, and they will move the ball on Penn State with ease. This is a very low level game for the Rose Bowl. We have a 2 and 3 loss teams playing for the Rose Bowl. That is not great. Anyway, USC will win by 10 plus.

The Cotton Bowl is going to expose Western Michigan. Good for them and PJ Fleck. You guys finished the regular season undefeated. Only you and Alabama can say that. But, when your 2 best wins are against a 6-6 Northwestern team and a 3-9 Illinois team, that speaks volumes to the level of competition they faced all year. Wisconsin is going to dismantle Western Michigan. I'd love to be proven wrong, both for my dislike to the Badgers and the fact that I would love to see Western Michigan finish the year undefeated, but it will not happen. WMU is playing a big time team now, and it will show. I would not be surprised if Wisconsin wins by 3 touchdowns or more.

The Sugar Bowl features Oklahoma and Auburn. Oklahoma should win this going away. They play super up-tempo offense and Auburn is decimated by injury. Auburn has a good defense, but Oklahoma's offense is fantastic. Oklahoma does not play defense, but they won't have to play too much defense in this game because Auburn is not nearly as lethal running the ball, due to all the injuries. I say Oklahoma by 2 touchdowns.

I have Alabama winning the title, Michigan winning the Orange Bowl, USC winning the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin winning the Cotton Bowl and Oklahoma winning the Sugar Bowl.

As far as the Heisman goes, first off, the list of players they are sending to New York is a real head scratcher. Obviously Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson belong, but Jabrill Peppers, Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook? What the hell? I love Jabrill Peppers. He was so much fun to watch this year. I literally thought he could score anytime he had his hands on the ball, but he wasn't even the best defender on his team. That goes to Jourdan Lewis, Taco Charlton and Chris Wormley. Peppers is great, just not Heisman great. Then 2 guys from Oklahoma, give me a break. If you want someone from the Big 12, send D'Onta Foreman. He rushed for over 2,000 yards this year, and that is with every team gearing up to stop him. And if you wanted another QB, send Jake Browning from Washington. He had an incredible year, and it would be a nice consolation for him since his team, and himself, are going to get hammered by Alabama. This is a very odd group of players selected to go to New York. Since it is only a 2 man race, they should have only sent Jackson and Watson.

I'm going to stick with my preseason pick, and say Deshaun Watson wins the Heisman. His last 5 games have been very impressive, and even though his numbers aren't like Jackson's numbers, the lasting impressions should count. Jackson had big time stumbles against Houston and Kentucky, where Watson showed up for the ACC title, and has been unstoppable the last 5 games.

So there you have it, my final predictions for the college football season. I will recap everything after the year is over, but this is what I see happening over the next month or so. Enjoy bowl season everyone. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial man Podcast. He aspires to go to the Rose Bowl one day. Maybe he will be the Grand Marshall. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Let Me Respectfully Explain Why Your Team Stinks: Big Ten Football is better than SEC Football

The best button to hit on the remote when ESPN talks college football

Today I'm going to piss off ESPN, Paul Finebaum, David Pollack, the SEC on ESPN Network, basically all of ESPN, and all the commentators on CBS because, frankly, the SEC, besides Alabama, is very mediocre.

The SEC is the only conference that seems to have 24 hour news coverage from these people, and these networks. They seem to be the only game in town. When I turn on "College Football Live" on ESPN, I see David Pollack and Finebaum each yelling about how great "their" conference is. They always talk about how it is the only conference in major division 1 football that has any say in the final rankings. They talk about how it is a superior level of football compared to all the other power conferences.

Well, and I know that I am not the only one that has done this research, but besides Alabama, no other SEC team has 9 wins. In fact, the only team with a chance to get a ninth win this year is Florida, and that chance is against Alabama in the SEC title game. I do not see them winning that game.

Tell me why these commentators and ESPN and CBS never give any love to any other conference. Colorado is in the midst of a huge resurgence in the Pac 12, so is Washington, but we only hear about how bad Oregon is on these channels. And not only are Colorado and Washington very good, so is Washington State, Utah and Stanford. Each of these teams has as many, or more wins, than all the other teams not named Alabama in the SEC. The Big 12 is very top heavy, but Oklahoma and Oklahoma State is a much more intriguing matchup to me this weekend, as opposed to Alabama-Florida. The ACC is Clemson, then everyone else, but UNC has put together a very solid year, Pittsburgh is feisty, FSU will get a good bowl game and Louisville has the Heisman front runner.

That leads me to the Big Ten, the conference I think is the best, by a wide margin.

Side rant, Michigan got absolutely screwed this past Saturday. They stopped Barrett, I will go to my grave believing this, and the disparity in penalties was atrocious. That was one of the worst officiated games I have ever watched, and I have heard people that don't like either team tell me the same. Okay, got that off my chest.

But, look at the top part of the Big Ten. Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan all have either 10 or 11 wins. Ohio State doesn't get a chance for a 12th win since they blew the Penn State game, but with only one loss, and getting a cheap win this past weekend, they are all but assured a playoff spot. They also play a style of offense that the playoff committee loves, so they will find any way possible to put them in the playoff. Wisconsin and Michigan are very similar, in that both teams rely on their defense. Wisconsin's defense is very good, and I expect that to be on full display this weekend when they face Penn State in the Big Ten title game. Those kids fly all over the place and make play after play. They have no studs on offense, but they can run the ball, as they have always been able to in my lifetime. Michigan's defense is better than Wisconsin's. They have pressured every QB and running back they have played this year. Their secondary is lock down. They blitz all the time, and they shut most teams down. They are, statically, the best defense in college football. Their offense is not flashy either, but they have way more play makers than Wisconsin, and whenever Jabrill Peppers comes in, everyone holds their breath. Then there is Penn State. I really do not know what to make of this team, but they have won 8 straight games, including one against Ohio State. I fully expect them to get crushed by Wisconsin, but they have a hell of a turnaround. I think they are paper tigers, but good for them.

