While it may not be news that he was part of the Boston franchise; it is news that he is now going to be officially a Celtic. Former Badger Marcus has been called up by the Boston Celtics from their D-League team in Maine.
Landry now joins former Badger Michael Finley on the roster in Boston. Finley who was signed by the Celtics in early March was actually the second Badger with the Celtics. Landry was traded to the Celtics from the New York Knicks in the trade for Nate Robinson that happened two weeks prior.
Landry since the trade has been playing for the Maine Red Claws and has been averaging just over 11 points per game and 4 rebounds per game. When playing in the NBA with the Knicks, Landry averaged just 2 points per game and 1 rebound per game.
Deja Vu
The Beat Goes On: Badgerst Take Down K-State
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Markolf Putting Student Ahead of Athlete
Wisconsin center Ian Markolf is leaving the Badger basketball team, but not for another school, rather to focus on his degree.
Markolf only a sophomore, is leaving to put more attention on receiving his degree in personal finance and investment. The now former Badger center received honors on the All-Big Ten academic team this year, and now will watch the Wisconsin Badgers from the stands rather than the court.
"I look forward to continuing our friendships, and being a Badger fan while a student at Wisconsin. I wish them the best of luck in the seasons to come," said Markolf.
The rest of the team will now have an extra scholarship to offer next season. Bo Ryan described Markolf as a great teammate on Tuesday.
"We wish Ian the best of luck and thank him for his hard work over the last two years," said Ryan.
Markolf only played in two games this past season, and a total of six in his career as a badger.
Markolf only a sophomore, is leaving to put more attention on receiving his degree in personal finance and investment. The now former Badger center received honors on the All-Big Ten academic team this year, and now will watch the Wisconsin Badgers from the stands rather than the court.
"I look forward to continuing our friendships, and being a Badger fan while a student at Wisconsin. I wish them the best of luck in the seasons to come," said Markolf.
The rest of the team will now have an extra scholarship to offer next season. Bo Ryan described Markolf as a great teammate on Tuesday.
"We wish Ian the best of luck and thank him for his hard work over the last two years," said Ryan.
Markolf only played in two games this past season, and a total of six in his career as a badger.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Polar Bear Spotted in Denver
No not a real polar bear; Wisconsin's former polar bear. Brian Butch has reportedly signed a deal with the Denver Nuggets to help sure up an already depleted low post.
Butch, who has been in the NBA Developmental League, or D-League, has been brought up by the Nuggets because of a rash of injuries to their big men. Kenyon Martin and Chris Anderson remain on the bench, and with the playoffs just down the road the Nuggets are looking to bulk up down low.
The full details of Butch's contract with the Nuggets has not been released, but it is reportedly for the remainder of the season. Though the contract is not guaranteed into the 2010-2011 season, Butch will have the opportunity to play for a permanent spot on the Nuggets or can be dealt to another team in a trade before next season.
The former Badger and McDonald's All-American, has been playing for the Bakerfield Jam in the D-League throughout the season, and was the D-League All-Star Game MVP. Butch has been averaging a double-double with the Jam, and now will become a role player to ,Denver hopes, help solve the Nuggets low post problems.
Butch, who has been in the NBA Developmental League, or D-League, has been brought up by the Nuggets because of a rash of injuries to their big men. Kenyon Martin and Chris Anderson remain on the bench, and with the playoffs just down the road the Nuggets are looking to bulk up down low.
The full details of Butch's contract with the Nuggets has not been released, but it is reportedly for the remainder of the season. Though the contract is not guaranteed into the 2010-2011 season, Butch will have the opportunity to play for a permanent spot on the Nuggets or can be dealt to another team in a trade before next season.
The former Badger and McDonald's All-American, has been playing for the Bakerfield Jam in the D-League throughout the season, and was the D-League All-Star Game MVP. Butch has been averaging a double-double with the Jam, and now will become a role player to ,Denver hopes, help solve the Nuggets low post problems.
Bucky's Butler Connection
He's the man that has led the Wisconsin Marching Band for over 40 years, but he's also a proud Butler alum: he's Michael Leckrone.
The Wisconsin band director for now over 40 years, Michael Leckrone received both his bachelors degree, and masters degrees from Butler before recieving his PHD from Indiana. After earning his doctorate Leckrone returned to Butler to become band director, but only for three years. In 1969, Leckrone would become the band director at Wisconsin.
