The LSU Tigers won their 6th National Baseball Championship on Wednesday night when they beat the Texas Longhorns 11-4 to win the College World Series 2 games to 1.

The 22 year-old gymnast Courtney Kupets was presented with the Honda-Broderick Cup, which is given to the nation’s top female college athlete, by the hands of softball star Lisa Fernandez at Columbia University on Monday (June 22).

Courtney was the first gymnast to win a national title in the all-around, bars, beam and floor competition in the same year. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Kupets won the silver medal in the team all-around and captured individual bronze in the uneven bars.

Since the Olympics, Kupet was accepted to the University of Georgia on full athletic scholarship. Her team won the 2006 NCAA National Championships. After missing the 2008 postseason with an Achilles’ injury, Kupets returned to lead Georgia to its fifth straight NCAA championship.

Courtney Kupets Pictures

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has had a really bad last few weeks.  Now comes a photo of Rose flashing gang signs while he was still in college at Memphis.  Unlike his earlier troubles last month, Rose was quick to issue a statement distancing himself from his gesture and claiming it was a joke gone wrong.

Derrick Rose’s Statement Regarding Flashing Gang Signs in Photo

Recently, a photo has been circulating on the Internet which appears to depict me flashing a gang sign.

This photo of me was taken at a party I attended in Memphis while I was in school there, and was meant as a joke…a bad one, I now admit. I want to emphatically state, now and forever, that Derrick Rose is anti-gang, anti-drug, and anti-violence.

I am not, nor have I ever been, affiliated with any gang and I can’t speak loudly enough against gang violence, and the things that gangs represent.

In posing for this picture, I am guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment.

I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake. I pride myself on being a good citizen, and role model, that young people can look up to and I want to urge all my young fans to stay away from gangs and gang-related activities.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the sign Rose flashed is for The Gangster Disciples gang that is heavily rooted in Rose’s Englewood hood in Chicago.

The Gangster Disciples, a large criminal organization with tens of thousands of members, are deeply involved in Chicago’s violent narcotics trade. Gangster Disciples long have been the predominant gang in the Englewood neighborhood.

Former Memphis teammate and potential 2009 NBA Draft pick Antonio Anderson can clearly be seen behind Rose flashing up gang signs as well.

Earlier this month, it was released that Rose was the reason his college team, the University of Memphis, currently finds itself in hot water with the NCAA, over Rose’s alleged cheating on the SAT admission test.

go on reading »

Number one high school basketball recruit John Wall, a point guard from North Carolina, has finally decided to follow coach John Calipari to Kentucky to play for the Wildcats.

Wall was likely going to the University of Memphis before Calipari packed up half the town and moved it to Lexington.  Once Cal left he narrowed his list down to Kentucky, Duke, and Miami.

The addition of Wall will likely give the Wildcats the #1 recruiting class in the country.

Slam Magazine first reported the news right after midnight to it’s online readers.

Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach John Calipari has put his pink, yes pink, house in Memphis on the market for nearly $1.7 million dollars.

Here is how the realtor is describing the house:

Magnificent gated 1.26 acre Estate w/poolandtennis/b-ball court in Red Acres!2 story entry, 30′LR, DR, Study, state of the art Kitchen/Gathering Rm w/FP, 25′MBR down w/FP and luxurious bath, screen porch…4BRS, Media RmandPlayroom up.Pre-qualified purchasers please.

The square footage of the house is estimated between 5,500-5,900 sq ft.  City and county taxes alone are nearly $28,000 annually.

Calipari coached the Memphis Tigers from 2000-2009 before bolting the Tigers and jetting to the Bluegrass state to coach the Wildcats.

Coach Cal will do well in Lexington as long as he sticks to his automated Dribble-Drive-Motion offense and has a good assistance to coach the last 2 minutes of games and teach free throw shooting.

Photos of Calipari’s East Memphis Home

More Photos and Complete Listing

It is being reported that the University of Memphis Tigers will decided upon and will name assistant Josh Pastner as the new head coach of the team.  It would be the first head coaching job for the 31-year old Pastner who was an assistant under John Calipari.

The Tigers have been looking for a new head coach since Calipari picked up the Tigers’ basketball program and moved it to Lexington, Kentucky, to become the new Kentucky Wildcats coach.

Two sources said that athletic director R.C. Johnson has sent an e-mail to members of the Ambassadors Club, telling them the process is nearing an end. The Ambassadors Club is for boosters who have donated $500,000.

Known as one of the rising stars in the business, Pastner would be one of the youngest head coaches in the country and his selection would be a surprise, given his age and the fact he has no head coaching experience.

