So, I’ve been mulling over writing this post about Andrew’s potential impact (or lack thereof) for next year’s football team. And lo and behold, this discussion exploded on the board*. Pezhoo predicts* that Lil’ P will have the impact of an Aaron Sparrow. Or actually he meant B.J. Hawkins. Yikes — now there’s some blasts from the past. Others aren’t nearly so pessimistic, as Nick chimes in* …

Not so sure … He has the speed/agility combo to be a serious threat. Can he get back into the flow and build up the confidence necessary to be productive?– we’ll see on that one. I certainly wouldn’t count him out though.

… but the fact that he’s been out of competitive football for so long has left even the most optimistic in the “not so sure” camp.

Count me firmly in the “very very unsure” camp. It’s superb news that he’s back at UVa — both for the team and for the school. But Andrew has had too many years off from competitive football to be able to waltz back on the field and take playing time away from guys who have been in the grove of things — you know, little things like practices and conditioning and games — during that same time. Now, we certainly have a huge gaping hole at his position, given injuries and lack of depth. So if there’s any spot on the roster where he could pull off the unlikely, it’s at wide receiver. But, as ‘Surf delicately puts it,* the “odds are certainly against Pearman having a significant impact upon his return.” I’m not going to write him off, but counting on him for anything beyond practice team duty would be a mistake.

A more realistic hope: that he gets re-acclimated to student-athlete life and the offense so that he can make an impact the following year.

Ah, once again, I’m hoping about the following year.

*message board link that will expire

“In Sean’s case he was very undecided what he’s going to do. I think where Sean is now will be the same place he’ll be next year [as an NBA prospect]. Only if he goes back to school, he’ll be at the same place with a college degree, and to me that’s very, very important.” — Former NBA player and coach John Lucas, who trained Singletary last month at Rice University in preparation for pre-draft camp workouts.

“[T]he fact [is] that not every second rounder makes it. In fact, the majority don’t. And I would say it’s much better for your financial prospects to have a college degree from a top university and be beloved by well-connected alumni than to have left early, been cut, and wandering around from league to league. If Sean isn’t virtually guaranteed to be drafted in the first round, going back to school is definitely the safe and prudent thing to do.” — HooNU*, driving Lucas’ point home.

*message board link that will expire, typos corrected

Stress over money tearing apart a hasty marriage of conveience … it could happen.

The latest “Notes” from the RTD are packed with news: Singletary got some training from John Lucas this past month, who says Sean remains “undecided” about the draft … Thompson is starting the second game of the regional, and it’s still between Casey and Doolittle for the opener against Lafayette … Wide receiver Andrew Pearman is officially back at UVa.

I’ll likely have some more thoughts on these items later (but no promises). But, at the very least, I wanted to share these tidbits, some Wahoo updates for your morning coffee. These summer months can be a parched desert for college sports news, so consider this a brief oasis — especially since we’re getting some nice morsels about our big revenue programs.

As you may have picked up from the board vibes, the momentum is with UNC, who swooped in recently (and I mean very recently) with an offer for Ed Davis after their top target at that position opted for another school. More thoughts later on this, but obviously this isn’t good news for the Hoos.

… for a BCS bid. That’s good news for those of us that want the Peach Bowl to stick with its ACC tie-in.

What a tough draw.

Virginia is scheduled to play Lafayette (33-18) on Friday at 4 p.m. Rutgers (41-19) and Oregon State (38-17), the defending national champion, will follow at 8 p.m. at Davenport Field. The winners and losers will meet on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The champs of the Patriot League. The champs of the Big East. And the defending national champions. Ouch.

And, if they get through that buzz saw, they’d likely have to face Vanderbilt coming out of the regionals — the #1 seeded team in the whole dang thing. There’s no official #16 seed, but I think we can figure out who unofficially got that honor, no? The tourney selection team gave our men a nice spoon full of disrespect!

(Quick “voice of reason” timeout from jamez*: “It is frustrating, but unfortunately, if you’re not one of the top 8 seeds, you’re pretty much at the mercy of geography as far as the next round goes. I’m sure Vandy is pissed too. Even though they get to play at home, being the #1 overall seed and drawing UVA in the Super Regionals has to feel to them like they’re getting shafted too.”)

Poppycock! Balderdash to your reasonable argument! Anger, fury, and being perturbed! I hope the boys are playing with a chip on their shoulder now. Even if it’s unjustified.

