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Best Conference?

Now that all the games have been played...and there have been many surprises...which conference do you now think is the best.


1. SEC
2. Pac-12
3. Big-10
4. Big -12
5. ACC

SEC is still the best in my mind, despite Ole Miss, and Mississippi St. proving that they were not an elite (top 10) team. The conference is still the strongest from top to bottom...Alabama is the lone elite team, and then there are a bunch of "good to very good teams"....more so than any of other conference.

Pac-12 like the SEC only has one elite team in Oregon. And then there are a bunch of very good to good teams. I just wish the Pac-12 would have stronger competition in its Bowl arrangements, because all of their Bowl tie-ins put a higher seeded team from the Pac-12 to compete against a lower seeded team for a different conference. Basically, the Pac-12 was favored in just about every bowl game they played. So, winning most of their games does not make any statement about the strength of the conference.

Big-10 - Can't believe the Big-10 is now my #3 conference after being #5 as the Bowl season started. But Ohio St.'s dominant performances vs. Alabama and Oregon were just impressive. Throw-in Michigan St. and Wisconsin dramatic bowl victories and you had to think the Big-10 really rose to the occasion. But the Maryland's and Illinois' and Minnesota's hurt the conference strength as just being a notch below the Pac-12.

Big12 - now that the Bowl season is over...I still wonder if TCU is the best team in the country. We'll never know. But those guys are elite. I'd put the top 3 team (TCU, Baylor and K-State) up against the top 3 team in every other conference and I think the Big12 wins 2 of 3...Perhaps only the Big 10 has a stronger top 3. But the rest of the Big12 conference is very pedestrian.

ACC - Ga Tech and Clemson's victory over Oklahoma was impressive. But Oregon's dismantling of FSU hurt the perception of the overall strength of the conference..

This post was edited on 1/13 3:06 PM by wilson1802

Is there a plan, and if so, what is it?

Following the football and hoops programs in the last few months, both on the field and in recruiting, I'm at a complete loss for what the hell Cal wants to be.

First, we see a under-talented football team going from 1 win to 5 wins, but not pursuing the elite recruits in the country with any degree of credibility, and clearly very conscious about the academic profiles of their recruits. At the same time we see a basketball program with arguably less talent than the football program, going after the elite recruits in the country, who by definition aren't going to have the academic profiles the football program seems to be requiring.

After thinking about this stuff and in light of the wheels coming off the hoops program completely, it is palpable that Cal has no leadership in the athletic department. Does anyone else feel the fact Cal doesn't have a real AD is impacting the identity and mission of the to major sports at Cal? And when the hell is Cal going to have an Athletic Director? Barbour stepped down on June 27th. Cal has gone more than six months without an AD. I don't think there is any other Power 5 conference school in the country that would go so long without naming a full-time AD.

Baseball HOF voting results

The BBWAA voted in four players for the first time in 60 years: Big Unit, Smoltzie, Pedro and Biggio.
Big Unit received 97 percent of the votes cast, the eight highest percentage of all time. Pedro got a "yes" from 91 percent of the voters, and Smoltz and Biggio both got a tad over 82 percent.

Piazza missed it by 28 votes, but his percentage improved to 68 percent, suggesting that he will get in next year.

Clemens got 206 votes and Bonds got 202, putting them both at about 37 percent, half of the 75 percent needed for induction. So glad they did not get in, and likely won't get in.

Player Stipends?

Grant, anyone. The new power 5 rules require/allow for 4 yr scholarships and up to a $5,000 per yr stipend per athlete. I think that is correct but I'm not sure. Again, if I understand correctly, the 4 yr scholarships start with the incoming class. When do the stipends start? I ask because I believe Cal has said it will pay the stipends and Furd has said it will not. If I'm correct so far that should have a major impact on our competition with them for recruits. This comes to mind now because of the competition for remaining 2015 targets. Any thoughts or information.

WSU over WA

WSU follows up its Cal win by beating WA in Seattle. Hawkinson made the key play at the end of the game. He was a 3* unranked player. If we whiff on all these 5 stars I hope we have identified some diamonds in the rough like him. The 7 footer Railey did not do much, He was not going to abuse Upshaw like he did Cal. Main damage was done by Lacy outside, Wiley old Ernie had a different strategy against WA, than he did against Cal, and it payed off.

Schollies: Are they still renewable annually, or did that change?

I thought that Cal had announced its intent to make schollies a four year commitment (i.e., not renewable annually, as they have been historically). Regardless, my sense of it is that Cal has never been remotely like the SEC schools, pulling scholarships from kids who aren't performing. Am I correct in that assumption?

Have we ever done anything like that? I'm not sure what you do with guys like Brandon Chauca and Cameron Walker (the DB, not the hoops recruit). I don't think either of them should be playing at the D1 level, and I think that they are unlikely to see a whole lot of action going forward (especially Walker), but I can't imagine our coaches doing anything further than pulling them aside, telling them they don't figure much in the team's future plans, and suggesting that they consider transferring. I realize I'm ahead of the curve with Chauca, since he has only been here for a few months, but I think he is gonna be mired on the bench, especially if we get one or two good guards in the 2015 recruiting class.

UCLA Basketball Game

UCLA beat Stanford in double OT last night. Everyone pooh poohs UCLA, Alford and his son. This next game has the potential to be a clownstomper. The stompee is Cal. The UCLA frontline is a lot better than either WSU or USC and we know what happened there. Loooney and Parker put up 47 pts last night. Freshman Looney is a McDonalds AA and was a top 10 player. Both Looney and Parker are 6-9, and Parker is 265 lbs. Their guards are sophomore Hamilton who was also a McDonald's AA and sr. Powell who is capable of going for 20 pts. Welsh gets limited minutes and he was supposed to be our big recruit.

You can forget about their ragged start. This is basically a whole new lineup and it takes time to put it together, regardless of the talent level. Even a "dumb" coach like Alford knows where to go with the basketball against Cal. Martin is again going with Okoroh and Moute in the starting lineup which means we can match their size, if not their talent. Singer and Behrens have likely won permanent seats on the bench. There is upside with Okoroh and Moute. There is none with Singer and Behrens. Might as well start laying a foundation for the future. If recruiting does not go as hoped for, Okoroh and Moute are next year's starters. Add Bird instead of Kravish and you may have next year's lineup.

The only way Cal keeps this game close is by some awesome defense and lights out shooting by Wallace and Mathews. Also some knd of a wakeup game from Kravish. Is Cal going to play physical like they really want to win this game? Or give up with another vanilla performance. Win or lose, I want to see them compete.
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