Back in February, I listed the proposed rule changes for college football. The proposed changes still had to be approved by an NCAA oversight committee, and that’s now taken place. While the vast majority of the changes were approved as-is, there are also some new developments.

The main point is that 3-2-5-e is dead. Good.

One proposal that didn’t make it through was a plan to limit official reviews (replays) to 2:00. Citing “the potential for technical difficulties,” the rules committee withdrew this proposal. It’s not really a big deal as replays averaged just 1:49 last year. I maintain that the policy of reviewing every play is a bigger issue. It’s not that replays take too long in most cases – there are sometimes just too many plays being reviewed.

The talk of a 40-second play clock keeps coming around.

The committee will also begin considering a play clock that alternates between 40 seconds and 25 seconds, depending on whether the clock has stopped. The NFL uses that system, and the committee thinks it could speed up games.

We’re going to end up with a system here in a couple of years where the play clock is 40 seconds in some cases, 25 in others, and 15 in the rest. Choose one. The guys on the field have enough to worry about without wondering if this is the second snap after the full moon and whether or not they have to get the play off in 10 seconds or 45 seconds.

Billy Donovan is staying at Florida. As most outside of Lexington expected, he’s simply going to play the situation into a nice extension at Florida.

There is hope though for the rest of the college basketball world. Florida’s four star underclassmen Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, and Taurean Green are expected to announce later today that they will declare for the NBA draft.

Arkansas has been going through basketball coaches so quickly that the latest one is gone before he even got started.

Yep…Dana Altman will remain at Creighton. The soap opera that is the Arkansas athletic department continues.

This might actually turn out to be a good thing. Altman wasn’t a very good hire, and the Hogs are bailed out albeit with a little egg on their faces. Who’s next?

Jim Delany must be in awe of Florida’s fast basketball team this morning.

It’s tough to say it, but Florida had a magnificent team this year. The word most frequently used to describe them was "balanced", and that shone through in the national title game.

While frontcourt stars Noah and Horford get the spotlight and people debate about which is the better pro prospect, the backcourt made this team dominant. Last night Noah and Horford had a single basket between them in the first half as Florida built a double-digit lead. That’s not to say that they played poorly. They rebounded and defended well. The attention paid to them on offense left open looks on the perimeter, and the trio of Brewer, Green, and Humphrey knocked them down with ease. That’s what balance does – last night it was the backcourt putting up the points. Had Ohio State extended, the Florida frontcourt would have taken over.

A 9-0 run later in the first half put Florida up by 11, and they had control of the game from that point. Ohio State was within striking distance for much of the rest of the game, but they never got back within six points. Florida was able to hold the Buckeyes at arm’s length, always in control, and always poised. They answered every Ohio State push, and demoralizing three-pointer after three-pointer from Florida made their eight-point lead seem like twice that. As productive and impressive as Oden was for Ohio State, they were trading two points for three. Florida, the inconsistent upstart a year ago, played this game with the precision and level head of an experienced champion.

To call most of Florida’s team "role players" is to diminish the fact that individually they would be stars on any team. What team wouldn’t kill to have a tall ball-handling wing who can match up at four positions like Brewer? Most teams have their three-point specialist, but how many can hit the clutch and timely daggers that Lee Humphrey pours in on a regular basis? Of all the big-time scorers to play in the NCAA Tournament, who would have expected Humphrey to be the most prolific three-point shooter of them all? Then there’s Chris Richard. He plays in the shadow of Noah and Horford, but few starting SEC posts can play the "garbageman" role as well as he.

Vitale and Digger on ESPN tried to make the case that these guys didn’t measure up to some of the great champions of the past, but I don’t buy it. Not only do they have a complete team, but they also had the mental edge and ability to turn it on in the spotlight. There might have been more talented teams, but Kansas and Carolina watched the Final Four from home. When you look at great teams like the mid-90s Kentucky teams or Duke from the early 90s or the Big East teams of the 80s, this Florida squad can claim to match up competitively with any of them.

