Thanks to a few major newspapers and magazines, you can already recite the vitals of Rolle's Wikipedia page. And why not? When stories about Rolle are sandwiched by scandals and transgressions, the Rhodes Scholar is a wonderful reminder that every so often, the ubiquitous phrase "student-athlete" actually means something. One day, fans might be proud to wear his jersey or buy a product he endorses — that is, if any company wants to pay someone who trains on cricket pitches and has never seen the NFL field. In the end, perhaps it won't be sufficient that Rolle is the most high-profile athlete to win a Rhodes Scholarship since Bill Bradley. Maybe he should have just gone to the NFL Draft and ditched the idea of med school long ago:

Rolle's success still will depend heavily on how well he plays once he reaches the NFL. His agents concede that he will compete against a more talented draft class of defensive backs this April than he would have last spring. At Florida State, Mr. Rolle was among his team's top tacklers but only registered one interception over his entire NCAA career. Some scouts already view Mr. Rolle's delay as a sign that he's not serious about becoming an elite player and doubt if he is training well enough in England. And since he isn't playing, some companies have hesitated to sign him.

"With tight marketing dollars and budgets … they want to know hard and fast, 'What can we do with Myron right now?'" said Jeremiah Donati, one of Mr. Rolle's representatives. "And if he doesn't have an NFL team or an NFL city and he's not performing on the field this year, it's tough."

...

But one branding expert said athletic performance would be the main driver of Mr. Rolle's market value. "He's still got to win the starting job and he has to perform," said James Fritz, vice president of a Santa Monica marketing and branding agency. "If he makes the team but he's on the bench, it's going to be a long shot for him."

Rolle currently boasts one endorsement deal with a company that "manufactures football helmets designed to provide extra protection against brain injuries," so apparently, he reads The New York Times — err, International Herald Tribune — between seminars at Oxford. He presides over his foundation, of course, like every other 2009 college graduate. His Web site — he has one of those, too — has separate sections for Athlete, Scholar and Philanthropist. He's rumored to be the frontrunner for TIME's 2010 Person of the Year. And he'll probably cure cancer.

But please. Let me know when the dude wins the Super Bowl — or does something that, you know, actually matters.

Can Scholars Make Dollars in the NFL? [Wall Street Journal]
Myron Rolle On Postponing the NFL Draft [WSJ Video]
On His Way to the NFL Draft, a Year of Fulfillment in England [New York Times]
An Answer to the Bradley Riddle [SI Vault]

The letter was typed on the same Florida State letterhead with which he'd wooed a few thousand recruits, and it was waiting in my old office months after I'd cleared out.

"I sure hate it that you won't be with us this year," Bobby Bowden wrote.

You can almost hear him say it. That's because he writes just like he talks, which is also how you'd imagine him talking if you'd never met him before — all that ol' boy Southern speak that's hard to spell even if you make a living transcribing the things Bobby Bowden says. I'd covered his program for a couple years in what then seemed liked the rough days, when everyone was hoping the problem was his son and not the old man himself. When I left the job, I wrote him a note thanking him for his access and wishing him well, to which he responded in kind.

"You have been so good and I have really enjoyed you," the letter went on. "The only thing, with you there, I couldn't address the writers as men. I always had to remember there was one lady present and that was you."

Looking at the letter now, I like to scan down to his signature and then up to my name, which is the best part. He spelled it wrong. "Emily Bulger." Classic Bobby Bowden.

The fact that he couldn't get even his best players' names right is one of those weird tics that jaded sportswriters always found so charming. But it also gets at the tension at the heart of his last decade in Tallahassee: Confusing Drew Weatherford for Chris Weinke isn't so daggum cute when you're not winning — at least, not to the fans.

To the hacks, though, Bowden's retirement represents less the end of a sad family drama and more the passing of a once-prevalent species in major college football — the big-time coach with an actual personality. He was a genuine American coot, and there aren't many of them left today. Along about his fifth decade in the game, coaches' salaries ballooned, and now, on sidelines across America, you find nothing but wax statue after wax statue: the all-business, no-access coach who won't tell you what's on his mind or where he goes to church, and who doesn't even get why anyone would want to know in the first place.

Urban Meyer would never be caught in an unchoreographed moment. Bobby Bowden let us so close we could track the liver spots his straw-brimmed hat couldn't keep at bay. He even let us watch him (and record him) fumbling for the right memories. And then he'd crack a joke, at his own expense, and it was so damn quotable that whichever backup receiver he'd misidentified wouldn't make it into the paper the next day.

Bowden built a national powerhouse at what was once a women's college, and he knew the next biggest thing he brought to town was himself, and so he let people have their piece of him, ask him personal questions and snap his picture wherever he was. He made them feel that of course he remembered that time they first met at the 1984 Pensacola booster club meeting (an implausibility fans gladly pretended to believe), and he tricked half the fans he talked to into thinking their names actually were "Buddy" and "Girl."

