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The starting quarterback at the University of Tennessee is no longer on the squad.

No, he didn’t commit an off-the-field issue.  Well, he was theoretically off-the-field last week while his team was holding mandatory scrimmages prior to their annual spring football game.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (yes, it does sound a lot like “I’m-a-be-leavin”) refused to participate while attempting to renegotiate his lucrative Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal to play for the Volunteers.

Nico signed an $8 million contract last year to play at Tennessee for up to four seasons.

Yes, you read that right.  He made $2 million last fall playing college football for the University of Tennessee.

He wanted a 100% raise to $4 million beginning this year.

The former California high school star played well in his first season at Tennessee during 2024. Nico passed for 2,616 yards which included 19 touchdowns with just five interceptions.

Tennessee qualified for the first 12-team College Football Playoffs in 2024 with an exceptional 10-2 regular season record.  The Vols were crushed by eventual national champion Ohio State 42-17 in the first round of the playoffs to finish 10-3.

The NIL Shot heard ’round the college football world

Earlier this year, former Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck surprised many when he entered the NCAA transfer portal and signed with the University of Miami.  He reportedly will receive $4 million for his final year of college football eligibility this fall.

Nico Iamaleava’s father (Nic) apparently took note.

Pops is the lead negotiator for his son and demanded that Tennessee should double its current $2 million/year NIL deal to a whopping $4 million this fall or his son would transfer.

The head football coach for the University of Tennessee has experience on both sides of this argument.

He was an even better college football quarterback than his petulant signal caller.

Josh Heupel played for the University of Oklahoma team which won the 2000 national championship.  He was the Heisman Trophy runner-up and named first team AP All-American after that season.

As Tennessee’s head football coach, Josh Heupel knows the leadership responsibility which a quarterback must display to his teammates. 

Coach Heupel’s current role demands that he must lead a team of 100 football players with 100 different sets of needs into one cohesive unit focused on winning football games.

Nico and his father made the poor decision to sit-out mandatory practices while his Tennessee teammates were working.  Coach Heupel (who is the son of a former football coach) was not happy and fired the biggest shot heard in college football in recent years.

The coach dismissed the starting quarterback from the Tennessee football team late last week.

“There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T”, said Coach Josh Heupel.  “And that includes me.”

As expected, Nico Iamaleava immediately placed his name into the NCAA transfer portal.  He and his father are shopping for a new football team to play for this fall.

Tennessee has two other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster.  One of the two quarterbacks is an incoming college freshman just months removed from high school.

The Vols are likely “shopping” the transfer portal right now for a replacement quarterback to join the team.

In this NIL era, could Tennessee sign a former NFL quarterback with one year of college eligibility remaining?

Tennessee’s decision to dismiss their greedy young quarterback is being lauded by many fans and even (quietly) other college football coaches.

Relatively inexperienced college athletes are demanding and receiving more money than dozens of veteran NFL and UFL quarterbacks.

What would happen if a talented NFL veteran quarterback wanted a pay increase to play for a top college football team like Tennessee next fall?

Go ahead and laugh.

Would the head coach at Tennessee prefer to entrust his quarterback position to a 20-year old player with an overgrown ego or a 35-40-year old mature signal caller with more than a dozen seasons of playing against the highest caliber NFL defenses?

Would hiring a former NFL quarterback be allowed by the NCAA?

The NCAA has historically held that athletes moving into professional sports may not return to compete in the same sport in college after receiving pay for playing that sport.

That was then.  Today is the new “Wild West of college athletics” era.

The NIL was originally intended to provide compensation to athletes who were able to utilize their fame to endorse products (such as media commercials for food, cars, etc.), sign autographs at trade shows, and the like.

That initial model would have allowed the top players in each sport to earn a few thousand dollars of cash outside of the traditional scholarship plus room and board provided by the university.

Today’s NIL has clearly morphed into a very lucrative pay-for-play scheme.

Even though Tennessee’s former starting quarterback apparently had signed a four-year deal, the player may still utilize the NCAA transfer portal to break that agreement and vamoose for another school during the designated transfer time periods.

Let’s assume Tennessee has some great attorneys and attempted to hire an NFL QB

It appears that the current NIL ceiling for college quarterbacks is about $4 million for the upcoming football season.

Here is a list of NFL quarterbacks who earned from $2 million up to $4 million in 2024:

J. J. McCarthy – Minnesota Vikings – $3.9 mm

Davis Mills – Houston Texans – $3.5 mm

Bo Nix – Denver Broncos – $3.4 mm

Case Keenum – Houston Texans – $3.3 mm

Justin Fields – Pittsburgh Steelers – $3.2 mm

Jimmy Garoppolo – Los Angeles Rams – $3 mm

Cooper Rush – Dallas Cowboys – $2.9 mm

Mason Rudolph – Tennessee Titans – $2.9 mm

Tyrod Taylor – New York Jets – $2.8 mm

Mac Jones – Jacksonville Jaguars – $2.8 mm

Carson Wentz – Kansas City Chiefs – $2.8 mm

Zach Wilson – Denver Broncos – $2.7 mm

Joshua Dobbs – San Francisco 49ers – $2.3 mm

Will Levis – Tennessee Titans – $2.2 mm

Mitch Trubisky – New England Patriots – $2 mm

Kenny Pickett – Philadelphia Eagles – $2 mm

There are a few dozen additional NFL back-up quarterbacks (most with exceptional college football careers) earning less than $2 million last season in 2024.

That list includes likely New Orleans Saints 2025 starting quarterback Spencer Rattler ($900,000 per year).

An additional group of talented quarterbacks is toiling in the United Football League (UFL) this spring.

Those players earn about $60,000 per season and would love to get a pay raise by playing one more season of college football for NIL loot.

My idea assumes that any current NFL or UFL player must have at least one year of college eligibility remaining.

Let’s make a theoretical case for 40-year old NFL quarterback Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco won the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl MVP as the starting quarterback for the 2012 NFL champion Baltimore Ravens.

After 11 seasons in Baltimore, Flacco later played in Denver, New York (Jets), Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Indianapolis.

Last week, Joe Flacco signed a new one-year $4 million contract to play for the Cleveland Browns once again this fall in 2025.

But…what if Joe Flacco had waited and heard a pitch from Tennessee this week?

Would the 40-year old quarterback rather hope for a chance to get on the field in with the Cleveland Browns this season or enroll in a Master’s program at the University of Tennessee and play one year of college football for the Vols for the same $4 million paycheck?

It’s a safe bet that Tennessee coach Josh Heupel would be glad to have Joe Flacco as the Vols’ starting quarterback this fall.

The coach has two young pups next in line to quarterback the team in the future.  Joe Flacco would bring his experience from 17 seasons in the NFL to pick apart most college football defenses and show the younger quarterbacks how it’s done.

Bringing an NFL quarterback to play college football for one year would send a loud message to the other college athletes

Imagine if several relatively underpaid NFL quarterbacks sought to play one more year of college football (assuming they had one year of eligibility remaining, of course).

The big money schools of the SEC, Big Ten, ACC or Big 12 are doling out millions of NIL dollars for high school or college transfer players.  Why not do the same to rent an experienced NFL quarterback with one year of college eligibility remaining?

A jolt of reality is needed soon to bring some sanity back to major college athletics.

I have no idea whether my “Rent-An-NFL-QB” plan would prevail in the courts.

It would seem quite practical as long as the bidding war for top talent continues in major college football.

Just a few short years ago, college football fans could never have believed that their team’s starting quarterback might (legally) earn millions every season.

Having a veteran NFL player return to play a final season in college football at a few major schools would send a clear message that two can play this new game.

Back to school, anyone?

The post Back to School – Should Tennessee rent a NFL Quarterback this Fall? appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Did you see that unusual looking “pink” moon over the weekend?

The April phenomenon was actually a traditional full moon orbiting at its furthest point away from the earth.  Appearing smaller than average, this weekend’s moon was dubbed “pink” in honor of a spring wildflower called the pink moss.

Pink or not, this weekend’s full moon may help to explain some of the weird happenings on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club during The Masters golf tournament.

Rory’s Wild Ride earns a much-treasured Green Jacket

I did, indeed, spend most of my weekend watching The Masters golf tournament.  If you watched more than just the highlights, you realize that the Pink Moon effects were in full bloom for the golfers at Augusta National.

Congratulations to Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy for finally winning The Masters Sunday afternoon in his 17th attempt.

He became just the sixth golfer in history to win all four major tournaments (Masters, PGA, US Open, and British Open).  The 35-year old McIlroy joined golf legends like Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods in that elite group.

McIlroy was the favorite to win The Masters coming into the tournament.  Already a two-time winner on the PGA tour in 2025, Rory has been playing his best golf in years.  He was also trying to break an 11-year drought since his last major title at the 2014 PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy’s four-round high-wire act provided one of the wildest rides to victory in Masters history.

In Thursday’s opening round, Rory was near the lead at 4-under par only to record two double bogeys at #15 and #17 to stumble back to even par 72.

Known for his go-for-broke playing style, McIlroy first erred with an aggressive chip across the slippery 15th green.  The ball rolled into a greenside pond and led to his first double bogey.  He again played sloppily at #17 to record his second double bogey score in just three holes.

The media (feel free to “Boo” them here) battered McIlroy after Round 1 with question after question about whether the pressure of trying to win his first Masters title was getting to him again.  To his credit, McIlroy found a way to remain composed and insisted that the tournament still had a long way to go.

Indeed, it did!

Prior to the first round of The Masters, Rory McIlroy sought the lunchtime advice of 6-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus (now 85 years old).  Nicklaus told Rory that he must remain disciplined in order to win his first Green Jacket.

