First off Merry Christmas to you and yours this holiday season. I know I must be getting old, when on Saturay night I was surrounded by family. I was holding my newest cousin (Sydney is 2 months old) and had a total 'step back and observe like this is straight out of a movie' moment. Amidst 4 little ones, my cousins, my aunt and uncle, mom, step dad, brother and girlfriend, I realized that was a good as it gets. It didn't matter what was going on in our lives that day or week or year, what mattered was we were together. Here's hoping you can have that feeling at some point before the new year.
Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. On to the Christmas review...
Republic County boys (4-0): TheBuffs are certainly living up to their preseason billing as one of the top teams in the NCAA, if not all of 3A. Trevor Kuhlman has been the emotional leader on the floor, as well as the scoring leader. Gary Roberts is still up to his old tricks of being in the right place at the time, as evidenced by the steal and layup against Beloit to spark a 12-1 run to close out the game. Colton Grove has bumped up his scoring a bit this year (9.2) and has run the show from the point flawlessly. Trey Duensing has also provided some punch with his athleticism at the "3" spot, and Ronny Dyke continues his development at the post position.
There are only two things that worry me about the Buffs and it might not show up until they play the right teams: height and depth. There's not a lot you can do about height, but when the tallest person you can put on the floor is 6'2" you will fight an uphill battle most of the time. The Buffs have used their quickness at every position so far to negate any height advantage for the other team, and will have to contiue to do so. The depth is one that can certainly improve over the course of the year. Guys like Kurt Engle, Austin Kasl and even Nick Junker must contribute solid minutes every night for the Buffs.
Republic County girls (3-1): If nothing else, the girls should be entertaining to watch this year. After being outgunned by Concordia, the girls bounced back to defeat Beloit in the league opener. When your leading scorer, Celia Porter, can get shut out and you still win, that means other players stepped up big. And if the Lady Buffs find some consitency, they could be dangerous.
There are many girls seeing their first varsity action of their careers, and Porter along with Alta Svoboda will have to be steadying hands when the gong gets tough. Like I said, should be fun.
Check back Friday for Piek Valley's recaps. And of course, leave me a comment if you'd like. (It's free, but won't show up till I let it, so be patient!)
Rescheduling of games
Try to follow me here. It's gonna get crazy...
Republic County at Russell Basketball games for 12/14 postponed. No make up date set
Republic County vs Valley Heights BB will be postponed again. No make up date set.
RC wrestling at Minneapolis will be Tuesday Dec 18 at the middle school.
RC Wrestling at Beloit will be January 22, 2008.
RC JH BB with Minneapolis has been postponed indefinately.
Currently awaiting word on the RC at Russell games for tonight. Russell is forecasted for anywhere between 3 to 9 inches of snow with winds up to 25 mph. Talked to RHS AD Mark Paul and RCHS Doug Lull, and we expect a final desicion before 2 pm.
When I know other reschedulngs, they will be posted here! Updated: 2:20 pmFriday 12/14
Republic County at Russell Basketball games for 12/14 postponed. No make up date set
Republic County vs Valley Heights BB will be postponed again. No make up date set.
RC wrestling at Minneapolis will be Tuesday Dec 18 at the middle school.
RC Wrestling at Beloit will be January 22, 2008.
RC JH BB with Minneapolis has been postponed indefinately.
Currently awaiting word on the RC at Russell games for tonight. Russell is forecasted for anywhere between 3 to 9 inches of snow with winds up to 25 mph. Talked to RHS AD Mark Paul and RCHS Doug Lull, and we expect a final desicion before 2 pm.
When I know other reschedulngs, they will be posted here! Updated: 2:20 pmFriday 12/14
Let's go to the video...
Clifton/Clyde's Dustin Cyr catches some air in the Eagles Sub State loss at Hanover.
RC 7th grader Kyle Strutt knocks down a 3 on the inbounds play. Just how you draw it up!
