THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

Wait a second … that doesn’t seem right after several days off … let’s try that again:

ALL THE CRAP THAT’S HAPPENED IN THE LAST WEEK

That’s better. Quick roundup of the biggest stories, with a little link love for our brother blogs:

Paul Hewitt Stands Tall, States the Obvious

At last week’s meeting of the Knight Commission (the body studying academic standards for NCAA athletics), Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt earned a lot of press by voicing controversial, even shocking, opinions about all that is wrong with the current student-athlete model. Radical stuff, like “Eligibility rather than academic growth has become our biggest concern”, and “Agents are turning college campuses into the Wild West.” Whoa, whoa, Paul … drop one bomb at a time, baby, we weren’t prepared. Hang on, we’ll sit down. OK, go on:

“While I like to see everyone who reaches college earn a degree,” Hewitt said, “we need to find more effective ways to achieve our goals. I do have a problem with putting numbers out there, saying ‘Meet these numbers or else. You’re turning education into a race.”

Phew … radical, radical man. You’re lucky you didn’t lose your job for saying crazy stuff like that.

Of course Hewitt is right, and we all know he’s right – it’s just that no one in the powers that be care, since they can’t hear him over the sound of cash registers. And Hewitt had some thoughts about that as well:

[Hewitt] said he’d like to see basketball become a one-semester sport and that coaches overall would like to see a shorter schedule, but he admitted it’s “not going to happen” because of the lucrative television money that comes from playing more games, even in early November.

Whoa, Paul – we were with you right up until you suggested cutting games. We have a habit to feed, you know. Crazy talk like that will get us back on the harder junk.

Three more headlines, including more delicious statement of the obvious, after the jump: THREE STORIES WORTH A FEW LINES APIECE Spin – It’s Not Just for Politics! – Ohio’s athletic director is just jacked – we mean, Pete Carroll level jacked – to find a new coach. You know, after their previous coach left for Bryant University, a school in Rhode Island that hasn’t joined Division I yet, and which we had to look up to ensure it existed. Understatement Doesn’t Suit Us – Mike Miller has been doing an interesting weekly series over at MSNBC ranking the greatest college hoops programs. We’ve roundly enjoyed them, right up until he reviewed our alma mater at #16. We don’t challenge the ranking … we challenge his assertion that the program suffered only a “slight dip” under Craig Escherick. You mean, our version of [NAME REDACTED]? Did we watch the same teams? O Rly? – Mike DeCourcy says that Duke’s recruiting has suffered in recent years thanks to Coach K’s summer job with USA basketball. You don’t say.