“He’s got all the shots,” said The Golden Bear.   “But if you look, go back and see his history the last few years, he gets to a place a lot of times where an 8 or a 7 pops up (on his scorecard).”

Jack Nicklaus turned out to be prophetic about Rory McIlroy’s golf game over the weekend.  Rory made the hard shots look easy and a few of the easier shots look difficult.

The lucky break that won The Masters for Rory McIlroy

Friday afternoon’s second round saw Rory McIlroy charge back into contention with a six-under par 66. He received a gift from the golf gods on the short-par 3 12th hole that day.

The 12th hole is called “Golden Bell” and is best known for Rae’s Creek running diagonally in front of the green. When the wind blows, the tricky tee shot can be blown into the creek or over the green.

Jordan Spieth has donated golf balls to Rae’s Creek on more than one occasion to cost him a second (or third) green jacket at The Masters.

Rory McIlroy’s Friday tee shot on #12 flew over the green and deep into a stand of thick azalea bushes and trees.

Within a second of the ball landing, it magically appeared to roll back out of the heavy brush and onto a flat grassy area only a few yards off the putting surface.

Rory McIlroy would chip up and roll in his par putt.  If the ball had stayed in those bushes, he was looking at a likely double bogey to drop another two more shots to par.

A video replay of that shot confirmed McIlroy’s exceptionally good fortune.

It was almost like there was a leprechaun hiding in the azalea bushes to roll the ball back out.

Third round’s “Moving day” shuffled the leaderboard again

England’s Justin Rose (remember that name later) was in the lead at 8-under par after the opening 36 holes at The Masters.  The 41-year old Rose has experienced his share of close calls at Augusta National Golf Club, too.

In 2017, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia were in a playoff for the Green Jacket. Garcia prevailed for his first and only major championship win.

Rose struggled with his putting on Augusta National Golf Club’s lightning fast greens during Saturday’s third round.  His 3-over par 75 would leave him seven shots behind the new leader in the clubhouse, Rory McIlroy.

Rory came out of the chute on fire Saturday.  He went birdie, eagle, birdie on the first three holes to shoot to the top of the leaderboard.  His second straight 66 put him at 12-under par after three rounds.

LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau birdied two of the last four holes on Saturday to climb into second place at -10. 

This would set-up a Sunday rematch of last summer’s US Open final round in which DeChambeau defeated McIlroy for the title.

Sunday’s final round was a roller coaster ride for the ages by Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy’s Saturday evening started with a third straight day of “Why haven’t you won The Masters yet?” questions from the media.  Though he mentioned a desire to spend a quiet night with his family, McIlroy’s appearance on the first tee on Sunday afternoon looked anything but relaxed.

McIlroy’s final round playing partner Bryson DeChambeau loves working the crowds much like Arnold Palmer used to do.  DeChambeau later said the Rory wouldn’t talk to him during Sunday’s fourth round.

On the first hole, McIlroy carded yet another double bogey (his fifth of the week).  With an opening par and a birdie on #2, Bryson DeChambeau took the lead at 11-under par.

Rory McIlroy skillfully navigated the tricky par-4 third hole and carded a birdie as DeChambeau bogeyed.  The lead had flipped once again – this time in McIlroy’s favor.

On the long par-3 fourth hole, McIlroy lasered an iron shot within a few feet of the hole. His birdie moved him back to 12-under par, while DeChambeau’s second straight bogey opened up a 3-shot cushion.

McIlroy stretched his lead to five shots over the field after rolling in another birdie putt on #10.

That’s when the fun began

Rory McIlroy bogeyed the difficult par-4 11th hole as Justin Rose scored his fourth straight birdie to move within four shots of the lead.

The par-5 13th hole features Rae’s Creek diabolically meandering just in front of the green.

McIlroy elected to play it safe and attempt his third shot from less than 100 yards in front of the green.

His pitch shot went off-line to the right and rolled into the creek. The double bogey 7 brought Justin Rose and surging Ludvig Aberg within two shots of the lead.

Another McIlroy bogey on #14 made this a true Masters horse race to the finish line.

Right on cue, Justin Rose rolled in a slippery downhill putt for birdie on #18 to post 11-under par in the clubhouse.

Sweden’s rising star Ludvig Aberg needed a par and a birdie on the final two holes to tie Rose.

Sadly, he bogeyed #17 and fell apart with a triple bogey on #18 to finish far back.

Rory McIlroy steadied his game and took the lead once again on the par-4 17th with another miraculous second shot landing just a few feet from the hole. The birdie gave him a one shot lead with one hole to play.

McIlroy dumped his second shot on #18 into a greenside bunker and failed to make the par putt to fall into a tie with Justin Rose at 11-under par.

On the first playoff hole at #18, Rose lofted his second shot about ten feet above the hole. Rory McIlroy’s second shot hit right next to Rose’s ball and spun down the hill to within two feet of the hole. This time, Rose missed his birdie putt.

McIlroy stepped up and sank his short birdie putt for the win.

He dropped to his knees in an emotional release after finally winning The Masters in his 17th attempt.

SwampSwami’s Masters post-game analysis

Though the media will spin Sunday’s fourth round as one of the greatest ever, it was primarily great for its suspense and theatrics. 

CBS drew nearly 13 million viewers for Sunday’s wild final round.  That was a 33% increase over Scottie Scheffler’s victory in 2024.  

Rory McIlroy shot one-over par and still won the golf tournament.

Bryson DeChambeau’s clutch putting saved him from shooting much higher than the 75 he posted on Sunday afternoon.

Ludvig Aberg looked like a possible playoff candidate until he gave back four strokes on the final two holes.

Only runner-up Justin Rose (67) and third-place finisher Patrick Reed (68) made any significant moves  up the leaderboard on Sunday.

Considering the ideal playing conditions, Sunday’s scoring was surprisingly high. 

The third and fourth rounds were played with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees under a clear sky with very little wind.  The conditions at Augusta National Golf Club are rarely so benign.

Sunday was exciting, because Popeye and Bluto (aka Rory and Bryson) were too busy feuding with one another to notice they were losing ground. 

Both players made a number of poor shots on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy seemed to have forgotten the solid advice of Jack Nicklaus by attempting several risky shots during the Masters instead of playing the percentages.

Fortunately, Rory’s bold roll of the dice on several questionable shots from the trees came up big for him on Sunday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club.

The percentages were apparently on McIlroy’s side.  At least for this year.

The post Pink Moons and Green Jackets appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Beginning Thursday, four days of professional golf will be played on the most perfectly manicured and picturesque golf course on the entire planet.

The iconic Augusta National Golf Club in northeastern Georgia will be the focus as the 2025 Masters Tournament is played this weekend.

Though I’ve never been on the hallowed grounds of this historic golf course (sniff, sniff), let’s take a look at some of the big stories surrounding the first major golf tournament of the year.

The weather will create low scoring conditions this weekend

The National Weather Service is calling for rain beginning after Round 1 concludes Thursday evening and into the early morning hours on Friday.

Another inch of rain will soften the golf course and allow golf balls to stop quicker on the lightning fast greens at Augusta National Golf Club.

Outside of the rain on Thursday night, the sun will shine on Saturday and Sunday with little wind to affect the golfers. 

Temperatures over the weekend will approach perfection.  Expect afternoon temperatures to reach 70 degrees with overnight lows in the mid-40’s.

That suggests exceptionally good scoring conditions this week.  It wouldn’t surprise me if The Masters’ record total of 20-under par set by Dustin Johnson in 2020 comes under attack late Sunday afternoon.

Hurricane Helene downed a lot of trees at this golf course last fall

There are thousands of trees on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club.

Last fall, Category 1 Hurricane Helene blew through this lovely golf course and caused significant tree damage to several holes on the back nine.

Some of the golfers utilize several of the now-downed trees to serve as aiming points for their first or second shots.  Despite the changes in optics, fewer trees on the course should make for less trouble for the golfers this weekend.

For the 17th time, Rory McIlroy tries to win his first Masters green jacket

Has it really been 16 years since a young Rory McIlroy first came to play golf at The Masters? Everyone expected that he would probably have one or two green jackets in his bedroom closet by now.

Rory McIlroy is now 35 years of age.

He has one second place finish (2022) among seven top-10 finishes at The Masters. Northern Ireland’s top golfer is considered one of the pre-tournament favorites again this week.

With a win, Rory McIlroy would become just the sixth player to have won all four major golf championships.  The current Grand Slam winners are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

In my humble opinion, Rory would be wise to keep his sometimes wayward driver in the bag for most of the day.  Whenever his tee shots remain in the fairway, McIlroy gains confidence and is usually in the hunt.

With fewer trees at Augusta National this year, Rory’s ability to stay out of the jungle off the tee and find success in navigating the exceptionally fast greens this week will be his keys to victory.

Where’s Tiger?

Five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods is not in the field this week.

He is recovering from his latest malady – an Achilles tendon injury which required surgery in March.  Woods was a no-show for Tuesday night’s annual Masters Champions dinner (hosted by last year’s champion Scottie Scheffler).

Earlier in the week, Tiger Woods made an announcement that he will redesign a new 9-hole short course at the former location of Augusta Municipal Golf Course. 

This new facility will be open to the public and bear the name, “The Loop at The Patch.”  It will also provide an exceptional golf training facility with an emphasis on developing young golfers.

Scottie Scheffler tries for a rare Masters repeat

Just three other golfers have won The Masters in consecutive years.  Jack Nicklaus (1965-1966), Nick Faldo (1989-1990), and Tiger Woods (2001-2002).

Scottie Scheffler’s win last year was his second Green Jacket.   The other came in 2022.

Like Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler has the capability of getting “in the zone” and rolling off several birdies in a row.  Winning twice on this golf course certainly makes him a formidable contender this week.