NCAA playoff
Here is a quic recap of a neat debate going on with some of my family about a playoff system for college football. Feel free to leave your thoughts...
1) 11 regular season games for everyone. Minimum of 6 home games. No conference championship games, so no conference can get hosed out of a chance. Regular season done the week of Thanksgiving. 2) 8 team playoff. We cna use the BCS ( or some form of it) to determine the 8 teams, with no conference tie ins or Notre Dame BS. High seed hosts in the first round.
Using this years final BCS, here's the bracket...
1. Ohio State vs 8. Kansas
4. Oklahoma vs 5. Georgia
3. Virginia Tech vs 6. Missouri
2. LSU vs 7. Southern California
Winners would move on to the semi finals, to be played on a rotation at the 4 major bowls. For instance, OSU would play OU at the Fiesta Bowl, and Va Tech would play USC in the Rose Bowl. OU vs USC in the Sugar bowl for the playoff championship. But what about the Orange Bowl, you ask? based on the rotation, the Orange would get first pick of ANY team that didn't make a playoff. How intriguing would 9. West Virginia vs 10. Hawaii be? After that, you still have 28 other bowls that get there games. Bowls for everyone, playoffs for the top teams. Everyone wins! Oh, but the schedule would be important.
Using this years calender... Dec 1. 2-3 bowls. Armed forces, papajohns.com, ETC
Dec 8 1st round playoffs
Dec 15 More bowls
Dec 22 2nd round playoffs
Dec 23-31 ALL remaining bowls, probably building up with the top "Bowl Championship"
Jan 1 Playoff Championship
Won't happen I know, but kinda fun. You can still have all 32 bowls, AND a playoff system. Feel free to add comments of suggestions. Would probably have to add in that no conference can have 3 teams. Tha would bump Kansas to the Orange Bowl, and WVU would play OSU in the first round.... Eric
You’ve got to have all the conferences in this thing or it won’t fly. I’d support your program with an additional four teams in the playoff that would get home site games and give the top four teams a bye in the first round so that they have an inherit advantage. This would make six conference champs and six at-large teams. The conference champs have to be in the top-20 of the BCS standings to get a bid and any team not in a BCS conference has to be in the top-12 to be CONSIDERED or the top-8 to be an automatic qualifier. I argue that there be no limit placed on teams from one league – I don’t think the SEC would either.
Your top-tier bowls are going to want nothing to do with there games being on December 22nd either. I’d suggest something like this:
A 12-game regular season that lasts 13 weeks, giving everyone a BYE. This year that season would have begun on August 25th and ended on November 17th.
No conference championship games. Leagues with divisions would need to decide how they would determine a league champion (ie, the Big 12 goes to nine league games).
12 teams advance to the playoffs with six conference champs and six at-large teams. See above.
First round games would be played at home sites on December 1st. Heisman ballots due on Sunday December 2nd.
The following week is taken off for the Heisman presentation on December 8th.
Currently there are 31 bowls games. We are going to use seven bowls for this system, leaving 48 teams (24 bowls) to play in a non-playoff game – all of which will take place between December 18th and the 28th. Only one game would be played on the 25th and 26th of December, but all games would be played by the 28th. See below for details. How fun would that be?
The seven bowls involved in the playoff would be as follows: Gator, Cotton, Holiday, Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. The Gator, Cotton and Holiday would ALWAYS hold quarterfinal games with one current BCS Bowl also holding a quarterfinal. These will be held on December 25th and December 26th every year.
National semifinal games would be funneled to the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl this year and would be played on New Year’s Day every year. Ideally you’d pair the games to limit travel – Fiesta Bowl and Holiday Bowl winners would move on to the Rose Bowl and Gator and Cotton Bowl winners would move to the Orange.
The National Championship Game would always be on January 8th, unless it fell on a Sunday so that it would not compete with the NFL.
