New clock rules on their deathbed, plus basketball!

Men of the Scarlet and Gray, a blog made famous for it's analysis on rule 3-2-5e, also known as "The New Clock Rules," has pointed out what is surely to be the dagger in the heart of these rules. To sum it up shortly, last Saturday, Wisconsin head coach ordered his kickoff team to go offsides twice in a row. Since the clock now starts upon time of kickoff (as opposed to when the opposition touches the ball initially), he was able to run off the final 23 seconds of the first half. Thanks to the wonderful tool of linear regression, a team could take off as much as a few minutes off the clock. The NCAA needs to change this rule as soon as humanly possible. Imagine in the National Championship game (the real one, you know, on November 18th), Michigan scores a go-ahead touchdown with two minutes to go in the game, and Ohio State never gets the ball back? Hopefully Lllloyd (or any other coach in the nation) has enough respect for his opponent and doesn't do this, but chances are, this is going to happen on a huge stage, and it will happen sooner rather than later.

On a different note, the Columbus Dispatch released their official Men's Basketball Preview. The front page of the sports section has a picture that perfectly represents how this season will be: One big man (Greg Oden) towering over (overshadowing?) everybody else. The preview makes sure to cover all of the facets of the Thad Five, but also takes looks at the rest of the conference, as well as the rest of the nation.

Another feature on the preview was the "Keys to the season," and I must say I'm very disappointed in the Dispatch. For a Columbus based paper, you'd think they'd give Jamar Butler the respect he deserves, and not let the Mike Conley hype machine take them over. Well, apparently, Conley is the second coming of Scoonie Penn (which he very well may be, just not now), and Jamar Butler is just a good shooter. As I've noted in the past, Butler is the wheels that keeps the offense moving, and he probably deserved to be first team All-Conference last season, if not conference player of the year. I could understand him being overlooked last season by Je'Kel Foster's shooting ability and Terrence Dials' presence in the post, but this year, he's the only sure thing coming into the season. The fact that the Dispatch of all papers fails to see past the recruiting class is pretty saddening. They also say that the Buckeyes will make it to March Madness if they play defense and rebound. The rebounding woes (outrebounded by 19 in exhibition games against Findlay and Walsh -- yes, Findlay and Walsh) will end the moment Oden gets back. Even if he's not as effective as expected, the imitation factor alone should win us the physical-facet of the game every time we take the court. As for defense? Well, a ton of bad defensive teams make it to March. Now, as for making it to the Final Four, then I would agree.