It looks as if today’s the day: Kelvin Sampson could be out at Indiana.

As a Georgia fan who suffered through the end of the truncated 2003 season, what matters to me is the fallout. Will Indiana pull out of the postseason as a preemptive measure? It’s a promising season for the Hoosiers, and they’re very much in play for the Big 10 title. Or is Dan Dakich the next Steve Fisher (h/t Deadspin)?

Several players are threatening to walk out if Sampson is removed. Though that’s probably just raw emotion at this point, will there be any attrition either from the current roster or the current recruiting class if there is a change? Will there be sanctions for a program that his historically kept its nose clean?

I know that the Internet has turned the whole "never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel" aphorism on its head, but I still don’t know if it’s the wisest move for Phil Fulmer to get into a war of words with columnist John Adams.

Make no mistake, he’s in a fight to remain in control of the program. Let’s not forget that early in the 2007 season things were so shaky in Knoxville that former players had to take out a full-page ad in support of Fulmer. Though a much-needed win over Georgia placated the masses, an embarrassing loss at Alabama got the torches fired back up. Had the Vols not pulled out close wins against South Carolina, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt and won five straight games to win the SEC East, there’s no telling how ugly things might have become.

Now with his offensive mastermind gone to Duke and arguably his best recruiter gone to Oklahoma State, Fulmer is left to rebuild his staff with a new quarterback while fending off increasingly loud dissenters like Adams.

You can tell that Fulmer is struggling to keep it together when he goes right to the "doing it for the children" defense of his program. That’s often the last refuge of a coach who has little else to lean on.

It’s a mistake that while defending his character and leadership he seems most secure in his on-the-field record. Every coach is a mentor. Every coach wants to see his players graduate and go on to wonderful careers in law enforcement. He isn’t feeling heat because of his track record educating and mentoring his players. Since Linda Bensel-Meyers came forward, the portrayal of the Tennessee football program as anything but a football factory is good comedy, and Tennessee fans were more than willing to look the other way while things were going well.

Tennessee might have won more games than 95% of other teams as Fulmer says, but he is feeling heat because the perception is there of a program in decline. Though they have three SEC East titles in the 2000s, they haven’t won an SEC title since 1998. They haven’t been in the national title picture since 2001. Fulmer might want to think twice about inviting criticism of his on-field performance. Coaches aren’t replaced in the SEC because they don’t mentor well enough.

UPDATE: In the meantime, we have news about another future Knox County sheriff’s deputy.

Congratulations to Georgia Tech. On the eve of the start of college baseball, they found a way to have a college basketball game rained out. They will try to reschedule the game, but it might have to happen after the regular season and before the conference tournament.

You almost feel sorry for these fans, but then you remember that they were going to watch Tech basketball.

Once the PA announcer told fans in a less-than-half-filled arena that the game would hopefully be rescheduled and to hold onto ticket stubs, Tech fans Jeff Reeves and his son Lee were not amused.

They drove five hours from Demopolis, Ala. After Lee’s first chance to see a Tech game was drowned out, he said, “It sucks.”

Paul Hewitt’s joke that the team “finally caught a break” at home makes me wonder if this rainout came via the Crash Davis method.

You want a rainout?

Two basketball programs – one a titan and one…not so much – have recently opened new showcase practice facilities with much fanfare. Each looks very impressive and should be assets to those programs both in player development and in recruiting. Since Georgia’s own facility opened less than a year ago, it’s worth taking a look at how Georgia’s investment stacks up against Duke and SMU. Sure, $30 million is an impressive amount to put into a building, and the place looks great, but when you see Georgia’s facility relative to similar projects, you really can appreciate the athletic department’s commitment to these programs.

Note: Remember that Georgia’s facility also includes significant space for the nation’s top gymnastics program; not all of this investment is for basketball.

