The BIAH Quotables

This a new feature we are trying out here at BIAH this season. Throughout the week, we are going to post some notable quotes or excerpts that show up in our google reader. Stupid people say stupid things 24 hours a day, and being somehow associated with the college hoops landscape does not preclude that fact. That said, we will not limit our quotables to the simple and idiotic, as the insightful and intelligent will also be highlighted. Feel free to pass along any quotables you stumble across to contactbiah@gmail.com or hit us up on twitter.


Chris Chase at The Dagger wrote an insightful piece on the habits of AP poll voters, John Feinstein in particular. Feinstein apparently holds the #25 spot for particular schools:

I use the 25th spot every week to try to give some recognition to a smaller school ... You'd be amazed how much it means to schools like that to get the one vote--so why not?

But Chase explains why a voter can do this, and have it not matter that much:

I agree. It's a bit contrived but it doesn't hurt anyone and gives a thrill to the small legions of fans who root for Army and William & Mary and Coastal Carolina. College basketball polls are inherently meaningless as it is. One vote in said college basketball poll is even more so. The one point Feinstein's No. 25 vote is worth wouldn't have made a difference in any in-season poll this year. The gap between the No. 24, No. 25 and "No. 26" team averages around 35 points. One point is a drop in the bucket.

The Normally-stoic Jim Boeheim decided to cut lose during the press conference after his team's dismantling of Big East rival Georgetown. Jimmy-B was dropping bombs left and right.

I tried transcribing it for you, but it was too arduous of a task for me to complete. So here is the video instead. The hilarity ensues shortly after the 4:45 Mark:


Mark "the shark" Titus, the mastermind behind Club Trillion, had a great quotable about other notable walk-ons around the country:

Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State is his team’s best player, but is technically a walk-on after he gave up his scholarship because the team had more players who were promised scholarships than there were scholarships available.

Justin Thomas of Syracuse was thrown into the fire last year in that classic six overtime thriller against UConn because most of the guys in the regular rotation had fouled out.

Skylar McBee of Tennessee (that’s fun to say out loud) is a walk-on who made a game-clinching three as the shot clock ran out against top-ranked Kansas on January 10th and could probably run for mayor of Knoxville because of it (let’s hope he doesn’t run against Lane Kiffin, though, cause I heard he’s pretty popular in Knoxville these days).

Indiana coach Tom Crean is one of the most active twitterers in the country. This week, he put on his best "Siskell & Ebert" hat and critiqued what he was watching (other than game film):

On a personal note, i came out of my office at home last night and sat down to watch tv with my wife. She had the Bachelor on.

The acting is so bad in that show and the guy is such a clown I had to go back and watch something not as bad, our turnover tape.

I am going to miss Patty, the millionaire matchmaker and a repeat of of the Housewives of Orange County. Now that's a sacrifice because thats quality television!

Thanks coach for that insightful analysis.

In the Thursday edition of Mike DeCourcy's 3-Pointers column, he notes that Kentucky might benefit from being the last team to lose:

What does it mean that Kentucky was the final unbeaten team to fall? Historically, it means there's a better than 50-percent chance the Wildcats will be playing in this season's Final Four.

Veteran sportswriter Wendell Barnhouse of Big12Sports.com has been keeping a list of the final unbeaten teams to fall that begins the year after Indiana managed to stay perfect in 1976. UK's loss on Jan. 26 makes this a below-average season in terms of perfection; in 18 of 34 seasons, a team made it unbeaten into February.

Unbeknownst to BIAH, Michigan State altered their traditional spartan logo with help from Nike. Students, fans, bloggers, and alumni are not happy. Coach Tom Izzo played the role of riot control:

Somebody out here tell me, what is our tradition? Which one of those different things is our tradition? We’re going to have the same color, the same uniforms, the same logo, and we’re going to be moving into that new century here in the proper way, and I’m excited about it. So for all of you out there who are complaining, shame on you, because we’ve got a leader, our president, I’ve been involved in this thing, we’re trying to do what’s best for Michigan State University, our athletic department, and the great people that we associate with, and Nike’s done a heck of a job.

Oh God, Izzo just said "shame on you". Things can't be looking good in East Lansing. Then again, do things ever look good in East Lansing?