Bleacher Report - Articles by Greg Clark

Learn from the Pros, Part 1: A Playoff System for College Football

Greg Clark — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:17:05 -0500

In every academic setting, it is accepted practice to reference the masters in that specific field.

It is only natural for the aspiring writer to study Shakespeare and Dickens, the politician Washington and Lincoln, and the composer Bach and Beethoven.

In a short series of articles, I plan to explore options for NCAA in a variety of sports where they can learn from the professionals, focusing more on the good than the bad.

Part 1: Football

America loves football. We invented football, we practiced football, and as far as the rest of the world knows, have perfected football.

Our two most viewed/analyzed/followed/beloved mediums for football are, of course, the NCAA and the NFL. In some ways, that may as well be the difference between a collegiate wind ensemble and the New York Philharmonic.

Learn from the masters, NCAA.

For the love of all that is holy, give me playoffs.

The best part of every other season is the postseason. It's a chance to put what has been earned through the season on the line and prove what you've got. With the lack of a gut-check test at the NFL combine, pro scouts certainly wouldn't mind.

Another thought: Good luck convincing anyone in this country that March Madness is a bad idea.

Here's my proposal for collegiate playoffs, while keeping the bowl tradition:

1. Each conference has a championship game. If there is a tie, it's up to each individual conference to determine who gets there. This puts the ACC game in the Orange Bowl, the Big 12 in the Fiesta Bowl, the Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl, and the SEC in the Sugar Bowl.

2. Other conferences choose their own methods by which they hold a championship game.

3. Winners of conference championships move on to single-elimination playoffs.

It would be set up geographically, like the NCAA Basketball Tournament of old. There are 11 major conference affiliations, as well as independents. While I would prefer a nice round 16, smaller conferences like the D1AA Patriot League would probably rather stay where they are. It would be worth a shot, though.

So there are two brackets, East and West. The East has the Big East, ACC, Mid American Conference, SEC, Big 10, and the Independents. I put the independents there because of Notre Dame, the most notable of non-affiliated teams. They are a Big East basketball school deep in the heart of Big 10 country.

The West bracket has Conference USA, the Pac 10, the Sun Belt, the Big 12, the Mountain West, and the WAC.

Two teams on each side get a first-round bye, and all other first-round games are set up by record or coin flip, all played at neutral sites. When the two brackets finally collide, there is a rotating neutral site, just like for basketball.

The best part about this system?

It takes the media's opinion clear out of the picture. As much as I love all of the talking heads on ESPN, it is not unusual for the general pundit opinion to make a significant difference as per rankings. Give the power to the players, not the writers. Or, worse yet, the BCS computers.

This very well could be the greatest thing to happen to American sport in a long, long time. The odds that it happens any time soon are low, but I'm hopeful.

The NFL may be on to something with that whole "Super Bowl" thing.

Why It's So Easy to Hate Duke

Greg Clark — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:54:43 -0500

Facebook.com has made me a very happy man.

It has given me the CBSSports.com Official Tournament Brackets, and with it a ranking of which school have the most fans and most enemies.

It has given support to one of my favorite arguments about college hoops:

Everyone hates Duke. Kind of.

As of 6:55 on Wednesday night, here are Facebook's CBS Standings for the Favorite and Most Despised teams:

Favorite:
1.) Duke Blue Devils, 1,445 Fans
2.) UNC Tar Heels, 1,420 Fans
3.) Kansas Jayhawks, 800 Fans
4.) Indiana Hoosiers, 599 Fans
5.) Kentucky Wildcats, 574 Fans

Despised:
1.) Duke Blue Devils, 3,357 Haters
2.) UNC Tar Heels, 1,522 Haters
3.) Florida Gators, 535 Haters
4.) Indiana Hoosiers, 389 Haters
5.) Ohio State Buckeyes, 371 Haters

Over 3,500 people say, "The team I hate most is Duke."

Do I hate Duke? No, I can't say I do. That spot is safely reserved in the depths of my soul for Georgetown and UConn.

I even support Duke upon occasion, because their junior point guard, Greg Paulus, played his high school ball for Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. I support Section 3 (NYSPHSAA Central New York Region) guys all I can.