As a Tiger fan I like this hire a lot. Memphis, being in C-USA was not going to get a marquee coach, so going with the young and rising star is the right move.

Pastner is a master recruiter who worked for six years under Lute Olsen at Arizona before coming to Memphis last year as an assistant to John Calipari and helping Memphis land the #1 recruiting class in the country.  His name had been mentioned briefly for the opening at the University of Arizona as well.

The hire could also help Memphis retain some of that top recruiting class as well as some of the current players on the Tigers team.  The hire also hurts Calipari’s staff at Kentucky. Calipari knew the value of Pastner and was taking him to Kentucky.  Calipari was only promoting former assistants, Derek Kellog and Tony Barbee, to be the coach because they had already left him.

UPDATE: Pastner has reportedly named Carl Henry, the father of #1 national recruit Xavier Henry and current Tiger C.J. Henry, as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Tigers.  A move that likely would help Memphis retain Xavier, who originally committed to the Tigers under Calipari.

UPDATE: The Memphis Edge is reporting that Pastner’s contract is for five years worth $4.4 million dollars.

UPDATE: Carl Henry says he won’t be joining the Memphis Tigers program.

[image: commercialappeal.com]

It is finally official!  University of Memphis coach John Calipari has left the Tigers, along with his entire staff, to become the next coach at the University of Kentucky.

The Wildcats coaching job came open last Friday when they fired head coach Billy Gillispie after just two years as their head coach.

Calipari had spent the past nine years at the University of Memphis.  During that time Calipari had a record of 253-69 with several trips to the NCAA tournament, and a trip to the National Championship game last year.

The job with Kentucky will be Calipari’s third head coaching job as a college coach.  His overall record is 446-140 with two trips the the Final Four.  His first Final Four, in 1996, was vacated over NCAA violations regarding a player taking money from an agent.

Calipari had already booked the #1 recruiting class for the Memphis Tigers.  He will reportedly take most of that class and at least one or two current Tigers to the University of Kentucky with him.

The Kentucky Wildcats have fired head basketball coach Billy Gillispie after just two seasons on the job.  The move comes after a disappointing but not disastrous season.

The Wildcats went 22-14 and made the NIT.  However the 14 losses were the second most in the school’s history.  Gillispie was 40-27 during his two year enslavement to the University.

Most reports indicate personality conflicts between Gillispie and the Wildcats administration and fans seem to be the biggest reason for the decision.

ESPN summed it up best: “His seemingly random substitution patterns seemed to mystify the 24,000 assistant coaches who pack Rupp Arena every winter.”

Gillispie was successful in turning around the programs at UTEP and Texas A&M before being hired by the Wildcats.

10 Coaches Most Likely to Turn Down Offer to Coach Wildcats Next

1. John Calipari
2. Billy Donovan
3. Tom Izzo
4. Jamie Dixon
5. Jay Wright
6. Rick Pitino
7. Roy Williams
8. Jeff Capel
9. Mike Anderson
10. Ralph Turner

Likely Hire: Travis Ford

Update: Kentucky Steals John Calipari and Basketball Program from Memphis

Idiotic post from the Kentucky Wildcats Message Board:
go on reading »

Here is a look at the teams that have made the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  Below you will see the teams that made the tourney and what seed the selection committee gave them.  At the very bottom you will see five sites where you can print off a bracket to fill in with your selections.

The #1 seeds are Louisville, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Connecticut.

First Round NCAA March Madness Tournament Matchups

East Bracket

• #1 Pittsburgh Panthers vs. #16 ETSU Buccaneers
• #2 Duke Blue Devils vs. #15 Binghamton Bearcats
• #3 Villanova Wildcatsvs. #14 American University Eagles
• #4 Xavier Musketeers vs. #13 Portland State Vikings
• #5 Florida State Seminoles vs. #12 Wisconsin Badgers
• #6 UCLA Bruins vs. #11 VCU Rams
• #7 Texas Longhorns vs. #10 Minnesota Golden Gophers
• #8 Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. #9 Tennessee Volunteers

Midwest Bracket

• #1 Louisville Cardinals vs. #16 Alabama St./Morehead State
• #2 Michigan State Spartans vs. #15 Robert Morris Colonels
• #3 Kansas Jayhawks vs. #14 North Dakota State Bisons
• #4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. #13 Cleveland State Vikings
• #5 Utah Utes vs. #12 Arizona Wildcats
• #6 West Virginia Mountaineers vs. #11 Dayton Fliers
• #7  Boston College Eagles vs. #10 USC Trojans
• #8  Ohio State Buckeyes vs. #9 Siena Saints