If you want to talk some baseball, there’s some good threads developing on the boards here* and here* about starting pitchers, lineups, and more.

*message board links that will expire.

A whole slew of new NCAA scholarship rules are coming next year …

Set to go into effect on Aug. 1, 2008, the rule changes — approved by the NCAA’s Board of Directors last month in an effort to raise college baseball programs’ Academic Progress Rates — will require players to be academically eligible at the start of the fall term and will require players transferring from one Division I program to another to sit out a year, just like in basketball and football.

Future rosters will be limited to 35 players, with only 27 eligible for athletic scholarship aid as of 2009-2010, and it’s this final measure that has some prominent Division I coaches cringing, because for the first time, programs will have to offer scholarship players no less than 33 percent of a full scholarship.

Division I baseball programs are limited to 11.7 scholarships, and most, if not all, break up that financial aid over a wide group of players.

… and baseball coaches are pissed:

“Personally, I think it’s one of the most damaging pieces of student welfare legislation I’ve seen in a long time,” [Clemson's Jack] Leggett said … “Nineteen of my 31 guys on scholarship are on less than 33 percent … We should have the flexibility and creativity to make that work, because already you’ve only got 11.7 scholarships. Don’t tell us how to use it.”

The rationale of the NCAA appears to be that players on larger scholarships are less likely to bolt for the pros and that coaches will have more of an incentive to keep players academically eligible and recruit better students. Sounds like more NCAA la-la land.

This will mean that more players will be off scholarship …

N.C. State baseball coach Elliott Avent said the 33 percent requirement could cause headaches.

“So now that guy that’s on 15 percent, you’ve got to take him to 33 percent or take him to zero. You’re probably going to take him to zero,” said Avent, who splits his 11.7 scholarships among 31 players, with 13 receiving scholarships worth 30 percent or less of a full grant.

… so more players will be shouldering the financial burden for school and potentially bolting for the professional dollars of the minors. Or maybe even skipping college altogether if they do get drafted by a pro team. Paying for college or getting payed to play ball? The NCAA is making this into the new dilemma.

(more…)

Sometimes, bloggers hurt real people when they just grab content for their audience without thinking about the consequences. Here’s the story of Allison Stokke, the high school student and star pole vaulter that had her picture plastered across the Internet (including our boards last week), after a blogger grabbed her image for a sexually suggestive post without her knowledge. A moment of blogging titillation has turned her life upside down — as she’s struggled to deal with impersonators, stalkers, paparazzi and pornographers, and the demeaning situation of being forced into being an Internet pinup.

And, sorry, no pictures here.

UPDATE: I see that FanHouse posted here about this article. I guess they don’t want to offend a big-time blogger, so Michael David Smith makes this luke-warm statement:

Was With Leather editor Matt Ufford wrong to post photos of her? I don’t think so. She’s 18, and With Leather is all about the intersection of sports and attractive women.

And yet I still feel uncomfortable with Stokke’s celebrity status, mostly because she feels uncomfortable with her celebrity status. Stokke just wants to be a high school student and a pole vaulter, and it’s a shame that she’s now more than that.

I posted a comment that’s in moderation, but the jist: You feel uncomfortable? Uh, no kidding? The article makes clear that she’s being harassed by media and paparazzi (including a porn magazine from a third-world country), is being impersonated on Facebook and other social networking sites, feels demeaned and doesn’t know what’s next for her in terms of photos on the Internet, and now her family is scared she is being stalked. And all because a blogger grabbed a high school student’s picture off the Web and posted it for a sexually suggestive post that really had little value. So, we should be feeling more than uncomfortable — imagine if this was your daughter. Was the blogger’s actions “wrong” as in illegal? No (though I’m setting aside copyright issues — I’m just worrying about her rights). “Wrong” as in immoral? Yes. You don’t post a picture of a high school student with her full name on a million-hit blog and make sexual comments. That’s as “wrong” as it gets.

This “rumor” struck me as odd:

Something very strange is going to happen at the SEC’s annual meeting this week. Stranger than Nick Saban and Les Miles sitting down in the same room at the same time. The conference’s presidents are going to talk about a college football playoff.

What? Them chatting about a potential playoffs is monumental? Has even that never happened before? Sheesh. Man, if that’s really true, we’re even further away from a playoffs than I thought. I hope my grandkids will think about taking their dear ol’ grandpop to the first installment of these new fangled playoffs. “In my day, our football team went to Boise and Charlotte every year, and we LIKED it!”