The interesting thing is what comes next. Humphrey and Richard are the only seniors among the regulars. It’s inconceivable that juniors Noah, Horford, Green, and Brewer would all come back, but we thought at least one would go pro after last year’s title. Billy Donovan held off on a pay increase last year to persuade those players to come back for another run at the title, and he’s now set to cash in big at either Kentucky or Florida. If he uses his position to negotiate a big increase at Florida, will the fact that he remained convince some of the juniors to follow his lead and stay at Florida another year?

It’s an historical time at Florida, and I hate it, but the devil gets his due today.

I know almost none of you come here wanting to read about women’s hoops, but last night’s national semifinals were hideous. LSU managed to score 35 points. In a game. Rutgers can play some great defense, but these games last night with their ridiculously low scores do nothing for the game. While you hear teams like LSU, Rutgers, and Tennessee praised for their defense, offensive innovation lags.

The games were ugly not just because of the styles of play but also because of the behavior on the court in the nightcap. We all admire players who play with passion and intensity, but many now use their enthusiasm as an excuse to preen and draw attention to themselves. Last night you had Carolina’s Ivory Latta, famous for spectacular plays and spectacular meltdowns, who became an early focus in the game not for anything she was contributing to her team but for her trash talking competition with Tennessee’s Shannon Bobbitt. Latta leaves college without a national title or even a national title game appearance despite entering the Final Four as the favorite in consecutive seasons.

Then you have Candace Parker. To say that Parker is a great player understates things. She changes the game. She won this year’s Wade Trophy, a player of the year recognition, as a sophomore. Among the criteria for the Wade Trophy are "character" and embodying "the ‘Spirit of Margaret Wade’," a pioneer of the women’s game. Parker found herself in foul trouble early in this game and spent much of the first half on the bench, providing ESPN with a reason for a reason to put a camera on the bench to get her reaction whenever a teammate dribbled. My favorite display of this character was when Latta picked up her third foul. Parker, herself on the bench with foul trouble, danced around like a fool with three fingers held high and egging on the Tennessee crowd behind her.

Of course this stuff is nothing new in the men’s game, but you hate to see it creep into the women’s game, and you especially hate to see it celebrated as much as it is.

If they were honest, they’d take and change the WNBA’s slogan "Have you seen her?" to "Have you seen me?"

Swinging an axe that would make George Steinbrenner proud, outgoing Arkansas AD Frank Broyles is cleaning house before he turns in the keys.

Broyles announced his retirement on February 17th, but the retirement will not take effect until the end of 2007. Broyles’ retirement announcement came in the midst of a storm of controversy surrounding the football program which began with interference from parents and resulted in the transfer of star QB Mitch Mustain and the demotion and eventual departure of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

Then women’s basketball coach (and UGA alum) Susie Gardner "resigned" following a loss in the SEC Tournament in early March.

Today, the carnage continued with the firing of men’s basketball coach Stan Heath. Arkansas’ run to the finals of the SEC Tournament and a berth in the NCAA Tournament were not enough to save Heath. Heath was 82-71 in five seasons and had reached the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments. It’s speculated that Arkansas will target Texas A&M’s Billy Gillespie.

Football coach Houston Nutt remains one of the few survivors, but even he is on shaky ground despite an SEC West title last season. With all of the drama around the football program and the changes going on in other programs, the future of Nutt might be one of Broyles’ last decisions as he exits in December.

There have ben some duds in recent years, but this year’s NCAA Tournament has been one of the best I can recall. It started last Saturday with one of the best all-around days of tournament basketball I’ve seen. The day began with Ohio State’s thrilling overtime win over Xavier. Butler hung on against Maryland. Pitt was in a struggle with VCU. UCLA survived against Indiana. Texas A&M and Louisville was a classic back-and-forth slugfest. The Vandy-Washington State game was the best of them all – a double-overtime roller coaster.

The first night of the Sweet Sixteen continued to live up to form. Of the four games, two were decided by a single point and another had only a three-point margin. Memphis continues to prove the doubters wrong. Ohio State came back from the dead for a second straight game and showed that they still had some magic left.

Keep them coming – this has been an incredible event so far.

Waiting to hear from Mitch Barnhart.

FoxSports.com is reporting that Kentucky basketball coach Tubby Smith has been forced out and will take the vacant job at Minnesota. Not at Michigan – at Minnesota.

