BleedGopher
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Nice to see Wetzel at ESPN now, he's a good writer/reporter:
From courtrooms to Congress, college athletics has spent the past half decade decrying how name, image and likeness rights for players and the transfer portal have adversely affected competition, if not supposedly destroyed the soul of collegiate competition.
Monied mercenaries have ended the concept of team. Transfers leaving after each season mean players no longer play for each other. Coaches are thus incapable of building and teaching. It's a wonder they even still bother with March Madness.
The man standing Tuesday behind a lectern, previewing his latest trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, has never been shy to chime in with his complaints.
That is Tom Izzo's prerogative, one built from his perspective. Coaching these days is no doubt tougher, more time consuming and more frustrating than ever -- managing a roster is akin to Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill.
And yet ... Izzo is 70 years old and not just still coaching, but coaching No. 2 seed Michigan State in the South Region in his 27th consecutive NCAA tournament with a real shot at his ninth Final Four.
For all that has changed in college basketball, and for all the claims that said change was running old-school coaches out while making team-first programs impossible for anyone of any age to create, the reality born from the results tells an opposite story.
The greats find a way.
Of the eight teams seeded either No. 1 or No. 2 in this year's men's bracket, five are led by men 65 or older.
www.espn.com
Go Gophers!!
From courtrooms to Congress, college athletics has spent the past half decade decrying how name, image and likeness rights for players and the transfer portal have adversely affected competition, if not supposedly destroyed the soul of collegiate competition.
Monied mercenaries have ended the concept of team. Transfers leaving after each season mean players no longer play for each other. Coaches are thus incapable of building and teaching. It's a wonder they even still bother with March Madness.
The man standing Tuesday behind a lectern, previewing his latest trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, has never been shy to chime in with his complaints.
That is Tom Izzo's prerogative, one built from his perspective. Coaching these days is no doubt tougher, more time consuming and more frustrating than ever -- managing a roster is akin to Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill.
And yet ... Izzo is 70 years old and not just still coaching, but coaching No. 2 seed Michigan State in the South Region in his 27th consecutive NCAA tournament with a real shot at his ninth Final Four.
For all that has changed in college basketball, and for all the claims that said change was running old-school coaches out while making team-first programs impossible for anyone of any age to create, the reality born from the results tells an opposite story.
The greats find a way.
Of the eight teams seeded either No. 1 or No. 2 in this year's men's bracket, five are led by men 65 or older.
Wetzel: Why the sky has not fallen in NCAA hoops
Amid changes and dire predictions about college hoops, top coaches in the game seem to have figured it out.
Go Gophers!!