Peace Garden State Warriors

The North Dakota State Bison were able to capture their second consecutive Summit League men’s basketball title on Wednesday. This marks their third conference title since becoming fully eligible for Division I competition in 2008-2009. If you also consider that the Bison athletic program are the reigning champions in FCS football (winning their fourth consecutive title back in January) and Summit League baseball and softball (having won five of the last six titles), one has to take notice of the dynasty brewing in North Dakota’s largest city.

It’s also amazing what the Bison have been able to accomplish even when leadership changes hands. When football coach Craig Bohl, who saw the Bison through their D-I transition and their first three titles, left to take the job at Wyoming at the beginning of last season, defensive coordinator Chris Klieman stepped into the position and NDSU didn’t miss a beat en route to their fourth championship. The same thing happened in men’s basketball. Saul Phillips, who led the team during their 2009 and 2014 tourney runs, left for Ohio at the beginning of this season. In steps former associate head coach David Richman, and the Bison fight their way to another conference title.

The Bison’s success can be contributed to a strong coaching lineage (Bohl passes down to Klieman; Tim Miles passes down to Phillips who passes down to Richman) and a loyal fanbase in a region that is largely forgotten but is economically booming thanks to the oil industry.

Whenever a school gets to be this successful at the mid-major level, sometimes even less so, there is always talk about moving up with the big boys. The speculation goes in so many directions. Are their facilities big enough? What conference would invite them? The Mountain West? The MAC? It’s not like they can’t handle the competition. The football team took down Kansas State in 2013, while the men’s basketball team beat Oklahoma in the tourney and the softball team took down nationally ranked Auburn just last season.

Appalachian State, Old Dominion, and UMass are all examples of schools that took the leap from FCS to FBS with varying degrees of success. However, the talk of NDSU leaving for seemingly greener pastures has been minimal. And why would they?

In football, they are the king of the mountain and have been for almost half-a-decade. Their other sports play in a conference that actual puts the spotlight on North Central America for once. The Summit League was an amorphous, unstable mess as the Mid-Continent Conference. Now, it’s all eyes on Fargo, Brookings, Vermillion, and Sioux Falls (where the conference basketball tournament annually draws strong numbers from the region).

No, chances are the Bison aren't leaving the Summit League anytime soon. As they celebrate another title and wait for Selection Sunday to see where the men's team will play next, I'm sure the athletic department as a whole is happy with being the school at the top of the map and the top of the standings.

Whiteside Going Sideways?

Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside burst back onto the NBA scene in January after spending two years away in China, Lebanon, and the D-League. In the face of mounting injuries, specifically to the Heat frontline, Whiteside has been a godsend and he’s delivered starter-level production for a team just on the outside of the playoff picture.

Lately, however, it seems like something’s been up with Hassan. While you always want your big men to be aggressive, lately it’s been a bit much.

First there was his incident last week in a chippy game against the Suns when he tackled Phoenix’s Alex Len after dunking on him. That was followed yesterday by Whiteside straight trucking Boston’s Kelly Olynyk. Naturally, he was ejected in both instances.

So, like, what’s his deal?

As I said above, I don’t mind a little chippiness, but these displays have been blatant and excessive. For a guy that seemed more humble when he came back into the league, I can’t help but wonder what the catalyst has been recently that has made him so aggro.

Whatever the answer is, Whiteside needs to get it together before he finds himself back out of the league. He has been an extraordinary blocker and rebounder, but I’m sure general managers would much rather have a guy that puts up slightly less outrageous numbers if it means they won’t be out on the court using moves better suited for football or wrestling.

One person that’s already annoyed with the antics is Heat star Dwyane Wade. He aired his grievances during the post-game interview of their eventual loss to the Celtics.

I don’t believe Heat GM Pat Riley is going to drop Hassan this season solely based off of these two incidents. But keep in mind that while Whiteside is signed through next year, that year is not guaranteed. If he continues to be a problem now, it’s going to be harder to justify keeping him when McRoberts and Bosh come back next season.

UConn Still at the Top of Women's College Basketball

On a snowy night in Storrs, the South Carolina Gamecocks entered Gampel Pavilion ranked as the #1 team in the nation. By the end of the game, the homestanding Connecticut Huskies made sure the country knew who was truly at the top of the women’s college basketball mountain.