I'd take all four of these teams against any team not named Alabama in the SEC. Give me Michigan-LSU, I'd pick Michigan to win by 2 touchdowns. Give me Penn State-Tennessee, PSU would win by 10 points. In a game between Wisconsin-Florida, I fully believe Wisconsin would shut them out in dominant fashion. So, why do the commentators and specific networks I mentioned only talk about the SEC? I get that Alabama is the best team, and it is not even close, but other than them, they have no real threat. Florida has faltered as of late, and it was on full display against Florida State this past weekend. Tennessee just got beat by Vanderbilt, needed multiple miracle comebacks early in the year, got crushed by Florida, and now their coach is talking about "being champions of life". What a joke. Ole Miss, who was a preseason top 15 team, is below .500. Texas A&M has not been that good since Trevor Knight went down, and were they that good to begin with anyway? I do not think so. Auburn has stumbled as of late, due to injury and playing great competition. LSU fired a coach, lost to Alabama, Wisconsin and Florida already this year, and they just settled for Ed Oregeron as their full time head coach. That does not put any fear in anyone at all. Arkansas just blew a 3 touchdown lead to Missouri and finished below .500 in the conference. Kentucky beat Louisville, but they are just 7-5, and they do not look good, at least not to me. The rest of the conference is just bad. Missouri, Mississippi State and the previously mentioned Ole Miss, they are all below .500. Vanderbilt and South Carolina are right at .500, and the rest has 8 wins or less.

I am sick of the biased view that the people and networks I have mentioned show this conference that has been well below mediocre this year. There is no one, and I mean no one, that should be covered on national media from the SEC except Alabama. Every other team in the SEC is irrelevant. No one other than Alabama is going to be in the playoff, or a New Year's Six bowl.

The SEC is wildly overrated, and I just needed to get this off my chest. It was a frustrating weekend, and the fact that ESPN and Paul Finebaum wanted to act like the Iron Bowl was anywhere near as important as The Game was utterly absurd. Screw Paul Finebaum, David Pollack, ESPN and CBS. You guys all stink and are so in the bag for the SEC, it is disgusting. Why don't you cover some real college football and get off the bandwagon you bunch of hacks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has a few more opinions on teams that stink, check them out. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty's Midseason College Football Redo

As I did yesterday with the NFL, today I'm going to look at college football at the mid way point. Also, much like the NFL, I got some things right, but more things wrong. That's how it goes when you are in the business of making predictions. No one is perfect, and I'm far from it myself. Anyway, let's get into what I got right and wrong, update my predictions and make some more changes.

First, let's look at the SEC, my least favorite conference. Alabama is the clear cut favorite. I think that everyone expected this. Alabama is clearly the best team in the SEC, and the nation. They have a historically great defense. They have scored 12 non offensive touchdowns, and they have only given up 12 touchdowns all year. They are elite. Their offense is just fine as well. They have a read option style QB, who is not a great passer, but an exceptional runner. He runs the read option to perfection, and, when he has an open man, he usually hits them in stride. Their offense, while not great, is just fine. Alabama is a cut above the rest in the SEC. As far as some teams that may present a "challenge", you have Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M. Some may say, you left out Tennessee, but Alabama recently beat them by 39 points. They also, just last week, beat A&M by 19 points, so they may not be much of a threat. Florida has a very good defense, but they were exposed against Tennessee in the second half of that game. Alabama is much, much better than Tennessee. Auburn may be the only team that can truly threaten Alabama, but their strength is running the ball, and Alabama's strength is stopping the run. Auburn has looked very good since Rhett Lashley took over the offense, but they will run into a buzz saw when they face Alabama's front seven. LSU could possibly pose a threat, the game is at night and in Baton Rouge, but they, much like Auburn, love to run the ball and Alabama is nearly impossible to run against. I will say, I was right about Tennessee. They are paper tigers. They should have been beaten a few times already, pulled some games out of nowhere, but have been brought back down to Earth the last two weeks. Anyway, at the midway point, Alabama is still the team to beat in the SEC.

Let's move to the Pac 12, which has been an absolute disaster thus far, minus one team. I was way, way off about Stanford. I thought that Christian McCaffrey would be dominant and lead this team to the playoff. I thought their defense would be great. I thought the lack of a decent QB would not matter. I was wrong on all three aspects. McCaffrey, while still putting up decent numbers, is literally the only threat they have, and he has missed parts of, or full games. He will not be making a return trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Their defense has been fine, but they have been on the field way, way too much. The lack of a good QB has crushed this team. Their passing game is no threat, so teams just load the box to stop the run, and it has worked thus far. UCLA has been incredibly underwhelming and Josh Rosen isn't even playing right now. USC, after getting crushed in their first 2 games, has looked better, but they are still 4-3. Utah is good, they have a great running game and an okay defense. They have a huge matchup this weekend, but I'll get to their opponent in a few. Oregon is atrocious, especially on defense. They cannot stop anyone and they can't settle on a QB. Oregon State is no good, Washington State is fine, but terrible at defense, Arizona State is average, Arizona is mediocre, which leaves us with one good team. That team is Washington. I was wrong about this team. I thought it was all talk, but they have lived up to the hype and then some. They are clearly the best team in the Pac 12. They have an elite offense and a very good defense. Jake Browning is putting up monster numbers, and if they get past Utah this weekend, they should have a clear path to the playoff. They are the Pac 12's only hope.