SMU: Crum Basketball Center

• Cost: $13 million
• Area: 43,000 sq. ft.
• Dedicated practice courts for men’s and women’s programs: Yes
• Connected to arena
• Other: "Players’ locker rooms and lounges, a fully-equipped training and rehabilitation room with in-ground hydrotherapy pools, a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning room, an on-site laundry facility, coaches’ offices and conference facilities for both programs, coaches’ locker rooms and film editing rooms"
• Quotable: "This facility is as nice as any basketball facility in the country! I designed UNC’s locker room, weight room and practice gym…..and "The Crum" is nicer!" – SMU coach Matt Doherty

Duke: Michael W. Krzyzewski Center for Athletic Excellence

• Cost: $15.2 million
• Area: 56,000 sq. ft.
• Dedicated practice courts for men’s and women’s programs: Kind of. The facility includes two adjacent full-sized courts.
• Located next to arena, connected by underground tunnel
• Other: Weight room, banquet room, academic support center, "legacy locker room" for former players, film rooms
• Quotable: "We didn’t cut corners but we didn’t go crazy. We were able to be very efficient with our money and time." – Duke associate athletic director Mike Cragg

Georgia: Coliseum Training Facility

• Cost: $30 million
• Area: 120,000 sq. ft.
• Connected to arena
• Dedicated practice courts/space for all programs: Yes
• Other: Locker rooms, training areas, student-athlete lounges, film rooms, coaches’ offices, conference rooms, meeting/banquet space
• Quotable: "Once we had drawings to show (recruits) that it would be a spectacular facility – it started to make an impression." – Dennis Felton

Which facility is the best doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve been in Georgia’s – it’s incredible, and I’m sure that the others are visually stunning as well. What’s important is that Georgia has given these programs an investment at least on par with a basketball program with the tradition, following, and fundraising ability of Duke.

Georgia broke a losing streak with a convincing win over South Carolina on Wednesday. They couldn’t turn it into a winning streak and came just short of upsetting #4 Tennessee in Athens. The Dawgs head out for consecutive road games at Kentucky and Vanderbilt this week. Given Georgia’s road woes, it could be a brutal two-game stretch, but Rupp Arena always seems to get Dennis Felton’s best shot.

Though the bottom half of the SEC West is a mess, Mississippi State did a lot to clear up things at the top with a win over Arkansas. The Bulldogs have a solid two-game lead, and the Razorbacks seem to be in control of the #2 position. In the East, Kentucky got drilled by Vanderbilt but hold a half-game lead over the Commodores. Florida is hanging on to postseason chances with a 6-5 conference mark, but they still have games left against Mississippi State, Tennessee, and at Kentucky. Do they need to win one of those to have a chance to defend their title?

SEC Men’s Basketball Power Rankings

1. Tennessee: Winning the close games builds valuable experience.
2. Miss. St.: Won a big battle over Arkansas
3. Vanderbilt: Solid at home over Kentucky and Florida.
4. Kentucky: Destroyed by Vandy and just hung on against LSU.
5. Arkansas: Missed a chance at West title in Starkville.
6. Florida: Are they on the bubble?
7. Georgia: Only one win to show for it, but playing much better.
8. South Carolina: Picked up 4th SEC win against Bama.
9. LSU: Playing inspired ball since coaching change.
10. Auburn: Wishes every game was against Ole Miss.
11. Ole Miss: Lost 6 of last 7.
12. Alabama: Stuck on two conference wins.

Lady Dogs

For the first time since late January, the Lady Dogs have put together consecutive wins. They completed a season sweep of Florida on Thursday, and they survived turnovers for a close win at Mississippi State to finish the week. The Lady Dogs stand at 6-5 in the SEC with a week of rest before a very important game with Auburn on Sunday. Auburn ran away with an easy win when the teams met in January, and Georgia’s NCAA Tournament chances might depend on winning the second meeting. A Georgia win could also move them into a tie with Auburn for 5th place.

After 14 points at Mississippi State, Tasha Humphrey is now tied with Kelly Miller as the #3 career scoring leader at Georgia. She is only 18 points behind Katrina McClain at the number 2 spot. With a 20-point performance against Auburn, Humphrey could become the program’s second-leading career scorer behind only Janet Harris. With over 2,600 career points, no one is catching Harris any time soon.

LSU left no doubt about the current best team in the league with a resounding win in Knoxville. Vanderbilt had a chance to force a tie for second place, but Tennessee held them off in Nashville.

SEC Women’s Basketball Power Rankings

1. LSU: Clear sailing to regular season title.
2. Tennessee: No 0.2 seconds to bail them out against LSU.
3. Vanderbilt: Six-game winning streak snapped against Tennessee.
4. Kentucky: Two of three remaining games should be wins.
5. Georgia: A week to rest before a revenge game against Auburn.
6. Auburn: A win at Georgia could wrap up the #5 seed.
7. Florida: Bounced back from Georgia loss to hold off Arkansas.
8. Miss. St.: Playing very tough over the past three games.
9. Ole Miss: Continue to look bad against good teams.
10. Arkansas: In bad shape.
11. South Carolina: Gave Auburn trouble.
12. Alabama: Two SEC wins in three years.