Ideally, you’d also funnel the bracket and bowls geographically as well to help with fans and travel. This year would go something like this. Also, in the first round games, I’d suggest that visiting teams be allotted tickets up to 15% of the stadium capacity.
December 1st Games
No. 12 Arizona State @ No. 5 Georgia
No. 11 Illinois @ No. 6 Missouri (Interesting rematch)
No. 10 Hawaii @ No. 7 USC
No. 9 West Virginia @ No. 8 Kansas
National Quarterfinals (Dec. 25 and 26)
Kansas, West Virginia winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State (Fiesta Bowl)
Georgia, Arizona State winner vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (Holiday Bowl)
Missouri, Illinois winner vs. No. 3 Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl)
USC, Hawaii winner vs. No. 2 LSU (Cotton Bowl)
National Semifinals (January 1st)
Fiesta Bowl, Holiday Bowl winners (Rose Bowl), 7 CST kickoff
Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl winners (Orange Bowl), 2:30 CST kickoff
...My cousin Tony
I tried to space out the bowls to maximize TV possiblities. The NCAA makes WAY too much from the TV bowl contract with ESPN etc and no way would the NCAA want to see 20+ bowls played in 3 days. I also kept the playoffs at 8 to allow for the fewest playoffs to the shortest seson without just having a FInal 4.
My format has the 2 champioship teams playing 14 games, almost the norm right now. Yours could see a team without the bye have an additional game, and 15 is s crapload of games to be playing in college. Oh, and if we want to account for the HYPESMAN trophy, do it Jan 8, AFTER the entire season. You know Tommie would've won it in 95, not even a question. Imagine a playoff year, and Tebow gets maybe 3 more games. He could have a 30-30 year for td's.
If you go the geographic way, you might as well eliminate conferences. 8 regional champs and 4 at large, by your format. Mine would be 6 and 2. But that's an awful lot of regional games. 119 teams divided by 8 = 14.8 (15). 119/6= 19.8 (20). 20 teams in a region is just too much. 119/16 regions= 7.4 teams per region, and now we're a DII system. Just saying... Eric
1) 11 regular season games for everyone. Minimum of 6 home games. No conference championship games, so no conference can get hosed out of a chance. Regular season done the week of Thanksgiving. 2) 8 team playoff. We cna use the BCS ( or some form of it) to determine the 8 teams, with no conference tie ins or Notre Dame BS. High seed hosts in the first round.
Using this years final BCS, here's the bracket...
1. Ohio State vs 8. Kansas
4. Oklahoma vs 5. Georgia
3. Virginia Tech vs 6. Missouri
2. LSU vs 7. Southern California
Winners would move on to the semi finals, to be played on a rotation at the 4 major bowls. For instance, OSU would play OU at the Fiesta Bowl, and Va Tech would play USC in the Rose Bowl. OU vs USC in the Sugar bowl for the playoff championship. But what about the Orange Bowl, you ask? based on the rotation, the Orange would get first pick of ANY team that didn't make a playoff. How intriguing would 9. West Virginia vs 10. Hawaii be? After that, you still have 28 other bowls that get there games. Bowls for everyone, playoffs for the top teams. Everyone wins! Oh, but the schedule would be important.
Using this years calender... Dec 1. 2-3 bowls. Armed forces, papajohns.com, ETC
Dec 8 1st round playoffs
Dec 15 More bowls
Dec 22 2nd round playoffs
Dec 23-31 ALL remaining bowls, probably building up with the top "Bowl Championship"
Jan 1 Playoff Championship
Won't happen I know, but kinda fun. You can still have all 32 bowls, AND a playoff system. Feel free to add comments of suggestions. Would probably have to add in that no conference can have 3 teams. Tha would bump Kansas to the Orange Bowl, and WVU would play OSU in the first round.... Eric
You’ve got to have all the conferences in this thing or it won’t fly. I’d support your program with an additional four teams in the playoff that would get home site games and give the top four teams a bye in the first round so that they have an inherit advantage. This would make six conference champs and six at-large teams. The conference champs have to be in the top-20 of the BCS standings to get a bid and any team not in a BCS conference has to be in the top-12 to be CONSIDERED or the top-8 to be an automatic qualifier. I argue that there be no limit placed on teams from one league – I don’t think the SEC would either.
