Sport Today

Citing the inclement weather, Lute Olsen has decided to dodge his
commitment to play St. Joe in Philly.  The Xavier women's team, flying
from the midwest to Philadelphia this same weekend, isn't having any
trouble making airline connections; it's only the mighty Wildcats that
are afraid of the snow.  Could the fact that St. Joe's took UMass to OT
have anything to do with this weaselly cop-out?

BAC

It does sound suspicious that after two years of St Joes going to
Arizona to get one home game, the payoff was cancelled.  It was the
only game cancelled because of the "weather" today.  They were so
concerned about the storm that has passed, that they won't even
reschedule for tomorrow!  St. Joes doesn't get many opportunities to
get on national TV but this was to be one of them.  I have to concur
that Arizona saw the Hawks take UMass to OT on Wednesday and went
scrambling for a way out of past promises.  West coast basketball
showed their toughness once again!

Well, the plane was scheduled for Saturday, and I checked a [PA] newspaper and
the forcast was 6 in. of snow. That's not enough to think about canceling a
game? Plus, the game was canceled Thursday night. That's when there was a ton
of snow there, and Jim Libengood [Arizona's Athletic Director] was never
contacted about rescheduling the game for a later date, not until next year.
And Arizona NEVER shys down from anybody. This is the first time it has EVER
happened in Arizona history, and they are still giving them a home game next
year. And a rechedule for a Sunday game would mean that the game would NOT be
on TV since ESPN2 has Winter Heat. And why the hell would Arizona be scared of
St. Joesphs when they've already played 4 ranked teams, and another team that
NEARLY beat Maryland [Towsen St.]. Arizona wouldn't have gone even if UMass
would have beaten St. Joes by 40, which would probably happen if they played
again. I'm sick of all these East Coast freaks who don't care if the kids can
get back for classes and stuff, and not get stuck in Chicago or Penn. They
wouldn't have gotten stuck, but there was a VERY high chance of it. And
another thing. What the hell is wrong with this coach of St. Joes anyways?
They won't play Arizona in the NCAA Tourney? Who does that hurt? Idiot. I hope
they do get to play in the Tourney and watch the Cats run all over the Hawks.
Oh, one more thing, if St. Joes is so ***ing pissed off, then why didn't they
MAKE Arizona go or forfit? Idiots...

Oh really, they were "never" contacted about rescheduling?  I find that
hard to believe.  Even if that is the case, why didn't they contact St.
Jo's?  

Until now.

This is beside the point.  It doesn't matter if the game would have been on
TV.  The only thing that matters is that Arizona refuses to live up to
their schedule.

The reason they are scared is because they have everything to lose and
nothing to gain.  Even if they had beaten St. Jo's who would care, but if
they had lost a lot of people would care.

East Coast freaks?  I guess the Pac 10 has a monopoly on academic
standards.   Anyway, why not schedule for later in the season?  Well, I
know why:  it's because Lute was afraid.

They

The St. Jo's coach was obviously extremely irate and said some things he
didn't mean.

I hope

They didn't make them forfeit because they figured the game would be
rescheduled (like a real school would do), and also because they have ten
times more class than Lute has shown over the past week.

Most fans would be embarrassed at this type of conduct, but not you;
instead you afix the blame on the other side, when everyone knows where
it properly lies.  Sure, Arizona would probably beat St. Jo's if they
played in the tourney; but that is not the point.  The point is that Lute
Olsen and the Arizona bball program have shown absolutely no class.  

I bet you thought Arizona would pound Santa Clara and ETSU in the first
round, instead Pete Eisenreich dominated the Cats and Mr. Jennings lit up
them up.    

Once again, stop making excuses, get some balls and play St. Jo's Lute.  
Hey, if St. Jo's is insignificant then why are you afraid of them.
        _______________________
        |Roger Morris         |        
        |U of Memphis      '92|
        |U of Illinois Law '96|
        -----------------------
                Doughnuts, is there anything they can't do?
                                        - Homer J. Simpson

writes:

If you've lived anywhere where it snows regularly you learn two things: first,
forcasts usually give you the worst case of accumulation, second, 6 inches will
not shut down a major airport.

ESPNnet stated that St Joes and ESPN2 had worked it out so that the game could be
rescheduled and retelevised for Sunday.

see above

good question

I assume UA is in winter break like every other East Coast school...no classes to
get back to.

St Joes needs to schedule and win games like this just to be considered for the
NCAA Tourney.  Their chances are greatly reduced when the strongest teams on
their non-conference schedule back out.  They also need the exposure from TV that
doesn't happen very often for the small schools.  That is why the coach
is mad.

