From jail time to playing time: Champions or not, Baylor is this year’s biggest winner.

When it comes to NCAA Tournament Cinderella’s, Baylor didn’t quite fit the mold. Baylor entered The Big Dance with a number three seed, and as the 19^th ranked team in the nation. What people forget about, is that seven years ago, the Bears were nearly booted out of the NCAA. The reason for this was playing time.

Not playing time in the sense that recruits were afraid they wouldn’t get any, but in the sense that too much playing time would get them murdered, because that’s what happened to junior forward Patrick Dennehy in the summer of 2003. Dennehy, and friend Carlton Dotson, had become increasingly worried about their safety after transferring to Baylor the year prior. Threats had been coming from the most unlikely place: Baylor squad teammates.

On June 14, Dennehy and Dotson voiced these concerns once again to a mutual friend, and then finished their conversation by mentioning a party they were planning on attending the next day. However, neither man showed up at the party that next night.

A few weeks later Dotson was taken into custody and charged with the murder of Dennehy. A cousin of Dotson’s told local police that he had overheard Dotson bragging about the shooting. On July 30, Dennehy’s body was found; gunshots to the head confirmed the police suspicions of homicide. Five days prior to his trial, Dotson plead guilty to the murder of his friend and teammate, citing playing time as his main motive.

Further investigation uncovered that then head coach Dave Bliss knew about the murder and instructed the rest of the team to lie to investigators about what had happened. He had been recorded as telling his team to tell investigators that Dennehy was a drug dealer on campus and that the shooting was an unfortunate consequence of a deal gone south. Bliss immediately resigned from his position after this was revealed, but received no criminal punishment.

In the immediate aftermath of this incident, the NCAA threatened not just to suspend the Baylor basketball program, but to scrap it all together. The NCAA found that extreme of a measure unnecessary but did impose sanctions due to the schools recently revealing of substance abuse and tuition violations concerning student-athletes.

Since this incident, many people had brushed Baylor under the rug, assuming they would never be heard from again. However, new head coach Scott Drew was not about to let that happen. Drew, a former college coach at Valparaiso, took the job with the intention of bringing Baylor basketball back. As seen in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Drew has accomplished that goal.

Since the murder seven years ago, Baylor has struggled in the area of performance, but the simple fact that they are performing is a feat in itself. They had every reason to drop their program and rid themselves of a potentially crippling stigma that would forever loom over them, but they chose not to fold. Drew, along with dedicated young men he has recruited, have brought Baylor back from the lowest of lows. They were not the normal definition of a Cinderella team, and even though they lost in the Elite Eight to the top seeded Duke, the Baylor Bears are sitting on campus right now in Texas, rightly holding their heads high. They know the amazing things they have overcome and accomplished, and for that, we should all be cheering for them still. Congratulations on the greatest comeback of all time Baylor. Go Bears!

I love college basketball, but 96 teams is just stupid.

Of all the things wrong with the NCAA, one would be inclined to think they would fix a problem like the BCS or USC player payroll before creating another, arguably bigger, problem. In the last month, more and more whispers are coming out of ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated and other credible sources who have in one way or another confirmed that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will expand from 65 to 96 teams as soon as next season.

Though the logistics have yet to be worked out or just haven’t been released yet, this format makes no sense. I understand that the NCAA is a business and that this will draw in billions more in TV and sponsorship revenue, but think about the kids. With this expansion comes at least one, maybe two more meaningless games for future NBA superstars to get injured in.

Expanding the tournament would accomplish about as much as the NFL preseason does. Actually, it would accomplish less, because these college players still aren’t getting paid, but their coaches, Athletic Directors, and the NCAA are rolling in the dough.

Duke’s head coach Mike Krzyzewski (better known as Coach K) was heard on the Dan Patrick radio show on March 5 where he said he liked the idea because, “there are more good teams out there now.”

No, there isn’t! The good teams simply don’t pile up in the power conferences anymore. The days of the Big East Conference receiving nine automatic bids are over. Modern college basketball needs to understand that the Butlers, Western Kentucky’s, and St. Mary’s of the world are here to stay, even if that means that an underachieving Connecticut or North Carolina gets left out of The Dance.

I will admit that there is a slightly selfish reason behind my hatred of this idea. The thought of filling out a 96 team bracket sounds like it is as much fun as being the clean-up man in the elephant keep at the San Diego Zoo.

In retrospect, I’m not sure why I ever assumed the NCAA wouldn’t eventually expand the tournament. It’s one of the most illogical, misguided organizations in the land. Of course we should expect them to make the wrong decision.

On a side note, I challenge you, students, faculty, staff, all of you! I have created a Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick ‘Em challenge for you to join. The group number is 19651 and the password is VanguardLions (no space, that’s important!). All my readers are welcome and encouraged to play. The overall winner will receive a $10 gift card to Chipotle and bragging rights for a year! Please be sure to make your team name your actual name so when it’s all said and done I can give the winner their prize!