I’m not one to dance on graves. As a relatively ambitious man, I can understand why Tubby left Georgia for Kentucky. But I’m certainly not sad for him and definitely not sympathetic with the Cats. With the greater prestige of the job comes greater expectations and pressure. Now is the Minnesota situation in 2007 better than the situation Tubby came into at Georgia in 1995? I don’t think so.

The college basketball world now waits to see if Billy Donovan will turn down the job.

Perhaps Tubby can continue his legacy at Kentucky much the same way he did at Georgia with a recommendation for his successor. Ron Jirsa is available.

We continue today’s legislative roundup with this nugget. Eight wins at most top football programs, if done consistently, gets you fired. One eight-win season gets the fans grumbling…even a nine-win season leaves some natives restless. Not at South Carolina.

Eight wins gets you an increase in ticket prices and also a glowing pat on the back from the South Carolina state house:

A HOUSE RESOLUTION

TO CONGRATULATE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD FOOTBALL COACH STEVE SPURRIER AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL TEAM FOR AN OUTSTANDING 2006 SEASON WHICH CONCLUDED WITH A TOTAL OF EIGHT WINS INCLUDING A VICTORY OVER HOUSTON IN THE LIBERTY BOWL, IN MEMPHIS, AND FOR BRINGING TO THE GAMECOCK PROGRAM A RENEWED SENSE OF PRIDE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Read the whole thing. It gets better. They commend him for winning a Heisman and titles at a competing school…in a different state. This might also be the first mention of recruiting analysts in a legislative resolution.

It needs to be investigated whether the phrase "the University of South Carolina football team recently concluded an outstanding 2006 season with eight wins including a thrilling high-scoring victory over Houston in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis" can be challenged in court. I expect to see it in negative campaign ads against the sponsors of the resolution.

As much as we know about Spurrier, this resolution probably didn’t come as an honor to him; it was surely an embarrassment to him that these overzealous fans in the state house would fawn all over an eight-win season and a "thrilling" Liberty Bowl win.

Such a legislative act isn’t unprecedented though. We’ve obtained an etching of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia deliberating a resolution to honor Joe Paterno’s first bowl win.

The Banner-Herald reports that some Georgia legislators are trying to use legislative pressure to revive intercollegiate wrestling programs in the state. The University of Georgia dropped its program in 1980, and Georgia State in 1998 was the last state school to drop its program.

Republican state Senator Seth Harp of Midland is behind the effort. He says,

"We’ve had a number of people who made inquires about having a wrestling program. We’re losing some very fine students to out-of-state schools."

That might be true, but I’d be a lot more concerned about the "very fine students" who are leaving the state because of the quality of Georgia public higher education rather than the availability of a wrestling program.

Possible co-ed wrestling team

Look, I have nothing against Georgia colleges having a wrestling program. Georgia has a strong high school program. There are lots of other sports I’d like to see added too. We just have a few realities to face:

• Funding. The University of Georgia’s athletic association is in the black, but it’s an exception. Tech is struggling and working through financial issues. Other state colleges can’t be raking in the cash. How do these legislators propose we fund these programs?
• Title IX. This is really the big gorilla in the room. There aren’t many schools who don’t struggle with the requirements of Title IX. Few schools are totally compliant, and even those who come close do so with a careful balancing act. UGA’s recent addition of a large equestrian program was surely motivated with an eye towards increasing the number of female student-athletes. In a nod to the Missouri Compromise, schools attempting to keep the balance required by Title IX can’t add scholarships for male athletes without adding them for females. No, that doesn’t mean a female wrestling program or a coed program; it means that adding wrestling would probably have to come hand-in-hand with another female sport. So the funding problem is now a problem times two.

Sen. Harp can’t be all bad; he’s a driving force behind reforming the remaining Blue Laws, and I support him completely on that issue. He just needs to think this wrestling thing through a bit. "Coach Goldberg" doesn’t sound too bad though.

With Kentucky’s quarterfinal loss to Mississippi State this afternoon, the market for SEC Tournament tickets just evaporated. Tickets should be easy to find for anyone looking to go to any of the remaining rounds.