In 2006, heading into what would be his worst season in three decades, the College Football Hall of Fame decided to toast Bowden's career before it was over. They bent the rules and brought him in early, a gamble that gave him the Big Moment he didn't get this week. The day the news broke, during ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, he walked down the hotel corridor toward a small band of stalking media. He was so happy to see even his Tallahassee hacks that he dove right over the gulf between subject and scribe. He planted one on my cheek. That was Bowden.

"I knew you had to retire, you had to be out of coaching, or you had to be dead," he joked of the honor. We scribbled frantically because we knew a punchline was coming. "I didn't volunteer for death, I'm not planning on retiring, so I didn't know anything like this would occur."

Other times, he talked openly to reporters about the endgame he was trying to avoid. You remember what happened to Bear Bryant, right? The guy retired, then died 28 days later.

Bowden seemed to worry that this would be his fate, too, but that's probably not a great reason, in the state of Florida, to keep coaching a football team. This is apparently what all the important people in Tallahassee finally decided in a mess of their own making: They always said the coach could stay as long as he wanted. They built him a bronze statue and a stained-glass window. But then they named a replacement-in-waiting who clearly wouldn't wait all that long, and they finally gave the spotlight to the guy who must have been keeping track of all the things Bowden was forgetting.

The new guy, of course, isn't half as colorful. The thing about being a hack is that that's really all that matters. You can happily go on writing about crummy seasons just so long as someone says something funny, interesting — anything — about them. Yeah, Bowden probably should have ducked out when he lost his edge on the really big-picture stuff — game scores, key plays, whole seasons — but he was a figurehead by the end, anyway, and a daggum good one. You never cared if he didn't remember a name or a face because he always made a point to give so much of himself. That was something Bobby Bowden never forgot.

Emily Badger is a former Orlando Sentinel reporter and a freelance writer in the Washington D.C. area. Online, she lives here: www.emilybadger.com.

Photo via Sports Illustrated

Well folks, that about wraps it up for me today. Thanks for stopping by.

And of course, thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Barry Petchesky takes the reins tomorrow to guide you through all of the NFL action. So y'all come back now, ya hear?

I'm fairly confident you don't need me to tell you this, but there is still one whole evening and an entire day left of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Please do your best to make the most of it. Or don't. It's up to you. I'm easy like Sunday morning, man.

Best ESPN College GameDay Signs (11/28/09) [That Fan]

Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat knew he would ruffle some feathers when he posted a partial transcript of Bowden's postgame remarks after a comeback loss to Clemson; he even apologized in advance. But Bowden's supporters do no one any good by pretending this sort of thing isn't going on.

Bowden: "Both of us made errors. We probably scored on some of their errors — I didn't keep up with it. But we'd turn the ball over and they'd go down and score. Then we'd turn it over and they didn't score. They'd turn it over back. And the game kind of went that way. We felt very comfortable. We knew it was a battle.

"How late was it 24-21 in our favor? How late did it get? Did that get into the fourth quarter?"

Reporter: "Nine and a half minutes left."

Bowden: "Left in the game?"

Reporter: "Yes."

Bowden: "So you're feeling comfortable, but you know that it ain't won yet. Then of course the dam broke."

A few minutes later, Bowden was asked this question by another reporter.

Reporter: "In the second half, when it seemed like momentum started to switch, how hard was it to try to reverse that?"

Bowden: "You mean when they got it (momentum)? Well, actually … you know, they had to kick off to us. We had a what? A three-point ….? Did we have the lead at the half?"

(Reporter nods).

Bowden: "We had a three-point lead at the half, I think. Then they had to kick off to us. We needed to take it down and win the darn game right there. We didn't do it. They stopped us. Then we kicked it to them and then they probably scored."

Reporter: "They went ahead and then you guys came back."

Bowden: "Huh?"

Reporter: "They went ahead and then you guys came back again."

Bowden: "Did we get ahead of them again after that?"

Reporter: "Yeah."

Bowden: "Then we got back ahead, huh? Umm, it was going that way, you know it? I felt very comfortable that if they could score, we could score. That's the way I felt, you know it? We've done it all year. But then we started turning the ball over."

I'm not saying this is any worse than the senior moments we all have from time to time. I'm not saying Seminole backers should be terrified that he'll forget the score, or the down, in the middle of a game. I'm not saying Bowden's too old to be coaching football.

Oh wait. I am saying that.

What Are We To Think Of Bowden's Postgame Comments? [Tallahassee Democrat]

This comes from last night's Miami-Florida State whizbang of a game on ESPN, via about a million of you. Shocking though it may seem, it is entirely in keeping with broadcast guidelines that require that any crowd shot in Tallahassee include at least one massive boob.

* * * * *

Good morning. Helluva game. Here's some Zevon:

•Ben Roethlisberger was pulled out of practice after his lineman rolled up on the back of his leg. If it turns out to be a serious injury, I fully expect to see the Boston papers claiming this season shouldn't really count. Right, guys?