Hawks.

Based on AU's recent tourney record, I wouldn't count on it.

St Joes has no say in determining a forfeit.  They appealed to the NCAA
who rejected the appeal.  If it was up to St Joes, AU would have
forfeited.

Can anyone tell me why this doesn't go down as a forfeit?  Can Arizona
really get away with such a lame excuse?  Hopefully the NCAA tournament
committee makes them play in the East.  Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

Dan

--
Daniel A. Kirkdorffer           | "Though the course may change sometimes


The Gallimaufry: http://users.aol.com/dankirkd/danhome.html

Because they were still iffy about going to Penn with the weather.

But that was one of St. Joes arguements, that they don't get on TV ever. But
that's the case with teams that get killed by teams like Arizona.

And so would every other ranked teams, they have nothing to gain by beating a
team like St. Joes...by your theory, we should just get rid of all the small
school teams...

Because Arizona's schedule is FULL!!

No, on Thursday night they agreed on CANCELLING the game, not reschudling it.
And they have no class. To go out and milk a tiny thing like this for
everything it is (the coach said he was going to) is as unsportsmanlike as it
can get.

I don't say it's St. Joes fault. I think they are idiots for running off their
mouths and cussing out all of the Arizona staff. There IS no fault. Arizona's
decision was purely for safety, and St. Joes didn't do anything about it.
Nobody's fault.

Of course I did. I thought that a lot of the teams that lose to non-big time
schools were gonna cream them. But upsets happen. I never said this game was
important. I just said that the kids safety and not getting stuck back east
was the reason.

That was St. Joes and ESPN2. Why didn't St. Joes contact ARIZONA?

Arizona has it's winter breaks in December. They do have classes/

But he doesn't need to slam the university for it. And if he doesn't play the
'Cats in the tourney, then he is ONLY hurting his own kids...

St. Joes could have made Arizona come, but they didn't...

Because St. Joes didn't make UA come. They go and do all this shit and then
don't do anything about it. And it's not a lame excuse. The game was cancelled
Thursday night when there was a forecast for a ton of snow over the weekend,
and St. Joes never made an attempt to reschudle. And if St. Joes got so
pissed, why did they agree to it in the first place????

A brief comparison of Arizona vs St. Joseph's academic numbers,
as reported by the NCAA:

                        SAT             ACT             Grad Rate

Arizona                  811 (11)       25 (4)           20%
St. Joseph's             830 (10)       17 (3)           71%
--
James C. Armstrong, Jr.         | Please note:  Because of excessive phone


--------------------------------| and encourage you to do the same.
If enough people do this, decent gnn users will be forced to change ISPs, and
then perhaps the idiots running gnn will clean up their act and the spamming
will stop.

If you listen to Lute's comments, it's clear that he isn't ducking the game
for fear of losing, rather the game comes at an inconvenient time.  He
would prefer to spend the time getting ready for this weekend's game with
UCLA.  It doesn't say much for his sense of commitment does it??

You obviously didn't pay attention to what the UA had to say about this.
St Joes didn't either.  Yes, Arizona could have gotten to Pennsylvania OK.
But Arizona cited weather reports predicting blizzard conditions over the
weekend, and UA officials were concerned about the team *GETTING OUT* of
Pennsylvania.  The loud-mouthed St Joes officials didn't pay any attention
to this either, and blurted out that the plane did arrive OK, ignorantly
trying to prove that Arizona was making a lame excuse.  (And alot of people
bought it too).

And yes, although the UA was most likely relieved to be not playing St.
Joes, there was enough legitimate reason to justify their move ... which
is also why the NCAA didn't impose a forfeit.

As an Arizona fan, I was looking forward to the St. Joe's game; and was
disappointed to see that it wasn't going to be played.  After seeing how
they played against UMass, I knew it would be a good game (and yes, even
a possible upset).

I just wish people would actually think before they started talking.

------------------------------------------

http://www.primenet.com/~jktaylr/

Whose ass did you pull this out of? 20%??? Arizona has a MUCH higher grad rate
then THAT, and Arizona is also a huger college. Besides, I'm talking about the
coach of the St. Joes.

The bottom line this this: The scheduled charter from Tuscon through
Chicago to Philadelphia arrived on time last Friday at 6:20 pm.  No
problems, no worries.  The only concern Arizona had was losing a
non-conference game to a fired-up small school.  I used to feel sorry for
Arizona when they lost in the first round of the NCAA's -- Now I am
rooting for it.  A classless act by a coach who should really know
better.