Scheffler’s winning score of 11 under par won in 2024.  The relatively benign weather conditions expected in Augusta, Georgia will likely require a much lower score to win this week.

The Dirty Dozen from LIV Golf wants to send the PGA Tour a message

There are 95 golfers in this week’s field at The Masters.  That includes 12 LIV Golf members with a track record of success on this golf course.

Within the LIV Golf contingent, there are seven former Masters champions. 

Phil Mickelson has three Green Jackets.  Now 54, Lefty has played well in the past two LIV Golf events and always has a chance at Augusta National if his putting warms up.

LIV Golf also features former Masters winners like Charl Schwartzel (2011), Bubba Watson (2012 and 2014), Sergio Garcia (2017), Patrick Reed (2018), Dustin Johnson (2020), and Jon Rahm (2023).

Other LIV Golf players competing this week include 2-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 4-time major champion Brooks Koepka, former Open Champion Cameron Smith plus Joaquin Niemann and Tyrell Hatton.

Expect at least one LIV golfer to finish in the top five this week at The Masters.

“The Oldies but Goodies Show” – starring Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples

The length of Augusta National Golf Club has been extended several times in recent decades.

When Germany’s Berhnard Langer won his two Green Jackets in 1985 and 1993 and Fred Couples captured the title in 1992, the golf course measured over 6,900 yards.

Since their Green Jacket ceremonies, the golf clubs and golf balls have been re-engineered to hit the ball significantly longer.

On Thursday, Augusta National Golf Club will measure nearly 7,500 yards.  That is nine percent longer than when the now 68-year old Bernhard Langer and 65-year old Freddie Couples won on this golf course.

Masters tradition allows for all of its former champions to tee it up with the youngsters as long as the golfer feels he is able to compete effectively.  Most senior golfers do not fare well on a lengthy golf course and can become embarrassed after carding a score of 80 or higher for 18 holes.

This week, Bernhard Langer advised The Masters that this will be his final year as a competitor at Augusta National Golf Club.

Langer mustered-up a smile while mentioning how difficult it is to compete when hitting a hybrid club into the green while the younger golfers are hitting 8-irons or less.

Indeed!

Fred Couples said that he wants to make the cut this year.

If he does make his 24th career cut, expect Freddie back again next April if his back remains strong.

How to watch The Masters

Thursday/Friday – Masters.com @ 8:15AM CDT. ESPN coverage from 2PM-6:30PM

Saturday/Sunday – Masters.com @ 9:15AM. CBS coverage from 1PM-6PM

Five golfers to watch this week

No one will be shocked if the two favorites (Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler) are battling for the lead on Sunday afternoon.  Here are five other golfers who I believe may have a shot to be in contention coming down the stretch.

Brian Harmon – Last week’s winner of the PGA Tour event in San Antonio, the left handed Brian Harmon is considered a long-shot this week. One of the shorter hitters on tour, Harmon plays a gritty style of golf. His driving accuracy and putting are “hot” right now, so don’t be surprised if he is in contention for the Green Jacket this weekend.

Phil Mickelson – At 54 years young, Phil-the-Thrill thrives on being counted out – especially at The Masters.  Another lefty like Brian Harmon, Mickelson’s top ten finish at LIV Golf’s Miami tournament last week showed that Phil is cranking the ball off the tee a long way with improving putting.  Watch out!

Viktor Hovland – Seeking his first major championship, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy (who resides in Stillwater today) won his last PGA event at the difficult Copperhead Golf Course at Innisbrook Resort near Tampa, Florida.  Hovland is young, very talented, quite hungry, and will either soar or falter quickly this week.

Cameron Young – This young man (also looking for his first major title) seems to be near the top of the leaderboard in most of golf’s majors.  He finished in 9th  place last season and 7th in 2023.  His game is well suited for this golf course.  You’ve been warned.

Sergio Garcia – The 2017 Masters champion, the 41-year old still hits lasers for iron shots.  In recent LIV Golf events, Sergio has putted extremely well, too.  He comes into the Masters playing at a very high level.

Woo hoo!  It’s the best four days of the golf year.  Enjoy Masters week!

The post The Masters Preview – Expect the Unexpected appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Congratulations to the Florida Gators men’s basketball team and the Connecticut Huskies women’s team.  Both emerged as the 2025 national champions of college basketball.

The Florida Gators captured their third March Madness national championship with a hard-fought 65-63 win over heartbroken Houston on Monday night.  It was Florida’s first men’s title since 2007.

For UConn, their 82-59 blowout victory on Sunday over South Carolina was the school’s record-setting 12th national championship.  That is four more titles than second-place Tennessee.  Legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt collected eight national championships during her years in Knoxville.

The Houston Cougars ran out of gas against Florida

In Monday night’s men’s championship finale, the Houston Cougars were seeking their first national championship in school history.  It was Houston’s 7th appearance in the NCAA Final Four and third time to play in the title game.

After losing a 12-point second half lead against Florida, Houston fell to 0-3 in championship game appearances (their first since 1984).

In one of sports’ great ironies, the Cougars were the team which pulled-off a miraculous rally in the final minute against Duke in the semifinals to win 70-67.

During Monday night’s championship game against Florida, Houston appeared to lose concentration coming down the stretch.  Committing four turnovers in the final two minutes certainly didn’t help matters for the Cougars.

Florida and Houston put on a defensive clinic Monday night.  The stress of the big game caused top players on both teams to miss shots as neither team connected on 40% from the field.

For Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson, his Cougars have posted their fourth consecutive season with 32 or more wins. That’s an amazing feat!

Houston has won 132 games against just 20 losses in the past four seasons.  Having a 87% winning percentage looks great, but a first national title for the University of Houston would have been much more satisfying.

In the end, it was Florida which converted a few key baskets and free throws down the stretch to take home the 2025 men’s basketball title.

Congratulations to the SEC’s Florida Gators!

TV ratings soared at CBS but dropped like a rock at ESPN

For CBS, Saturday’s men’s Final Four telecast recorded 16 million viewers for Houston’s thrilling rally to beat Duke.  The network tallied nearly 15 million fans for the earlier game as Florida pulled away from Auburn to win the opening national semifinal game.

The two men’s semifinal games enjoyed a 20% ratings increase over 2024.

Some of that increased fan interest came from having all four #1 seeds participating in the men’s semifinal games for just the second time ever.

On the women’s side, Friday night’s doubleheader on ESPN attracted about four million viewers for the two semifinal games.  That was significantly lower than the 11 million fans watching Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes storm into the finals last season.

For women’s college basketball, this sizable drop in viewership is disappointing.  It still represents a net gain from 2022 when about three million home viewers watched the women’s Final Four games prior to Caitlin Clark becoming a nationally known star.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark became women’s basketball’s version of Indiana State’s Larry Bird back in the late 1970’s.  Both prolific scorers captured that nation’s imagination and grew additional interest in the sport.

The Duke Blue Devils are a historical reference point for what has changed in college basketball

I admit to being a long-time Duke basketball fan.  Beginning with the advent of cable television in the mid-1970’s, I loved to watch Jim Spanarkel, Mike Gminski, and the rise of Duke and ACC basketball.

The 1980’s and 1990’s brought Duke’s record-setting coach Mike Krzyzewski along with memorable players like Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laetner, Bobby Hurley, and Shane Battier. 

ESPN’s legendary basketball analyst Dick Vitale was courtside to add more excitement at many of Duke’s classic games.

Duke became a television fixture during NCAA March Madness men’s tournaments.  The Blue Devils regularly advanced to the Final Four and national title games.

In 2006, the NBA caused big changes for college basketball

The pro basketball league changed its rules to allow college hoopsters to be drafted just one year after the player had finished high school.

Highly recruited men’s basketball players with professional goals (and who doesn’t have that dream, right?) signed scholarships to play for colleges receiving national television coverage such as Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas.  The highly touted players wanted to maximize their national visibility during their “one-and-done” first and only year in college.

This period worked to erode of the student-athlete era in college basketball.

Some freshman basketball players dropped out of classes after the basketball season ended midway through the spring semester.  Their faux interest in academics was jettisoned in order to prepare for a possible first or second round selection in June’s NBA draft.

College basketball coaches also had to adapt quickly.

The coaches are judged by their wins and (sadly) not by their players’ GPA and graduation status. It’s either win games or find a new profession.  Some coaches heavily recruited the likely one-and-done high school basketball players in order to gain an edge in the short term.

Fans of college basketball quickly started to lose their personal connection with men’s players at their schools.  Watching players for at least three years (prior to the NBA’s 2006 rule change) allowed fans to develop a greater bond with players.

Fans said good-bye to “one and done” standout freshman college players like John Wall (Kentucky), Anthony Davis (Kentucky), Kyrie Irving (Duke), Andrew Wiggins (Kansas), and Zion Williamson (Duke).

If you didn’t like 2006, the year 2021 brought an end to amateurism in major college sports

A July 1, 2021 ruling by a Supreme Court justice marked the beginning of the end for amateur college athletics.  The judge ruled that an athlete may receive monetary compensation for his or her name, image, and likeness (NIL).  The lack of national guidelines for NIL payments has created a “wild west” of financial payments going to players for little or no incremental efforts.

By December 2021, the NCAA had implemented its new Transfer Portal rules. 

College athletes were free to transfer from their current school to another and immediately participate in sports.  Prior to that ruling, a transfer had to sit-out one year prior to regaining eligibility to play in his or her sport at the new institution.

In response to these rulings, the NIL monetary offers for major college basketball and football players are growing exponentially by the year.  Some college athletes are making more than the minimum salary paid by the NBA ($1.1 million) or NFL ($840,000).

At most Division 1 athletic programs, this NIL loot is being paid to athletes in addition to traditional athletic scholarships which cover the costs of academics, room, and board.