Despite a valiant effort, South Carolina was throttled by UConn 87-62 in front of a crowd of 10,167. Connecticut’s Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis led all scorers with 23 points, including 5 of 6 from three-point range. Breanna Stewart was right behind her with 22, 8 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Morgan Tuck (17) and Moriah Jefferson (16) also finished in double figures.

Aleighsa Welch (17 points, 11 rebounds), Tiffany Mitchell (17 points), and A’ja Wilson (10 points off the bench) were the major contributors for South Carolina.

Monday’s win reasserted that, despite the hiccup at Stanford, Connecticut is still the best in college basketball. UConn leads the nation in scoring margin by a large margin (41.5 per game) and was able to put up 87 and win by 25 over the presumed #1 team in the country, a team that had also been soundly beating their opponents (The Gamecocks are second in the nation in scoring margin with 28.1). South Carolina gave their all to keep up with them, so to take care of them as easily as they did really says something about the type of team the 2015 Huskies are.

Moving forward it will be exciting to see if these two meet again at the Final Four in Tampa. UConn will most likely have the easier path. The American Athletic Conference really has no match for the Husky Machine. Their only ranked opponent is at #25 South Florida in the final game of the season. Connecticut beat USF 92-50 on January 18th.

For South Carolina, the road may be a bit tougher. The SEC is one of the top conferences in women’s basketball. So far South Carolina has fared well in league play. They are 10-0 and winning by an average margin of 23 points. In the three ranked SEC games they played (#10 Kentucky, #12 Texas A&M, and at #22 Georgia) they won by an average of 16.3 points. The Gamecocks end the regular season against three currently-ranked opponents: #6 Tennessee, #13 Mississippi State, and at #10 Kentucky. Then who knows what the SEC Tournament holds.

Despite the loss, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks are still one of the top teams in Women’s college basketball. It’s just that the decision on Monday shows UConn is still the best.

Is the Home Run Derby Becoming the Slam Dunk Contest?

These two will NOT be at this year's Home Run Derby

The MLB All-Star Game and All-Star festivities are fast-approaching. With the All-Star rosters being announced and the fans now encouraged to determine who gets the final spot in each league, we’re getting a very good picture of who will be playing in Minneapolis next Tuesday. However, for Monday’s Home Run Derby, its still a little fuzzy as to which sluggers will be representing their respective league in this year’s new bracketed format.

According to CBS Sports’s Mike Axisa, both Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera have turned down invitations to participate in the Derby. This will leave the event without two of baseball’s most potent sluggers.

The article also indicates that Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz will also consider declining. The White Sox’s Jose Abreu, who shares the league lead in home runs with Cruz, hasn’t shown much enthusiasm in participating and is still on the fence as of this writing.

With the number of big-time hitters turning down the chance of letting the Twin Cities crowd watch them sock a few dingers, I see some similarities to another All-Star side-contest in another sport: The NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest.

Over the years, the amount of star power in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest has waned. Fans have been begging to see stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant throw it down on All-Star Saturday Night. The reasons why these stars declined tend to be the same as why some of the Home Run Derby participants have bowed down: not wanting to risk injury, preferring to just watch, or just not caring that much about the contest.

While its debatable if the lack of star power has an effect on quality, but it does have an effect on interest. When the Slam Dunk Contest rolls around, people tend to scoff at the idea of Jeremy Evans and Harrison Barnes dunking in the contest with higher-profile names sitting on the sidelines. In the case of the Derby, viewership has already been dropping. Will several missing swingers have a bigger affect on ratings?

I think it will. The league will come up with ways to make the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby entertaining, but as the players continue to make decisions based on their needs and their desire to focus on the actual season, more stars will chose to sit out the Derby. This in turn will affect the event’s already stagnant ratings.

This could mean huge trouble for the Derby moving forward. While the Slam Dunk Contest is based on creativity, the Home Run Derby is based on power. Coming up with a cool dunk is not quanitified by statistics, so a bench warmer could dunk as well as a superstar. However, if 6 of the top-10 home run hitters in baseball are sitting out the Derby, the difference in talent is much more noticeable.

Luckily, Jose Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki, and Giancarlo Stanton have been confirmed for the contest. These players should be big enough to pull in some fans for the 2014 contest. But the question will be how stars sitting out the contest will affect the 2015 contest and beyond.

