SelectionSunday
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Take this for what it's worth, but my someone I know was at a Michigan State fundraiser (in Fla.) within the last few days, where AD Mark Hollis and Sparty D-coordinator Pat Narduzzi among others were in attendance. Some things he gleamed from the outing:
1. Sometime in March or April the Big Ten will announce its plans to go to divisional play in a lot of sports (no longer just football). Basketball and baseball weren't specifically mentioned, but from what he gleamed those sports will be among those going to divisional play. Not sure when it would go into affect, but it's safe to assume it will occur when Maryland and Rutgers (and perhaps a couple others) join the Big Ten in 2014.
2. Hollis said it's a done deal that in 2017-18 season there will be a mega 16- to 24-team early-season basketball extravaganza honoring Nike founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday (in February 2018). Not sure if it will be held over one or two days, but it will be at two separate locations. It's not a tournament but will be a who's who of college hoops. Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Oregon (obviously) are among those already committed to the event. My understanding is this is not the same event we heard about earlier, the one where there'd be multiple games going on at the same site. Minnesota was not mentioned as one of the participants, though there will be more than one Big Ten school.
3. Sounds like MSU expects to lose Narduzzi to a head coaching job in the very near future. If he sticks around, it's very apparent he's the coach in waiting behind Mark Dantonio.
4. Things were tight-lipped on the new divisional formats for football, though it sounds like MSU would be interested in going to the "Central Time Zone" Division (to even the divisons) if that's the route Delany and the B1G presidents decide to go.
1. Sometime in March or April the Big Ten will announce its plans to go to divisional play in a lot of sports (no longer just football). Basketball and baseball weren't specifically mentioned, but from what he gleamed those sports will be among those going to divisional play. Not sure when it would go into affect, but it's safe to assume it will occur when Maryland and Rutgers (and perhaps a couple others) join the Big Ten in 2014.
2. Hollis said it's a done deal that in 2017-18 season there will be a mega 16- to 24-team early-season basketball extravaganza honoring Nike founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday (in February 2018). Not sure if it will be held over one or two days, but it will be at two separate locations. It's not a tournament but will be a who's who of college hoops. Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Oregon (obviously) are among those already committed to the event. My understanding is this is not the same event we heard about earlier, the one where there'd be multiple games going on at the same site. Minnesota was not mentioned as one of the participants, though there will be more than one Big Ten school.
3. Sounds like MSU expects to lose Narduzzi to a head coaching job in the very near future. If he sticks around, it's very apparent he's the coach in waiting behind Mark Dantonio.
4. Things were tight-lipped on the new divisional formats for football, though it sounds like MSU would be interested in going to the "Central Time Zone" Division (to even the divisons) if that's the route Delany and the B1G presidents decide to go.