How do fans of college athletics feel about these changes?

This weekend’s college basketball Final Four television ratings indicated that most fans don’t seem to have an issue with these recent changes.

The college athletes are still the same athletes – whether they are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars today or nothing (OK, legally speaking) just a few years ago.

If you have purchased a ticket to watch an athletic event at a major university within the past few years, you likely have received follow-up emails requesting donations to help the school’s new NIL “collective”. 

Colleges and universities want the fans (of course) to donate extra money to help pay for buying higher quality athletes.

The NBA still has its phony “one and done” rule.  The NFL still requires future football players to be three years removed from high school prior to entering their annual draft.

As some colleges offer increasing amounts of money for top athletes, more are transferring to the higher profile ($) schools in pursuit of more cash.  Some top athletes are even delaying their decision as to when to jump into the professional ranks.

For example, what if Duke’s All-American freshman Cooper Flagg received a multi-million dollar offer to stick around in college for another year or two rather than jump to the NBA? 

The school might even add an large insurance policy worth $100 million to sweeten the pot in the event the player suffered a career-ending injury in college.

Once a top athlete declares for a professional sports draft, there is no guarantee that the player will even make the final roster of that team.

Expect to see more top athletes stick around school for another year or two to obtain that Master’s degree (wink, wink) as long as the college NIL bank keeps depositing big checks.

Taking a “sure thing” monetary offer from a college for one more year may be smarter than taking the risk of being cut during a professional sports team’s training camp.

Welcome to the new reality in college sports!

The post Congrats to Florida and UConn – Farewell to Amateur College Sports appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

The men’s and women’s college basketball season will end in just a few days.

The women’s Final Four happens in Tampa, Florida on Friday night.  A winner will emerge late Sunday afternoon.

The men’s Final Four will take place in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday evening with the championship game on Monday night.

There are eight teams remaining.

An incredible seven of those eight teams were ranked as a #1 seed before March Madness began.

Only Connecticut, the #2 women’s seed, has been able to crash this party of basketball elites.

The #1 seed USC Trojans lost All-American guard JuJu Watkins to a knee injury in Round 2.  Without Watkins’ 24 points per game scoring, USC lost to #2 seed UConn 78-64 in the Elite Eight round on Monday night.

News Flash – SwampSwami still has a 25% chance for his first men’s champion

Before we review this weekend’s final games, let’s check to see how ol’ SwampSwami has performed in the CBSSports.com bracket selections.

Coming into the final weekend, both my men’s and women’s selections have been “OK” but nothing special.

My predicted men’s winner selection (University of Houston) is still alive.

The defensive-minded #1 Midwest seed Cougars will face the high scoring #1 East seed Duke in Saturday night’s semifinal match-up.

In addition to #1 seeds Houston and Duke, I also picked #1 seed Florida to make the men’s Final Four.

Auburn (another #1 seed) made the weekend party, but I had Auburn losing to #2 seed Michigan State in the Elite Eight. The Tigers prevailed 70-64 and sent Sparty back home to Michigan.

On the women’s side, my upset pick to win it all was #3 seed LSU.  

That pick is toast.

The Tigers lost in the Elite Eight to #1 seed UCLA 72-65.  As in many games this season, LSU coach Kim Mulkey’s team lacked solid production from the point guard position.

It’s hard to believe that Mulkey (an All-American point guard at Louisiana Tech) was unable to get better play from that critical position for LSU this season.

In addition to losing LSU from my women’s Final Four, Notre Dame (another #3 seed) lost in the Sweet 16.

I still have two remaining Final Four teams (#1 seed South Carolina and #2 seed UConn) joining #1 seeds Texas and UCLA and Texas in the semifinals in Tampa Friday night.

Men’s Final Four in San Antonio – what to look for

Game 1 – #1 West seed Florida (34-4) vs. #1 South seed Auburn (32-5)

Tip-off: Saturday, 5:09PM CDT on CBS

The Florida Gators posted a 90-81 win at Auburn on February 9.

Guard Walter Clayton, Jr. led the way with 19 points and 9 assists.  The Gators had five players score in double-figures in their lone meeting with Auburn.

During that game, Auburn missed nine free throws and connected on six fewer 3-point shots than Florida.

Auburn’s All-American big man Johni Broome injured his right elbow last weekend in the Tigers’ Elite Eight win over Michigan State.  Fortunately, Broome shoots left handed.

He was quoted today as saying his elbow is quite improved.  Johni Broome expects to be at 100% for Saturday’s rematch against Florida.

I still think Auburn relies too much on its star player for scoring, so expect Florida to emerge from this all-SEC semifinal game on Saturday.

Florida 82, Auburn 74

Game 2 – #1 Midwest seed Houston (34-4) vs. #1 East seed Duke (35-3)

Tip-off: 30 minutes following Game 1 – likely around 7:50PM on CBS

The Houston Cougars have been knocking on the door of an NCAA men’s title for five straight years.

Coach Kelvin Sampson’s team has advanced to at least the Sweet Sixteen round in each of those years.

Is this the Cougars year?

Defensive pressure and balanced scoring have been the hallmark of Coach Sampson’s teams.  This season, Houston has been the nation’s leading defensive team and allows just over 58 points per game.

Offensively, Houston has four starters scoring ten or more points per game.  The Cougars have seen a different player step-up with a hot hand during each March Madness game.

After obliterating its Big 12 competitors by winning their final 13 games, Houston has added four more wins in March Madness.  Rolling into Saturday with a 17-game winning streak, the Coogs will have their hands full with East #1 seed, Duke.

The nation’s 8th scoring offense, Duke relies heavily on freshman All-American forward Cooper Flagg.

The 6′ 9” Flagg reminds me of former Boston Celtics teammates Kevin McHale and Larry Bird.  He averages 19 points per game while adding eight rebounds and four assists per game.

Duke is on a 15-game winning streak entering Saturday’s game with Houston.  If Duke’s four other starters step-up their game and pour in the points, the Blue Devils may waltz into Monday night’s final game.

I expect Houston to keep this game relatively low-scoring.  Houston’s experienced starting five will prevail coming down the stretch over Duke’s suddenly nervous five freshmen starters.

Houston 71, Duke 68

The two men’s winners play for the title Monday at 7:50PM CDT on CBS.

Women’s Final Four in Tampa – what to look for

Game 1 – #1 regional seed Texas (35-3) vs. #1 regional seed South Carolina (34-3)

Tip-off: Friday 6PM (CDT) on ESPN

All 20,000 seats in Tampa are sold for this Friday’s national semifinal games for the NCAA women’s college basketball title.  Scalpers are asking for nearly $150 for tickets to the Friday night session.

Every year under 5th year Texas Coach Vic Schaefer, the Longhorns’ women’s basketball team has improved.

After reaching the Elite Eight last season, Texas is looking for its second women’s title after winning the top prize back in 1986.

Texas scores 78 points per game but its defense allows only 56 per outing.  Sophomore forward Madison Booker leads the Longhorns in scoring with nearly 17 points per game.

Nearly a mirror image of Texas, South Carolina averaged 79 points per game on offense while allowing just 57.

The two-time defending national champions rotate nine players in and out of the line-up to maximize the team’s defensive effort and intensity.

Highly recruited 6’3” freshman Joyce Edwards leads the Gamecocks in scoring at 13 points per game.

It’s going to be difficult for Texas to handle the pressure.  South Carolina’s experience in big game situations should prevail in this semifinal.

South Carolina 74, Texas 66

Game 2 – #1 regional seed UCLA (34-2) vs. #2 regional seed Connecticut (35-3)

Tip-off: 30 minutes following Game 1 – likely around 8:20 PM on ESPN

This is the first time in program history that UCLA has reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

The Bruins defeated a talented and well-coached LSU team in the Elite Eight to reach this milestone.

UCLA moved into the Big Ten Conference this year.  If the Bruins had not played and lost both of its Big Ten games to crosstown rival USC, UCLA would be undefeated coming into Friday night’s game with Uconn.

Two names to watch for UCLA are 6’7” giant center Lauren Betts and crafty guard Kiki Rice.

Betts is nearly unstoppable when she is within a few feet of the basket. 

She tallies 20 points per game. 

Guard Kiki Rice leads UCLA in assists and steals while averaging nearly 13 points on offense, too.

The Connecticut Huskies went a perfect 18-0 in the Big East Conference this season.

UConn holds the NCAA women’s basketball record with eleven national championships as they dominated the sport between 1995 and 2016.

The Huskies are now quite hungry to add #12 to the school’s trophy case this season.

UConn Coach Gino Auriemma has two of the nation’s top players in guard Paige Bueckers and forward Sarah Strong.

The tandem scores nearly half of the Huskies’ 80 points per game.

The big-game experience of UConn when the pressure is rising should be the difference in this semifinal.

Connecticut 78, UCLA 68

Friday night’s winners will play for the women’s title Sunday at 2PM CDT on ESPN.

Expect some fantastic finishes from two incredible Final Fours!

The post The Fantastic Four Final Fours appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Has anyone seen LIV Golf recently?

The upstart rival to the PGA Tour has literally vanished from the professional golf picture in 2025.

LIV Golf has played just four events this year. None have been contested in the United States.

After Sunday’s Houston Open, the PGA Tour has already conducted 14 events in 2025.  Two tournaments were played in Hawaii, one in Mexico, and another in Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, LIV Golf’s first two events were played in February (Saudi Arabia and Australia).  Two more LIV tournaments were conducted in March (Hong Kong and Singapore).

Television ratings in the US for the four LIV Golf events have been abysmal.

The number of people watching LIV Golf’s first four tournaments this year has barely exceeded those watching a 1AM test pattern on your local TV station.

