Category Archives: NCAA

College Baseball Games of the Week 2/15-2/17

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Stony Brook vs. FIU

Stony Brook: Most times this would seem like an odd series to be listed in a top matchup list, but after last season’s miraculous Stony Brook run to the College World Series, the Seawolves are back to prove last year’s success wasn’t a fluke. This year won’t be as easy, however, as Stony Brook had seven players drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft, including five in the first 12 rounds. Outfielder Steve Goldstein returns as the leading hitter after hitting for a .337 average and a returning high of four home runs. He’ll be joined by infielder Kevin Courtney, who also hit four home runs and drove in 38 RBIs. Catcher Kevin Krause hit .330 IN 61 games, while knocking in 40 RBIs. Continue reading →

Preseason Week 1 in Conference USA’s West Division

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Houston – Two freshman linebackers have been looking good in practice.  Everett Daniels and Derrick Matthews have both provided great leverage and are physical players…With a pair of junior college cornerbacks in D.J. Hayden and Chevy Bennett, plus Texas A&M transfer Colton Valencia, there are plenty of new faces to provide competition for spots in the secondary…The offense has gotten off to a slow start but UH coaches say that was to be expected

Rice – Starting free safety Travis Bradshaw has suffered an undisclosed career-ending injury.  Bradshaw was second on the team with 76 tackles and had two interceptions last season.  Junior Xavier Webb will take Bradshaw’s spot…The Owls are looking to use their 10 returning defensive starters to improve from last year’s defense that only caused 14 turnovers (112th of 120 FBS teams), allowed 51 percent of their opponents third-down plays to be concerted (117th) and produced just 14 sacks…The defense plans to blitz more

SMU – Two defensive starting jobs are still wide open, according to defensive coordinator Tom Mason. At outside linebacker, the Mustangs are still looking at junior Victor Jones, senior Randy McKinnon, redshirt freshman Uchenna Nwabuike and junior transfer Cody Worthen…The left cornerback spot, replacing the graduated Sterling Moore, will likely go to sophomore Chris Parks, sophomore Kenneth Acker or junior Keith Robinson…Inside linebacker Cameron Rogers, expected to replace departed starter Pete Fleps, has missed practice this week with a strained knee. He is expected to return Saturday or Monday.

Tulane – Coach Bob Toldeo has been impressed with backup corner Alex Lauricella.  Lauricella had a deflection and interception on consecutive plays Friday…Defensive back Renaldo Thomas was taken to the hospital Wednesday after losing consciousness. It apparently is a recurring problem and forces him to lose eight or nine pounds a day…It looks like freshmen are going to get a chance to contribute at the linebacker position

Tulsa – Tulsa is looking like it will go with a committee of wide receivers this year.  Who rises up to the challenge is yet to be seen…6-foot-3, 270-pound true freshman tackle Derrick Luetjen has been impressive, as he has picked up the system well and looks to be a vital backup…Freshman Derek Patterson is listed at free safety in the media guide, but the coaches have moved him to quarterback for the time being…Junior Lowell Rose, a transfer from UCLA, is getting the first shot at the second cornerback spot but is getting pressed by Justin Skillens. Milton Howell and J.D. Ratliff also are fighting for playing time. One freshman is also intriguing Guy – Dwight Dobbins.

UTEP – In UTEP’s scrimmage Wednesday, 10 different receivers caught passes with no one finishing with more than two receptions. There may be no clear leader emerging as a preferred target…The defense, which will be heavy on pass rushers this year, caused six sacks in that scrimmage…Coach Mike Price is going to be the play-caller this year…Nick Lamaison, who enrolled early coming out of junior college in the spring, looks to lead the race to start at quarterback

Preseason Week 1 in Conference USA’s East Division

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East Carolina – Offensive lineman Drew Gentry is sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury.  Kenneth Freeman has been added to the squad to replace Gentry…Defensive back Desi Brown (shoulder) and offensive lineman Doug Polochak (shoulder), who was expected to start at left guard, have sat out three consecutive days of practice…Saturday’s scrimmage will help clear up lock jams at running back, wide receiver, linebacker and on both lines, where starting nods are on the line…