What is it with tournaments and clock issues? The SEC women’s tournament last weekend was plagued with them. Last night’s Georgia-Auburn game was delayed due to a stoppage with eight minutes left. You could see Dennis Felton agonizing over the delay as it might cool off his team during a critical stretch in the game where Auburn was threatening to come within single-digits. Even the ACC Tournament had its issues.

The Gwinnett arena is particularly bad. I’ve been to about seven or eight basketball games in that arena and seem to recall a clock issue every time. Several times last weekend we saw that there were "-1" seconds remaining in the game. There was the enjoyable instance a few years ago during the Russell Athletic Shootout where the horn blared without stopping for about ten minutes.

It’s the downside of using arenas that aren’t designed for or are sparingly used for basketball. In the case of the Gwinnett arena, the scoreboards are miserable. They are small and difficult to read at the far ends of the seating configuration that is more ideal for hockey. You would hope that these groups who work hard to land these prestigious events would have a bit more pride about their arenas and pay as much attention to the operating of the scoreboards and clocks as they do to making sure we know who the event sponsors are.

The SEC Tournament’s first round saved its most interesting game for last. The first three games went as expected and were solid double-digit wins for the favorites. Things get more intense today as the top four seeds join the action. LSU’s upset win over Tennessee ensures that at least one SEC West team will advance to the semifinals, but will there be another?

• Kentucky 79 – Alabama 67. The Cats had a pretty easy time with the Tide, and it didn’t help Alabama that Steele was limited. You just can’t overstate Kentucky’s comfort playing in the SEC Tournament. They’re not the best team here, but they are used to advancing. Their omnipresent fans give them a lift. Even in a down year, why shouldn’t they be expected to reach the semifinals? Alabama, on the other hand, put the finishing touches on a disappointing season. Last year’s NCAA Tournament run notwithstanding, they tend to be one of the league’s biggest paper tigers from year to year.
  
• Arkansas 82 – South Carolina 52. The Hogs have been tough to figure out this year, but they too had few problems in their opener. South Carolina is a much lesser team away from home, and it showed in this game. They didn’t shoot well, got outrebounded, and couldn’t create turnovers. Arkansas hit 12 more shots and dominated the second half. Arkansas seems like a solid NIT team, but it’s looking less likely that the Gamecocks will get an opportunity to become a three-time repeat NIT champion.
  
• Georgia 80 – Auburn 65. The Dawgs grabbed control of this one late in the first half and held the lead in double-digits during the second half. They overmatched Auburn at most every position and were effective inside and outside. Auburn has improved this year much like Georgia, and they had won three of their last four entering the tournament. But Georgia showed again that they have come further and are the better program.
  
• LSU 76 – Tennessee 67 (OT). Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl recognized the trouble early. This game was played exactly to LSU’s pace – low-scoring and in the halfcourt. Tennessee had no answer for Big Baby Davis inside – he dominated on offense and affected what the Vols wanted to do on the other end of the court. Davis’s presence forced Tennessee to rely on their strength – the three-point shot, but it let them down in this game. They shot just 23% from outside, and guards Wayne Chism and JaJuan Smith combined for a dreadful 0-12 from outside. Even sharpshooting Chris Lofton only hit three from behind the arc. The Tigers had the game won in regulation, but poor rebounding and a horrible call actually gave Tennessee a chance to attempt the game-winning shot. LSU closed the door in overtime, and Davis ensured that there would be no second comeback. Though they struggled for much of the season, LSU showed how dangerous a team can be in the postseason with a single dominant player. Ole Miss should be a bit nervous. Wins at Arkansas and Georgia helped to limit concerns about Tennessee’s play away from home, but those same questions have to be asked again with their NCAA seeding at stake.

Newspapers (and other media) get stuff wrong all the time, but it gets your attention when something moves beyond rumor and onto the printed page.

James Varney of Nola.com (the online edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune) is now reporting a new reason for LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman’s resignation:

LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman resigned Wednesday because the university found out about inappropriate conduct between Chatman and one or more players, according to university sources who are aware of the events or have been briefed on it by school officials.

That’s potentially devastating news, not only to Chatman but also to the players who remain. It’s clear that this is a rapidly-developing story and that we’re not close to the end of it yet.