ACC Spring Meetings -- What's Going On?...Another leaves Rocky Top -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

The coaches and muckity-mucks of the ACC have descended upon beautiful Amelia Island in Florida...located on the northeast coast of Florida and one of the Sea Islands...and the Ritz-Carelton for the annual spring meetings. As expcted, football and basketball is drawing most of the print and publicity. 

Roy Williams doesn't much care for this yearly con-fab and said he's leaving after day one. Football wants to tinker with the red-shirt rule. They'll also discuss the football collaborative reply rule they experimented with last year. 

The two big items to be discussed would appear to be HB2 and the future of THe ACC Network. 

HB2 is a law passed in North Carolina which, in short, mandates that transgenders must use the bathroom associated with the gender listed on their birth certificate. This bill has made the NCAA, ACC and NBA come out with the stance that their intentions were to avoid having athletic events in the state because of the discriminatory language in the bill. 

We saw the ACC women's basketball tournament moved to Conway, SC. The ACC Baseball Tournament will take place next week in Louisville, KY. The ACC is located in Greensboro. The ACC Softball and Lacrosse Tournaments remained in North Carolina. 

OK, enough potty talk...

The ACC Network is sure to be a hot topic items as well...especially in the wake of ESPN terminating around 100 people earlier this month. The key here, of course, is scheduling. The 2019 launch is still a "go", though...regardless of what bathroom the cameraman or color analyst chooses to use. 

You want to be able to present the games on your network that people want to watch. Not only in conference scheduling but also in the non-conference matchups. In all sports. 

We're not wearing blinkers or blinders here. We realize that football and men's basketball are the cash cows in any conference. Especially in the ACC. But, what about softball, lacrosse...field hockey and volleyball? Will the ACC Network do a better job than what we are seeing so far on the ACC Network Extra?

Let's go back a week. What was I able to watch on the ACC Network Extra that I was interested in? I was "blocked out" from the ACC Softball Tournament...but found it on Fox Sports South. The first round of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament, which featured six ACC teams wasn't available on the ACC Network Extra and was a pay for view event for Louisville fans...unless you accessed it through your cell phone or tablet instead of your laptop or computer. 

I got to see the ACC women's rowing championships. Those are fun for me...but the commentators were "sweet, sunny Jesse, hog-calling awful". ACC Track and Field was available for watching as well. I missed most of that, but did catch Emmonnie Henderson's winning shot put throw. 

Louisville is sinking ACC mandated money into to improvements, upgrades and new broadcast and communications facilities on campus. Maybe they could also put bathrooms (transgender, single access unisex and/or traditional) in Ulmer Stadium and at the Louisville Lacrosse Field. Field Hockey's Trager Stadium has them...and a nearby McDonald's if you're on the other side of the stadium from the seating. Lynn Stadium and Jim Patterson have restrooms also. 

(Sorry, I keep drifting back to the bathroom in this article. At my age, it becomes important. One of the first things I do when I go to an opponent's arena, stadium of facility is make sure I know "if the loo is close to you")

And, is this ACC Network going to be something else I have to purchase and inflate my already eye-popping monthly cable, phone and internet provider's bill? I've watched the SEC Network and BIG Ten Networks. I'm impressed with a lot lot of programming on each venue. Can the ACC match or better this? Will ESPN have another round of pink slip delivery before 2019? Will they offer the current very good local ACC Network Extra announcers (like Don Russell, Daryl Foust, Christian Payne, Patty Norton, Sean Moth...etc..) a chance to call games on the ACC Network (sans Extra)?

So, at least they have convened at a pretty nice resort. $600 a night. We run Cardinal Couple on a tightly controlled budget of $1500 a year. Guess I'd be checking out after the second day. Walz and Pitino should have great weather to get in a little golf. Maybe they'll find a outdoor hoops court where Rick can show off his new no-look pass skills and play Jeff in a rousing game of "21". Jeff could show off his half-court shot. How about a pickup game of Walz, Pitino and Justine Sowry against Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, Mike Brey and Muffet McGraw? 

Women's sports will be largely ignored this week. Season tickets will probably go up slightly to cover the cost of bringing "all the boys to the convention" and wining and dining them for about a week. I doubt there will be a investigation/probe into how all 13 SEC softball teams made the NCA Tournament and Louisville didn't. And, most importantly...

Just how are the bathrooms at the Ritz-Carlton designated? Did everyone bring your birth certificates? 



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TE'A COOPER LEAVES ROCKY TOP

The sophomore guard is leaving the Vols after sitting out a season. 

Cooper's decision is unusual, considering she missed last season after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament. She suffered the injury during the summer following her freshman season. 

The 5-foot-8 point guard averaged 8.6 points, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals while playing in 36 games during the 2015-16 season. She started 15 games.

Cooper's decision comes less than a month after fellow guard Alexa Middleton announced she was transferring to go "somewhere to reach the goals I have set."

Tennessee, which had just nine available players last season, now is down to 11 players for next season. The latest attrition, along with Jordan Reynolds' graduation, has left the Lady Vols low on point guard experience for next season.

"Not another one, Holly?" 

Incoming freshmen Evina Westbrook and Anastasia Hayes both are point guards. One or both could end up starting, depending on how UT deploys its returnees.


Any Louisville interest here? 

September 2013: Cooper reopened her recruitment after giving a verbal to North Carolina as an eighth-grader. She is still considering UNC but also has 10 other schools on her list. In no order they are: Tennessee, Duke, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Florida State, South Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Rutgers and Pittsburgh.

paulie
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