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March Madness is in full swing with numerous local teams involved and here is the latest…..
The Illinois Fighting Illini won their first NCAA Tournament game in two years with Friday’s victory over Colorado by the final score of 57-49. The Illini were able to contain Buffaloes star forward Andre Roberson by limiting him to 9 points and 8 rebounds. They also managed to get him to foul out. Nnanna Egwu did an excellent job keeping Robertson under wraps.
John Groce’s team also did well against Colorado’s reserves as they only allowed five points off of the Colorado bench. D.J Richardson, Tracy Abrams, and Brandon Paul all scored in double figures despite the fact that the team only shot 30 percent from the field. The Illini who are the seventh seed in the East Region will take on the second seeded Miami Hurricanes on Sunday.
Miami was one of the best teams in college hoops this year. They won the regular season title of the Atlantic Coast Conference and at one point was ranked the number one team in the country. They are heavily favored this year and the Illini will have quite the task on Sunday. Of course the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will wish they could play on Sunday, but that will not be the case.
The seventh seeded Irish of the West Region suffered yet another early round NCAA Tournament loss as they were embarrassed by tenth seeded Iowa State with a final of 76-58. Iowa ran away with this one early as Mike Bray’s team looked lost on defense from the get go. Iowa State scored in every way possible. Inside, outside, in transition, and off of turnovers.
Notre Dame’s star guard Jerian Grant was held to just nine points while also committing five turnovers. The Cyclones shot 40 percent from the floor and left Irish fans shaking their heads in disbelief. ISU will play the second seeded Ohio State on Sunday. The Cyclones better enjoy this victory now because the Buckeyes are a Final Four favorite this year and are loaded with talent.
On Thursday night, Bryce Drew’s 14th seeded Valparaiso Crusaders were eliminated by the third seeded Michigan State Spartans 65-54 in the Midwest Region. Perhaps the Bryce Drew game-winning shot clip from 1998 will finally stop airing on television.
The other tournament involving local teams is the College Insider Tournament. After coming off an historic first round victory over Chicago State on Wednesday night, The UIC Flames will hit the road for their second round match up. It was announced on Friday afternoon that the Flames will take on Northern Iowa in the second round of the CIT.
Illinois-Chicago leads the all-time series with UNI 11-10 and they have a lot of talent heading into this one. The Panthers from Cedar Rapids will have their work cut out for them on Saturday night. The Bradley Braves also participated in this year’s CIT. They defeated Wisconsin-Green Bay in Peoria on Wednesday night. They will get another home game this weekend when Tulane makes it’s way to Carver Arena for that second round match up.
Finally, things are almost official for “The Catholic Seven”, or should I say the “new” Big East Conference. You already know that the re-birth of the Big East will take place on July 1st. Here are the newest developments…….
Xavier, Creighton, and Butler have decided to join which will make this a 10-team conference. Also, the league has signed a 12-year television deal with Fox Sports to carry many of the conference games including the new Big East Conference Tournament which will still take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In August, Fox Sports is expected to return with a national network, similar to the one they had from 1997-2005. The Speed Channel will become Fox Sports 1, and Fuel TV will become Fox Sports 2. All of this will take place in August. The future looks bright for all parties involved, hopefully DePaul’s basketball program will start to head in the right direction as well.
Saturday night, I will be covering the Chicago Rush’s 2013 season opener from Allstate Arena. The arch-rival Iowa Barnstormers will be in town with former Rush head coach Mike Hohensee calling the shots. It’s always a bittersweet moment when “Coach Ho” comes back to Rosemont. But that is what makes this rivalry so special.
Kickoff will be at 7pm, and always you can get game updates from me via Twitter @GabeSalgado82. Along with the hashtags #Q101Sports and #REDemption…….
One of college football’s historic rivalries is about to come to an end, well at least for three seasons. This week, the athletic department at the University of Notre Dame announced that after the 2014 season, the ND/Michigan rivalry will at least be put on hold.
The plan is to at least suspend the annual September series from 2015-2017. There could be a chance that the series could resume in 2018, but that is the furthest thing from the minds of the officials at Notre Dame for the time being.