•Another day, another world record for Usain Bolt, this time in the 200m. Honestly, if we doubt all outlandish baseball numbers, and that's in a sport where strength is only a small part of the skill set needed to succeed, why do we get excited over track records?

•Documents on FSU's cheating scandal will be made public after a judge's ruling that will "rip the heart out of the NCAA." The NAIA is waiting to swoop in and eat their heart, thereby gaining all their power.

•A Vick goes back to jail for a probation violation, but it's Marcus Vick, so you won't see teams eagerly awaiting his release. Which is a shame, because it's only a 20-day sentence, so he'll be sprung in time for opening night.

•Because no UFC heavyweight champ has every defended their title more than twice (seriously), you might want to tune in for Brock Lesnar's first defense against Shane Carwin.

•If you subscribe to the Jessica Simpson theory of a certain type of woman ruining a player's productivity, you might want to stay away from Reggie Bush this year. Apparently he's back with Kim Kardashian.

•After Gary Sheffield was denied a contract extention, he demanded his release and was benched last night. The Mets said they won't cut him, but if they really want to punish him, they ought to give him that extention.

•And here's why mascots should be banned:

Here's a sampling, grouped thematically:

WEAPONRY:

FEAR THE SPEAR
about 18 hours ago from web

FEAR THE SPEAR
7:19 AM Aug 4th from mobile web

carry a big SPEAR and take names - its 2009 SEMINOLES, take what U want to HAVE
4:38 PM Aug 16th from mobile web

FEAR THE SPEAR!!!! Squad Up!!!!!!
1:35 PM Jul 31st from web

FEAR THE SPEAR
9:37 AM Jul 26th from web

FEAR...6:54 PM Jul 12th from web

THE...6:55 PM Jul 12th from web

SPEAR...6:55 PM Jul 12th from web

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Stay with me for the next few DAYS - Lots of RIDDLES, lots of lyrics, TONS of cuban coffee, and oh yeah look out for CAPS lock!
3:42 PM Jul 21st from web

My mindset? im putting every chance to get better in a headlock... UNCONQUERED, U should already know...
4:44 AM Jul 31st from mobile web

I'm sending the WOLF...
6:38 PM Jul 20th from web

STILL grinding!!!!
8:25 PM Jul 14th from web

Checkin' my FRESH... Check checkin my FRESH check checking my FRESH
12:11 PM Jun 29th from mobile web

WE R the REAL in this business, OUR commitments will be REAL players that tackle their day to day lives with a SCALP or B SCALPED mentality
5:33 PM Jun 7th from web

APHORISM:

who the CAP fit... Let them wear IT...
4:23 PM Aug 2nd from mobile web

Forget answering the BELL, I'm ringing it - DING DING!
3:57 PM Jul 2nd from web

You're either carrying a SPEAR or running from it...
8:29 PM Aug 1st from web

GENERAL EXHORTATION:

SQUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAADDDDD UUUUUUPPPPP!
5:06 AM Aug 5th from web

RISE......... RISE..........
6:42 AM Jul 31st from mobile web

Let the story begin... begin
5:27 AM Jul 27th from web

Rise...Rise...Rise
6:55 PM Jul 12th from web

UNCONQUERED!
3:53 PM Jul 26th from web

FIGHTING WORDS:

what you've hoped you've earned is not there, all you have is the taste of our name in your mouth...
6:03 AM Jul 26th from web

Look over here, your worst nightmare's coming true, we are FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY!
6:08 AM Jul 26th from web

Get READY SEMINOLES its our world and we're are beginning TO RECLAIM it. To those out there don't be afraid... be Petrified.
8:30 PM Jul 29th from web

Your fears are coming true, what you think you should have your not getting...
6:02 AM Jul 26th from web

ANECDOTE:

1835 when was asked to sign a treaty forcing the Seminoles to leave their homeland for a territory out west. Osceola refused.
3:52 PM Jul 26th from web

He the plunged his knife through the paper treaty and 7 years of war followed
3:53 PM Jul 26th from web

In 1967 Ernie Terrell refused to call Muhammad Ali by his name - He insisted on calling him Cassius Clay - During their bout Ali BARKED at
7:34 AM Jul 4th from web

Terrell "What's my NAME!" with every blow he landed... Ali brutally BEAT him for 15 rounds... The Ultimate DISRESPECT is to not address an
7:37 AM Jul 4th from web

an INDIVIDUAL by their name... "WHAT'S MY NAME!" by The TEAM out WEST
7:38 AM Jul 4th from web

INQUIRY:

can u FEEL it?
6:28 PM Jul 13th from mobile web

Do you hear that? That's the sound of inevitability!
10:01 AM Jul 26th from web

PARANOIA:

Shhhhh... I heard U were looking for me?
9:14 PM Jul 8th from web

huhhhhhhh....... i heard their lookin' for me!
2:51 PM Jul 10th from mobile web

I bet their talking about ME right now - 2 words u'll never here, "James Quit"
10:42 AM Jul 10th from mobile web

NOURISHMENT:

Took a shot of Cuban Coffee, took a deep breath and stepped out into the DAY... I'm READY to b the CHANGE I want to SEE...R U?
6:53 AM Jul 2nd from web

BTW everyone needs some Cuban Coffee in their lives, dont b SCARED!!!
4:04 PM Jun 3rd from mobile we

In So Fla, just took a SHOT of some Cuban Coffee at "LA CARRETA" - IM in the MIA if ur scared then wear my sun glasses they make u invisible
2:46 PM May 31st from web

ERRATA:

hit by a heavy Mansoon in the DIRTY DIRTY - R U Bouninn?
10:54 AM Jun 1st from web

*Bouncin10:55 AM
Jun 1st from web

*MoNSOOn10:55 AM
Jun 1st from web

lots of rain killin' my spelling
10:55 AM Jun 1st from web

DAYS are running into NIGHTS, there's NO start or beginning points, every second BECOMES the NOW, our FIRE never BURNS out - BUCKLE UP!
7:29 AM Jul 13th from web

*ending points
9:52 AM Jul 13th from mobile web

Coach Coley [Twitter]

******

Thanks for your continued support of Deadspin. Androgynous distance runner Barry Petchesky will be here shortly.

Pre-game: This is the last of the always exciting 5 vs. 12 seed games which have become the perennial upset game. The 5 seeds are 1-2 so far, so another upset is possible. The stat is that at least one 12 seed has one in 9 straight years.

Florida St. went into the ACC Tournament seeded 4th and pulled off an upset of top seeded North Carolina to advance to the finals, where Duke topped them by 10. Senior guard Toney Douglas was named to the all tourney 1st team and freshman center Solomon Alabi was named to the 2nd team. Florida St. finished 4th in the ACC (25-9, 10-6).

Wisconsin also go the 4th seed in their conference tournament but were beaten in their first game by 5th seeded Ohio St. They are coached by Bo Ryan, who is in his 8th year as head coach in Madison. Ryan has been to the tournament every year at Wisconsin, winning at least one game in all but one of those trips.

Ryan may be the difference in this one. These teams are separated by 30 spots in ESPN's RPI so the 5 and 12 seeds don't seem that far fetched. But Ryan is a good coach and will have his guys prepared to play.

More Pregame: So I don't yet know if we are rolling with Comcast or CBSSports.com for this game. Not sure what they are going to show in Chicago. Looks like we will get the Badgers.

Winner plays Xavier on Sunday. The requisite 3 white guys for Wisconsin in the starting lineup. I have been informed that no #12 won in 2007. Not sure if that is true.

Craig Bolderjack and Wenzel are doing this game. Yea I have no fucking idea either.

Final - 61-59 is the final. Madison is going to be rocking tonight. Fish Bowls at Wando's!!!! Great 2nd half by the Badgers. Good coaching gets you far, almost remember that when filling out your bracket. See you all in the next round.

0:00 - Baseball pass not completed! Badgers win! Wow! Ended with being an exciting game. And the Big 10 win again. Thanks for joining us!

0:02 - BTW, we all know Douglas is taking the last shot, right?

0:02 - Trevon Hughes gets the call. Drives the lane and makes a sweet shot after a spin move AND ONE!!!!! Badgers get the free throw, up 61-59. Timeout Noles!!

0:07 - Douglas bricks a dagger 3. Badgers get the rebound and break the other way, Bohannon jacks up a 3 but Bo called a timeout. The shot went in too!!! Ouch. Badgers are down one with the ball. I like their chances. It could go to anyone on this play.

0:47 - Great back door pass and a quick layup. That was a set play out of the timeout. FSU will run it down.

1:02 - FSU finally wises up and gives the ball to Douglas. He buries the 3. He has a game high 26. Badgers take a timeout. It will be interesting to see what the do here. They aren't a go to the hoop kind of team so I expect them to go for a three.

1:20 - FSU travels. The Badgers slow it down. Miss the shot as shot clock winds down. Still tied.

2:30 - Another FSU foul. Some awful free throw shooting by Wisconsin. One trickles in. Tied again.

2:53 - FSU gets down in the low block and scores to take the lead by 1.

3:29 - Siena and tOSU just went to OT #2. The Big Ten is going crazy!!!! Is anyone still awake for these games? FSU gets the basket to cut it to one. Badgers airball a jumper. 44-54 Badgers.

4:19 - Bohannon with a quick 3 to start OT. FSU is still going with three guards and Wenzel let's us know for the 100th time tonight. FSU foul. Badgers up 2 and shooting free throws.

End of Regulation

0:00 - Jordan Taylor misses the jumper with 2 to go and we head to OT!!!!! I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

0:17 - Douglas made both free throws. Tied at 52!!!!!!!! Badgers take a time out and will hold for the last shot.