Marshall – The Herd is still looking for leading receiver Aaron Dobson to return from a hamstring injury that’s plagued him for most of spring practice and has held him out of fall practice so far. Dobson was the team’s leading receiver with 44 catches for 689 yards last year…Four quarterbacks, Eddie Sullivan A.J. Graham, Rakeem Cato and Blake Frohnapel, are fighting for the starting nod. It looks like Cato is the leader tho…

Memphis – The Tigers might be looking to freshmen to help them often this year.  Three rookie running backs, Joe Price, Carl Harris and Artaves Gibson, are all vying for time behind starter Jerrell Rhodes…Wake Forest transfer Skylar Jones, JC transfer Andy Summerlin, Will Gilchrist and true freshman Taylor Reed are fighting to be the starting quarterback.  Summerlin has the edge but none of the four is very experienced…OL Ronald Leary and WR Marcus Rucker were the only two returning players to have started every Tiger game in 2010…

Southern Miss – Tray Becton-martin, who was signed as a wide receiver in February, has made a nice transition to cornerback early in camp and the coaching staff is looking for him to be able to contribute right away…Coach Larry Fedora said he’s been impressed with some of the freshman wide receivers, offensive and defensive lineman…The team held their first scrimmage of the preseason and Kendrick Hardy led all rushers with 62 yards on seven carries including a long touchdown run of nearly 60 yards. Desmond Johnson added 52 yards on 10 carries…Austin Davis was 17-of-28 for 180 yards with two touchdowns

UAB – Freshmen Darrin Reaves and Bashr Coles are both pushing for a spot in the running back rotation…Shaquille Roberson is still waiting to be cleared academically by the NCAA…Tight end Kennard Backman, a true freshman, has looked really good and the Blazers feel may have a chance to playing a big role this year…

UCF – The Knights held their first scrimmage and had some players put up impressive stats.  On a day where the defense was out to shine, backup quarterback Blake Bortles put together a nice stat line, completing 14-of-21 passes for 173 yards, including one touchdown and interception each…Starting quarterback Jeff Godfrey was seven-of-12 for 88 yards…Six receivers caught three balls each…Latavius Murray led the running game with 69 yards on 13 carries…On defense, Deion Green has 1.5 sacks, while Barry Snider, Toby Jackson and Darius Nall had one each

Big East Fearless Predictions

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For a league that many consider to be subpar when compared to its BCS counterparts, the Big East sure showed that their teams can be ones to fear.  Six of the league’s eight teams not only finished above .500, but four of those six won their bowl games.  Continue reading →

>Cam Newton Reactions

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>We all know the story about Cam Newton and for most people, it just seems to get more and more interesting as we go along.  The NCAA delivered its opinion on the matter the other day and it could not have opened a bigger door for future violations.

The NCAA cleared Newton to compete without conditions, saying it was Cecil Newton and “an owner of a scouting service” — former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers — who violated amateurism rules.

The NCAA became involved over the summer in investigating the pay-for-play scheme that was discussed during Newton’s recruitment. Two Mississippi State boosters accused Cecil Newton and Rogers of trying to get up to $180,000 for Cam Newton to play for the Bulldogs while the quarterback was being recruited out of junior college last year.

“Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement,” Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, said in a news release.

You have got to be kidding me.  The kid didn’t actually know what his dad was doing?   Why would Cecil ask for money from Mississippi State but no other school?  Especially since Cam originally said that he wanted to go to MSU anyway?   That just doesn’t seem right does it??  The only problem is that this will open a big can of worms that will allow future players do this and get away with it without any repercussions.

If you remember, in the summer a basketball player from Chicago, Anthony Davis, was accused of taking money from the University of Kentucky to give Coach Calipari an oral commitment.  Now, his dad, Anthony Davis Sr.,or other parents accused of doing the same thing have nothing to worry about because it can be claimed that the parent knew about the taking of the money and the player had no knowledge of it.  But how believable is all of this??