The Big 12, on the other hand, may not send a single team to the playoff. I was convinced that Oklahoma was going to have a breakthrough this year, but Bob Stoops reared his ugly head during week one. Houston trounced them, then 2 weeks later, in Norman, Ohio State throttled them. They have rebounded a bit, but they are no threat to be in the playoff. Texas started strong, but are limping to the finish line. Charlie Strong is all but done with his tenure there. TCU has been very up and down. Kansas State is in rebuild mode. Baylor is undefeated, but it is all for naught because none of this will matter because of the atrocities that they did off the field. They are going to get the death knell from the NCAA, hopefully. West Virginia, very surprisingly, has been the class of the Big 12. They have a very good offense, and in a league that thinks defense is optional, WVU actually plays really good defense. They have shut down both Texas Tech and TCU in consecutive weeks, and both those teams have great offenses. WVU is the team to beat in the Big 12, at this moment.

The ACC is still Clemson's to lose. Louisville has come out of nowhere, at least to me, but Clemson did beat them already. But, Louisville has been impressive thus far. Lamar Jackson is the front runner for the Heisman. He is putting up video game numbers, and no one, not even Clemson, truly stopped him. Florida State is average, Their QB is too young and inconsistent. Their defense is very mediocre. Dalvin Cook is very good, but he is their only threat. They have a big game against Clemson this weekend, and that game should show their true colors. Miami started out great, but they have fallen back to Earth the last three weeks. As far as some other challengers, there isn't any. NC State is average, and should have beaten Clemson, UNC has a great offense, but a terrible defense, Virginia Tech is fine, but not world beaters. This conference is Clemson's to lose. They are still undefeated, they play excellent defense and they still have Deshaun Watson, who is incredible. Until this team gets beat, I will stick with them. This weekend poses their last real threat, and if they get past FSU, they should roll to the playoff.

Now, for my conference, the Big 10. This is still a 2 team race. Ohio State, coming off their inexplicable loss to Penn State, is still a real playoff possibility. They have looked vulnerable the last 2 weeks, especially on offense, but they can go off at any time. JT Barrett is a very good QB, but he has gotten very little help from the rest of his teammates. The O line is shaky, the running game, outside of him, has been up and down, and they have no go to receiver. Their defense is awesome though. They can shut teams down. Ohio State has no room for error after last week, but if things break their way, they could sneak into the playoff. Michigan is playing incredible defense right now. They have shut down everyone that they have faced. It's hard to run on this team, and even harder to pass on them. Jim Harbaugh, Don Brown and Greg Mattison have a very, very good defense. The offense has been serviceable, but they are going to need to get better when they play better teams. Wilton Speight is still inconsistent with the long ball. Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh have not had their breakout games yet. Jake Butt has been fine, but not All American level yet. The running game has feasted on lesser opponents, but not so much on the better teams they've faced. I love their defense, but their offense needs to step it up. And, I do not care what their record is, they better be prepared for a very, very tough test this weekend at Michigan State. That team will bring their A game this weekend. As far as the rest of the Big 10, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and more recently, Penn State have looked good. Wisconsin has an incredible defense, but, much like Michigan, their offense leaves a lot to be desired. They also faced Michigan and Ohio State already, and both teams beat them. Nebraska may be the shakiest team in all of the top 10 rankings. They should have lost to Indiana and Oregon, but escaped with wins. They will probably get beat this weekend, when they face Wisconsin, but who knows, they could pull out another amazing win. Penn State has looked a lot better, but their offense is still a work in progress, and I do not trust them to be a real threat. Iowa has been underwhelming. Northwestern has looked good at times, but bad at times. Michigan State cannot seem to put it together. They can't pick a QB, and their defense is not as great as it usually is. Minnesota has 5 wins, but they have not looked impressive, and they tried everything to lose to Rutgers last week. The rest of the conference is below average. This conference is Michigan's to lose now. They have very high expectations for the first time in 10 years, so lets see how they react. This team has not been in this position for a long time, so let's see how these kids respond.

As far as other teams like Notre Dame, Houston, Western Michigan and Navy, only 2 of them have a say in being in a New Years 6 bowl. Notre Dame has been abysmal, and it all starts with their head coach. He has blamed everyone but himself, but he is the reason this team could miss out on a bowl game. They are 2-5 at the moment, so that means they need to finish the year 4-1, just to be considered for a bowl game. That will tough for this team. Houston was riding high with their opening season win at Oklahoma, but they have lost 2 of their last 3, and are out of the rankings. Western Michigan has looked great, owns 2 wins over Big 10 teams, and should rip through the MAC. They could find their way into an important bowl game by seasons end. And then there is Navy. They have played hard and played well pretty much all season long. They run that option to perfection, and they have looked really good all season. They were the first team to beat Houston I might add. I'm a Michigan fan through and through, but I have always liked Navy for some unexplained reason. It's good to see them play well.

As far as playoff teams go, right now for me, I have, from 4-1, Washington, Clemson, Michigan and Alabama. That is the exact order of the AP poll right now. I do not see that changing, unless one of these teams get upset, which could happen as soon as this weekend. So, that would pit Alabama-Washington and Michigan-Clemson in the semifinal games. Alabama will steam roll Washington and, as much as I would love to pick Michigan, Clemson has been there before and Michigan's offense is not nearly as good as Clemson's offense, so I'm going with the rematch. And, just like last season, I think Alabama will repeat. Clemson couldn't beat them last year, and Alabama's defense is way better than last year. I do not want Alabama to win, but they are leaps and bounds above everyone in college football. They are the Patriots of college football. I'm going to stick with Deshaun Watson has my Heisman winner though. He has already beaten Lamar Jackson head to head, and I think he will explode this weekend against FSU, which will solidify his place in New York.