0:36 -Badgers are 7 of 13 in the 2nd half from downtown. That is how you do it I guess. Douglas gets fouled going to the hoop. Free throw time.

0:45 - Bohannon for 3 with 1 on the shot clock!!! He was way outside, I don't know how he go that off. Badgers 52, Noles 50. TO for the Noles. The white guys have come to play!

1:29 - Kitchen left his feet and tried to call a timeout as he was going out of bounds. They call him for traveling. Wenzel says this was the right call by "new" rules. Whatver. Nonsense. Badger ball, down 1.

1:54 - The Badgers hit another 3, their 7th of the night. Noles answer with a bucket. 50-49 FSU.

2:51 - Douglas draws the foul and hits two free throws. Wisconsin subs white guy for white guy.

3:12 -Wenzel just said "if you like defense, you will like this game." Apparently he equates crappy shooting with good defense. Hughes responds with a trey. Tied at 46. We got ourselves a game.

3:48 - MMOD is getting crappy. So much buffering. WTF? How many people could be watching this shitty game right now. I just lowered the quality. Let's see if it helps. Hughes finally hits a free throw. Two actually. 46-43 'Noles.

3:49 - Under 4 timeout. FSU is up 46-41. 100 is no longer looking like a lock. Sienna is at the line for the go ahead with 8 seconds left.

4:38 - Chris Singleton just hit a jumper for FSU. First points by anyone since 8:28!! 4 minutes!!! What a crapfest.

5:00 - There is a guy on FSU named Uche Echefu. It's like I just banged on random keys but that is actually his name. Trevon Hughes misses two free throw. Still 44-39.

5:43 - Timeout FSU. Badgers look tired. Douglas could take this game over and put it away if he wants. The commercials on MMOD are even worse than TV. In the meantime, read this to get a feeling for Big Ten Country (NSFW) http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0318091dog1.html

6:07 - In case you were wondering, Michigan St. and Cleveland St. are both in control. Biggest upset of the first round comes on one of the last games. tOSU up 4 with under 2 minutes left. Meanwhile, our game has screeched to a crawl. Still 44-39 'Noles.

Commercial - I just saw that Nike Illinois ad for at least the 19th time during this game. Even I am sick of it. By the way, we have moved over to MMOD.

7:34 - Under 8 timeout. Same score. This game is pretty close. We should break 100 too. Neither team really deserves to win. I am so spoiled since I usually watch sports on a 20 minute or so delay I usually don't see commercials. I can't believe how many just repeat over and over. Miller Lite and Resident Evil 5 for like the 10th time each.

8:14 - I am anticipating them cutting over to Ohio St./Siena shortly, so we will have to move to MMOD. Badgers get first basket in a while. 44-39 'Noles. Marcus Landy's goggles do nothing!

9:18 - Toney Douglas has put the 'Nole up by 7. He is taking over this game. He has 19. The power of a star in this tournament should not be overlooked.

11:14 - There are a lot of empty seats. I mean It's only 8:30 or 9:30 there. How many other things could there be to do in Boise right now? FSU makes free throws. They lead 39-37. Mich St. is rolling. Paulas must be having a blast live blogging that.

Commercial - I have to admit, I do like the Nike commercial with the cop in Illinois giving the car a ticket for 1 MPH over because they have a Tarheels sticker. Then the flashback of UNC beating Illinois in 2005, which was by the way, my best sports year ever.

Cleveland St. - Is still up 9! I guess we knew that we needed a 13 seed to pull an upset. Wake Forest seemed like a trendy pick though.

11:47 - Badgers got blocked twice on same possession and still scored. Tenacious white guys! 37-35 Badgers, under 12 timeout.

12:36 - Both teams are playing a bit out of control. FSU freshman Luke Loucks is down with an injury. His left arm. Turnovers and offensive fouls the last couple trips. Loucks is in a lot of pain.

13:01 - In case you aren't watching, this crowd is pretty mediocre. It has to be a bitch to get to Boise from anywhere. It seems like a pro-Wisconsin crowd. You would think after an 11 year drought that FSU would travel better. Although maybe they just assume they will forfeit the wins in 5 years anyway. 35 all after a Badger 3.

13:51 - The 'Noles get their first basket of the half to retake the lead after 13 straight points to start the game for the Badgers.

14:45 - 11-0 run for Badgers in the 2nd half. 31-30 'Noles. It's getting tight. Another FSU turnover.

15:56 - Under 16 timeout. All of the sudden it's a new game. Halftime turnarounds are usually the responsibility of the coach. And as I said before, Bo Ryan is a good coach. He must have passed on the cigs at halftime.

16:37 - I just found out that Toney Douglas is the brother of former Louisville and current Atlanta Falcon WR Harry Douglas. The Badgers are making a run after some sloppy FSU play. Just buried a 3 to make it 31-26 'Noles.