OK, it’s not quite that bad.

When a “live” sports program on a national network fails to attract at least 100,000 viewers, your product is in big trouble.

Only the very deep pockets of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue to bail-out this economic sports disaster

LIV Golf is funded by the $1 trillion Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).  Since LIV Golf came on the scene in 2022, the Saudi PIF has spent an estimated $4 to 5 billion without a return on that investment.

OK, that represents a measly 1/2% of the total assets in the massive Saudi Arabian cash pile.  We know that the goal for LIV Golf was for the Saudi PIF to buy enough of the top professional golfers and create the top golf league in the world.

LIV Golf definitely spent plenty to acquire some of the top golfers. 

Let’s check the leaderboard!

$300 million – Jon Rahm

$200 million – Phil Mickelson

$150 million – Dustin Johnson

$125 million – Bryson DeChambeau

$100 million – Brooks Koepka

$100 million – Cam Smith

The guaranteed contracts for those six golfers totals almost $1 billion.

The next tier of former PGA stars included famous names like Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, and Lee Westwood.  They required millions in signing bonuses, too.

In Roman Numerals, LIV equals 54

There are currently 52 regular members of the LIV Golf league.

They participate individually and as part of 13 teams of four golfers apiece at tournaments.  Two other players compete as lone wolves to round-out the 54-player field for each 54-hole tournament.

In addition to those big signing bonuses, every golfer participating in LIV Golf tournaments is competing for a generous prize payout of $20 million.  Prior to LIV Golf’s arrival, PGA Tour events had an average payout of about $6 million per week.

The winning golfer of a LIV Tournament takes home $4 million.  Even the last place finisher earns at least $50,000.

An additional $5 million prize pool is paid to the top three teams after the final round.  The winning team of four golfers will split $3 million.  The runner-up team splits $1.5 million, and the third place golf quartet will divvy-up $500,000.

LIV will never earn money, but the league needs more golf fans to watch it

The owners of LIV Golf must know by now that the league is never going to earn a profit.  Losing more than $1 billion per year does not seem to faze the Saudi PIF.

LIV’s backers want the league to rise in popularity worldwide.  That’s where television comes in.

After failing to attract a significant viewership on its You Tube channel during its initial season in 2022, LIV Golf partnered with the CW Network during 2023 and 2024.

The first round (played on Fridays) was not telecast on the CW Network but was carried online via the CW app.

Weekly viewership for LIV Golf on the CW Network averaged about a few hundred thousand fans. The LIV Golf audience was about 10% of the rival PGA Tour on CBS or NBC.

After two seasons, the CW Network opted to exercise an option to cancel its LIV Golf coverage after the 2024 golf season ended.

This year, LIV Golf inked a new deal with Fox Sports. 

As covered here in a previous post, the move to Fox Sports in 2025 seemed to signal a positive move.

It hasn’t been.  At least not before this week.

Even if a major US city did not have a CW Network affiliate to watch LIV Golf, fans could find each round via the internet utilizing the CW App.

With the new Fox Sports arrangement in 2025, viewers are being asked to switch between FS1, FS2, FOX, and the Fox Sports app to watch LIV Golf events.

Following LIV Golf on Fox is like trying to watch a ping-pong match

Golf Channel (which is owned by NBC Universal) has carved-out a niche for itself by providing early round action for almost every weekly PGA Tour event.

You can count on Golf Channel beginning at around 11AM Central time every weekend. 

Around 2PM on Saturday and Sunday, CBS or NBC will take the baton and follow the tournament leaders until they complete their round.

Prior to its first season, LIV Golf tried to court Golf Channel to cover its tournaments. The executives at NBC Sports did not want to risk losing its valuable relationship with the PGA Tour by televising golf tournaments of the upstart LIV Golf league.

A reluctance of some prominent American sponsors to affiliate their products with LIV Golf helped to make the Golf Channel’s decision to “pass” much easier.

As LIV Golf plays its first tournament of the year on American soil this Friday in Miami, you may need your own personal scorecard to locate the daily television coverage on the Fox networks.

On Friday, the opening hours (11AM CDT to 1PM) will be televised only on the Fox Sports App.  Beginning at 1PM this Friday, viewers much switch over to FOX television affiliates to watch the conclusion of coverage of the first round.

Saturday’s LIV Golf on Fox begins at 10AM CDT only on the Fox Sports App.  At 1PM Saturday, viewers must use their remote control to shift gears and find FS1 (assuming it is available on your cable television system).

Sunday’s final round begins at 11AM CDT on the Fox Sports App.  At 1PM, it’s time to change your channel to a local FOX television affiliate for the remaining two hours of the broadcast.

This week will be a big test for LIV Golf on American television

LIV Golf’s tournament in Miami (a 3-day event beginning Friday) will feature more well known golfers than this week’s PGA Tour event in San Antonio.

If LIV Golf is going to make a statement about its relevancy on American television, it must come this weekend.

The PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open has a relatively watered-down field.  Many of the PGA Tour’s top money earners are taking this week off to prepare for The Masters in Augusta, Georgia.  Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Victor Hovland are among those taking the week off.

Top names in this week’s San Antonio PGA stop include Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, and Ludvig Aberg.

At the LIV Golf Miami tournament, golf viewers will be able to see major champions such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, and, of course, the now 54-year old Phil Mickelson.

From my perspective, LIV Golf has the advantage this week when it comes to having a more interesting golf field for television viewers.

This week’s PGA Tour event in San Antonio will be covered by Golf Channel (Thursday, Friday, and early coverage Saturday and Sunday) with NBC handling Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

The TV coverage advantage definitely is with the PGA Tour. Viewers are accustomed to Golf Channel and NBC working in tandem many weeks.

In 2025, the PGA Tour’s television ratings have rebounded slightly. Most events being covered by CBS and NBC are averaging about two million viewers for the final round on Sunday afternoons.

This week, LIV Golf has a chance to take a big percentage of those viewers with a competitive tournament field playing on the famed Doral Country Club in Miami.

You might say that LIV Golf has the ball teed-up for them this weekend as they compete with a weaker PGA Tour field in Texas.

We are going to finally see whether home viewers actually care about the LIV Golf product by the end of this week.

Anything less than 500,000 viewers on FOX over the weekend is going to be a major disappointment for the Saudi owners of LIV Golf.

The upstart golf league’s television ratings must escape from a deep sand trap beginning this week in order to remain a viable sports competitor.

The post Will this week be LIV’s Last Stand? appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Are you ready for some (spring) football?

The UFL desperately wants YOU to become a fan this spring.  The league’s survival is going to  depend on you, too.

The United Football League (UFL) will kick-off tonight (Friday, March 28) with the same eight teams from last year and another 10-game regular season schedule.

This annual event is much like Charlie Brown and his attempt to kick that football as Lucy holds the ball for him.

The purveyors of spring pro football keep showing up every year with high hopes that America will fall in love with their game.

Here’s a quick test – Who won the UFL last season in 2024?

Answer: The Birmingham Stallions downed San Antonio 25-0 in the title game last June.

How quickly we forget!

The city of Birmingham, Alabama has now claimed three straight spring pro football titles.

The first two came in the USFL, while last season’s championship belt was earned in the recently-merged UFL in 2024.

The Birmingham Stallions were led by former Louisiana Tech head football coach Skip Holtz in each of those three title seasons.

The “Skipper” returns this year and will try to bring a fourth straight spring football title to Birmingham.

Let’s jump into the Sports Way back Machine and remember how the UFL began

The UFL (now entering Year #2) represents the merger of the former United States Football League (USFL) and the XFL last year.

The USFL (owned 100% by Fox Sports) started in 2022.

The XFL reincarnated in 2023. 

Owned by WWE wrestling legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and a few others, the XFL (circa 2001) was brought back to life two years ago.

The two football leagues went toe-to-toe against each other in the spring of 2023.

Both leagues lost a ton of money that year.

In late 2023, the USFL and XFL ownership groups sat down and hammered out a merger agreement. The two ownership groups remain steadfast (for now) that spring football can become profitable soon.

A significantly slimmed-down United Football League (UFL) began play in 2024 with just eight surviving teams. They are:

Arlington Renegades

Birmingham Stallions

DC Defenders

Houston Roughnecks

Memphis Showboats

Michigan Panthers

San Antonio Brahmas

St. Louis Battlehawks

After the merger of the USFL and XFL into the “new and improved” eight team UFL in 2024, only the St. Louis Battlehawks were a winner at the gate.

The Battlehawks averaged over 34,000 fans per home game last spring.  By comparison, the second leading team in home attendance was DC with 14,000 paying customers per game.

The 8-team UFL seemed poised to take off in 2024.  It didn’t.

One year ago, I reported that the very optimistic new UFL was already planning to expand from eight teams to 12 this year in 2025.

That didn’t happen.  The same eight UFL teams will begin play again this weekend.

The combined UFL has proven itself willing to learn and refine its approach, though.

In a savvy financial move, the UFL made Dallas-Fort Worth its home base of operations.

All eight UFL teams practice at the same centralized facilities.  Every weekend, the UFL players jet from DFW to their “home” cities to play weekly football games.

The league has negotiated reasonable lease terms at stadiums in each of its eight primary markets. Those facilities provide a comfortable football environment for local fans.

The UFL’s television coverage has been impressive, too.

FOX and ESPN/ABC carried the majority of UFL games on their flagship networks.  In 2024, viewers could easily find all four of the league’s games every weekend.

Unfortunately, weak in-stadium attendance looked really bad on television. 

Even though the spring league saw a slightly-improved level of TV viewership, the UFL’s rookie season in 2024 was likely a money loser for its owners.

Absent a miraculous improvement for in-stadium attendance this spring, the UFL’s business model is centered on attracting significantly more television viewers in 2025.