South Bracket

• #1 North Carolina Tarheels vs. #16 Radford Highlanders
• #2 Oklahoma Sooners vs. #15 Morgan State Bears
• #3 Syracuse Orangemen vs. #14 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
• #4 Gonzaga Bulldogsvs. #13 Akron Zips
• #5 Illinois Fighting Illinivs. #12 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
• #6 Arizona State Sun Devils vs. #11 Temple Owls
• #7 Clemson Tigers vs. #10 Michigan Wolverines
• #8 LSU Tigers vs. #9 Butler Bulldogs

West Bracket

• #1 Connecticut Huskies vs. #16 Chattanooga Mocs
• #2 Memphis Tigers vs. #15 Cal State Northridge Matadors
• #3 Missouri Tigers vs. #14 Cornell Big Red
• #4 Washington Huskies vs. #13 Mississippi State Bulldogs
• #5 Purdue Boilermakers vs. #12 Northern Iowa Panthers
• #6 Marquette Golden Eagles vs. #11 Utah State Aggies
• #7 California Golden Bears vs. #10 Maryland Terps
• #8 BYU Cougars vs. #9 Texas A&M Aggies

Join Bumpshack’s free fantasy March Madness challenge and try to beat the Bumpshack sports experts.

Bumpshack’s Fantasy Basketball Challenge

Join custom league #67801 and password: mtsu

Region by Region (Midwest, East, South, West)

NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket (Versions)

ESPN

Sports Illustrated

CBS Sportsline

Fox Sports

Yahoo! Sports

Hall-of-Fame N.C. State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow died on Saturday in North Carolina. Yow was 66-years-old and had been battling breast cancer for two decades.  She is one of the most successful coaches in women’s college basketball history.

Yow won more than 700 games in a career filled with milestones. She coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1988, won four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships, earned 20 NCAA tournament bids and reached the Final Four in 1998.

She also was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2002, while the school dedicated “Kay Yow Court” in Reynolds Coliseum in 2007.

But for many fans, Yow was best defined by her unwavering resolve while fighting cancer, from raising awareness and money for research to staying with her team through the debilitating effects of the disease and chemotherapy treatments.

Yow, an inspirational to men and women alike, was the N.C. State women’s coach from 1975 until just recently when she was forced to take a leave of abscence due to her health.  Her impact on college basketball and courage amidst two decades of breast cancer will never be forgotten.

Ole Miss Rebels basketball coach Andy Kennedy was arrested last night in Cinciannati after he punched cab driver Mohammed Ould Jiddou while pounding him with racial slurs as well.

The police report says Kennedy “punched a cab driver named Mohammed Ould Jiddou with a closed fist while shouting racial slurs.�

From a reader: “They just had the cab driver on the radio here. Apparently AK and his crew were kicked out of a bar (The Lodge Bar) in downtown Cincy. The cops were willing to let him go provided he would leave. He got in a cab and asked the driver to pick up a couple of his other friends down the street. When the cab pulled up, there were too many people and AK got pissed when the driver would not cram everyone in…that’s when the punches and name calling started.“

So basically Kennedy got upset when the cab driver wouldn’t let them do their circus act of seeing how many clowns they could jam into the taxi.  Kennedy comes off looking like the biggest clown of them all. Don’t be surprised if he gets a lengthy suspension or possibly fired.

Wow! It sounds a bit like a post 9-11 beat down in the weeks after the tragic twin towers tragedy.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford won the 2008 Heisman Trophy Saturday night in New York City.

Bradford beat out Florida’s Tim Tebow and Texas’ Colt McCoy.

2008 Heisman Trophy Voting Results

1. Sam Bradford      1,726
2. Colt McCoy          1,604
3. Tim Tebow          1,575

Tebow did receive the most 1st place votes but got only the third most total votes.

Congrats to Sam Bradford and the Sooners!  Now they can gear up to play against Tim Tebow’s Florida Gators for the BCS National Chamionship on January 8th.

Tebow edged out Bradford by one vote to win the Bumpshack Heisman Trophy vote.

Tim Tebow, Florida Gators star quarterback, is the winner of the Bumpshack Heisman Trophy Award for 2008.  In our closest vote-to-date Tebow edged out Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford 35-34 to win the award.

Tebow threw for 2,515 yards and 28 touchdowns against only 2 interceptions. He also rushed the ball for 564 yards and 12 touchdowns.  He had 40 total touchdowns this year versus 55 last season.

Bradford threw for 4,464 yards and 48 touchdowns against 6 interceptions.

Colt McCoy (Texas) and Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) also received a very large amount of votes finished third and fourth respectively.