17:55 - FSU is giving new meaning to sloppy seconds. Douglas with the charge. Throwing up bricks. Badgers turn if right back over. This is how the first half started. Timeout.

18:54 - Xavier has to be sitting at home loving this game. I doubt they seem concerned about either team at this point. Krabbenhoft hits a 3!! The Badgers are alive.

20:00 - About ready for the 2nd half. The John Deere commercial seems like focused advertising. That's some nice work. A couple of FSU's cheerleaders looked over 30. WTF is that? Were is Jenn Sterger when you need her.

Halftime - The Badgers shot an atrocious 1 of 10 from three point land. Marcus Landry is their leading scorer with 6. No one has more than 2 boards. They are also shooting 26% from the field. FSU is shooting 50% from the field and 3 of 6 from outside. Douglas has 10 points. Kitchen has 6 boards. Michigan St. only has 9 less points than these two teams combined in the first half. Your nonathletic Badger stat of the half, 0 blocks to FSU's 3.

All joking aside, FSU has this game in control. Wisconsin will have to get hot from outside to have a chance. It's unlikely they will continue to shoot as bad as they are so the game isn't OVER. But as I said before, when you are a Big Ten team and can't hit a jumper, you are in trouble.

0:00 - Toney Douglas took a knee to the thigh. He sat out the last 30 seconds. Wisconsin needs to pull a Tonya Harding ASAP. 31-19 'Noles at halftime. Stats coming your way...

0:36 - Cleveland St. is up 9 at the half against Wake. Ohio St. is up 5 on Siena at the half. And we are stuck with this crapfest?

1:33 - Wisconsin is really not playing bad, they just can't make shots. That is what happens when you are a Big 10 team. You live and die by the jumper. FSU is up 29-19 and really extending this lead before halftime.

2:33 - Another timeout. This is the under 4 TV TO. Bo Ryan is going to go for a whole pack of cigs at halftime. I think Toney Clemons said before the game that he was glad this game was in Idaho, because the only way he would sleep with a Wisconsin female is if she was wearing a potato sack over her head. *whew* finally got that Idaho joke in....and it sucked

3:02 - Timeout. FSU is getting hot. Singleton hit a 3. 'Noles lead 26-19. Tomahawk chop going on.

3:23 - FSU has a guy with the last name Kitchen. That really isn't important. Both teams just exchanged baskets. 23-19 'Noles. We may break 100 yet!

4:56 - Wow, FSU player grabbed the defensive board, sprinted the other way past the entire Badger team, missed the layup and Xavier Gibson slammed it home. FSU is trying to get in a rhythm.

5:58 - This is FSU's first tourney appearance since 1998. Since then, they have had a Rhodes Scholar, the original MySpace Whore and Bobby Bowden's sons have run his good name into the ground. Oh yea, tied at 17.

7:06 - FSU has gone to a 3 guard lineup. They are just blowing by the white guys. I mean seriously, I am white. We are slow. The way to beat us to run by us. Although, against Wisconsin FSU could just hope that after a long winter of seeing Madison girl's post hibernation bodies that they might be distracted by the FSU cheerleaders. Under 8 TV timeout. Seminoles by 4. Badgers are 0 for 5 from downtown. If the Badgers aren't hitting threes the best they can hope for is a cheese curd eating contest.

7:24 - Man, if I see that stupid Domino's commercial with the CEO again I am gonna punch a hole in my TV where his face is. The Badgers grabbed a loose ball and called a timeout.

7:30 - Bo Ryan stepped out for a cig and the Badgers are slipping. Douglas hits a 3 and FSU has the lead for the first time tonight?

9:00 - Douglas gets his first FG on the best FSU possession of the night. 12-11 Badgers.

9:45 - Alabi looks good. He is a redshirt freshman and is leading FSU with 6. That guy could be a beast in the ACC next year.

10:30 - Toney Douglas is out of the game right now. Guess that is what happens when you average 20+ and only have 1 so far.

11:26 - TV Timeout. 10-5 Badgers. Seriously? 15 points in 8+ minutes? Ladies and Gentleman, Big Ten Basketball!

Does anyone think Bo Ryan looks like he smokes 10 packs a day? He also looks like the dad of some hot girl who you date and when you finally meet him he pulls you aside and says "Don't fuck my daughter. I have a shotgun and I know every cop in town."

12:01 - Clemons finally gets his first point. Nice Hoosiers reference in the comments. This game is definitely missing a drunk Dennis Hopper.

13:00 - Another FSU turnover. Sloppy. If this game is in Boise, why don't they play it on the Smurf turf?

13:35 - 8-4 Badgers. We have a barn burner going. Bohannon just picked up his 2nd foul. One player from each team with 2 fouls.

14:00 - Wisconsin is using the entire shot clock repeatedly. And FSU just got called for their 2nd OFFENSIVE foul.