Your top-tier bowls are going to want nothing to do with there games being on December 22nd either. I’d suggest something like this:
A 12-game regular season that lasts 13 weeks, giving everyone a BYE. This year that season would have begun on August 25th and ended on November 17th.
No conference championship games. Leagues with divisions would need to decide how they would determine a league champion (ie, the Big 12 goes to nine league games).
12 teams advance to the playoffs with six conference champs and six at-large teams. See above.
First round games would be played at home sites on December 1st. Heisman ballots due on Sunday December 2nd.
The following week is taken off for the Heisman presentation on December 8th.
Currently there are 31 bowls games. We are going to use seven bowls for this system, leaving 48 teams (24 bowls) to play in a non-playoff game – all of which will take place between December 18th and the 28th. Only one game would be played on the 25th and 26th of December, but all games would be played by the 28th. See below for details. How fun would that be?
The seven bowls involved in the playoff would be as follows: Gator, Cotton, Holiday, Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. The Gator, Cotton and Holiday would ALWAYS hold quarterfinal games with one current BCS Bowl also holding a quarterfinal. These will be held on December 25th and December 26th every year.
National semifinal games would be funneled to the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl this year and would be played on New Year’s Day every year. Ideally you’d pair the games to limit travel – Fiesta Bowl and Holiday Bowl winners would move on to the Rose Bowl and Gator and Cotton Bowl winners would move to the Orange.
The National Championship Game would always be on January 8th, unless it fell on a Sunday so that it would not compete with the NFL.
Ideally, you’d also funnel the bracket and bowls geographically as well to help with fans and travel. This year would go something like this. Also, in the first round games, I’d suggest that visiting teams be allotted tickets up to 15% of the stadium capacity.
December 1st Games
No. 12 Arizona State @ No. 5 Georgia
No. 11 Illinois @ No. 6 Missouri (Interesting rematch)
No. 10 Hawaii @ No. 7 USC
No. 9 West Virginia @ No. 8 Kansas
National Quarterfinals (Dec. 25 and 26)
Kansas, West Virginia winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State (Fiesta Bowl)
Georgia, Arizona State winner vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (Holiday Bowl)
Missouri, Illinois winner vs. No. 3 Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl)
USC, Hawaii winner vs. No. 2 LSU (Cotton Bowl)
National Semifinals (January 1st)
Fiesta Bowl, Holiday Bowl winners (Rose Bowl), 7 CST kickoff
Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl winners (Orange Bowl), 2:30 CST kickoff
...My cousin Tony
I tried to space out the bowls to maximize TV possiblities. The NCAA makes WAY too much from the TV bowl contract with ESPN etc and no way would the NCAA want to see 20+ bowls played in 3 days. I also kept the playoffs at 8 to allow for the fewest playoffs to the shortest seson without just having a FInal 4.
My format has the 2 champioship teams playing 14 games, almost the norm right now. Yours could see a team without the bye have an additional game, and 15 is s crapload of games to be playing in college. Oh, and if we want to account for the HYPESMAN trophy, do it Jan 8, AFTER the entire season. You know Tommie would've won it in 95, not even a question. Imagine a playoff year, and Tebow gets maybe 3 more games. He could have a 30-30 year for td's.
If you go the geographic way, you might as well eliminate conferences. 8 regional champs and 4 at large, by your format. Mine would be 6 and 2. But that's an awful lot of regional games. 119 teams divided by 8 = 14.8 (15). 119/6= 19.8 (20). 20 teams in a region is just too much. 119/16 regions= 7.4 teams per region, and now we're a DII system. Just saying... Eric
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)