Last year, more than 800,000 viewers watched an average UFL game.  Increased TV viewership in 2025 could grow ad revenue enough to cover the league’s operating expenses for the first time.

Speaking of expenses…

The UFL pays its players about $6,000 per week for the ten week regular season.  With 50 players per team, that amounts to a $3 million player payroll per squad. 

For the eight UFL teams, that amounts to $24 million.  (By comparison, that won’t buy just one top wide receiver today in the NFL!)

Coaches and staff cost money, too.  Let’s generously say that the coaching staff will earn $1.5 million per team or $12 million for the eight teams.

We have now reached $36 million in league expenses – just for the players and coaches.

Those eight stadium leases aren’t cheap.  Let’s estimate $100,000 per stadium for the four weekly games and ten weeks of competition.

That’s another $4 million for the year.  We’re up to $40 million now.

Don’t forget the costs for team charter flights to and from weekly playing sites.  Bus transportation, hotels, and food,, and hotels add up, too. 

Of course, the league must pay for referees, security, and other stadium personnel at the games.

The annual costs for football equipment, insurance, marketing, and other costs are also significant.

Don’t forget about the cost of those weekly television broadcasts!

The UFL was smart to farm-out the cost of producing its weekly telecasts to its two primary networks (Fox Sports and ESPN). 

To recoup their rather sizable costs, the two networks receive a percentage of the available advertising minutes from each game to sell their own commercial spots.

This trade-off minimizes out-of-pocket expenses for the UFL, but it reduces the potential number of commercial ad sales by the league itself.

Speaking of TV, how does the UFL earn television revenue?

Television networks generally charge advertisers a certain cost per thousand viewers for the program.    The industry refers to this as CPM.

Football generally delivers a primarily male audience to advertisers in the prime “buying” demographic between ages 25-49.  That’s why you will notice so many ads for vehicles, beverages, and insurance/financial institutions during football games.

According to one source, the average NFL game last year fetched about $600,000 for a 30-second spot.  With an average NFL audience of nearly 20 million viewers, that equates to $.03 per viewer or $30 CPM (cost per thousand)

Applying that same formula to UFL games, last year’s 800,000 viewers per game times a $30 CPM would price a 30-second spot at $24,000.

With an estimated 30 minutes of commercial availabilities per game, last year’s UFL telecasts had the potential to generate as much as $1.44 million in revenue per telecast.

With 40 televised regular season games, the UFL’s maximum ad revenue may have approached $60 million in 2024.

If television viewership rises 25% this year to one million per game, the UFL’s potential ad revenue could climb another $15 million to $75 million.

That said, it is highly unlikely that UFL football games sell 100% of its commercial availabilities.

If you happen to notice a lot of promos filling the breaks this weekend, you’ll know the answer.

Will America finally fall in love with spring pro football in 2025?

The first UFL game of the season kicks off tonight (3/28) at 7PM CDT on FOX as the St. Louis Battlehawks fly into Houston to play the Roughnecks.

FOX plans to televise a UFL game every Friday night this spring.

After losing WWE’s Smackdown Friday program, FOX is hoping to build a regular audience in that time slot.

Sports competition from the NCAA March Madness men’s and women’s basketball games along with WWE’s Smackdown (now on the USA Network) is going to hurt the UFL’s Week #1 television ratings.

On Saturday at 3PM CDT, the San Antonio Brahmas rumble into Arlington to play the Renegades on FOX.

On Sunday, ESPN takes over with a doubleheader.  The Michigan Panthers visit the Memphis Showboats at 11AM CDT.

The DC Defenders will host the Birmingham Stallions at 2PM.

As if the UFL needed any additional bad press, rumors persist that the league’s players (who are unionized) may go on strike prior to the opening weekend of games.

The players want the UFL owners to agree to pay for year-round insurance coverage rather than only paying for coverage during the relatively short football season.

The UFL needs YOU!

If you like spring pro football, make a point to watch the games on television through mid-June.

As covered earlier, the UFL is counting on a significant growth in home television viewers to generate greater ad revenue in 2025.

Otherwise, the owners (who have learned some hard financial lessons in recent years) may finally pull the plug after this spring’s football season.

The ball (or, in this case, the remote control) is in your hands!

The post The UFL wants YOU as a new Recruit! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

One week ago, the men’s basketball team at St. Francis University of Pennsylvania played in the NCAA March Madness tournament.  The #16 seed Red Flash lost to Alabama State 70-68 last Tuesday March 18 in Dayton, Ohio.

Seven days later, St. Francis University announced that the school is leaving the NCAA’s Division I athletics stage over the next year.

The school’s Board of Trustees announced the decision on Tuesday, March 25.

“The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from the love of the game,” said Committee Chairman and the Very Reverend Dr. Joseph Lehman.

He added, “Based on the changes in athletics nationally, it would be a disservice to our student-athletes and athletic department not to review and assess how we can best provide the resources necessary for them to be competitive”.

SwampSwami’s translation

Unofficially of course, I believe St. Francis University was really saying, “We don’t have the financial resources nor the desire to continue playing in the current Division I group any longer.  However, we want our sports teams to be competitive and play schools within our own geographic region.  We cannot do that and remain in D-1 sports.  It is also very important that our athletes should be contributing students at our university – for more than just one semester.  Adios, D-1.  We are outta here!”

A little over one year from now, St. Francis of Pennsylvania (located in Loretto – about halfway between Pittsburgh and State College) will exit the Northeast Conference and enter NCAA’s Division III as a new member of the Presidents’ Athletics Conference in the fall of 2026.

Bigger isn’t necessarily better

St. Francis University has an enrollment of about 2,100 students.

As a current member of NCAA Division I basketball, St. Francis is smaller than nearly every school in the upper division.  Those schools generally have a larger enrollment, more alumni and alumni support, and a larger annual athletics budget to work with.

According to Tuesday’s press release, the Red Flash will shrink its travel budget significantly by making the move to its new Division III conference.

St. Francis University was one of the founding members of the Division I Northeast Conference in 1981.

Playing at other Northeast Conference member schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey has caused the Red Flash and its fans to travel six or more hours (each way) for D-1 athletic events.

By affiliating in the D-III Presidents’ Athletics Conference, St. Francis will play similar sized schools located primarily within the state of Pennsylvania.  Most athletic events will require less than two hours of travel time for the sports teams and fans.

What happens to those with athletic scholarships at St. Francis?

Colleges participating in NCAA Division III are not permitted to provide athletic scholarships.  All students desiring to compete in sports must also compete with the general school population for academic financial aid and need-based assistance.

The school addressed the subject in its “Frequently Asked Questions” section.

Even though the NCAA Division III doesn’t allow schools to offer athletic scholarships, St. Francis will be permitted to honor its currently awarded athletic scholarships through the academic year 2027-2028. After that, the student must qualify for general academic scholarships and need-based assistance at the school.

Expect most of the “serious” athletes to transfer from St. Francis University over the next year. The school will begin play in its new Division III conference beginning in the fall of 2026.

It will be interesting to see how St. Francis University fields its sports teams next fall and spring during its final year at the Division 1 level.

Current D-1 Northeast Conference competitors will likely feast on St. Francis sports teams next season as the Red Flash should lose some scholarship athletes prior to its last year in Division I.

Has the NCAA Transfer Portal become a clever way obscure sub-par academic performance?

One of the primary reasons that St. Francis is stepping out of the chaos of today’s NCAA Division I category is that the student portion of the phrase “student-athlete” is being obliterated in the past few years.

On Monday, March 24, the NCAA’s infamous new transfer portal opened for business for college basketball players. 

Yes, while the college basketball season is still underway!.  

From now through Tuesday, April 22, college basketball players can enter the transfer portal and allow their agents to negotiate a Name, Image, and Likeness cash offer from another school.  

Believe it or not, every player participating in this week’s men’s and women’s Sweet 16 competition has the ability to place their own name into the NCAA transfer portal – right now – and request permission to leave their current program before late April.

Can you imagine how well that would go over at a men’s basketball top seed such as Auburn or Duke right now? 

Better yet, how do you think LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey would react to learn that one of her players just filed to transfer – before this Friday night’s game?

It might be fun to see if that first guy off the bench (who has just asked to transfer) will receive an opportunity to play during the next two weeks of the March Madness basketball tournament!

One of my growing concerns about the NCAA transfer portal has to do with verifying the academic progress of the increasing numbers of transfer athlete-students.

The NCAA (feel free to chuckle, laugh, or guffaw here) certainly hasn’t proven itself capable of enforcing this process or any of its other rules over the past few decades.

It would not surprise me that the majority of transferring athletes are lagging in their current academic performance.

Does anyone know how many of these transferring athletes are simply withdrawing from spring classes RIGHT NOW prior to having their final grades posted?  Are the transferring players required to maintain a full-time student class load and status?

Today’s major college athletics departments and school administrators likely have a number of clever academic amnesty programs tailored to assist a low-achieving student-athlete gain admission into his or her latest school.

At least for their first year at the new school, of course.

Then, it’s transfer time again, right?

The “little guys” of major college D-1 sports are quickly fading away

Take a look at the conference affiliations for the remaining teams in this weekend’s Sweet 16 competition in the men’s and women’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournaments.

Men – SEC (7), Big Ten (4), Big 12 (4), and ACC (1)

Women – SEC (6), ACC (4), Big Ten (3), Big 12 (2), and Big East (1)

In the men’s bracket, you won’t find a mid-major team like 2024’s Gonzaga or San Diego State.

Remember Princeton and Florida Atlantic in 2023?  March Madness 2022 brought us the Saint Peter’s Peacocks into the Sweet 16 to make it your brackets more interesting.