Deng Extension Talks Cool, What It Means For the Bulls

Luol Deng going in for a lay-up during the 2013 Playoffs

Wednesday will be the new day for my editorial columns, which were previously supposed to be on Tuesdays. This Wednesday, however, I've got nothing. While there are a few subjects I'm interested in, I didn't really do any deep research on those topics. And I wouldn't want to give you a bland, un-researched column. Who do you think I am!? [Insert sports columnist you don't like]!?

So instead, I'll link to a column about a topic that I do enjoy and would've considered writing about. Here, Blog-a-Bull's Rickey O'Donnell discusses the breakdown in talks between the Chicago Bulls and forward Luol Deng. They couldn't come to an agreement on a contract extension for Luol, and Rickey brings up the ramifications for the Bulls for this year as well as heading into the 2014 offseason. A very interesting read, especially if you are a Chicago Bulls fan.

Introducing: The Biogenesis UnNaturals

On Monday, suspensions were handed down by Major League Baseball to thirteen players that were connected to defunct anti-aging clinic Biogenesis of America. Through an investigation by MLB, Biogenesis was found to be distributing performance-enhancing drugs to players, including the thirteen suspended on Monday as well as four others that have already been punished for their involvement.

The seventeen players involved with Biogenesis run the gamut from superstar to impact player to minor leaguer. It made me wonder just how formidable a team of alleged PED users would hold up against their peers. Soooooo, I conducted an experiment of my own, utilizing MLB 13: The Show for the PlayStation 3.

I took all 17 Biogenesis players and placed them on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (you see what I did there?), a AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. While I had 12 position players, I only had 5 pitchers. Since I would only need one starter for this experiment I just filled out the remaining relief spots, using other pitchers that had been suspended by MLB for using PEDs.

After all the maneuvering, I came out with the following roster:

Starting Pitcher: Bartolo Colon
Relief Pitchers: Fautino de los Santos, Sergio Escalona, Daniel McCutchen*, Guillermo Mota*, Jordan Norberto, and J.C. Romero*
Closer: Antonio Bastardo

Catchers: Yasmani Grandal
1st Base: Jesus Montero
2nd Base: Jordany Valdespin
3rd Base: Alex Rodriguez
Shortstop: Everth Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta
Left Field: Ryan Braun
Center Field: Melky Cabrera
Right Field: Nelson Cruz, Fernando Martinez, and Cesar Puello
Designated Hitter: Francisco Cervelli

The three pitchers with asterisks by their name weren't involved with Biogenesis. Daniel McCutchen was suspended back in April for 50 games. Guillermo Mota has been suspended twice; first in 2006 for 50 games then for 100 games in 2012. J.C. Romero was suspended for 50 games in 2009.

The experiment is simple: I play each of the MLB's 30 teams at their home fields and record the results. It will be interesting to see not only how this team holds up against the rest of the majors, but how to other teams will fare without some of their players.

So will the (alleged) cheaters prosper? Results in the coming days.

Can the Southsiders Go Any Further South?

In case I haven't made it clear over the course of writing this blog, let me clear this up now: I am a White Sox fan. So if you've taken a look at the MLB standings lately you may notice that it hasn't been fun times for me this season. 

It was this time a year ago that the White Sox were in the discussion for the AL Central pennant. But after finishing the 2012 campaign with a 4-11 record over their last 15 games, it's been downhill. Chicago AL's bats have essentially had a power outage for much of the season. As of this writing, their .250 batting average is the 12th worst in the majors. Their .303 on-base percentage in the 4th worst. These numbers have rendered a lot of decent performances from the pitching staff - including Jake Peavy and Chris Sale - moot. Not that the pitching staff has been perfect either. Their 4.00 team ERA is only good for 19th in MLB. 

Now, the team stands at 39-57, and the big question is "Where do they go from here?" 

There are a lot of question marks on the horizon. With almost everyone on the trading block, who will actually be on there way out with two weeks remaining before the trade deadline? Guys like Alex Rios and Peavy, among others, have been talked about on rumor mills, but will Rick Hahn actually press the button on any deals? With 37 year-old Paul Konerko just coming off of an injury, are his days in black-and-white - or in baseball period - numbered? Rookie Josh Phegley is off to a nice start (.278 avg, 3 HRs). How does he figure into the team's long term plans? Personally, I am kind of excited to see how it all unfolds.