Pay for play has been going on for years and now it seems as if it will continue to be going on.  Unless this ruling is just one that is temporary until the NCAA is able to look further into the matter, it can be guaranteed that this practice will continue.  Especially since coaches can recruit kids as young as seventh grade, what’s to say they won’t start then?  If they do, one can only imagine the amount it can grow to until he gives whatever coach a commitment or letter of intent.

But have fun with this NCAA.  Have fun realizing what this has done to the game and that it makes it even more corrupt.  But don’t forget, a kid NEVER knows what his parent is doing and is always the innocent one…

>NCAA Softball Tournament Part 2

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>The next Regional may be the most balanced.  The Missouri Regional has three teams in the top 20 RPI rankings.

Regional # 9: Hosted by the University of Missouri

Missouri – Coming off of a dream season that saw them make the College World Series, the Tigers will be hosting a Regional for the second year in a row and will be joined by Illinois, DePaul and Creighton.  Illinois and DePaul were in Missouri’s Regional last year as well.  Missouri is coming off of a loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game, but has won 10 of its last 13 games and 19 of its last 22.

The Tigers have faced 15 NCAA Tournament teams, including Alabama, Arizona and Michigan, amongst others, in non conference play, going 13-11 against those foes.  While the record may not be sparkling, the team did take two-of-three from Alabama, split with Arizona and defeated Michigan.  Most of their struggles came as they were trying to recover from the loss of star pitcher Chelsea Thomas for the season, but they have obviously regrouped nicely and ended the regular season on a high note.

After losing some of their big boppers from last year, one would have thought that the offense would not be as prolific as last year.  But thanks to a junior transfer and a couple freshmen that has turned out not to be true.  Rhea Taylor, as she has been her first two years, continues to be the table setter for the Tiger offense, leading the entire Big 12 with a .455 average and 41 steals.  Taylor has 134 career steals in three years, a Mizzou record.  Freshman Jenna Marston is only two players below with a .389 average and 55 RBI.  Ashley Flemming and Marla Schweisberger are tied for the lead in home runs with nine, while frosh Nicole Hudson has eight, Taylor seven and Marston five.

The Tiger pitching staff took a big hit in mid-March when ace Chelsea Thomas went down with an arm injury.  After the injury sophomore Kristin Nottelman and senior Jana Hainey were thrown into the fire more than they had originally planned.  Nottelman brings a 19-7 record to the tournament and Hainey checks in at 10-2.  Nottelman has struck out 135 hitters on the year.

Illinois – Illinois is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and second straight (both in Columbia). The Illini are 5-6 all-time in the tournament, going 4-2 and reaching the Regional Final in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. That year the 48-team field consisted of eight six-team regionals and was prior to the era of the Super Regionals. Illinois has the fewest losses (6) of any team in the tournament, tied with Washington and Michigan.  The Illini have won 16 of their last 17 games. The only loss in that stretch has come to DePaul. The Illini won 12 straight prior to that meeting and ended the season winning four in a row.

The Illini have faced nine NCAA Tournament teams, compiling a 4-6 record against those teams.  The team was scheduled to face Regional opponent Missouri in the Missouri Invitational, but the game was cancelled due to weather.  Of the Regional opponents they have only faced DePaul, whom they lost to on May 6th.

Illinois is led by three hitters who are all hitting above .400.  Danielle Zymkowitz leads the team in average at .421 and has swiped 35 bases.  Meredith Hackett provides the power for the Illini, knocking 15 round trippers and leading the team in RBI with 55. Hollie Pinchback and Ashley Conrad add nine homers each and the aforementioned three are three of five players who have over 30 RBI.

Monica Perry and Pepper Gay make up a formidable 1-2 punch on the mound.  Perry has gone 23-5, while Gay has a 16-1 record.  Perry has struck out 163 and boasts a 2.30 ERA, while Gay has struck out 105 and has a 1.53 ERA.