In Leckrone's tenure as Wisconsin's band director, the band has been to three rose bowls, been in a Budweiser commercial, and instituted the "fifth quarter." Not to mention the tradition of the spring concert was also created under Leckrone's tenure as band director.
The most current claim to fame is not one that anyone would look fondly upon for the marching band. In 2006, the marching band faced allegations of hazing while on a trip to Ann Arbor, Mich. The allegations led to people at the university calling for Leckrone's dismissal from Wisconsin, including the university chancellor, but Leckrone stayed.
The support for Leckrone was obvious at the next home football game. When John D. Wiley, then chancellor at UW, was announced he was given a resounding boo from the Wisconsin faithful. Just two years later, Leckrone was still the at UW, and Chancellor Wiley was no more.
The hazing allegations would again raise their ugly head at the marching band. In 2008, new allegations would cause Leckrone to take stern action; this time telling the entire band to hit the showers. For the first time in Leckrone's tenure, there would be a football Saturday without a marching band. A week later the band would return for the home game against Penn State.
While Wisconsin's reputation could have been tarnished by the hazing allegations; today they are just a memory. Leckrone handled the heat, and put out the fire. But what does the marching band have to do with Wisconsin sports? Everything.
When Leckrone came to Madison the football team was on a 22 game losing streak. At the time it was hard to get people in the stands, and the band kept them coming. Until the Barry Alverez era, the band was just as big of a draw to Camp Randall as the football team was. Leckrone's tenure is marked with both triumph and tragedy, but it is with out a doubt a major contribution to the Wisconsin athletic programs. So tonight, when Butler takes on Duke in the national championship game every badger fan should be pulling for the Bulldogs, and saying thank you for loaning Michael Leckrone to us for the past 40 years.
The Wisconsin band director for now over 40 years, Michael Leckrone received both his bachelors degree, and masters degrees from Butler before recieving his PHD from Indiana. After earning his doctorate Leckrone returned to Butler to become band director, but only for three years. In 1969, Leckrone would become the band director at Wisconsin.
In Leckrone's tenure as Wisconsin's band director, the band has been to three rose bowls, been in a Budweiser commercial, and instituted the "fifth quarter." Not to mention the tradition of the spring concert was also created under Leckrone's tenure as band director.
The most current claim to fame is not one that anyone would look fondly upon for the marching band. In 2006, the marching band faced allegations of hazing while on a trip to Ann Arbor, Mich. The allegations led to people at the university calling for Leckrone's dismissal from Wisconsin, including the university chancellor, but Leckrone stayed.
The support for Leckrone was obvious at the next home football game. When John D. Wiley, then chancellor at UW, was announced he was given a resounding boo from the Wisconsin faithful. Just two years later, Leckrone was still the at UW, and Chancellor Wiley was no more.
The hazing allegations would again raise their ugly head at the marching band. In 2008, new allegations would cause Leckrone to take stern action; this time telling the entire band to hit the showers. For the first time in Leckrone's tenure, there would be a football Saturday without a marching band. A week later the band would return for the home game against Penn State.
While Wisconsin's reputation could have been tarnished by the hazing allegations; today they are just a memory. Leckrone handled the heat, and put out the fire. But what does the marching band have to do with Wisconsin sports? Everything.
When Leckrone came to Madison the football team was on a 22 game losing streak. At the time it was hard to get people in the stands, and the band kept them coming. Until the Barry Alverez era, the band was just as big of a draw to Camp Randall as the football team was. Leckrone's tenure is marked with both triumph and tragedy, but it is with out a doubt a major contribution to the Wisconsin athletic programs. So tonight, when Butler takes on Duke in the national championship game every badger fan should be pulling for the Bulldogs, and saying thank you for loaning Michael Leckrone to us for the past 40 years.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Doing It Right: The Path to the Final Four
Today's Final Four is not just the greatest event for the NCAA; it's the greatest point for what is right in sports.
Just look at the teams we have in the Final Four. Four teams that do it the right way. Four teams featuring four great coaches that have built their programs; rather than signing the next big star in the NBA year after year.
Duke is by far the perfect example of this. If you look at the Duke roster there should be one thing that stands out. They are old and experienced. Only three freshman on the team and only one of them sees "significant" playing time. Take a look at that then look at Kentucky; two freshman that will be gone to the NBA after just one season. While Duke has had a few one and done players they for the most part graduate their players. John Calipari has at least one every season.
Then you look at a team like Butler. They actually have a player worried about losing time to study for a math exam. When's the last time you think John Wall went to a math class?