Voters: Holmes, Williams, Watson, Robison, Cox, Kiki, Brown, Nix, Schafer

Tim Tebow won the Bumpshack Heisman Trophy Award last year as well during his sophomore season.

	Votes	Record	Prvs.
1. Florida Gators	92	12-1	2
2. Oklahoma Sooners	82	12-1	3
3. Texas Longhorns	62	11-1	4
4. Alabama Crimson Tide	30	12-1	1
5. Southern California Trojans	24	11-1	5

Others Receiving Votes: Penn State (4), Utah (4), Texas Tech (2)

Final Regular Season Poll for 2008 College Football Season

Complete 2008-09 Bowl Game Schedule

Voters: Holmes, Kiki, Watson, Williams, Hurwitz, Nix, Cox, Schafer, Robison, Brown

Want to be a BS College Football Top 5 voter? If so, email me at Bumpshack@gmail.com for more info.

A reader of Bump knowing I am a huge Memphis Tigers basketball fan emailed me these candid photos of Tigers star, shooting guard Tyreke Evans getting a bit crunk and lucky with the ladies at a Memphis hot spot over the weekend.

It looks like the infamous Diamond Dazzle hopped on his back for a quick ride on the soon-to-be NBA ‘Money Train.’   Diamond does need some lotion for her ashy ‘bows.  I am not sure if her ugly sister, Cubic Zirconia Fizzle, made it out on Saturday or not.

Evans wasn’t alone in enjoying the down time from the Tigers basketball schedule.  In the thumbnail below you will notice Tigers senior guard Antonio Anderson (on the far right) getting in some R&R.

The Tigers are currently 5-1 and play again on December 13th at Gonzaga.

photos: reader submission

	Votes	Record	Prvs.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide	76	12-0	2
2. Florida Gators	64	11-1	1
3. Oklahoma Sooners	60	11-1	3
4. Texas Longhorns	52	11-1	4
5. Southern California Trojans	16	10-1	5

Others Receiving Votes: Penn State (4)

Voters: Holmes, Kiki, Watson, Williams, Sornoso, Nix, Cox, Schafer, Robison, Brown

Want to be a BS College Football Top 5 voter? If so, email me at Bumpshack@gmail.com for more info.

The Washington Huskies football team that has been awful for several years now is set to hire USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as their head coach according to a report from ESPN.

“I have interviewed with Washington,” Sarkisian said in a release. “They’ve interviewed a lot of people. I’m one of a number of candidates, which I’m honored to be. Nothing is finalized in any way, shape or form. There’s been some communication. Nothing has been put in writing.”

Sarkisian, who was a quarterback at BYU, led the Cougars to a 13-1 finish in 1996. The 34-year-old has been the offensive coordinator at USC for two seasons. He was up for the Raiders head coaching job last year before it went to fellow USC assistant Lane Kiffin, who earlier this week was named head coach at Tennessee.

The announcement of the hiring will likely take place on Monday after USC plays UCLA for the Pac-10 championship.

The Birmingham News is reporting that Tommy Tuberville is out as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. No official word if hes fired or asked to resign.

Probably a combination of the two. Isn’t being asked to resign the same thing as being fired? Well it is where I come from.

Tuberville was 85-40 in 10 years at Auburn, and is 110-60 in 14 years as a college head coach. His final season at Auburn ended with a 36-0 loss to Alabama last Saturday to finish off a disappointing 5-7 record. Tuberville met with Athletics Director Jay Jacobs on Tuesday and again today. He met with university President Jay Gogue on Monday.

It is amazing that Charlie Weis can keep his job after the horrible job he has done as Notre Dame’s coach, yet Tuberville is forced out after one bad year.

Auburn is making a mistake!  SEC patience at it’s worst.  The coaching market is bare as Auburn will find out.

Lane Kiffin’s Wife Layla

Fans of the Tennessee Vols football program are extremely excited with the head coaching hire of Lane Kiffin.  They are finding out that Lane is truly a package deal.  With him comes his dad Monte Kiffin, who is a defensive coaching mastermind. But the true gem is Lane’s wife Layla Kiffin.

Layla is 33-years-old and has been married to Lane for eight of those years.  They have two children together, Landry and Pressley. Her father, John Reaves, is a former assistant football coach for the University of Florida.

Vol fans have even started a Facebook Group dedicated to the hotness of Layla Kiffin called ‘Our Coach’s Wife is Hotter Than Your Coach’s Wife.’

Other sites to pop up in honor of Layla include ‘I Would Do Layla Kiffin’ and many more I am sure to follow. Welcome to the SEC Layla!

[images: SF Gate]