DePaul – DePaul is headed back to the “Show-Me State” for the NCAA Championship tournament.
Last year, the Blue Demons advanced to the NCAA regional finals before losing to Missouri 1-0 on the Tigers’ home field.  This is the fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance for DePaul and 13th in the last 14 years. They have a 1-0 record against Illinois in NCAA tournament play and are 3-1 against Missouri. They have never played Creighton in the NCAA tournament.

This year the Demons have played a total of 13 tournament teams and gone 10-12 against them.  One of those 10 wins, however, includes a victory over the defending champs Washington Huskies.  They also have a win over 16th seeded Hawaii.

Sam Plese leads a Demon offense that has six players hitting over .300, with a .356 average.  The offense is pretty balanced however, as three hitters have over 30 RBI.  All three lead DePaul in homers as Tara Voss leads the team with nine and Becca Heteniak and Brittney Yniguez have seven each.

As with other teams, the Demons have a solid two pitchers leading their staff.  Heteniak is also a stud on the mound and if she gets hot, it will be tough for teams to beat DePaul.  She leads the team in wins (20), ERA (1.77) and strikeouts (204).  Her partner in crime, Bree Brown, has had a nice coming out party in her freshman year, going for an 16-5 record and 2.43 ERA.  She adds an impressive 186 strikeouts.

Creighton – Creighton makes its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance when it travels to Columbia, Mo., for regional play this weekend.  The Bluejays are making their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last eight years and the seventh under head coach Brent Vigness.  


Creighton is 23-5 over its last 28 games after starting the season 14-16.  They are 2-8 against NCAA Tournament opponents this year.

Creighton leads the MVC with a school-record 66 home runs this season.  Renae Sinkler has an impressive 24 home runs, which is fourth in the nation and is enjoying the greatest offensive season in Creighton history, as she also owns school-records with 58 runs, 58 RBI and 144 total bases this season.  
The Bluejays are led by a pitcher, Tara Oltman, who has been one of the best pitchers in the nation all four of her years as a starter.  She enters the postseason with school and MVC career records in wins (118), strikeouts (1,076), appearances (185), starts (141), complete games (126) and innings (1,049.2).  She was named the MVC Tournament MVP, going 4-0 with a 0.72 ERA, pitching every inning of the event. Oltman has a 22-12 record, 1.62 ERA and 281 strikeouts on the year.

>NCAA Softball Tournament Part 1

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>In the next couple posts, I’m going to preview the NCAA Softball Tournament, which starts Thursday.  The softball tournament, like the basketball one, is made up of 64 teams.  It has 16 national seeds. The first round is called ‘Regionals,’ where four teams come together for a weekend to play a double-elimination set of games.  The winner then moves on to the Super Regionals round, which is the equivalent to the Sweet 16.  The Super Regionals are a best 2-of-3 series between two teams.  The winner of this moves on to the College World Series which also is double-elimination.  If you lose, you must come out of the winner’s bracket.

I’m going to look at the top three seeded Regionals and some intriguing others.

Regional # 1: Hosted by the University of Alabama

  UAB. Lipscomb and Alcorn State join the host Crimson Tide, who were surprisingly awarded the top overall seed in the tournament.  All three visitors are making their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The only reason I say surprising top seed is because given the fact that Washington won the title last year and stayed at No.1 all year, one would have thought that the Huskies would have been the top seed.  That’s not to say the Tide didn’t deserve it because they did and I’m about to show you why.

Alabama: Alabama is trying to make their third consecutive trip to the College World Series after finishing the year with a 48-9 record, while winning both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the same season for the first time in school history.
 
The Crimson Tide faced 17 opponents that made the NCAA tournament this year, including UAB, whom they defeated twice this year.  The team complied a 25-8 record against those teams, including wins over Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU and Georgia Tech, all teams that received national seeds. All-time they are 8-0 against UAB and 2-1 against Lipscomb.  This will be the team’s first meeting with Alcorn State.