As a Chicago sports fan, I have experienced a lot of ups and downs with my teams, so some down years aren't going to to dampen my spirit. I feel that some bad times may be necessary before the team can make their way to the top again. Considering that the veteran talent and big contracts aren't producing, they may have to make way for young talent that will need time to develop. I am okay with that.

But ultimately, it falls on the front office to figure out which way they want to go. What will it take to make this team a contender again? Will it take big free agent signings? Minor league development? Maybe they stand pat and hope things get better. There are several ways the White Sox could go. But as they figure it out, it looks like things may get worse before they get better.

Danny and Gary Took Over, and LeBron Just Watched

To those that aren't into sports, Gary Neal and Danny Green are names that would not seem mean much. But last night in San Antonio, those were names of two men that essentially set The World on fire and gave their team, the Spurs, a two to one lead in the NBA Finals.

The Spurs hit a Finals-record 16 threes, with Gary and Danny accounting for thirteen of them. This lead them to the third-largest margin of victory in Finals history, with the 36-point drubbing falling just behind Game 7 of the 2008 Finals and Game 3 of the 1998 Finals.

I was in awe of this performance by the Spurs, and more specifically by Danny Green. In these first three games, he just hasn't missed. Of the 30 shots he has attempted in this series, 23 of them have been threes, and he's made 16 of those threes. That new hotness has allowed Danny Green to become this series's leader in scoring with 56 points.

Now, Danny Green being really good at hitting threes isn't new, but it's always fun to see a given player get hot from outside. That is what has happened to Mr. Green, and you better believe I was going crazy last night by the third made three. The following four had me over the edge. At the end of the night I was shocked he only went 7 for 9, as I honestly thought he went 107 for 109.

Now, to the Heat. That performance was so sorry they should apologize to their fans, the city of Miami, and their family for it. Erik Spoelstra was rightfully disgusted (I like that he left the Big Three in the game for a little longer then you usually leave starters in a blowout), but the players also said the right things. "It's just one game, no matter how many points it's by", said LeBron. He's right. To say that this game is an automatic indictment on how the next game will go would be a false statement.

But, boy, did they look bad in this game. As a team, the Heat shot 40.8% from the field. But while the offense was down, the defense was really bad. Besides the obvious fact that they gave up 113 points, it just seemed like they weren't challenging shots or getting those key boards to give themselves the upper hand. Whenever a Spur put up a shot, Miami players wouldn't even close out on them, they would already start heading down the court. And the team was housed in rebounding 52 to 36.

With the team's lack of size, the ability to drive the lane cut out by the Spurs D, and the struggles of the Big Three, that small-ball is being heavily exposed. While essentially playing 4 on 5 worked against the Thunder, it won't fly with a veteran team like the Spurs.

Lastly, I live in a city where the hate for LeBron runs deep. Honestly, a good amount of the NBA Finals's ratings out of the Chicago market is mostly from people wanting to see the Heat lose. This dislike can lead many Chicagoan to spout untrue generalizations about him as a player and a person. And then in comes me, who looks at stats a lot, to seem like a LeBron caper (a person that defends, or "saves" a person. Like a superhero, who would wear a cape) by comparison.

But in this game, Game 3 of the 2013 NBA Finals, I think all the hate he gets is justified. LeBron James is the best active player in the NBA (don't argue, just accept it), and there was no reason for him to be as passive as he was in this game. The 7 for 21 he shot and the 15 points he scored that show up on the box score does not tell the story of how ineffective he was for this team.

I get that he wants to facilitate and get teammates involved in the game. But at some point, when your teammates aren't coming through, you as a great player need to take things into your own hands. Realistically, most players can't turn on that switch. If an opponents' defense shuts you down, then you're just going to have a bad game. But LeBron isn't most players, and we've seen him activate Beast Mode time and again. Why he doesn't do it more, and why he didn't do it in this game, baffled and annoyed me. I feel like the Heat would be better served if (they got a capable center in the offseason and) LeBron was just a little more selfish when the chips are down.

But we'll see what happens in Game 4 on Thursday. Will the Heat make the necessary adjustments? Or will the Anonymous Dynasty continue to reign on and rain threes?