And who can forget then-98 year old Sister Jean and her Loyola-Chicago Ramblers team which found its way into the 2018 March Madness Sweet 16? 

Sister Jean is now 105 years old, but her Loyola-Chicago team is nowhere to be found this weekend.

Today’s wealthiest schools are pilfering the top players from smaller D-1 schools by dangling hundreds of thousands of NIL dollars as an incentive to transfer.

This weekend, you will see some terrific former small program players who bolted for big bucks.

Auburn’s Johni Broome (Morehead State), Alabama’s Mark Sears (Ohio U), and Florida’s Walter Clayton, Jr. (Iona) were snagged after successful fishing expeditions utilizing the NCAA’s transfer portal and the NIL money machine.

Athletes at mid-major schools and smaller D-1 programs such as St. Francis of PA are being heavily scouted by the wealthiest athletics programs. 

Those bigger programs are more than willing to pay the most talented college athletes to transfer into their schools.

In 2025, why waste money recruiting emotionally fragile and often fickle 5-star high school athletes?

For high school athletes being overlooked by the major schools, he or she should consider finding a smaller program willing to provide more playing time in the first two years of college.

The biggest schools (along with some hungry sports agents) know every player’s whereabouts.

They will be happy to confirm the proper time to enter the NCAA transfer portal and grab some of that big pile of NIL cash.

Expect the trend of schools exiting NCAA Division I into Division III to increase

An athletic program’s exit from Division I down to Division III comes with some significant downside financial effects.

For smaller D-1 programs, one or more “cash” visits to wealthy football schools such as LSU or Texas A&M means the loss of very significant revenue.

Those sacrificial trips to receive your annual beating often net $1 million or more for the visiting school’s athletics budget.

By changing your identity down to D-III, those bigger programs will not schedule teams at that level because it works against their cherished national rankings.

Even early season road trips to wealthy basketball schools (like Kansas or North Carolina) add important bonus bucks to the visiting team’s bank account, too.

All of the financial aspects (including student enrollment implications) must be carefully evaluated.

On the other hand, decades of watching your college athletics team getting trounced at the NCAA D-1 level hasn’t helped home attendance.

Will changing to D-III and winning more against lesser competition add fan interest for the athletics program?  That’s a tough call to make.

For St. Francis University, the school claims to have studied this issue for quite some time prior to announcing its decision to drop from NCAA’s Division I to D-III.

That decision worked best for their school.

Right now, you better believe that dozens of other colleges and universities are likely considering doing the same thing soon. St. Francis’ bold step might help other schools to make a similar decision.

Meanwhile, the NCAA’s Division I is becoming the home to watch semi-professional athletics being conducted on major college campuses around the country.

With more than 430 colleges and universities now competing in NCAA’s Division III, their member schools will compete for the athletic championships in every major sport – just like the D-1 schools.

The operating costs in NCAA Division III are definitely lower.  But not playing the top sports schools anymore may cause a decrease in interest in the school’s athletics programs after it moves into the non-athletic scholarship NCAA Division III level.

Winning (even at a lower level of competition) can help everything.  

The post Movin’ on Down! St. Francis of PA to join D-III Sports appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

My wife and I attended LSU’s final home basketball game recently in Baton Rouge.  For the Tigers, it was Senior Day against #14-ranked Texas A&M.

For much of the first half of that game, the two not-quite 6′ point guards for LSU (Jordan Sears) and Texas A&M (Wade Taylor IV) carried their teams and scored in double digits.  The home underdog Tigers (a woeful 3-15 in SEC play) seemed a bit inspired in taking a 32-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Then the second half began

The LSU men’s basketball team could not hit the proverbial side of a barn.  The Tigers scored just seven points in the first 13 minutes of the second half.

It was U-G-L-Y.

LSU’s offense (which looked disorganized and inept for much of the game) stunk-up the Pete Maravich Assembly Center like Pepe Le Pew in the second half of a winnable basketball game.

For the game, LSU connected on just 15 of 50 shots from the field (30%). They were out-rebounded 40-27 by Texas A&M. The Tigers committed a whopping 24 fouls in the game, too.

Texas A&M was gifted a 66-52 road win.

Watching this game in person, LSU did not appear to run very many offensive plays.  Rarely did the Tigers pass the ball more than one time during most offensive possessions.

A lunchtime pick-up game at your local YMCA may feature more cohesive players than this year’s LSU Tigers men’s basketball team.

The Bayou Bengals were quickly vanquished from the SEC tournament

The following week, LSU was clobbered by Mississippi State 91-62 in the opening round of the SEC basketball tournament.  LSU trailed by 20 points at the half as yet another game was virtually over in the opening minutes.

The Bayou Bengal Bricklayers converted just 5 of 26 3-point shots (19%) and 13 of 26 free throws (50%).

Mercifully, the LSU men’s basketball team ended the season with a deceivingly moderate record of 14-18.  That’s because the Tigers feasted on a series of early season cupcakes to pad their record.

LSU finished next-to-last in the 16-team SEC this season with a pitiful 3-15 league record.

Is it time to fire the coach?

In three seasons under men’s basketball head coach Matt McMahon, the LSU men’s basketball team has a record of 45-47.

Coach McMahon signed a 7-year contract back in 2022.  He is the successor to current McNeese State head coach Will Wade (whose #12 seed Cowboys just won their first round NCAA March Madness tournament game over #5 seed Clemson).

Will Wade (expected to be named the new head coach at North Carolina State University soon) was fired as LSU’s head coach in March, 2022. 

An audio tape confirmed that he offered significant financial incentives to at least one prospective LSU basketball player.

Those potential NCAA violations happened just prior to advent of today’s flimsy NIL guidelines allowing college athletes to receive compensation.

After Will Wade was fired, his replacement (Matt McMahon from Murray State in Kentucky) signed a contract worth $2.6 million in year #1 with guaranteed raises of $100,000 per year.

In a very savvy contract negotiation by the coach’s agent, LSU is required to pay Matt McMahon $7.5 million in severance pay if he is terminated prior to the start of next season.

Ouch.

LSU women’s basketball is much more successful – on the court and financially

LSU men’s basketball averaged 7,900 fans per home game during this 2024/2025 season.

By contrast, Coach Kim Mulkey’s 28-5 LSU women’s basketball team drew 10,700 per game this season into the 12,500 seat Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The AP #10 LSU women’s basketball team won the NCAA title two years ago and carries a #3 regional seed into the women’s March Madness tournament.

After a recent renegotiation, Kim Mulkey earns $3.2 million per year at LSU.  If either party should terminates Mulkey’s contract early, the other party will be owed $2 million.

Nice, neat, reasonable, and very easy to understand.

Let’s crank the numbers as to whether LSU should find a new men’s basketball coach

The LSU men’s basketball team had 21 home games this season.  At an average price of (let’s say) $25 per ticket sold, the team produced estimated ticket revenues of $197,500/game.  With 21 home games, that’s about $4.15 million.

Let’s add another $5 per person for net profits on concessions, etc. to put another $1 million in revenue in the Tigers’ kitty (get it?).

That brings the total net revenue for the LSU men’s team (this year) to about $5 million.

By contrast, the LSU women’s team (using the same number of home games, ticket prices and concession profit margins) would have generated more than $5.6 million in ticket sales plus $1.2 million in concessions revenue.

That’s almost $7 million per year in revenue produced by the LSU women’s basketball team this past season.

Firing the LSU men’s basketball coach today does not make math sense

If Matt McMahon was fired and received a whopping $7.5 million in severance money, it would take several years for LSU to recoup that incremental expense.

Earlier, we estimated that LSU’s women’s program generated about $2 million more in revenues this season than the men’s team likely did.

If a new men’s basketball coach could revive fan interest and raise attendance levels to those of the LSU women’s basketball team, it would still take 3.75 years (the $7.5 million contract buyout cost divided by the $2 million of incremental revenue generated per season) to reach that breakeven point.

Oops!  We almost forgot that hiring a top college basketball coach away from another school will require a significant cash buyout for that coach to leave.

That will cost a few million dollars, too.

The annual cost for a national top 25 men’s coach appears to be running from $3.5 million (like Rick Pitino at St. John’s) to over $5 million (Bruce Pearl at Auburn).

My estimate is that it would take at least 5 years for LSU men’s basketball to recover the costs of firing the current coach and replacing him with a higher profile “name” coach.

That still doesn’t guarantee that LSU fans will flock to the PMAC to watch the men’s team play.

Sadly, LSU’s men’s basketball has a long history of mediocrity

I grew up as a big fan of LSU’s Pistol Pete Maravich (circa 1970). 

In the early 1990’s, I loved watching Shaquille O’Neal dominate the middle during his college days at LSU, too.

Though Pete and Shaq filled the arena in Baton Rouge, neither of those two future NBA legends was able to carry LSU anywhere close to a national championship in men’s basketball.

In fact, LSU has NEVER won an NCAA men’s basketball title.

The men’s team has only advanced to the March Madness Final Four on four occasions since World War II (1953, 1981, 1986, and 2006).

Compare that to the Tigers’ four national championship football teams (1958, 2003, 2007, and 2019) and seven national titles for the baseball team (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, and 2015) during the same period.

Sports fans in Baton Rouge have proven that they will show-up for men’s basketball only if the team is (a) highly entertaining and/or (b) highly successful.

Legendary guard Pete Maravich drew so many fans to the school’s ancient (circa 1937) John Parker Ag Center (aptly nicknamed “The Barn”) that LSU finally constructed a new arena after Pete left for the NBA. 

The current basketball arena completed in 1972 is quite literally “The House that Pete Built.”

Though Coach Dale Brown’s teams of the 1980’s and 1990’s were generally successful, it took a 7’1” dynamo named Shaquille O’Neal to regularly “pack the PMAC.”