It has been widely speculated that the reason for this is because of Notre Dame’s future commitment to the Atlantic Coast Conference which I mentioned in my last report: http://q101.com/2012/09/breaking-news-arena-football-league-and-notre-dame-athletics/
All Notre Dame sports currently competing in the Big East Conference will move to the ACC full-time. Fighting Irish Football will still compete as an independent but will play five ACC teams annually in it’s future schedules.
The exact date for this transition still has not been announced. But once the move does happen, the ACC will potentially have 15 teams. Aside from Notre Dame, Syracuse and Pittsburgh will also join the ACC in the near future.
Notre Dame football does have a rivalry with Pittsburgh and with the move to the ACC, these two teams will play each other often.
But putting the Michigan rivalry aside is significant for college football lore. Notre Dame and Michigan have played each other annually since 1978.
The football series between these two schools began back in 1887. Michigan leads the all-time series 23-16-1, with Notre Dame winning the most recent game last weekend by a score of 13-6.
Saturday’s win broke the Irish’s three game losing streak to the Wolverines dating back to 2009. National championships, heisman trophy winners, and NFL draft picks have come out of this rivalry.
With Notre Dame pushing Michigan aside between 2015-2017, I wonder how this will effect the rivalries with Michigan State and Purdue.
Once the partnership with the ACC begins, Notre Dame will only have six or seven open dates on their schedule { This depends on whether or not they play an 11 game season or a 12 game season.}
Notre Dame has already said that the rivalries with USC, Stanford, and Navy will remain intact. So in turn this actually means that the Irish will only have between three and four open dates on their schedule.
Whatever the case may be, I am disappointed by the university’s decision. I am hopeful that they will choose to continue this historic series in 2018.
Michigan is also disappointed in this announcement and I can’t say that I blame them. Playing Notre Dame every year guarantees a nationally televised game.
ABC carries the game when Michigan is the home team, and NBC carries the game when Notre Dame is the home team. The national audience is not only good for the school, but it also puts Ann Arbor, Michigan on the map every year.
It also gives Michigan’s NFL prospects the chance to showcase their talents on the national stage which is sure to attract NFL scouts.
Not to mention the big money that this game has drawn over the years. Advertising, tickets, merchandise, and tourism sales get a big boost from these two teams every year.
It’ll be interesting to see how both schools will make up for this potential revenue loss. In the 21st century, college football is an ever changing landscape.
I don’t see this trend stopping any time soon.
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Our first order of breaking news comes from the Arena Football League. The following is a statement from the league office regarding potential rule changes for the 2013 season:
Arena Football League owners are currently meeting in Phoenix to discuss a series of potential rule changes at the League’s annual meetings.
Among the items discussed has been the possibility of returning to “Ironman Football” for the 2013 season. However, after taking into consideration fan influence, coach and player input, and the evolution of the game, the decision was made to continue with free substitution. While players will continue to be allowed to play multiple positions, the League will not return to Ironman rules in 2013. One change that will be implemented is a return to five-man officiating crews. The League will utilize one referee, an umpire, line judge, side judge and back judge. The League also set the dates for free agency. The AFL’s exclusive period will begin on Monday, October 15. At that time, players will be able to sign contracts to remain with their 2012 teams. On Monday, October 29, the exclusive period will end and all uncontracted players will become unrestricted free agents able to sign with any AFL team. Multi-year contracts for coaches and exhibition games in China are among the topics that will be discussed on Wednesday.
The other big story comes out of South Bend regarding the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
It was announced this afternoon that the Fighting Irish will be moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference in the future. While an exact date for the move has not been set, it’s been said that while all other sports will become full-time ACC members, Notre Dame’s football team will still remain an independent team to some degree.
The only catch is that the Irish football team will be required to play five ACC schools each season. The rivalries with Southern California, Stanford, Navy etc…. will still remain intact. This year Notre Dame will play current ACC members Miami {FL}, Boston College, and Wake Forest. They will also play another future ACC member in Pittsburgh.
You can follow me on Twitter anytime @GabeSalgado82 #Q101Sports
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