Irish Links: More trouble for Ole Miss

Self-imposed postseason ban for Ole Miss

The week started off bad for Ole Miss fans, as former quarterback Chad Kelly was dis-invited to the NFL combine for his off field behavior. That was the least of their worries though. On Wednesday Ole Miss announced a self-imposed postseason ban for the 2017 football season. This all stems from a 2016 investigation where the NCAA notified Ole Miss of 13, now 21, compliance allegations against the football program. That 2016 investigation was brought about from Laremy Tunsil’s infamous draft night.

A night of buzzer beaters and other craziness in college hoops

Wednesday night was a crazy night in college basketball. First Syracuse knocked off Duke on a wild buzzer beater by John Gillon. Syracuse is now sitting pretty for an NCAA tournament bid. With Duke losing and Louisville falling at North Carolina, there is now a four way tie for second place in the ACC between Duke, Louisville, Florida State and Notre Dame.

Then in the late game, Dillon Brooks drained another three pointer at final horn to life Oregon over Cal. The Ducks are still alive in the Pac-12 race. Brooks has had the flair for the dramatic multiple times this season.

No.2, and current No.1 overall seed, Villanova also fell at the hands of the Butler Bulldogs, 74-66. The loss was the first home loss in four years for ‘Nova’s seniors. It’ll be interesting who now slides in to the No.1 overall seed. Will it be Kansas? Or will it be Gonzaga?

Kansas ties UCLA’s record of 13 consecutive conference titles

The No.3 Kansas Jayhawks clinched at least a share of their 13th consecutive Big 12 title on Wednesday night as they took down TCU. They have now tied UCLA’s streak of 13 that spanned from 1967 to 1979. The Jayhawks can clinch it outright on Saturday with a win over Texas. To win a power five conference 13 consecutive times in today’s college basketball climate truly shows the kind of job Bill Self has done in Lawrence.

The Big Ten sucks

Mark Titus, former Ohio State basketball walk-on, wrote a great piece for The Ringer on Wednesday about the state of Big Ten basketball. I highly suggest reading it if you’re a basketball fan.

As someone who grew up in a Notre Dame household, I was taught to cheer against the Big Ten in everything. I also live in Big Ten country and went to a Big Ten school, so time and time again I always hear about how great the Big Ten is in everything, so its great to see them struggle right now. But in reality Big Ten football is only relevant because of two schools (Michigan and Ohio State) and in basketball they haven’t won a title in 17 years. In fact Purdue and Indiana, who is 15-13, are the ONLY teams in the Big Ten to have any non-conference wins over top 25 opponents. This season the Big Ten’s best team, Purdue, is projected to be a four seed in the NCAA Tournament. When the best team is only slated to be a four seed, that just shows the lack of strength the conference has as a whole. The Feeble Fourteen, indeed.

Rick Pitino got very, very mad at some UNC fans last night

John Calipari berated during halftime interview

Another coach from the state of Kentucky had an incident of his own on his way to the locker room for halftime. At halftime of Kentucky’s Tuesday night’s win over Missouri, Coach Cal gave an interview to the Laura Rutledge of the SEC Network, per usual of most coaches. During the interview he was berated by Mizzou fans saying, “CAL YOU SUCK! CAL YOU SUCK! CAL YOU SUCK!” It apparently rattled Calipari so much that he had to end the interview in mid question. Kentucky ended up winning 72-62.

MLB Changing the Intentional Walk Rule

Ever since Rob Manfred took over as baseball commissioner before the 2015 season, one big topic of discussion has been pace of play. They’ve instituted a clock between innings, as well as a few other measures to try and speed up the game. On Wednesday Major League Baseball announced they would be eliminating the intentional walk, and instead will just signal when they don’t want to pitch to a certain batter.

If you dive into the numbers, this change will DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SPEED UP THE GAME. According to Chris Rongey of WXOS in St. Louis, there were 932 IBBs in 2016, if one IBB takes an average of 35 seconds...then this new rule will save a mere 12 SECONDS every game. Rongey said it best...pointless.

Baseball has and will always be my first love. I’ll say it. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to baseball. The human element part of baseball is one of the best parts of the game. In the last couple years MLB has done its best to eliminate that with instant replay and now more so with this rule change. Next we’ll probably see robot umpires, players and managers and we’ll see nothing but “perfect” baseball every game.

NBA trade deadline heating up

Demarcus Cousins was traded on Sunday in that idiotic trade between the Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans. Cousins will now team up with Anthony Davis in New Orleans for years to come. Some other smaller deals have occurred since then.

Other big names such as Paul George of the Indiana Pacers and Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls have been tossed around in trade rumors.

The Boston Celtics have the biggest bargaining chip of any buyer on the market. The Celtics hold the rights to the first round pick of the Brooklyn Nets this year, and if you haven’t looked the Nets have the worst record in the league. So, there is a good chance that pick ends up being the first pick in the draft.