Does LSU and its fan base really care about having a top men’s basketball program?

LSU has a highly successful women’s basketball team which continues to build on its growing season ticket base in Baton Rouge.

Now completing her fourth year at LSU, Coach Kim Mulkey’s teams are a sterling 119-19 (86.2%) and hoisted the school’s first national championship banner in basketball two years ago in 2023.

Coach Kim Mulkey is a master recruiter and finds top players for her program within the state of Louisiana and nationally.

Mulkey’s fan-friendly players also make time after LSU home games to sign autographs for legions of young fans in attendance.

LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey is also a big part of the “show”. 

Her unique fashion statements and animated coaching exhortations along the sidelines are entertaining.

Those little things really add up – but you must also have a winning program.

In the end, it all comes down to money

One final factor in running a successful college basketball program today involves raising additional cash to obtain better players, too.

As you watch the March Madness tournaments (men and women), take note of how many basketball players are transfers from other schools.

It’s a safe bet that the vast majority of those transfers are not coming to their new school seeking a better education.

With today’s growing NIL pot-of-gold, some colleges are doling out significant bucks to attract top players to transfer into their programs.

It wasn’t just improved coaching which has propelled men’s basketball teams like McNeese State and St. John’s into the second round of this year’s NCAA March Madness tournament.

The LSU athletics department balance sheet has always been one of the largest in the nation. The Tigers have produced highly successful results in most major sports endeavors.

Except for men’s basketball.

As long as there remains a collective yawn from fans about the men’s basketball program in Baton Rouge, expect Coach Matt McMahon to remain the head coach for at least one more season.

The accounting term “sunk cost” comes to mind

LSU’s recent investment to obtain the current men’s basketball coach was quite significant.

In hindsight, spending millions of dollars to make a coaching change in 2022 may have been an imprudent business decision.  When you roll the dice on an expensive new coach, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t.  

There is a no guarantee that making another large financial outlay to sign a new basketball coach today will result in a significantly improved economic picture for the Bayou Bengals’ men’s hoops team.

The decision makers within the LSU athletics department have proven to be quite sharp.  They are quite aware that the men’s basketball program in Baton Rouge just may not be worth the risk and added expense of making a change.

Yet.

The post LSU Men’s Basketball – Fix it now or $ave the Money? appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Mrs. SwampSwami and I spent last week on a lovely visit to the Gulf Shores, Alabama area.

Travel tip – Don’t miss the Naval Air Museum in nearby Pensacola, Florida.

We spent a half day looking at all sorts of aircraft and reading stories about the people who flew them. Check to see when the Blue Angels are practicing, too.  It’s a great place to bring the kids and/or grand kids!

While along the Gulf Coast, I had plenty of chances to listen to sports shows spouting opinions about this week’s March Madness basketball tournaments.

Full disclosure: I played basketball from elementary school (check out #4 below!) through high school and countless adult leagues through my middle 30’s. 

However, I have never correctly predicted the winner of one men’s March Madness college basketball tournament.

That’s hard to believe, but it’s true. 

I’ve had decades of doomed picks.

Like many, I do enjoy using my “Wile E. Coyote” analytical skills to determine a few “surprise” picks to make it deep into the tournament each year.

Just like my cartoon friend Wile E. Coyote, those same March Madness picks usually go over the cliff and hit the bottom of the canyon every season.

But this year is going to be different!

Breaking a decades long tradition won’t be easy.  However, the top teams in this year’s men’s and women’s March Madness college basketball fields have been fairly consistent all season long.

On the men’s side, the AP’s Preseason Top 10 included Kansas at #1 followed by Alabama, Connecticut, Houston, Iowa State, Gonzaga, Duke, Baylor, North Carolina, and Arizona. 

Auburn was at #11 followed by Tennessee, Texas A&M, Purdue, Creighton, and #16 Arkansas.

All of those first 16 preseason selections qualified for this week’s NCAA men’s tournament.  The #17 preseason team, the Indiana Hoosiers, finished a competitive 19-13 but were the first AP preseason Top 25 men’s team to be omitted from the men’s March Madness field.

Rounding out the preseason top 25 were #18 Marquette followed by Texas, Cincinnati, Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Rutgers.

Like Indiana, preseason #20 Cincinnati and #25 Rutgers also failed to make the March Madness field.

The preseason #4 Houston holds a #1 seed (Midwest), preseason #11 Auburn will be #1 in the South, preseason #7 Duke tops in the East, and preseason #21 Florida becomes the West Region’s #1 seed.

Did you know that the AP preseason women’s basketball teams went a perfect 25 for 25 in being selected for March Madness?

On the women’s side of the ledger, every one of the the AP Preseason Top 25 rankings was selected for the March Madness tournament field.

Preseason #1 South Carolina led the way followed by Connecticut, Southern Cal, Texas, UCLA, Notre Dame, LSU, Iowa State, NC State, and Oklahoma in the top ten.

Duke was ranked a preseason #11 followed by Baylor, Kansas State, Ohio State, North Carolina, West Virginia, Louisville, Maryland, and #19 Florida State.  Ole Miss was the preseason #20 team with Creighton, Kentucky, Nebraska, Alabama, and Indiana rounding out the top 25.

Incredibly, four of the top five preseason women’s college basketball teams have earned #1 seeds in this week’s March Madness field.

Preseason #5 UCLA grabbed the overall top spot and is the #1 seed in Region 1 (Spokane).  The other #1 seeds were South Carolina (Region 2 – Birmingham), Texas (Region 3 – Birmingham) and USC (Region 4 – Spokane).

Connecticut’s Huskies were the #2 preseason team.  They are well coached, very talented, and possess a #2 seed in Region 4 this week.

At least for this opening weekend, which teams might spring an upset or two?

If you participate in this week’s CBS Sports March Madness contest, you will find my complete list (read ’em and weep) men and women’s selections listed as “SwampSwamiSports.com”.

Time to check out a few of my upset picks.  Let’s start with the men’s tournament.

In the men’s South region, I like the #12 UC-San Diego Tritons to spear the #5 Michigan Wolverines and then take out #4 Texas A&M in the second round.

Moving to the East region, I’ll go with #10 seed Vanderbilt to beat #7 St. Mary’s in the opening round.

In the Midwest, I’ll take the winner of tonight’s #11 seed battle between Texas vs. Xavier to knock out the #6 seed Illinois.  Also, I’ll select #10 Utah State to beat #7 seed UCLA in the opening round of the Midwest region.

Out West, I’m pulling for #11 Drake to surprise #6 seed Missouri in the opening round.

Let make a few Women’s March Madness upset predictions!

Starting in the women’s Region 1, I’ll take #11 George Mason to beat #6 Florida State in Round 1.

In Region 2, I’m selecting #9 seed Indiana to defeat #8 Utah (I know – not much of an upset in a first round game).

Moving to Region 3, I have the winner of First Four’s #11 seed game between Iowa State and Princeton beating #6 seed Michigan. I will also take #9 Creighton over #8 seed Illinois in the opening round.

In Region 4, I’ll go with #9 Mississippi State over #8 seed California in Round #1.

SwampSwami doesn’t see a path for a major underdog to make either of the Final Fours

Let’s face it.  One or two teams usually get hot for the first weekend and ruin many of our brackets. 

In the men’s field, #11 North Carolina obliterated San Diego State 95-68 on Tuesday night and might stay hot for the remainder of this week.

Don’t count on it, though.  The Tar Heels went 1-12 vs. top level competition this year.

In the men’s and women’s tournaments, I don’t see a clear path for a significant underdog (seeded #9 or higher) to make it into the Sweet 16 round by winning two straight games this weekend.

Expect the cream of the crop to quickly rise in both tournaments.  With this six game competition being played over three weekends, the pressure will increase each week.

The Final Four (both men and women) will be a great weekend for viewing college basketball!

What is the secret formula for victory?

I like teams with veteran coaches whose teams play with discipline.

Teams which feature outstanding point guards tend to do well in March Madness.

Don’t forget about free throw shooting!  

If your favorite team has one or more players whose nickname at the free throw line is “The Brick Layer”, that player can expect to be fouled a lot during the tournament and forced to convert free throws with significant pressure.

I also like teams with balanced scoring.

Teams like Auburn and Duke on the men’s side depend heavily on one star player for their primary scoring when the game is on the line.  It is extremely hard for one player to have six straight terrific performances under growing weekly pressure.

The men’s winner will be…

The #1 seed Houston Cougars!

This year’s men’s Final Four will be played in San Antonio, Texas.

I’ll take #1 seed Florida over #2 seed Michigan State in one semifinal game.  Let’s go with #1 seed University of Houston over #1 Duke in a classic battle in the other semifinal.

This will set-up one of the nation’s top defensive units (Houston) against the high scoring Florida Gators. Will the Cougars and Coach Kelvin Sampson finally break through?

Houston 62, Florida 57

The women’s winner will be…

The #3 seed LSU Tigers!

The women’s Final Four will be played in Tampa, Florida.

In the semifinals, I have #3 LSU defeating #2 seed U Conn and #1 seed South Carolina roaring past #3 seed Notre Dame.

That will force yet another tense encounter between Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers and Dawn Staley’s defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

These two teams really don’t like each other, but LSU has lost 17 consecutive times to South Carolina.

It’s time for the Tigers to finally beat Carolina.  The title game in Tampa would be the perfect place!

LSU 68, South Carolina 64

Will SwampSwami finally break through and pick a March Madness winner?

As the decades pass, the odds keep trending in my favor!

If not, I am hopeful that my new Acme “Super Duper AI Sports Prognosticator” device will still eligible for a full refund!

Beep beep!

The post March Madness picks – No Surprises in the Final Fours appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.