There you have it, my mid season college football redux, redo, whatever you want to call it. College football has been so much better than the pros, so this piece was much easier and more fun to write than yesterday. Go watch some college games, they are way more fun, and quite frankly, better than the NFL, by a wide margin.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Test Ty's predictions by listening to the Mini X Millennial Man all about the upcoming NBA season. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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College Football Proved in Week One Why it is the Best

The first weekend of the college football season is officially in the books, and I have some quick thoughts about what we saw this past weekend.

First off, isn't it great to have football to watch again? Look, I like baseball, but nothing, not even basketball, compares to my love for football season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I spent my entire Saturday watching college football games.

My first main takeaway, RD was right and I was way wrong on Oklahoma. I assumed that they had the firepower and talent to overcome their head coach ineptness. Well, Houston made me look stupid, and made RD look right. When they got out to an 11 point lead, Oklahoma that is, I thought that they'd cruise from there. That was not the case. Houston took the first punch, then punched back way more than Oklahoma could handle. The 109 field miss return was the icing on the crap cake that has become Bob Stoops' calling card. Oklahoma could not recover, and they have a big hill to climb if they want in the playoff at the end of the year. They can still do it, but their chances are very, very slim. And how good did Houston and Greg Ward Jr look? They are truly a team worth watching, and they could definitely crash the playoff this year. Their last 2 wins, Florida State last year in the bowl game, and Oklahoma to open this season, are legit, and so is Houston.

The Thursday before, the games were mediocre. The only "marquee" team was Tennessee, and they struggled. Appalachian State is an okay team, and they will forever haunt me for what they did to the Wolverines all those years ago, but Tennessee was supposed to crush them, especially at home. Well, that did not happen. They needed a fourth quarter comeback, and had it not been for a miracle play from their running back, they would have fumbled away their win. Tennessee may not be as good as some thought they would be. But, it is only week one. 

Friday night had some good games, most notably Stanford-Kansas State. This game was closer than I thought, but we still got to see some great running by McCaffery. He made great cuts and zipped through holes and ran over tacklers. That kid is good. Michigan State looked a bit disjointed in their game against Furman on Friday night, but they won. It was sloppy, but it goes down as a W. 

Saturday was the real kickoff. I mentioned the Houston-Oklahoma game, but there were a lot of other things I saw in those early games. The Big Ten, save for Northwestern, looked pretty good. Ohio State and JT Barrett absolutely pummeled Bowling Green. Michigan crushed Hawaii. Iowa ran all over Miami of Ohio. The mid to lower level teams, like Maryland, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska pummeled their opponents. Nebraska also did a fantastic tribute to their fallen punter. It was moving. Yeah, Northwestern got beat, but don't sleep on Western Michigan. They are a good football team. And as far as Rutgers goes, they stink.

The biggest win for the Big Ten came in the afternoon games, when Wisconsin beat LSU. LSU was supposed to be the second, or first overall team in the SEC. They have a great, great running back that was going to run all over Wisconsin. Wisconsin was also coming off an okay season, but they were breaking in a new QB, and their running back was coming off injury. Well, Wisconsin completely controlled every facet of that game. They "held" Fournette to under 150 yards, and forced LSU's QB to try and win the game, which he did not, throwing one of the most errant interceptions I have ever seen. But, I don't put this loss solely on Brandon Harris, I put it on Les Miles. He has become so vanilla. His offense is so predictable, and when you can get them out of their comfort zone, you have a great chance at beating them. The game was ugly, but it was exactly what Wisconsin wanted it to be, and they won. LSU is still a ways away from competing big time in the SEC.

In some other afternoon games, the competition looked good. UNC-Georgia was a very good game. I think I may have been a little low on Georgia in fact. If Nick Chubb can stay healthy, Georgia can be a very good team. Maybe they become the team that challenges Alabama in the SEC. Washington looked good, absolutely crushing Rutgers, Rutgers is not good. But, Washington looked pretty good. UCLA laid an egg against Texas A&M. They had no flow and Josh Rosen looked like he may have taken a step back. A&M won, but I don't think they are great either. Trevor Knight does not appear to be an elite QB, but that is the best they have. And, as I said, they got the win. Other ranked teams, like TCU, Oregon and Oklahoma State crushed their opponents, but TCU and Oregon both gave up more points than they should have against their opponents.

The night games on Saturday, one was great, the other, not so much. Alabama let USC stay in the game for one quarter, then realized that they are Alabama, and dismantled USC. That was an old fashioned whooping. USC looked like a very overmatched JV team against a very young, inexperienced Alabama team. As much as I loathe Nick Saban and Alabama, that team is great, and he is a great college coach. The Clemson-Auburn game was sloppy, but entertaining. Clemson won, but it was a dogfight, and Auburn had a chance at the end. Deshaun Watson did more than enough, at least in my eyes, to prove why he is the best player in college football. The game was also played at Auburn, which is a tough spot for any team, and Clemson still pulled out the victory.

 Sunday featured one game, Notre Dame-Texas, and that game was incredible. I fervently despise both teams, but that game was great. There was little to no defense played, but it was fun. Brian Kelly lost that game for Notre Dame. And, before you call me out for being a Notre Dame hater they would have won if he kept Deshon Kizer in at QB. But, he kept taking him out, and Kizer was unstoppable. So were the 2 Texas QB's. The freshman was more of a threat to throw, but Swoopes, man did he look good running the ball. And their running game was awesome. The way it ended, in double overtime, was excellent. That was a great, great game.

Last night, FSU came back and beat Ole Miss. For as bad as FSU looked in the first half, they looked great in the second half. The freshman QB calmed down, and the o line started to open holes for Dalvin Cook. Ole Miss is overrated. They came out guns blazing, but after the second quarter, they looked gassed, and it seemed that FSU figured them out. This game went as it was supposed to go.