Teams like Butler and Duke are true student athletes. They attend class, get good grades, and graduate. The same can be said for Michigan State. Love him or hate him, Tom Izzo is another coach that does it the right way. Izzo's program has always featured players that grew up in the program, and knew how to play basketball Izzo's way. This year the best example is Raymar Morgan, but the best example was Mateen Cleaves. As the star of the 2000 Spartans, Cleaves led a team of veterans to the national title. Then look at last year's team Suton, Walton, and Gray. None of them huge stars but all contributors to a team that got the national title game last year.
Lastly, the West Virginia Mountaineers. Bob Huggins has done perhaps his greatest coaching job in Morgantown, and he's doing it the right way. When Huggins went to WVU he didn't just go out and sign the kids that had the biggest headlines; he went and got kids that would fit his program. Huggins then took the players that were already there and built them up. Da'Sean Butler may be the best example of this. A player with a load of talent when Huggins got to West Virginia that has become one of the best players in college basketball. Then there's Joe Mazzula, a player that can barely lift his arms, that is leading his team to the Final Four.
Sure Huggins may have had a few players that were just using college as a stepping stone to the NBA, but most of them go to class, and graduate. Izzo could fall into the same group of coaches that bring in players that are destined to play at the next level, and you could even put Coach K in there with both of them. And Butler is just a solid program that has been built by players that just love to play basketball, and are good students too. Put all of these guys together and you see what is great about college basketball; coaches that teach, and players that learn; both in the classroom and on the court. And that is what college basketball is all about.
Just look at the teams we have in the Final Four. Four teams that do it the right way. Four teams featuring four great coaches that have built their programs; rather than signing the next big star in the NBA year after year.
Duke is by far the perfect example of this. If you look at the Duke roster there should be one thing that stands out. They are old and experienced. Only three freshman on the team and only one of them sees "significant" playing time. Take a look at that then look at Kentucky; two freshman that will be gone to the NBA after just one season. While Duke has had a few one and done players they for the most part graduate their players. John Calipari has at least one every season.
Then you look at a team like Butler. They actually have a player worried about losing time to study for a math exam. When's the last time you think John Wall went to a math class?
Teams like Butler and Duke are true student athletes. They attend class, get good grades, and graduate. The same can be said for Michigan State. Love him or hate him, Tom Izzo is another coach that does it the right way. Izzo's program has always featured players that grew up in the program, and knew how to play basketball Izzo's way. This year the best example is Raymar Morgan, but the best example was Mateen Cleaves. As the star of the 2000 Spartans, Cleaves led a team of veterans to the national title. Then look at last year's team Suton, Walton, and Gray. None of them huge stars but all contributors to a team that got the national title game last year.
Lastly, the West Virginia Mountaineers. Bob Huggins has done perhaps his greatest coaching job in Morgantown, and he's doing it the right way. When Huggins went to WVU he didn't just go out and sign the kids that had the biggest headlines; he went and got kids that would fit his program. Huggins then took the players that were already there and built them up. Da'Sean Butler may be the best example of this. A player with a load of talent when Huggins got to West Virginia that has become one of the best players in college basketball. Then there's Joe Mazzula, a player that can barely lift his arms, that is leading his team to the Final Four.
Sure Huggins may have had a few players that were just using college as a stepping stone to the NBA, but most of them go to class, and graduate. Izzo could fall into the same group of coaches that bring in players that are destined to play at the next level, and you could even put Coach K in there with both of them. And Butler is just a solid program that has been built by players that just love to play basketball, and are good students too. Put all of these guys together and you see what is great about college basketball; coaches that teach, and players that learn; both in the classroom and on the court. And that is what college basketball is all about.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Jim Delany: Tournament Expansion "Probable"
So the fix is in! The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is going to expand. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is saying that the expansion will probably happen after the April 26th; when the NCAA Board of Directors have their meeting.
The problem is when is enough going to be enough. Below I've posted a video from Wisconsin's very own "The Onion" about the expansion; well the future expansion. But the video points out an important fact; when will we stop?
The problem is whatever the field is going to be...you will always have the team that thinks they got snubbed. You're going to have a team like Illinois who were just on the outside looking in. You're always going to have the team that people don't think should be there. Expanding the tournament will do nothing good for the tournament itself...except the pockets of the NCAA.
The NCAA Tournament is the number one revenue source for the NCAA every year. With the contract with CBS drawing to an end the NCAA must find a way to keep it going, and CBS wants more games plus more revenue.