I’m among those who think that we’re all safer when Congress concerns itself with frivilous pursuits like getting to the bottom of what exactly Roger Clemens did or did not inject into his backside. When this whole steroids thing is over, we offer a few suggestions for other investigations to keep their plate full well past Election Day:

• The clock operator at Thompson-Boling arena. Even Don Imus thinks that Rutgers got jobbed.
• Where exactly is Marquis Elmore’s car these days?
• The location of the Vince Dooley statue on Georgia’s campus. Is it too much to ask for the thing to be placed at midfield?
• Brokering a peaceful solution between Georgia and Florida over vanity license plates. The Supreme Court might have to get involved.
• When does 32 equal 25?
• Bizarre injuries to Georgia student-athletes: everything from Odell Collins’ hamstring to Chris Barnes’ mysterious eye ailment (yikes).
• Alternate ideas for reducing the length of college football games (other than banning FOX from broadcasting games).
• Is waterboarding torture? What if it’s Al Ford or Penn Wagers?

…they’d be stuck in Midtown.

It’s pick-your-poison when you’re a low seed. Georgia seems destined to play Auburn in the opening round every year, so look for the Dawgs to move into 5th in the East and play a shaky #4 seed from the West – Auburn, Alabama, whoever.

With the top three seeds all but certain to go to LSU/Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the real action is in the 4-7 spots. Kentucky looks to be in good shape in 4th, but an injury to a starter has them vulnerable. Auburn, Georgia, and Florida are bunched together, and Georgia plays each of those schools again. Looking at the bracket, the benefits to Georgia of moving into the 5th (or better, 4th) seed seem huge.

Paul Johnson supposedly had this quote at last night’s signing day festivities:

“We’re sure going to try and beat (Georgia). Heck, I’ve hated them since I was at Georgia Southern.”

It’s obvious why Johnson would develop such feelings for the Bulldogs and not for Tech – it would be hard for a Georgia Southern coach to work up a hate for a program that won’t even play the Eagles.

Congratulations to Danny Ware, Kawika Mitchell, and the rest of the New York Giants.

The college football blogosphere will no doubt be inundated over the next few days with opinions about what this improbable outcome means for a college football playoff.  Did the 10-6 Giants even belong in a championship game with an undefeated Patriots team?  Is it inevitable that a college football playoff would put a 7-5 conference champ in the position to win a few games and end up playing for all the marbles?  Is the winner of a playoff really the best team?

Other than the fact that I’m a Giants fan, I don’t have a problem with the outcome, and here’ why:

• The Patriots, Cowboys, and Packers had every chance to win the title.  None of the top teams in the league were denied access to the process, and for that reason any debate about the league’s champion ended when Eli Manning took a knee.
• If we accept a playoff, we have to accept the “any given Sunday” risks that come when you actually play the games and let the process play out on the field.  Sports doesn’t follow the scripts, the oddsmakers, or the computers.  An outcome that seems less-than-optimal isn’t an indictment of the process.
• Beating four increasingly-difficult opponents over a month’s time isn’t to be dismissed as merely “getting hot at the right time”. You have to sustain a pretty high level of play over a significant length of time.  In the case of the Giants, that had to be done completely on the road.

On its own, this was an incredible game, and a thrilling finish.  The Manning-to-Tyree pass will take its place among the pantheon of legendary NFL plays, and Eli Manning finally has a legacy of his own. 

In an act sure to go down in history alongside “freedom fries” as bold legislative stands, the Georgia legislature took the time to weigh in on the BCS.

The state House voted 151-9 Friday to urge the NCAA to create a playoff system for college football, adopting a resolution that calls the current system “dysfunctional.”

…The resolution, which now goes to the Senate, calls the BCS system “the greatest disappointment of the 2007 college football season.”

Awesome. Can’t wait to see the outcome of their American Idol vote later this month.

But if the legislature is going to stick its nose into college football, there are much more pressing matters they could deal with such as this abomination they allowed to slip through:

The Senator points us to a Seattle Times series about the 2000 University of Washington football team. The focus today is on a player who had to overcome many things in his quest for a degree, not the least of which were institutional factors that compromised academics.