The team boasts a prolific offense led by Charlotte Morgan.  The senior from California leads the team with 16 home runs, 11 doubles and 67 RBI.  The offense features five players who have over 30 RBI, with two more at 28.  After losing speedster, Brittany Rogers to graduation, the team doesn’t seem to have lost anything on the base paths as they replaced Rogers with a freshman speed demon by the name of Kayla Braud.  She has 40 steals in 44 attempts, while Jennifer Fenton has swiped 26-of-27 bases.  Two more players have combined to steal 32-of-38 bases as well.

Not only has the offense been amazing, but so has the Crimson Tide pitching.  The staff is led by Kelsi Dunne, who boasts a 27-4 record and a 2.00 ERA.  She has struck out 308 of 662 batters faced and hitters are hitting a mere .180 against her.  Along with Dunne, Lauren Sewell, Amanda Locke and Morgan comprise a staff that has struck out 477 batters with a combined 2.49 ERA.

UAB – The Blazers (36-20) are making their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.  Unlike Alabama, the Blazers did not face as many teams that qualified for the tournament.  Of the five teams they faced that qualified for the tournament, they went 7-6, including splitting a doubleheader with their first opponent, Lipscomb.

 While the UAB offense may not be as dynamic as some of their opponents, they do have a steady lineup, led by Martina Landrum, Kayla Orr and Mandy Lowman.  Landrum leads the team with an impressive .376 batting average, while Orr and Lowman lead the team with 40 RBI each.  Landrum adds speed at the top of the lineup, as she has stolen 35 bases in 41 attempts.

The pitching staff may be what is most impressive about the Blazers.  The team is led by a two-headed monster of Lauren Webster and Alisha Smith, both of whom have ERA’s below 2.00.  Webster leads the staff with a 17-5 record, 1.77 ERA and 7:1 K:BB ratio. 

Lipscomb – The Lady Bisons (48-11) split a doubleheader with UAB at Draper Diamond April 20. They won game one 1-0 on a no-hitter by Whitney Kiihnl, the Player of the Year and the Pitcher of the Year in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Lady Bisons lost the second game 7-5.

The team has faced four teams including the team they play first UAB.  Two of those teams, California and Hawaii, are two of the top teams in the nation.  They managed to pull off an upset of California in the first game of the Hawaii Spring Fling and held its own in other games against the two stronger teams.

The Lady Bisons also have a balanced lineup, as seven of their eight regulars have a batting average of over .300.  Kellie Sirus and Abby Keese lead the team with 17 and 14 runs, respectively.  Sirus leads the team with 55 RBI, while Keese is third with 38.

Whitney Kiihnl has to have one of the most impressive resumes in the country.  The sophomore pitcher boasts a 31-3 record and a sparkling 0.73 ERA.  She has pitched 12 shutouts and struck out 319 of the 696 batters she has faced.  Hitters are batting a mere .107 against her.

Regional # 2: Hosted by the University of Michigan

The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan softball team will be the No. 2 overall seed for the 2010 NCAA Tournament and host a regional for the ninth straight season.  Michigan is joined by regional No. 2 seed Notre Dame, No. 3 seed Illinois State and No. 4 seed Wright State in the double-elimination event.

Michigan – If you were to say that Michigan (46-6) has played one of the toughest schedules, including one of the, if not the toughest non-conference schedules, you would not get many people to disagree with you.  The team faced 17 non-conference teams that made the NCAA Tournament before Big Ten play started, where they faced two more tough NCAA teams, Illinois and Ohio State.  In one stretch, the Wolverines played 24 out of 31 games against tournament teams. Michigan won its third straight Big Ten title by going 18-1. 

Michigan has always been known as a team that has a dynamic offense and this year was no different.  The Wolverines outscored their opponents by 278 runs (378-100) on their way to bashing 74 home runs and 76 doubles.  The team features five hitters who hit over .350 and three who hit over 13 homers.  Dorian Shaw leads the team with 18 homers and 55 RBI, while teammate Maggie Viefhaus added 17 round-trippers and 53 RBI of her own.