15:00 - The announcers gave us Toney Douglas' point totals recently. He has been lighting it up. 10 points for both teams in 5 minutes so far.

Under 16 timeout: - As expected Wisconsin is really slowing it down. FSU probably has an advantage in a track meet.

16:00 - We are expecting our first Bobby Bowden reference anytime now.

17:00 - The Badgers have added a 4th white guy. It's like they want to be a stereotype. And the lone African American Trevon Hughes scores.

18:00 - Four all. Both teams have scored all all their possessions.

19:00 - Monster dunk by Alabi to start the game. Wisconsin answers. No much defense so far. Announcers seem surprised.

2) Solomon Alabi, From Nigeria to New York via destiny? After not playing much last season, Florida State center Solomon Alabi has quickly become one of the more dominating big men in the ACC. Considered the 24th best player in the nation when he came out of high school, Alabi didn't start playing organized hoops until leaving his home country of Nigeria as a teenager. So no, he has absolutely nothing in common with Saleh from the 1994 Kevin Bacon classic, "The Air Up There." As a matter of fact, Alabi might want to do whatever it takes to distance himself from the movie as Bacon's character was named "Jimmy Dolan", a name way too close to New York Knicks craptastic CEO James Dolan. To add insult to frequent injury, according to the official Florida State athletic site, Alabi is being compared to Knicks bust Antonio McDyess.

3) Many, many, moons ago in 1998 The Noles have not made an NCAA Tournament in over 10 years. Not since 1998. Yet even their dance in the Year of McGwire and Slammin' Sammy is ripe with coincidences. Way back in the ancient days of yester-century, the Noles engaged in battle with the mighty Crusaders from Valparaiso. Led by Bryce Drew, what they had there was a Crusader victory. But all was not lost for the team from Tallahassee. Even in defeat, they could find solace. After winning, Bryce Drew married Tara Thibedeaux, daughter of Keith Thibodeaux, better known as "Little Ricky" on the show "I Love Lucy." Also making an appearance on "I Love Lucy", albeit for one show, was actress Joan Crawford. In her epic disaster of a bio pic, "Mommie Dearest", Crawford was played by Hollywood starlet Faye Dunaway, who went to, among other colleges, Florida State.

Bonus plea to the Seminole gods: Back in 2000-2001, current FSU coach Leonard Hamilton presided over a disastrous Washington Wizards team that went 19-63. According to Basketball-Reference.com, however, the Wizards were supposed to have won 23. Those four wins destiny owes Leonard Hamilton could get the Noles to the Final Four. — Jordi Scrubbings (The Serious Tip/ScalpEm/Thunder Matt's Saloon)

WISCONSIN BADGERS

1) Livin' on the Edge The 12th-seeded Wisconsin Badgers have been up-and-down this year, to put it mildly—in conference, they had winning streaks of three and five games apiece, and a losing streak between the two that reached six—but thanks to a surprisingly strong not-completely-horrible better-than-the-SEC Big Ten, head coach Bo Ryan managed to smuggle the Badgers into the dance for the 11th straight season. Only Arizona, Kansas, Duke, and Michigan State have longer active streaks—pretty heady territory for the Badgers, considering they earned bids only twice between 1947 and 1997.

2) Defensive Struggles It may come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Ryan's coaching style, but statistically, the Badgers have struggled more on defense than offense this season. According to Ken Pomeroy's rankings, Wisconsin is the 24th best team in the country (and best in the Big Ten) in terms of offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions), yet only ranks 60th in defensive efficiency. Neither of these stats is especially notable (especially for a team that went only 18-12 in the regular season), but they are interesting when compared with Coach Ryan's last few squads. Since 2004, only the 2006 team failed to finish in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, and none finished better than 26th on the offensive end. Combined with the Badgers' top 20 strength-of-schedule and mediocre record, the efficiency stats create an interesting situation in which the Badgers are actually ranked higher in Pomeroy's rankings than their first round opponent, fifth-seeded Florida State.

3) A Glimpse Into the Future The starter with the most potential on this year's squad, and probable frontcourt anchor in '10, is sophomore center/guard Jon Leuer. Center/guard might not be a real position, but if anybody plays there, it's Leuer. A guard his first two years in high school, Leuer grew 9 inches by the time he graduated. The result is a 6-10 power forward with perimeter skills (last year, in his first Big Ten game, he was 5 of 5 from distance) who can also put the ball on the floor and finish around the rim. Leuer started the year coming off the bench in support of fellow sophomore Keaton Nankivil, but his first start came against Illinois, and the Badgers subsequently went on a five-game tear that put them above .500 in conference play for good. He needs to bulk up and improve his defensive skills, but there's a good chance he will end up better than Brian Butch when all is said and done. — Sam Gardner

Join the Deadspin Pants Party Group Pool [ESPN]
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Let's look at what penalties they got from the NCAA:

• Public reprimand and censure. Oh no! Your words sting me like angry bees.