An offensive lineman exemplified the mind-set of many players on the team. “I was a football major,” he says. “Class was not important to me.”

J.K. Scott, who was a backup quarterback, says: “Most of the talk with the guys, and this isn’t everyone, was, ‘What are the easiest classes we can find?’ For everyone there, it’s football first, and education second, as an afterthought.”

The article (and series) is interesting and pretty damning at times, but it’s naive to think that the portrait we develop from this series is unique to Washington. There isn’t a football program in Division 1 that doesn’t lower its academic standards for football players, and Husky players surely aren’t the only ones even on that campus looking for the easiest path to a degree.

But while we’re talking about institutional approaches to the education of student-athletes, it’s worth noting that the University of Georgia’s “University Council Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics met Tuesday afternoon to plan a meeting with students, coaches and academic support staff to interview them about their academic experiences.”

“The committee proposed questions to ask the coaches and students, such as how many hours were dedicated to the teams per week and how they deal with academic violations,” the Red and Black reported. This event is scheduled for March 27th, and it aims to be a pretty comprehensive survey of athletic programs.

This study comes on the heels of an NCAA study that, not surprisingly, found that most student-athletes consider themselves athletes first and students second. The survey also found that student-athletes spend, on average, over 40 hours a week on their sport – far in excess of NCAA guidelines for supervised practice time.

If you’re a minor league hockey team in Wheeling, WVa., you probably need all the attention you can get. So the Wheeling Nailers are reaching out to the disillusioned people of West Virginia and will host "Shred Rich Rodriguez" night this Saturday. Bring a picture of Rodriguez to feed into a huge shredder and get a discounted ticket. (A shredder! Get it?)

The promotion doesn’t stop there:

Additionally any fan who wears WVU apparel to the game will receive $2 off their ticket price. Ohio State fans will also receive the discount by wearing their gear to the game to demonstrate their mutual distaste for Michigan.

Any fan caught wearing University of Michigan apparel will be charged double in order to help Rodriguez pay his $4 million buyout to WVU.

If your first name is Rich or your last name is Rodriguez your ticket will be $8.25. If your name happens to be Rich Rodriguez you will get in free. Except, of course, if you actually are Coach Rich Rodriguez then you will be barred from the building and escorted outside state lines.

In the land of the burning couch, I’m sure a few people will show up and be disappointed to find that Rich Rodriguez will not actually be fed through a wood chipper.

The Brian VanGorder story continues to get better and better as the move causes ripples through the SEC.

The latest development? Brand-spanking-new Arkansas defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson has resigned to fill the vacancy at South Carolina. Johnson makes VanGorder look like Joe Paterno in terms of longevity: VanGorder was announced as the Gamecock defensive coordinator on Steve Spurrier’s Web site on December 19th. Johnson was introduced the coordinator at Arkansas on January 4th. 20 days on the job – not bad.

Petrino noted that "(Johnson) and his wife are both from South Carolina and many of their relatives still reside in the state," and that explains the reason for the move. Of course this news comes just hours after the Arkansas Democrat Gazette runs a lovely story profiling Johnson and noting that "his wife Caroline was eager to live in Northwest Arkansas after hearing about the area for years." Not that eager, I guess.

This story can only end with VanGorder following Petrino’s footsteps and leaving the Falcons to become the Arkansas defensive coordinator.

Please, oh please, let this happen:

Sources have confirmed to CSTV that newly hired South Carolina defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is likely to leave Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks and return to the NFL as the defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

Brian Curtis of CSTV has the scoop. The Falcons hired Jacksonville defensive coordinator Mike Smith, and the two worked together when VanGorder left Georgia to become Jacksonville’s linebacker coach after 2004 which was about seven jobs ago for VanGorder. VanGorder left Jacksonville after one year to take the head coaching position at Georgia Southern. From there – you know, I kind of lose track. I think he had a stint with the World League, briefly took over for the Atlanta Thrashers, and had begun taping a reality show on Food Network before Spurrier came calling.

VanGorder’s four-week stay in Columbia would be kind of short even for him.

UPDATE: South Carolina’s Rivals site confirms the news. “Sources close to the USC football program have confirmed to Gamecock Central that VanGorder will be named the new defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.”