There were a lot of good games, and this was a very good opening week. I don't like that they called the Oklahoma-Houston, Wisconsin-LSU and FSU-Ole Miss games, "neutral" site games. Houston got to play in Houston, Wisconsin got to play in Green Bay and FSU got to play in Orlando. Those are all home games. That was an unfair advantage for Oklahoma, LSU and Ole Miss, but that is just a nit picky thing of mine. Other than that, this season is off to a very promising start. I cannot wait for this Saturday to come so I can watch some more football. The best sport is finally back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He can breathe easier this weekend because the Wolverines did not have their regular Rodriguez / Hoke bad loss in week one. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Predicting the Rest of an Unpredictable Men's College Basketball Tournament

The current state of everyone's brackets

As I've done with my NBA preview, my NFL preview and my college basketball preview, I'm going to look back at what was right and wrong since the first weekend of the madness that is March is through. You can go back and read my five things I thought would happen before the tournament started and you can listen to our mini episode of the podcast to hear my initial thoughts.

Right out of the gate, I was way off about Michigan State, as was almost everyone else. They really laid an incredible egg against Middle Tennessee State. I don't want to hear about other reporters saying that MTSU was wrongly seeded and that they are a really good team either. Sure, they won 20 plus games, but just look at what happened against a very mediocre Syracuse team yesterday. Michigan State would have dismantled that same Syracuse team had they taken care of business on Friday, but they didn't. MSU got out played, out hustled and out coached by a very inferior team. This has to be the biggest upset in the history of the tournament. Sure, NC State had no business beating Houston when they had Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and Norfolk State beat a much better Missouri team in 2012, but this win by MTSU was, at least in my lifetime, the biggest upset ever. MSU didn't even choke away this game, MTSU just straight up beat them, never trailing. I assumed that MSU's size and experience would make, not only this game a walk through, but that they'd coast to the title. I was way wrong, but so was pretty much everyone else. MSU blew it and they lose a ton of players to graduation. This was a major shake up that busted millions of brackets all over the country.

Then, there were my thoughts on the ACC that I was way off base on as well. Of the 16 teams remaining, 6 are from the ACC. That's impressive. Miami beat Wichita State with relative ease. Sure, WSU made it close, even taking a one point lead in the second half, but Miami started and finished that game strong and they deserved to win. Notre Dame, on the other hand, has been incredibly luck in their run to the sweet sixteen. They were down 12 at halftime to Michigan, then Michigan went ice cold and they started to make some clutch shots and Michigan still had a chance at the end until Zak Irvin took a terrible three. Also, Michigan wasn't even supposed to make that a game. Then, yesterday against Stephen F Austin, they needed a miracle tip in with one second left. SFA should have won that game and all they needed to do was box a guy out and they'd still be in it. I still don't trust Notre Dame. Syracuse got lucky with their draw. They were bigger than Dayton, then they got to play MTSU. They don't impress me at all. Duke was down at halftime against UNC Wilmington and it took the refs giving them every single call in the second half for them to win in round one. Then, they come out and shot a ridiculous percentage from three against Yale, push their lead all the way up to 27 at one point in the second half, then let Yale get back in it, getting as close as four points. Duke can't rebound and they will lose soon. Virginia has looked good. They play a slower style of basketball and they play suffocating defense. They've had an easy draw, but they have looked pretty good in their two wins. They could make final four noise if they keep this play up.

The team I was hardest on, UNC, has looked really, really good. They look like the team that was the preseason number one pick and a lot of people's pick to win the title. They cruised in round one and then they absolutely throttled Providence in round two. They look scary good right now, especially since Marcus Paige is making shots. I regret not having more respect for them. They could get to the title game if they keep it up.

My two play in 11 seeds really let me down. Michigan looked sloppy against Tulsa, but they won. Then, they came out on fire in the first half against Notre Dame, but fizzled in the second half. They should have won, but they couldn't finish, that was their problem all year long. Wichita State looked really good against Vanderbilt in their play in win, but they came out completely flat and ice cold against Miami. They put themselves in too big a hole and they could never get out of it. I was let down by both these teams. Northern Iowa also had a huge choke last night when they let Texas A&M make up a 12 point deficit in 40 seconds. I said, on the podcast, I thought they could make a run, but they really blew it last night. That was probably the biggest choke job I've ever witnessed. At least Gonzaga, another double digit seed I liked, has looked pretty good. They've won both their games handily and now they get to face an inferior Syracuse team for a shot at the elite eight.

The Big 12 has been a let down for me. I thought that they'd represent 75 percent of the final four. Sure, Kansas and Oklahoma are still there and they look good too. KU has had no problem with their first two games and they should coast to the final four. And Oklahoma, while VCU put a scare in them, made in on the heels of Buddy Hield. He has to be the player of the year now after MSU and Denzel Valentine's shocking and embarrassing loss. Without Hield yesterday, Oklahoma doesn't win that game. He is a scoring machine. But, the Baylor's and West Virginia's of the world really blew it. Baylor got outplayed by Yale. Baylor was bigger, but Yale out rebounded them. Side note, if you want to see something truly great, go back and watch the Baylor postgame conference when a reporter asked a Baylor player how they got out rebounded by Yale. This player's response is priceless and hilarious. Baylor would have crushed Duke had they taken care of business, but now we will never know. West Virginia looked bad in their opener. SFA did anything it wanted at anytime against WVU. I thought WVU had final four potential, but has Bob Huggins ever really done anything of note since leaving Cincinnati except for blowing winnable games. That game was a joke and WVU looked pretty terrible.

