It's Not Plagiarism Is Going The Way Of The Bobo

Wisconsin? More like Waiverconsin! Err yeah: The odds are effectively nil on Ben Brust ever suiting up for the Hawkeyes at this point. After his petition for a release from his Iowa LOI, then a brief episode of heywait from the Brust family when they were told there was a conference rule against intra-conference transfers on scholarship, it looks like Brust will get his wish after all:

Wisconsin has won its appeal to the Big Ten Conference, opening the door for Mundelein (Ill.) High School senior guard Ben Brust to sign with the Badgers for their 2010 men’s basketball freshman class.

The Big Ten’s 11-member committee of faculty representatives voted Friday in favor of UW and Brust to waive a league rule that prohibits athletes from transferring from one Big Ten school to another and remaining on scholarship.

Walter Dickey, the chairman of UW’s athletic board, represented UW in the meeting Friday. Dickey stressed he could not comment on the specific case but did agreed to talk about the philosophy of the rule in question.

"The basic rationale behind the rule is to try to both support the national letter of intent and to prevent coaching or raiding (players)," Dickey said. "That is important to us within the conference.

"(But) every rule can’t ever cover every possible situation. I think one way of looking at it is you’ve got to uphold the rules no matter what. And I think another view, which is mine, is that if rigid and mechanical adherence to rules that don’t advance their purpose, (it) undermines the legitimacy of the rules.

Hard to argue with Dickey, and it's worth noting that Gary Barta has stated publicly that it's never been Iowa's intention to deny Brust the ability to go anywhere. While nobody's on the record about how that faculty representative meeting took place, we're pretty sure that Iowa's representative either argued for Brust's case or recused themselves from the proceeding, since Iowa would stand to gain nothing from standing athwart the freshman. 

So--assuming Brust goes to Wisconsin (otherwise why appeal on the grounds that it's where he wants to go?)--he'll be following in the footsteps of Jason Bohannon, another "how did Iowa let this guy get away" guard prospect. If his career's anything like Bohannon's, Iowa's going to hate seeing him for four straight years. HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: In the comment section, please explain why Ben Brust sucks and is good enough for Wisconsin but not Iowa. Lord knows there were plenty of people who were downright gleeful when Brust decommitted; don't get shy on us now. Go on, tell us how the Frantagonist has the luxury of running players off to other major-conference teams who have been to the tournament more recently than Iowa has. 

VOTE EITHER PAT ANGERER OR PENCILMAN JEFFRIES: Voting is open in the Chrotchtangle Sweet 16, and as mentioned before, favored son Pat Angerer is up against a monster candidate in Pencilman Jeffries. NOTY had this to say about BHGP's involvement in the first round of voting:

Our friends at Black Heart Gold Pants have acknowledged their old-school-tie support for Iowa linebacker and Chrotchtangle Regional No. 15 seed Pat Angerer, who upset No. 7 seed Furious Bradley in the first round. They've even acknowledged that the Hawkeye has an uphill battle in his regional semi-final against No. 3 seed Pencilman Jeffries. 

Helmets off to you, Black Heart Gold Pants. It's not easy to set aside homerism in this or any competitive endeavor. But NOTY is a sacred trust. Your objective choices on these epic round-by-round questions will determine not just a "winner" but onomastic greatness.

And, yeah. While we'd never, ever suggest that any of you vote against Pat Angerer, we're also not going to pretend that Pencilman Jeffries is an inferior name in any way. Thus, we encourage our readers to vote, but to follow their own hearts about what this tournament means.

Also, haha fuck you Wave Ryder and Furious Bradley.

So do we get 75:1 odds on each of these guys, or...: GOOD NEWS--Adrian Clayborn and Broderick Binns are on the Lombardi Award watch list, which is for the best interior player (linemen + tight ends + linebackers who play w/in 5 yards of the LOS). NOT QUITE AS GOOD NEWS: So is apparently every other eligible starter in the nation. Okay, technically, it's "only" 75 players, but still--wanna get the Selmon brothers on that list while you're at it?

Full list is here at Morehouse's, um, house [it's a blog, not a house.--ed] [shut up. i was using slang.--aj] [that's adorable!--ed.]. Several BXI players, and of those in-conference palz, we expect both Ross Homan and Cameron Heyward to survive the first cut. Both guys are big-play monsters. Oh, and Clayborn too, of course.

Is the Lombardi Trophy 'post-buzz?'
Which alt bands--okay, I'll stop.

10-YARD SHUTTLE DRILLZ:

Phil Steele has posted the returning yards per team at his website, and Iowa brings back 88.13%--a healthy 25th nationwide, and 4th in the Big Ten. Ohio State is tops in the conference and 7th overall with 95.17% returning. Of course, it helps that Terrelle Pryor accounts for most of those yards by himself by leading the team in rushing and passing yards, but still--that means OSU is returning a guy who led the team in passing and rushing. Frowny face.

BYU is losing a starting guard out of nowhere, and it's ostensibly for doing things like having a mohawk and pierced tongue. There is no reason to think that Michael Loyd Jr. is interested in playing for Iowa, and he would not be allowed to contribute next season. Nonetheless, we demand that McCaffery sign him at once, and if he fails at this, Fran should be fired at once. Them is the rules in Iowa City.

And finally, if you somehow haven't seen this yet, here you go. It's the worst iteration of collegiate propaganda since at least Hot! Hot! Hot! and perhaps ever. There is nothing we can do to prepare you for this, other than to say you will no longer want Notre Dame anywhere near the Big Ten after viewing this, increased BTN revenue be damned.

God, what's that "rapper's" stage name? MC Your Least Favorite TA? And how many of those basketball players have considered transferring on general principle? We're guessing "every single one of them." This definitely is the worst thing to happen to any Catholic institution this year.