Former Duke Point guard Greg Paulus decided to put the basketball down and pick up the football. Paulus was a two sport all star at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. The six foot one inch framed Paulus worked out for the Green Bay Packers and the University of Michigan this past month. Now he plans on returning to Syracuse and begin doing work outs for the University. Paulus who is now 22, played four season at Duke and started his first three years he had thought about playing overseas until numerous colleges showed their interest in him playing football. Before he decided to play college basketball he was recruited heavily as a quarterback by Notre Dame, Boston College, and Syracuse. All of these schools would have allowed him to play both sports.   

The Florida Gators were in the East Room of the White House last week, meeting the President. He congratulated them on their victory, as well as on their service to the community. They also volunteer several hundred hours of their time each year. This cause Obama to say that “being a champion doesn’t just stop when the clock runs out”, which was certainly good for the players to hear. It was a nice day for them. In other news, Florida University is still going on with their spat with the NCAA about the academic dishonesty charges leveled against dozens of students, including quite a few athletes. It’s going to be hard for them to refute this, so they’re approaching it as “it’s unfair to punish so many people because of the deeds of the few”. It’s not clear whether this will influence the decision, especially if the rules were clear beforehand.

This September, the NCAA football world begins to really heat up again. According to BleacherReport, some teams have a very difficult opening schedule. Clemson will have a very strong September, playing against Middle Tennessee State, which is a team that can be dangerous when they surprise a team. Georgia Tech, Boston College and TCU round out their month, and this may mess up their BCS if they are unable to hold out against these teams as effectively as usual. Based on last year, however, they will be more likely to hold their own against these other teams than they were able to previously. There are several other teams discussed who have to play against a lot of really top teams in the first month. It will be pretty insane.

 Over the past ten years Boise State have average over 40.5 points per game which has broken a NCAA Football record. This puts Boise States #2 in all time earned points over the past ten years right under Yale. Yale University is the only other school which has a better record and averaged a total of 46.6 points per game from 1883-1892. Yale outscored their opponents 687-4 in 1886 and in 1888 they beat teams by a total of 694-0. For the 2009 season Boise State will also face three other schools that are ranked in the 50 all time top scouring rank. In order for Boise State to catch and or beat Yale’s record they would have to score 2,205 points over the next three years. Which comes down to an average of 55.1 points per game. 

The NFL Draft is only a few days away and we should talk a little bit about which players are going to be taken in. There are a lot of different players that look like big-league players. Every year, the NCAA loses great players to the draft and it can be sad to see them go. This year, there are several quarterbacks who are probably going to be drafted into the NFL this season. The Bengals, Browns, Vikings and several other teams are looking to find the next Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. They may well find it in the college ranks this year, as the Texas Tech QB, along with several others, are expected to go in the top 10 picks or so.

Notre Dame Head football coach Charlie Weis has said recently that he plans on staying on the field for all of the 2009 Irish football games. Notre Dame had tremendous successes when Weis was in the box calling plays in their 49-21 win against Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl. In recent years Coach Weis has come under pressure for losing games that where labeled as “must win” games.  Notre Dame lost three double digits leads to Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and North Carolina and it took Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick a week before reassuring Wise as the programs coach. Weis said has said that the lack of maturity was the main factor of the team’s lack of success and it is time for some of the old players to step up and help the younger players.  

When you think about the NCAA, what is it that you have in mind? One of the biggest issues in the NCAA nowadays is the question of sponsorship and money changing hands. To be sure, the NCAA athletes don’t get paid, at least they’re not allowed to, because they are still considered amateurs and not professional players. But there is a big question. These events bring in a lot of revenue for schools, sports programs and the NCAA itself. This means that a lot of money is coming into the school but the students aren’t getting any of it directly. Similarly, they can be seen in video games, on ads and other kinds of things, all without being paid for anything. This is a tough situation for everyone involved, and we shouldn’t expect any resolution anytime soon. But it’s interesting to think about the role of college sports in our system and society.

While the UConn NCAA Basketball team is pushing forward in the Final Four, the football team got a little of the scandal on them. The football team is now in scandal mode, because a linebacker was charged with breach of peace after a fight on campus last weekend. Again, like I mentioned before, it looks like there is nothing but scandals going on in the NCAA football world. But of course, that’s not completely true. There are a lot of scandals, but that’s because you hear about the problems that come from all colleges across the country with decent football teams. And since these college kids might be just a little bit off, with underage drinking or wild parties, it looks worse. If they expect them to be professional, then they could simply teach them about it, but that’s not where things seem to be sitting.