And while their offense has been prolific as usual, you would be hard=pressed to find a better 1-2 punch than Jordan Taylor and Nikki Nemitz.  Taylor leads the squad with a 24-3 record, while posting a 1.43 ERA. Nemitz counters with a 20-3 record and a 1.67 ERA.  Taylor hasn’t lost since a 5-3 setback to Ohio State on April 28, while it has been nearly three months (Feb.27) since Nemitz dropped a decision. Taylor leads the team with 278 strikeouts, while walking only 39, while Nemitz has retired 167 via the strikeout and walked 30.

The Wolverines are 11-5 against Notre Dame, 2-2 against Illinois State and 3-0 against Wright State.

Notre Dame – For the 12th consecutive season Notre Dame learned it had earned a spot in the NCAA Championship when the NCAA Division I Softball Championship Committee announced the 64-field team on Sunday evening. Notre Dame (45-10) will head to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the opening round of the 2010 tournament.

The Irish faced 10 NCAA Tournament teams this year, going  8-7 against those foes.  They have won 10 of their last 11 games heading into the tournament, their only loss being in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.

Sadie Fitzenberger leads the offense with a .410 average.  Christine Lux and Heather Johnson lead the Irish with 17 and 16 home runs, respectively. The Irish as a team lead the country in batting average, hitting at a solid .346 clip.

Notre Dame has ridden the arm of Jody Valdivia, who has a 36-5 record and an impressive 1.72 ERA.  She has struck out 260 of the batters she has faced, while allowing hitters to only bat .195 against her.

Illinois State – Illinois State will be making its seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament and earned its third at-large bid to the tournament, with the last coming in 2007, which is also the last time they made the tournament.  Coincidentally, they defeated Notre Dame the last time they were in the tournament 2-1.

The Redbirds faced 10 teams that are in the tournament this year, finishing with a 5-9 record against them.  While the record may not look that great, one of the five wins was against Arizona State, which is the 13 seed, in Tempe.

Ashly Olson is the big bopper on the team, leading ISU with 18 homers and 55 RBI.  Her .808 slugging percentage leads the team by more that 200 points.  Her .370 batting average is second on the team, only behind Kara Nelson, who is hitting an even .400 on the season.

Illinois State is led by a pitching staff of Megan Warner and Jordan Birch.  Both have almost identical records with Warner having a 15-9 record and Birch 15-8.  Birch has struck out 124, while Warner has 119 K’s to her name.

Wright State – The Raiders (30-28-1) are coming to Ann Arbor after having won the Horizon League Tournament.  They have faced five teams in this year’s tournament and have lost to each of them. 

The Raiders offense is led by Kristen Bradshaw, who is coming off of an MVP performance at the Horizon League Championships. Bradshaw boasts a .353 average and has swiped 36-of-39 bases.  Jamie Perkins and Justine Shilt lead the offense with 38 and 35 RBI, respectively.

Melanie Heyne leads the team in victories with 13 and ERA (3.03) and has won her last five decisions. 

Regional # 3: Hosted by the University of Washington

Washington – The defending National Champions and top ranked team all year might have some gripe with the selection committee after “earning” the 3 seed.  The team is joined in their Regional by Nebraska, North Carolina and North Dakota State.  The Huskies will make their 17th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance this week and first as the defending National Champion.  The Huskies (46-5, 17-4) are coming off one of their most successful non-conference seasons in school history, including winning the Pac-10 Conference for the third time in school history; it was their first since 2000 and the first out-right title since 1996.

The Huskies faced yet another challenging schedule, having to face seven NCAA Tournament teams from the Pac 10, as well as 11 nonconference teams that made the tournament.  The team amassed a 23-4 record against NCAA Tournament opponents on the year.

Danielle Lawrie is the star of the team and has not disappointed.  She leads the team with 14 home runs and 55 RBI.  Kimi Pohlman leads the team in average, hitting at a .385 clip, while also leading the team with 20 steals.  Sharon Wright and Niki Williams have some power as well, as they hit 11 and 10 homers respectively.

