Kudos to the Fort Hays State Tigers on their first unbeaten regular football season. They earned a No. 1 seed in their Super Region of the NCAA Division II Football Championships. The Tigers earned a first round bye and are guaranteed of at least one home game.
Sixteen teams will battle it out for the championship.
Now, all of that said, why in the heck can’t the “big boys” do it? The Division I teams pick only four teams with the “weak” reasoning being that “it will detract from their studies,” or , “it will damage the current bowl games,” or “it would extend the season too far, thus increasing the chance for injuries for these student-athletes.”
All of that is bunk of course.
The Division II athletes are the true “student athletes.” The Division I teams are more athletes than students. Come on, give us a meaningful championship playoff!
Wichita State’s new league, the American Athletic Conference is one of only two conferences nationally with three 30-win teams from last season. Cincinnati (30), SMU (30) and Wichita State (31). We’re talking basketball power here!
Hooray for College of the Ozarks! They told the NAIA to move their Division II Men’s Basketball Championships from the private school because the NAIA had refused its request to require players to stand during the national anthem. The Dog is finally wagging the tail!
The 2017 Keady Classic Basketball Tournament in Larned has announced the brackets. In both boys and girls action starting Monday Dec. 4, Larned will tangle with Ellinwood and Macksville will meet Spearville in one half of the bracket. In the other half, St. John will meet Kiowa County and Hoisington will play Kinsley.
No wonder NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has trouble making decisions, he’s not paid enough!
Goodell, who is currently negotiating with NFL owners for a new contract is asking for a $50 Million annual salary, the use of a private jet for life AND life insurance for him and his family members.
An unnamed owner told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that, “That number for Roger just seems too much.” REALLY? You think? Would Roger stand for the National Anthem for that?.
Does it seem like to you that the media and the college football playoff selection folks have a pre-ordained agenda that HOPES to get the same old teams into the playoffs? The media would just DIE for a chance to get Notre Dame in and Ohio State seems to be another team that has a very hard time of playing themselves OUT OF contention.
Two losses and they are still considered “in the hunt?” Come on! Notre Dame just got beat 41-8 and Ohio State got humiliated by Iowa.
Why is Wichita State getting so much love in the national basketball polls?
The Shockers won 31 games last season and return more than 87 percent of their minutes and 91 percent of their scoring from that squad. The Greg Marshall-led Shockers are one of just five schools that have won a game in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, joining North Carolina, Kansas, Oregon and Gonzaga.
Former Oklahoma coach, Kelvin Sampson, now the coach at Houston, after seeing the ravaging and flooding throughout the Houston area this past summer, put out a simple call to action to men’s and women’s basketball programs throughout the country, asking for 20 T-shirts and 10 pairs of shoes from every college and high school team in the country.
The response has been overwhelming. So far the Houston basketball program has collected over 150,000 t-shirts and 20,000 pairs of shoes to distribute. Stand and clap!
Do unto others as though YOU were the OTHERS!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
