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Kentucky MBB's Final Four defeat will cost the school roughly $1.5m in licensing royalties & $15m for retailers who could have leveraged a National Championship, Lexington-based Wildcat Warehouse owner Hoetker reminds himself how great the overall season was for his business, Lids founder Campbell says UK sales alone would have trumped what the other three Final Four participants will generate, Fermata points to 60 licensees who had committed to championship gear - link
Rolling Stone moves forward on a full retraction of its sensational story on an alleged gang rape incident at Virginia that became a hot button topic as soon as it was released last November, situation reviewed by the Columbia School of Journalism who calls it "a story of journalistic failure that was avoidable," missed on key gaps of fact-checking & information sourcing, could result in journalists no longer taking high risks, lots more - link (article), link (response by UVA Prez Sullivan)
Saturday night's Kentucky-Wisconsin MBB Final Four match-up recorded a 13.3 (rating)/24 (share) nationally that was the highest for a semifinal game since 1993, numbers were up 48% from the same combination last year, overall figures for Saturday night were an 11.4/22, best since 1995, March MadnessLive viewership also continues to surge - link, link
Chronicle of Higher Education's Wolverton with another piece, this one focused on changes made by the NCAA since UConn MBB's Napier made comments this time last year about going to bed hungry, Michigan State MBB student-athlete Clark, "I love to eat, man, so it's been great. I'm never hungry." Also notes front-burner academic issues that are unsettling to many schools according to VP for Enforcement Duncan - link
Colorado AD George comments on how patience with HCs & competitive results has changed over time, Duke MBB HC Krzyzewski used as an example as his first three seasons in Durham resulted in no NCAATourney berths & a highest finish of fifth in the ACC, mentions tenure of former Buffs FB HC McCartney who achieved high level success after a sequence of 2-8, 4-7, 1-10, stands behind his current MBB & FB leaders - link
U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Blackmun provides perspective on the importance of the college athletics model as a pipeline for talent, notes the challenging situation of a few revenue sports propping all other programs up, some of which are decreasing in numbers due to budget situations, USA Gymnastics Prez Penny, "...I think there are a ridiculous number of creative ways we can address this without having to drop programs" - link
Path of former New Mexico State MBB student-athlete Bhullar from Canada to the NBA is quite interesting, born to Indian parents who had relocated to Toronto & originally signed with Xavier before making his way to NMSU, no surprise that he ended up on the Sacramento Kings who also have an Indian-American owner in former tech executive Ranadive, 7'5" height draws comparison to Yao Ming's influence in China - link
New York Times on Wisconsin MBB's recruiting strategy as the Badgers will go up against an opponent with eight former McDonald's All-Americans for the second consecutive game, focuses on student-athletes who can play all five positions on offense & limit their fouls while still playing strong defense, AC Gard, "We understand the culture, we understand the philosophy & we understand what works at Wisconsin." - link
Navy FB another program adding recruiting & player personnel support roles as HC Niumatalolo points to the importance of recruiting as the Midshipmen enter the American Athletic, notes how big schools are handling the opportunity & says his staff is trying to catch-up, most schools in the American have at least three staffers dedicated to recruiting, staff coordination of communication & social media both key - link
Sports Illustrated's Deitsch touches on a number of topics in his weekly media column, points to the WWE's integration with ESPN, thinks media entities would be smart to cater to WWE fans (and there are A LOT of them) even though it's not a sport, thinks CBS & Turner need to spend more money educating fans on their Team Stream options around the Final Four, more including Masters coverage this week - link
Wisconsin fans are clamoring to take in tonight's NCAA MBB National Championship game in-person as the Badgers go for their first title since 1941, even the Saudi Arabian-based Burch family will be in Indy tonight after 22 hours of travel, Kentucky's loss on Saturday night freed up lots of tickets & drove prices down, Assoc. AD for External Affairs Doherty, "There are a lot of people who don't want to miss this." - link
Maryland is working with their Student Advisory Council to set up a student executive board to oversee The Pride, a fan organization currently under athletics, to continue to grow student support for sporting events, The Pride has a significant presence at MBB games & helped lead the Big Ten in lowest opponent free throw shooting percentage, a couple dozen students have already applied for leadership roles - link
DePaul AD Lenti Ponsetto defends the rehire of MBB HC Leitao to lead the Blue Demons program, hits on key point that there's always a faction of the fan base not satisfied no matter who is hired, doesn't believe the tenures of former HCs Purnell or Wainright were failures as they graduated student-athletes, says there's value in what Leitao has experienced since leaving Chicago - link
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Radio network for IMG College's West Virginia property continues to include legal motions as the ownership of powerful Morgantown stations is debated, FCC has required AJG Corp. to provide a litany of new documents to prove their dealings to acquire WCLG AM/FM were above board, IMG College SVP Potter has contented the $1.8m deal was simply a move to keep the Mountaineers off key outlets - link (scroll down)
New St. John's MBB HC Mullin covers some good ground on how he plans to return the Red Storm to prominence, won't tolerate student-athletes who are out of shape, show up late & don't hustle, says his teams will play hard & smart, but doesn't expect to install a system full of rules, also reflects on his bout with alcoholism & lots more - link
Inc. senior writer Mochari thinks Adidas is just one story away from being cool again, outlines plan company should pursue to regain momentum in the States, North American Prez King has pointed to assets like their high-profile partnership with Run D.M.C., Mochari emphasizes the art of story-making over just story-telling, thinks Adidas should leverage previous integrations with the Beastie Boys & Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop - link
Cord-cutting option Sling TV's first foray with March Madness did not go well as streams for the MBB Final Four were choppy at best & non-existent at worst for users, CEO Lynch positions issues for only a handful of subscribers, says new software coming soon will remedy situation, it's not the first time a new OTT play has been dogged by technical issues - link
New Hampshire state schools are revamping their handling of sexual harassment & other misconduct, UNH Prez Huddleston has emphasized the need to communicate such issues throughout the university as previous investigations found a reluctance to report incidents that included athletics, responsibilities under Title IX also covered - link
Alabama AD Battle has reportedly turned to former NBA HC Johnson to lead the Crimson Tide's MBB program, owns a 440-254 record in seven seasons as a HC for the Dallas Mavericks & New Jersey Nets, since his departure from the Nets in 2012 has been a part of ESPN's coverage of the league, has not coached in college before, no contract details have been released yet - link