As good as Lawrie was at the plate, she was even better on the mound.  Lawrie compiled a 35-2 record, 0.99 ERA and struck out 407 of 857 batters.  She had a 12.3:1 K:BB ratio.  She recently became the PAC 10’s career strikeout leader, while moving up to second for career wins with 131.

North Carolina – Carolina earned its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament with this year’s berth and gathered 40 wins in a season for the fifth straight year this season.  The team is coming off of a loss to Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament semifinals.

The Heels faced 12 teams that made the tournament, going 8-12 against them.  

Danielle Spaulding leads the team in hitting with a .356 average and 33 RBI.  She leads a balanced offense, which features six players with over 20 RBI, including Kelli Wheeler, who leads the team with 12 home runs.  Christine Knauer has been a paid on the base paths, as the speedster has swiped 41 bases in 45 attempts.

Like Washington’s Lawrie, Spaulding is a dual-threat on the diamond, as she heads a two-man pitching staff.  Spaulding has compiled a 19-5 recors, while posting a 1.32 ERA.  It is her teammate Amber Johnson, however, who leads the team in wins with 20, while amassing a 2.26 ERA.  Both pitchers have struck out over 200 batters, with Spaulding having K’d 294 batters and Johnson 216.

The Heels are 2-2 against Nebraska, 1-0 against North Dakota State and 0-1 against Washington.

Nebraska – The Nebraska softball team will make its 20th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend when the Huskers travel to Seattle, Wash.  Nebraska will be playing its first-ever games in the state of Washington this weekend, but the Huskers are no strangers to the postseason. The trip to Seattle will mark Nebraska’s 20th all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, a total that ranks ninth in NCAA Division I history. The Huskers have been a frequent participant in the postseason under 18th-year Head Coach Rhonda Revelle, who has guided her team to the NCAA Tournament in 15 of the past 16 seasons.  


Eight of the Huskers’ last nine games have come against NCAA Tournament teams, including seven contests against teams currently ranked in the national top 20. Overall, Nebraska played 22 total games against 13 teams in the NCAA Tournament field, posting a 7-15 record in those games. The Huskers posted a 2-8 record against six teams that earned a national seed, with victories against eighth-seeded Georgia Tech and ninth-seeded Missouri.

Ashley Guile leads a balanced Husker offense with a .391 average, 15 doubles and 40 RBI.  Heidi Foland and Brooke Thomason provide the power for Nebraska, as they have knocked out 12 and 11 home runs, respectively.  

As it seems like with many teams, the Huskers use two pitchers, Robin Mackin and Ashley Hagemann.  Hagemann leads the team in victories (14) and strikeouts (208), while Mackin leads the two in ERA (2.61) and batting average against (.202).

North Dakota State – North Dakota State advances to the NCAA tournament for the second straight season after winning the Summit League tournament in Fargo this weekend. The Bison went 3-2 in its first Division I tournament appearance in 2009, winning three games to take the NCAA Norman Regional title and dropped a pair of games at Arizona State in the NCAA Super Regional.  


North Dakota State is 0-9 against the Pac-10 all-time including a 6-0 loss to then 6th-ranked Arizona on Feb. 13 at Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Bison are 0-4 against the Wildcats, 0-2 against Arizona State, 0-2 vs. Cal and 0-1 against Stanford. NDSU is 0-14 against Nebraska and 0-1 vs. North Carolina.
It’s the ninth tournament appearance overall (including Division II) for North Dakota State. The Bison have compiled a 27-17 record in NCAA competition and is 3-8 against NCAA teams this year.
 The Bison are led by the big bat of Melissa Chmielewski who leads the team in average (.398), home runs (10) and RBI (59).  

  Whitney Johnson is the horse of the pitching staff, poating a 26-16 record and 2.53 ERA.  She has nine shutouts amongst her 32 complete games and has struck out 315 hitters.