I was also wrong about a Big Ten team winning the title. I thought it would be MSU in a cake walk. I was wrong and so was the majority of everyone else. The Big Ten still has three teams left, but who really believes Maryland or Wisconsin will win the title? I know in my preseason preview I picked Maryland, but that was a straight up guess and after watching them this past weekend, there is no way they are a championship level team. And Wisconsin got very lucky in both games. They were ice cold against Pitt, but Pitt was even colder. Then, they hit a buzzer beater to beat Xavier. That play was beautiful, but it should have never happened. That charge that was called on Xavier was one of the worst calls in a basketball game at any level. That ref wanted to determine the outcome of the game and that should never be the case. But, that terrible call let us witness one of the best in bounds plays of all time. There is no way either of Maryland or Wisconsin wins the title. Indiana, on the other hand, I do believe in. I had them picked to beat Kentucky and they looked decent doing it. They made big plays when they needed to and got stops when they needed to. They are the Big Ten's best shot at a title this year. 

Where we stand now, we have 6 ACC teams, 3 Big Ten Teams, 3 Big 12 teams, 1 Big East team, 1 SEC team, 1 Pac 12 team and 1 mid major. The way I see it now, the Big 12 is not getting all three in, but they have an excellent shot at 2. Iowa State will probably lose to Virginia later this week, KU should have no problem with Maryland, then they will get the winner of Miami-Villanova, which should be another cake walk for them. Oklahoma gets a very young and inexperienced Texas A&M team they should beat, then the winner of Oregon, the most overrated one seed of all time perhaps, and Duke, who I have ZERO trust in. They can win their next two games with ease. Unfortunately for the Big Ten, Maryland will probably lose to KU, Wisconsin can and should beat Notre Dame, but then they get the winner of Indiana-UNC who would crush them, and that leaves Indiana, and they have to face a red hot UNC team right now and I just don't see them beating UNC. The ACC's best shot, of the 6 remaining teams they have left, is either UNC or Virginia. I think Miami will have it's hands full with Villanova. Duke will probably lose to Oregon. Syracuse is going to get destroyed by Gonzaga. But, Virginia should beat Iowa State, setting up a showdown with Gonzaga, in what would be a great game. And UNC, if they beat Indiana, will coast over either Notre Dame or Wisconsin. UNC has the easiest and most likely path for an ACC team. Sorry Pac 12, Oregon will not represent your conference in the final four. St, Joe's should have won last night, but either Duke or the winner of Texas A&M-Oklahoma will end your season. Same thing for the SEC. A&M is too young and too inexperienced and they also got incredibly lucky to still be in this tournament, their season will end soon enough. Villanova will be its usual choking self soon, probably against Miami. They will find a way to lose because that is what they do. Which leaves me with Gonzaga. I love Gonzaga this year and they have been very impressive thus far. They will beat Syracuse which will most likely set them up against Virginia. I think they can easily win that game and go to the final four. They are playing top notch basketball at the right time.

So, if I have to pick a final four with the 16 remaining teams, I will go with KU in the South, Oklahoma in the West, UNC in the East and Gonzaga in the Midwest. I think from those four teams, KU and UNC will play for the title and I think KU wins. That's how I see it now. I will admit that this tournament has been fun to watch. While it may not always be appealing to your eyes, at least there's been buzzer beaters and upsets galore after the first weekend. Hopefully, that continues throughout the rest of this wacky and wild tournament.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He takes gret solace in the fact that not only his, but every realistic person out there, has a busted bracket. It is madness if you are not following Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Chaos of the College Basketball Season will Extend Well into March

This season has even our ancestors confused

As I've done with the NBA, NFL and MLB seasons, I want to check up on my preseason preview for men's college basketball and see how I did and what I think will happen now that the regular is just about done.

First of all, this season of men's college basketball has been very, very ugly. There is no clear cut best team out there. The talent pool has been incredibly watered down by this new "one and done" culture. These kids don't go to college to learn how to play team basketball anymore, they go to increase their draft position. No one plays team basketball anymore. It's all one on one and let me show you my skills to prove that I can play at the next level. Adam Silver needs to focus more on changing the age limit rule for early entry in the draft and less on the "hack a whoever" problem. Men's college basketball is becoming a joke, and until they do something to remedy the "one and done", it will remain a big, big problem.

I really dislike college basketball at the moment.

With all that being said, I still watch because it is basketball and I love basketball. As I said before, there is no clear cut top five teams. Last year it was almost a foregone conclusion that Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin would be three fourths of the final four. Michigan State making it was a surprise, but they are also a traditional powerhouse, so was it really that surprising? Nope. This year though, it's a total crapshoot. I bet gamblers hate how wide open it is this season. There is, at least, 10 teams that have a legitimate shot at making the final four and winning the title.

I'll start with the ACC. The ACC has the team that most consider the "best" team in North Carolina, but they just lost to an unranked Duke team at home. Sometimes UNC looks like world beaters, other days they look average. Duke has been wildly inconsistent this year. They were in the top ten, fell out of the rankings completely, then beat Virginia and UNC. They are a team that relies on streaky shooters and freshman and sophomores and their underclassmen are nowhere near as good as their underclassmen last year. Virginia has experience, but they play ugly offensive basketball. Notre Dame is okay, but they will lose an early round game in the tournament. Louisville gave themselves a bogus postseason ban, due to all their sex parties and their sex depraved head coach, but I don't think they would have made much noise in the tournament anyway. Miami may be the second best team in the ACC, but they are classic tournament chokers. everyone else is mediocre. UNC should be the cream of the crop, but I have no faith in them after what happened against Duke.