• Four years of probation. This is also meaningless. They simply have to wait two extra years before they can start cheating again.

• Scholarship reductions in 10 sports. This is the only actual sanction. This will hurt the non-football sports more, of course, but the NCAA barely tinkered with the self-imposed sanctions Florida State had already given themselves. The football team recommended a reduction of five scholarships. The NCAA upped it by one. What an iron fist!

• Vacating of victories in which ineligible athletes competed. This sounds very harsh... but is it? First, the NCAA says it's up to FSU to determine which games involved ineligible players and then tell the NCAA later. Second, they will almost certainly appeal this part of the ruling and other schools have won that appeal before.

Third, who gives a crap? The teams that lost those games don't get to claim them as a victory and even if they could, no one would feel good about it. Changing the record book doesn't change the memory of what happened. Michigan "lost" nearly four seasons of wins and two Final Four banners, but that will never stop people from marveling about the Fab Five. It's embarrassing, but that's all. (And the NCAA even waited until FSU was on spring break and National Signing Day was well passed to announce their findings, further lessening the embarrassment.) The worst thing that might happen is that the track team might have to forfeit a National Championship, but no one will ever forget that they really did win it.

• Show-cause orders-ranging from three to five years-on three university employees. Three low-level chumps (academic specialists and a tutor) will take the fall by not being able to work in an athletic department for a few years. No coaches or administrators will be punished.

So what did they do to earn such a "harsh" rebuke? Sixty-one athletes from 10 FSU sports who were taking a history of music classic were given answers to an online test and some had papers written for them. That's not a couple of goofballs helping each other with a project. That's systematic cheating spread across the entire athletic department. They pushed athletes to a ridiculous creampuff class and they still had to cheat in order to pass it.

Yet ... no postseason bans and no coaches will fired or suspended or receive pay cuts. Anyway you look at it, it is a slap on the wrist and yet another reminder that the NCAA is not interested in any serious enforcement of their academic rules. Well, at least not at a big powerful school like Florida State.

Tim Stephens at the Orlando Sentinel explains it best:

Still think it's tough? Just consider that FSU was found guilty of one of the worst academic fraud cases in NCAA history. It involved 61 athletes in 10 sports. It involved, as the NCAA noted and FSU agreed, fraud committed by the employees who were there to preserve the very academic integrity that was defiled. And yet when you look team by team, FSU's scholarship cuts and other sanctions were no worse and were in fact lower than what many teams face for poor performances in the classroom (penalties for a low Academic Progress Rate).

Message: It's worse to recruit players who actually flunk than it is to cheat to help them pass.

In other words, it's a sad joke. Bobby Bowden might lose his shot at the precious wins record, but everyone already knows what he did to get there in the first place.

Florida State's NCAA penalties: It's not so bad, unless you are Bobby Bowden [Orlando Sentinel]
Florida State University gets 4 years' probation in cheating scandal [Miami Herald]
FSU failed to mind itself, NCAA showed its power [Pensacola News Journal]
Florida State sanctions jeopardize Bobby Bowden's wins record [SI]

As you no doubt recall, Rolle received a coveted Rhoades Scholarship back in November, but is also projected as a mid-second round draft pick. Yesterday, he announced that he will put the NFL on hold to go for a one-year master’s degree in medical anthropology at the prestigious and snooty English school. Of course, he graduated high school early, finished his FSU bachelor's in 2.5 years (he's already working on another master's there) and has junior eligibility, so technically, he's still coming out early and would enter the 2010 draft with his regular class. He'll just be the first player in history to ace the Wonderlic.

So... how did your college career work out for you?

Rolle Is Heading to Oxford, Not the N.F.L. [NY Times]

UPDATE: Two people wrote in to correct me on an important point:

Regarding Myron Rolle and the Wonderlic test. ... Pat McInally, a Harvard grad and Cincinnati Bengal punter, aced the Wonderlic, answering all 50 questions correctly within the 10-minute time period allowed, in the early 1970s. But, never let facts get in the way a good story, Mr. Blogski.

So there you go. My sincerest apologies to Mr. McInally. By the way, it's a 12-minute test and I also spelled "Rhodes Scholarship" wrong. So who's the real dummy?

Our pal Rob Iracane checks in with this tip from Charlottesville, Va.:

Kyle Long was arrested early Sunday morning after University of Virginia police say they saw him driving the wrong way on 12 and a 1/2 Street and after he failed a pair of sobriety tests.

A police report given to NBC29 shows 20-year-old Kyle Long blew a .10 in a breath test. This arrest comes on the heels of Long's unexpected departure from Florida State University. He left FSU before the baseball season ever began. A Tallahassee paper reports that he'll transfer to a community college close to home.

I can't help thinking of the Chevy truck commercial where Howie pulls up to various stranded Tundra owners and offers them a ride. The new version has Howie passing all those guys because Kyle's always in the passenger's seat.

Kyle Long Arrested In Charlottesville [NBC29]