But let me say this: if I grew up in ACC Country, I would certainly understand the feeling. Here's why:

Duke, a small school in North Carolina, used to be known as Brown School, then Union Institute, then Normal College, then Trinity College back when it was founded by the Quakers and Methodists of the area. They moved from Trinity to Durham in 1892, and changed the name of the schools to Duke University in 1924 in honor of an endowment given by tobacco colossus James B. Duke in the name of his father, Washington Duke.

(Thanks, Wikipedia, for the details. Call me out if you need to, I trust it enough for government work.)

So where is the harm here? To the uninformed majority, it's the pretension.

"What school could possibly have the audacity to call themselves Duke University" is not an uncommon sentiment.

Another could be its history as a program. Few know that Duke sported a relatively weak basketball team until the 1970s.

Don't believe me? Look up a book called Forever's Team, by master sportswriter John Feinstein. The name "Spanarkel" will instantly leave you with memories of a matured Jimmy Chitwood.

But here's the point: America knew relatively little about Duke until the (arguably) greatest sportswriter in America wrote about them.

Granted, it's an excellent book, but let's be real—if he had written a book about the exploits of a school like San Diego State or Marist College, the world may have been a different place.

Next: Mike Krzyzewski. He's a Chicago guy who played his college ball at Army under Bobby Knight and writes inspirational books about the philosophy of his coaching. He is a poster boy.

Just like everyone else who is the best at what they do, no one else can stand it. He's a good looking guy, a family man, an excellent recruiter, and a role model.

America cannot stand that crap.

Why?

Because we need Kobe Bryant in court in Colorado and Mark McGwire lying to congress and Ray Lewis being an all-out criminal. We feast on that.

Duke of old didn't claim to be the "UCLA of the East", as Lefty Driesell at Maryland tried to do (you can determine that accuracy of that statement for yourself). They constantly recruit hard-working, smart, players that almost always graduate. They don't cheat.

Where is the fun in that?

It's funny how Duke, who seems to try as hard as possible to win games and be the best, is constantly America's antagonist. The Blue Devils are easy to hate, like the Yankees in the 1990s, or the Patriots right now.

I remember a few years back when, during NCAA games, Coach K had a 30-second commercial talking about how great a school Duke is, and how he teaches students to be thinkers, leaders, and champions.

Everyone I ever watched a game with would say, "What a bogus commercial! I can't believe CBS would give him a recruiting advantage like that!"

This is a statement I fully agree with. It sickens me still.

But here's the catch: He's right.

We all seek perfection, as is human nature. In running a basketball program, Krzyzewski has come very close to finding it.

And it drives the rest of us crazy.

Syracuse Orange Avenge Last March's Snub

Greg Clark — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:32:54 -0500

The Syracuse Orange seem to have recovered from the poor first half play that plagued them in Wednesday's 89-78 loss at the University of South Florida by dismantling No. 8 Georgetown in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon.

Syracuse played in front of 31,327 fans, the largest recorded crowd in Division I hoops so far this year.

The Orange (17-6, 7-6) built up a 21-point lead in the first half, and the Hoyas could never recover.

The bigger story, though, is in Syracuse's NCAA hopes.

After a questionable snub from the big dance last spring, Syracuse looked up after the USF loss and saw six more games in which to prove themselves worthy before the Big East Tournament and Selection Sunday.

So far so good.

Sophomore guard/forward Paul Harris (Niagara Falls, NY) feels the same way, with a cautious optimism.

"This is definitely a quality, key win," Harris told reporters after the game.

Harris' offensive explosion early in the game (eventually leading to a team-high 22 points) utilized his unreal athleticism to exploit the Hoyas in transition and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. There was a two minute period early on in which he scored eight straight points, including a finish with contact to capitalize on a dish from point guard and high school teammate Jonny Flynn.

Flynn may have the most impressive statistic of any for the Orange of late—40 minutes played. That makes seven games as such in a row, including a 45 minute showing in December's 64-62 OT loss to Georgetown.

While one may stop to consider the physical toll taken on his body during his first season in the unusually physical Big East, how can one blame the mastermind Jim Boeheim for keeping him on the floor?

Only time will tell, but as far as the win column goes, the strategy appears to be paying off. The only alternative—a balanced backcourt—is no longer an option. Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf's injuries made that clear earlier in the season.

SU students were quick to celebrate the win, storming the court for the first time this season.

Hopefully this is the first of many to come, driving Syracuse, the program with the fifth highest winning percentage in the history of D-I Men's college hoops, back into the spotlight in March.