The Big East has two good teams and that's it. No disrespect to Georgetown, but they peaked early. The Big East is Villanova and Xavier. They played last night and number 5 Xavier knocked off number 1 Villanova. It was a good game, but the problem with these two teams, they always get seeded very high in the tournament and they always lose way earlier than they should. They both have experience, but like I said, that experience is used to getting knocked out of the tournament early. I'd love if they proved me and everyone else wrong and made a deep tournament run because I like both these teams, but I don't think that will happen.

The SEC has been very average this year. Kentucky was supposed to be great, signing another excellent class, but they have been one of, if no the, most inconsistent team in all of men's basketball. They have no go to scorer and their stud freshman have not lived up to the preseason hype. Texas A&M is ranked, but I couldn't tell you the name of one player on that team. LSU was supposed to be awesome since they signed Ben Simmons, the overall number one high school recruit, but they might not even make the NCAA tournament. Arkansas is mediocre, Ole Miss and Mississippi State both stink and so does the rest of the conference. Kentucky will still win the SEC, but they are not the same team that they were last year.

The Big Ten, my conference that I watch, has been very unpredictable. Michigan State is supposed to be the cream of the crop, but they've had to deal with multiple injuries and very inconsistent play. They are still really good, but not as good as I thought they would be. Iowa has come out of nowhere and put themselves into the top ten, but they have lost three straight and one of those losses was to a very bad Penn State team. Maryland, my preseason pick to win the title, has been as inconsistent as Michigan State. They started out on fire this season, climbing all the way up to the number 2 ranking, but they recently lost to a Minnesota team that was winless in Big Ten play. Michigan, my team, has been without Caris Levert for most of the season but, they've beaten the teams they are supposed to beat. But, when they played quality competition, they've been absolutely run out of the gym. Michigan State, Indiana, Iowa and Xavier all beat them by double figures and made it look easy. Indiana, the current leader of the conference, has looked good, but when they have to play on the road, they are not the same team. They get every call at home, but the road, where it's called fairly, they look average. Wisconsin has come on strong lately, but I have zero faith in them and their former coach, Bo Ryan, is a world class scumbag. Even with Indiana sitting atop the conference, Michigan State and Maryland are the two best teams in the Big Ten.

The Big 12 may be the best conference in college basketball this year. Oklahoma, Kansas, West Virginia, Texas and Baylor have spent the majority of the season in the top 25. Oklahoma and Kansas look really good. They are the two teams that may be the only "sure thing" in college basketball this year. The issue is that KU has a tendency to choke, and who knows with Oklahoma, especially since Buddy Hield has been in a mini slump. West Virginia plays suffocating defense, but very poor offense. Baylor seems to be good only when playing at home and Texas is still learning Shaka Smart's system.  KU has proven twice, beating Oklahoma at home and on the road, that they are still the best team in the Big 12.

The mid majors I mentioned in my preseason preview, Witchita State and Gonzaga have been major disappointments. Witchita State had everyone back from a team that almost made the final four last year, but they have been pretty mediocre this year. And Gonzaga has fallen off a cliff. I believe I had them in my preseason final four, but they have been pretty terrible this year. The mid majors are not going to crash the final four at all this year.

Even though it's been a rough year to watch, the major conferences will be well represented in the tournament and make the final four. Like I said, this season is wide open, but I will take a crack at the final four anyway. I guess, and I cannot stress how much of this is literally a guess, UNC, Michigan State, Kansas and Oklahoma will be in the final four and Oklahoma will win it all. Once again, total guess. So, there is my almost end of the regular season wrap up for men's college basketball. The one thing that will be fun, while it will still be a rough watch, at least the tournament will be exciting and all 68 teams that make it will have a shot at the title. Hell, maybe we will finally see a 16 seed beat a 1 seed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. This college basketball season may provide another big upset, like the Princeton UCLA game that the head editor will not shut up about. It is your duty to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty takes a few guesses with his Men's College Basketball Preview

Finishing up with all my basketball previews, I'm going to preview the upcoming NCAA season. Now, before I get started. I want to point out how hard this will be for me. I was doing research last night, and during my research, I found out that I don't know many of the new "stars" in college basketball today.

That's a problem.

Men's college basketball is now being defined by this new "one and done" culture, and I hate it. There's no continuity anymore, and players come and go after one season. We don't get any sense of how good a team can truly be because of the rule that you have to be one year removed from high school before you can go pro. I wasn't a fan of the straight from high school to the pros, but the "one and done" culture may be worse. These athletes are basically rentals. A school recruits these kids knowing that they will only be there for one season, and coaches and upperclassmen don't seem to care. Every year it's a revolving door. A five star comes to a school like Duke or Kentucky or Kansas, leaves after the season and a new crop of five star recruits come in. Another thing that blows my mind, pundits and professional broadcasters can't seem to understand how a team like Wichita State or Gonzaga can compete with the blue bloods of college basketball. It's simple dummies, the Wichita State's and Gonzaga's of the world have something that these teams that play mostly freshman don't have, camaraderie. The kids playing at Wichita State or Gonzaga have been playing together for four, or at the very least, three years. They know each other and they know each others tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. The teams led by freshman don't have this and it hurts them when it matters most.

Take last years Final Four game between Wisconsin and Kentucky. Kentucky was undefeated, led by a bunch of All Americans and had just come off their closest game of the year in the Elite Eight against Notre Dame. Wisconsin steamrolled Arizona, another freshman laden team, and they were ready for Kentucky. Wisconsin was also led by a senior(Frank Kaminsky), a junior(Sam Dekker) and a slew of upperclassmen. Wisconsin beat Kentucky up and by the end of the game, the freshman at Kentucky were bruised, battered and physically and emotionally tired. Age won out. Now, that didn't work in the championship game against Duke, another team with mostly freshman, but Coach K is a better coach than Bo Ryan.