If the NCAA expands the tournament though, where's the excitement? What happens to office pools? What happens to Cinderella? And what do conference championship tournaments really mean?
Conference tournament finals are perhaps one of the greatest events in college sports, and I'm not talking about the big ones like the Big Ten or the Big East. I'm talking about the small ones; the ones that really matter. You have a team playing in a real gym, not Conseco Fieldhouse. You have real fans, and students. And most importantly you have players that are playing for one thing to get to the NCAA Tournament. Where does all that go if the NCAA expands the tournament? Down the tubes.
There will be nothing special about those tournaments anymore. Those kids will be playing to be part of the best 96 teams out there. They may not even get to play one of the big boys, like a Duke or Kansas. They will have to play another game just to get to the next level. And what does this say about the "major" conferences.
It says that they are afraid of what is happening this year; Butler is in the Final Four. They are afraid of the next George Mason. They are just trying to lock up a bye week; to stick a wrench in the tires of the "mid-major" conferences.
Let's be honest here. There already is a tournament for the big boys to get their way into the NCAA Tournament; it's called the regular season. Teams that refuse to go out and play anyone in non-conference, Virginia Tech, or teams that stumble down the stretch, Illinois, will be left sitting on the sidelines. And that's where they belong.
The sad thing is that this will cheapen the tournament. People will tune out and the tournament will lose the magic of March Madness. Look at the tournament we're having this year, Butler is playing in the Final Four just seven miles from home. A school of less that 5,000 students with a shot at the national title. That's what makes March Madness great, not Jim Boeheim looking lock his job up until the end of time, and definitely not the NCAA trying to cash in on another big pay day.
Lastly if you want more proof that the tournament works just fine the way it is, just look at where Boeheim is right now; at home. Butler who knocked off his Syracuse squad is in the Final Four, and is the story of the tournament. I guess the expansion came too late this year Jim. Maybe next year you won't run into Butler, and it will be you in the Final Four. But God I hope not.
The problem is when is enough going to be enough. Below I've posted a video from Wisconsin's very own "The Onion" about the expansion; well the future expansion. But the video points out an important fact; when will we stop?
The problem is whatever the field is going to be...you will always have the team that thinks they got snubbed. You're going to have a team like Illinois who were just on the outside looking in. You're always going to have the team that people don't think should be there. Expanding the tournament will do nothing good for the tournament itself...except the pockets of the NCAA.
The NCAA Tournament is the number one revenue source for the NCAA every year. With the contract with CBS drawing to an end the NCAA must find a way to keep it going, and CBS wants more games plus more revenue.
If the NCAA expands the tournament though, where's the excitement? What happens to office pools? What happens to Cinderella? And what do conference championship tournaments really mean?
Conference tournament finals are perhaps one of the greatest events in college sports, and I'm not talking about the big ones like the Big Ten or the Big East. I'm talking about the small ones; the ones that really matter. You have a team playing in a real gym, not Conseco Fieldhouse. You have real fans, and students. And most importantly you have players that are playing for one thing to get to the NCAA Tournament. Where does all that go if the NCAA expands the tournament? Down the tubes.
There will be nothing special about those tournaments anymore. Those kids will be playing to be part of the best 96 teams out there. They may not even get to play one of the big boys, like a Duke or Kansas. They will have to play another game just to get to the next level. And what does this say about the "major" conferences.
It says that they are afraid of what is happening this year; Butler is in the Final Four. They are afraid of the next George Mason. They are just trying to lock up a bye week; to stick a wrench in the tires of the "mid-major" conferences.
Let's be honest here. There already is a tournament for the big boys to get their way into the NCAA Tournament; it's called the regular season. Teams that refuse to go out and play anyone in non-conference, Virginia Tech, or teams that stumble down the stretch, Illinois, will be left sitting on the sidelines. And that's where they belong.
The sad thing is that this will cheapen the tournament. People will tune out and the tournament will lose the magic of March Madness. Look at the tournament we're having this year, Butler is playing in the Final Four just seven miles from home. A school of less that 5,000 students with a shot at the national title. That's what makes March Madness great, not Jim Boeheim looking lock his job up until the end of time, and definitely not the NCAA trying to cash in on another big pay day.
Lastly if you want more proof that the tournament works just fine the way it is, just look at where Boeheim is right now; at home. Butler who knocked off his Syracuse squad is in the Final Four, and is the story of the tournament. I guess the expansion came too late this year Jim. Maybe next year you won't run into Butler, and it will be you in the Final Four. But God I hope not.
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