>College Athletes and Social Media

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>

A recent story by the Columbia Missourian addressed the issue of athletes using social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.  While most people probably don’t see using such networks as a big deal, it has become something that can actually play a roll on whether you play on the team, are dismissed/suspended, etc. But how hard is it exactly for a coach/team/school to monitor so many athletes?
The answer to that is through a system called UDilligence. What the service does is monitor athletes’ Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages for over 400 words they find may be inappropriate. The service then notifies the school and they can take it from there.  But is this a violate of the students’ right to free speech and the right to be a kid?

One thing that athletes, politicians and people in the public eye don’t seem to realize is that if you are in the public eye, expect to have every move you make magnified by EVERYBODY.  If you want to be part of the face of the university’s athletics, be ready for people to check out your every move.  This includes writing inappropriate/dumb statuses on Facebook and Twitter.  There is no reason for anyone to use language that should not be used in any setting, but if you have so many people “following” you or being your “friend”, learn to tone it down a little.

If the rest of the world can be subject to firings or suspensions because of something we write or pictures that show us drinking or flashing gang signs, the question is why don’t we learn?  Is it because people in today’s world continue to think that ‘oh that won’t happen to me”? Personally, I don’t know what is so hard to not swear in statuses or call people inappropriate names or take pictures of someone doing something stupid that can get them in trouble.  It’s just common sense, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to resonate with many people.

Some players, such as Missouri’s Kim English, who is quite popular on Twitter, use the social networking site as a place to communicate with their fans.  Other players like Evan Turner and even Shaq use it and want to keep in contact with their fans.  English, however, is the only one that I remember shutting down his account during the season.  Whether this is because of what his coach told him or he just felt it would be right, the account, which has been mentioned numerous times by Internet journalists as a great follow, was closed from December until the day after the season ended.

Maybe if more players did that, there wouldn’t be so many problems. 

>Expansion of the NCAA Tournament

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>A huge topic as of late has been the talk of expanding the NCAA Tournament to a record number of 96 teams. This plan can happen as soon as next year. I have one question for the NCAA: Are you crazy?!

Yes, this whole thing is about money. Right now the NCAA is in the midst of a 11-year, $6 BILLION contract with CBS. It has an option to opt out of the contract after this years’ NCAA Tournament and after yesterday’s Final Four press conference, it seems like that will happen.While the press conference was originally supposed to be on what the options for expanding the tournament, whether it be 68, 94 or 96 teams, it clearly became one that focused on one specific number: 96.

In today’s tournament, there are 65 teams, as one game is played earlier in the week, a game called the ‘Play-In game.’ In the new format, the tournament will be extended by a week and to make things more ridiculous, the seeding will also change.

In the current format, teams are seeded 1-16 in four regions, with the top seeded team playing the 16th, 2 vs. 15, etc. The new format would be as follows. The top 32 seeds, so those usually seeded 1-8 in the four regions, would be given first-round byes, therefore allowing the remaining 64 teams to determine who would face any of those 32 seeds in the next round. Does this make sense? Not really, but oh well.

What truly doesn’t make sense is the fact that the NCAA won’t do anything about the BCS, but it will ruin the best thing they have by including 32 more teams. The tournament creates BILLIONS of dollars of revenue. All the NCAA cares about is how much more it could make. It doesn’t matter that some teams that qualify for the tournament won’t deserve it, but it’s ok more $$$.

Under the future rules, all of the teams in the NIT, including schools such as Northwestern, UNC and UCONN would have qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Did they deserve to be included? No. They didn’t prove themselves in the regular season to be deserving of a bid. The new format pretty much makes the regular season irrelevant and just seems like another way to get all the big schools in the tournament. It will get rid of the NIT and end something that made all smaller schools happy: the fact that if you won your conference regular season title, but lost in your conference tournament, you got an Auto-NIT bid. But it’s ok forget about them, right?

NCAA before you do something you regret, sit back and realize the ramifications this expansion will have on the college basketball landscape. But as I have already said, neither something you nor I say will matter, so just sit back and watch the NCAA become even more greedy.