Men's college basketball is becoming tough to watch. It's a shit show of, look how high I can jump to dunk this ball, or look at how many threes I can shoot in 10 minutes, or look at the little amount of interest I show in playing defense. It's not very good. The talent is better, but the product has gotten worse. When Geno Auriemma, head coach of UConn's women's team, said that men's college basketball is unwatchable, I, at first, vehemently disagreed with him, but now, I'm coming over to his side. It's not that much fun to watch anymore.

With all this being said, I'm going to give a brief breakdown of the upcoming season and pick who I think, and it will be a flat out guess, is going to win the title. I'll also pick a player of the year as well. When researching, I stumbled upon a great article on cbssports.com, rating every team in division one basketball with a one or two sentence description of the team. I'm going to use this article, but only for the rankings.

They have UNC as their preseason number one. This team actually has one upperclassmen, Marcus Paige, on their roster. He's their point guard, and everything runs through him. If he plays well, UNC will be good, but the rest of his supporting cast are either freshman or sophomores and I know very little about them. Staying in the ACC, other good teams will be Duke, Virginia, Notre Dame and Miami. Duke lost three of their five best players to the draft, but they have a bunch of five stars coming in to take their place. They won't win the title again, but they'll be good, they always are. Virginia and Notre Dame are senior laden teams, but both lost their best players to the draft. They'll still make the tournament, but their runs won't be as deep. Miami should be better this year, they get better every year, and they should challenge UVA and Notre Dame for the third spot in the conference.

CBS's number two team is Kentucky. Yep, the same team that lost 7, I repeat 7, players to the NBA draft is preseason number two. They just did what Calipari does, and out recruited everyone and replace five five stars, with five more. Kentucky is the only SEC team that will do any sort of damage on a major scope this season. LSU does have the top incoming recruit, Ben Simmons, but he won't make them a contender in his one college season. And Vanderbilt may make some noise, but they are very, very far behind Kentucky.

Kansas was their number three team and they will be, once again, the class of the Big 12. They lost Cliff alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr to the pros, but they do get Perry Alexander back and they also have "star" freshman coming into Lawrence. The Jayhawks could, and will be challenged by Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma. Iowa State did lose their coach to the pros, but they have most of their starting five back, and that includes Georges Niang. He's one of the anomalies, and decided to stay in school to improve his game. Baylor is always lurking, and they have been for almost a decade now. It's time to take Baylor serious and stop calling them a surprise contender. And Oklahoma may have the best player in all of college basketball in Buddy Hield. He leads that team and he can do great things with the basketball.

The first Big 10 team to crack CBS's poll is Maryland, coming in at number four. Maryland surprised a lot of people last year by how well they played, and they may be the best team in all of college basketball. They did lose Dez Wells to graduation, but they have Jake Layman and Melo Trimble back. Trimble may be Hield's only competition for player of the year. The other Big 10 teams that will fight with Maryland are the usual suspects. Teams like Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan will all be tournament teams. Michigan State has a fine recruiting class coming in and Denzel Valentine is back. Indiana has one of the best offenses in the country and they have some serious recruits coming in. Ohio State will be down from where they have been, but they will still be decent. Purdue has a huge frontcourt, and they will be hard to score on in the post. And Michigan, if they can stay healthy, will be lethal from the outside.

The first Big East team to make their poll is Villanova. They're coming off a 30 plus win season and look to be in good shape once again. Georgetown and Providence will be fine, but the Big East is Villanova's to lose.

The Pac 12 should be competitive. Teams like Utah, Arizona, Oregon and California will be good. Utah did lose Delon Wright to the NBA, but Jakob Poeltl is back and he's a beast inside. Arizona replaces McDonalds All Americans with more McDonalds All Americans. Oregon is a fine team, but they're not really a threat nationally. And Cal. How in the hell is Cal in this discussion? I'll tell you how, they snagged three of the best recruits in the nation somehow, and they will be really competitive for one season. I'm sure an investigation will come out in a year or two involving Cal and recruiting violations, because they haven't been relevant since Jason Kidd played point guard for them in the 90's.

The AAC has three good teams in UConn, Cincinnati and SMU. SMU loses respect because of the sanctions just handed down, so they're not relevant. Cincinnati will win a lot of games they shouldn't, make the tournament with a decent seeding, then crap out in the first or second round. UConn is the class of the conference, and they will win it going away. They have a good recruiting class, and the best coach in their league.

Outside of the power conferences, there's only two teams that really warrant a mention. These teams are the afformentioned Wichita State and Gonzaga. Wichita State returns everybody from a team that should've made the Final Four last year, and the same goes for Gonzaga. If they're ever going to finally make the jump to elite status, this is Gonzaga's best, and probably last chance.

These are the teams I wanted to break down today. There's over 300 division one men's college basketball teams, but the ones I wrote about today, in my opinion, are the only real threats to do damage. Tell me why I'm wrong and who I left out in the comment section. For a more in depth look, if that's what you want, I suggest checking out the CBS website I mentioned earlier.

As far as predictions go, my Final Four teams, right now, are Maryland, Wichita State, Gonzaga and UNC. I think the title game will feature Gonzaga and Maryland, and I'm picking Maryland to win the whole thing. Melo Trimble will also take home player of the year. This will be a big, big season for Maryland basketball. I'll revisit this later in the season, but that's how I see things right at this very moment, 2:49pm central time on October 19th. Thanks and leave a comment telling me why I'm right or wrong.

College basketball and the NBA are almost here folks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His first big sports heartbreak happened after an ill fated time out call in the NCAA Men's Basketball championship game. I think UNC played in that game. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik