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Alabama recruiting: Nick Saban admits not all offers are committable

2013-05-23T19:17:55Z

Nick Saban had some comments recently at an Alabama booster event that will be of interest to college football recruiting fans. Specifically, Saban discussed the concept of a non-committable verbal offer with Mike Herndon of Al.com:

... Early next month will be a particularly big evaluation period for quarterback prospects, whose offers are not committable until Saban sees them work in person in Tuscaloosa.

"It is our philosophy at certain positions that we really like to learn a lot about players and one of the best ways to learn about a player is when they come and visit you, because you're limited in terms of the contact you can have with them off-campus," Saban said. "To get some of them to come here in the summer I think is a really big tool in evaluation as well as an opportunity to get to know guys, to see if they have the right character and attitude to fit in your program."

So a prospect has an offer, but it is not committable? That's right. This ridiculousness is brought on by NCAA rules that, among other things, prohibit contact between coaches and recruits, making it difficult to evaluate prospects.

Verbal offers are, of course, not binding on the school, and verbal commitments are not binding on the school or the player. And at this point, players only have verbal offers. Written offers, which are somewhat binding in a sense, can only be given later in the year.

But the concept of a committable v. non-committable offer is different altogether. I've discussed this subject before for SB Nation in this article, titled College Football Recruiting Starts Earlier And Earlier, Whether NCAA Likes It Or Not, in which I explained:

...The process of extending all of these verbal offers has even spawned a new definition of the term "Committable."

com·mitta·ble adj.:The binary measure of an offer's validity: Randy discovered that his verbal offer to State University was not committable at the time, as the school had other prospects rated higher on its board.

The reality, of course: an offer that is not committable is not an true offer. It's a mere expression of interest by the school in the recruit.

The real news here is not in the practice, which isn't all that new, but rather that a coach is admitting it. It happens a lot more than the average fan probably realizes. If a player claims an offer from a school that is considerably better than all of his other offers, there is a good chance that the offer is more of an expression of interest, or an invite to come and camp.

The reason why acknowledging it is big news is that it really makes coaches, parents and players angry, particularly when a player tries to commit to an offer and the school is not ready to accept his commitment.

And Alabama is hardly the only school doing this. It's prevalent throughout the SEC, and at some other schools as well. In the 2013 cycle, Florida State was stuck in a situation with Adrian Baker, a South Florida defensive back, who committed to his "offer" from the Seminoles. FSU eventually decided to accept the commitment and avoid a PR mess, but Baker, perhaps feeling unwanted, eventually did decommit and ended up at Clemson.

Baker's situation was unique in that it became public. But this sort of thing happens all the time behind the scenes without becoming public, usually because a player wants to avoid embarrassment in having news get out that his offer from a school wasn't valid and that his attempt to commit was turned down.

The situation is unfortunate, but not all that avoidable. Prospects take schools waiting to offer as a personal affront, and value early offers in an illogical, confounding way. Coaches often talk about the importance of being the first offer, or the first major offer for a prospect. Thus, schools must balance offering a half-hearted offer early on with waiting to evaluate first.

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Spilly makes an NHL Playoff breakfast

2013-05-23T18:54:57Z

Greetings, Internet! Today we'll be making a meal for hockey, a sport I've been neglecting since January. Despite the lack of appearances, I can assure you that hockey has been present in Casa de Spilly, as Spillygirl is a devoted follower of the hometown Penguins and their deepening playoff run. This is not a Penguin meal however, for doing so would surely end our relationship once she found out that I'd blended Iceburgh the mascot. Instead, I'm making you my version of everyone's favorite food you can eat out of a giant silver championship cup: breakfast cereal. It's completely homemade too, because who hasn't looked at a box of Lucky Charms and said "Well, it's nice, but what if it had more cheese?"

STEP 1) Grain is the cornerstone of any breakfast cereal. Grain and marshmallows. And frosting. And diabetes. So to begin today's meal, I started with a common household grain:

THE EDIBLE PACKING PEANUT

Now you may be saying, "But Mr. Spillington, packing peanuts are chewy foam plastic products and don't grow out of the ground at all!" You'd be wrong! Because due to the magic of science and hipsters, we now have completely biodegradable packing peanuts made from corn. Or wheat ... or ... some sort of starch. Anyway, it's cerealish and the website says you can eat it! Fill up a bowl full of them. and toss in just a bit of water.

STEP 2) The peanuts will rapidly dissolve into mush.

Keep kneading the peanuts until they've all dissolved into paste. You may need to do this several times as you won't get a lot of substance out of it once the air escapes. Congratulations! You now have the blandest food ever created! LET'S BLEND THINGS INTO IT THAT SHOULD NEVER BE BLENDED.

STEP 3) It's important that we stay nutritionally balanced throughout this meal. We have our grains squared away, but what about protein? And more importantly, we're worried about kids eating sugary cereal nowadays, right? Well, let's use that to sneak in a little bit of something kids usually don't eat ...

It even comes with bonus chicken blood that you can use as flavorings in pies, ice creams, and pancake syrups! Plop a few of these in with the mushball. I just want to point out that on my blender instructions, it told me to never blend meat. At this point I think I've blended six or seven entire animals in this thing and it still keeps going. Entire farmyards have yielded to my puréeing will.

STEP 4) Once you've ground that up into a delicious meaty paste, you'll want to toss it back into the bowl so we can thicken it up a bit to make our cereal pieces. If you have any cornstarch or flour, throw that in. If not, shred up old printer paper. Make sure to add sugar! Without enough sugar in this, children may TASTE the meat!

STEP 5) Continue adding powdery stuff you find around the house to the bowl until you get a nice dough. Ball it up and knead it repeatedly to work out any lumps or pockets of talcum powder.

STEP 6) This may take a bit of time, but it's worth it! You'll need these cereal pieces to be fun shaped! Lucky Charms has leveraged every tired Irish stereotype into marshmallow shapes ("They're after me marshmallow Jameson bottles!") in order to stay relevant. Here, we're going to go with the classic O shape. Begin pulling off sections of the dough and wrapping them in O's on a baking sheet. After you've made these, top them with a generous helping of spray cheese to act as delectable frosting.

At this point, if you have a pet, it may be pacing furiously back and forth at your feet. You may then realize that you've reinvented the milk bone.

STEP 7) Bake these for 40 days and 40 nights until sizzling. Now it's time to move on to the milk! You didn't think we'd actually just use regular milk for this, did you? Goodness, no. This ingredient comes from @stefanielaine, who has been patiently waiting for her meal ingredient to be used since December. Those still waiting, I haven't forgotten! I just needed the best time to use them. This is that time.

It has milk in it! It's basically the same thing! You'll need to melt this down, of course, so spoon some of this in a bowl and nuke it forever.

STEP 8) Our cereal is basically really big meatcheerios, and if we're going to sell this, we need a fun, nutritionally vacuous piece of child-kibble. But what easily recognizable sugar pellet goes great with mint chocolate liver?

Mmmmmm, lemon strawberry mint meat circles. I am salivating.

STEP 9) For our hockey theme, we can't just use a regular bowl for the cereal. No, we need the Stanley Cup. Grab one near you and fill it with Spillycereal:

There's extra on the baking sheet! How lucky are you! You get seconds after this!

Take the melted ice cream and pour it on top of the cereal and skittles. Be careful to get all those chocolate chunks on the bottom!

That's damn fine eatin' right there. It's part of this balanced breakfast (the other half is spam and wall spackle waffles). So eat up, hockey fans. There's a few weeks left until the Cup Finals, so you have time to perfect this recipe. The last thing we need for our delicious concoction is a name. I have just the idea:

BONUS CONTENT:

Over the last few weeks, I was approached by @FreakEating on Twitter, who runs a Youtube channel where he takes on food challenges. He agreed to pick a meal I've made and film himself eating it. He did this thing. And he lived. So sit back and watch a man consume Aggie Ice Cream. I should feel bad that I put a human being through this, but I lost that innocence a long, long time ago when I decided to put mayonnaise and marshmallow fluff together.

Cheers to you, sir.

Frank Vogel: 'Miami had a more intelligent plan to attack Roy Hibbert'

2013-05-23T18:51:12Z

With everyone in the NBA world still buzzing about Frank Vogel's decision to remove Roy Hibbert in the final seconds of Game 1, the Indiana Pacers coach talked with reporters about it on Thursday.

Perhaps the most revealing exchange came when he talked about the adjustments his staff would have to make before Game 2:

Vogel on Miami defense: "They had a more intelligent plan against Roy Hibbert than New York did and we've got to adjust to it."
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) May 23, 2013

At 7'2 280, Hibbert's ability to protect the rim was one of the key storylines in the Pacers series against both the Knicks and the Heat.

And while New York never figured out a counter to Indiana's mammoth center, the Heat have the benefit of the experience they gained in their second-round victory over the Pacers last year.

However, in the end, most basketball games come down to personnel, not tactics. Vogel took Hibbert out of the game because he didn't want him defending Chris Bosh, one of the best mid-range shooters in the NBA, 20 feet from the basket.

There's no one on New York's roster who can match Bosh's skill-set, Vogel's digs at the Knicks intelligence notwithstanding.

More from SB Nation:

• Prada: Would Hibbert have stopped LeBron?

• Video: LeBron's game-winner | GIF: Hibbert shakes his head

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NBA Playoffs 2013: 5 things that ruled about Heat-Pacers Game 1

2013-05-23T18:47:48Z

This Heat-Pacers series was never supposed to be much fun. It was supposed to be tough, gritty, hard-nosed and all the other buzzwords that excite a certain type of sports fan. It was supposed to be the league's most efficient offense vs. the league's most efficient defense, and the end result was assumed to be a series of close-ish, well-played games that ended with scores like 90-85 more often than not.

AND THAT is why you never make assumptions about the NBA Playoffs. Contrasting styles are almost always great, physicality can provide more watchability than a bunch of alley-oops, and there's something to said for two fantastic coaches at the top of their games who aren't going to make any boneheaded errors in crunch time. Whoops.

Anyway, Game 1 between the Heat and Pacers, which ended in a 103-102 overtime win for Miami, was awesome. It was one of the best games the 2013 NBA Playoffs have given us yet, right up there with Game 2 of the Clippers-Grizzlies series, Game 4 of the Bulls-Nets series and every crazy game that predominately involved Stephen Curry going off for the Warriors. This was something not far away from an instant classic and it left plenty memorable moments and lasting takeaways. Let's investigate some of those:

1. Frank Vogel needs to get on Twitter

I feel like if Twitter would have coached the Pacers tonight, Indiana would've won.
— John Breech (@johnbreech) May 23, 2013

Let's run through this real quick.

The Heat have the ball and call timeout with :24 seconds remaining with the score tied at 99-99 in overtime. The Pacers take out Roy Hibbert for Sam Young, because everyone knows you never want one of the best rim protectors in the NBA on the court in crunch time. This is Frank Vogel's logic and, unsurprisingly, LeBron James takes advantage of it. After a 4-1 pick-and-roll, LeBron's eyes light up when he sees George Hill is switched onto him. What is easier than taking candy from a baby? Because that's what LeBron did in driving to the cup for the go-ahead layup to put Miami ahead 101-99 with :10 seconds remaining.

After the great Paul George (more on him later) gets fouled on a three-point attempt and subsequently hits all three free throws like a boss, Miami gets the ball again at halfcourt with 2.7 seconds remaining.

AGAIN Vogel chooses to sub-out Hibbert, this time for Tyler Hansbrough. This was especially crazy because the same stupid substitution just got his team burned, like, EIGHT SECONDS AGO. Twitter was up in arms over it, which is nothing particularly distinguishing but still noteworthy: this wasn't a case of second-guessing and hindsight being 20/20. Most people watching this game were confounded from the moment the Pacers took the floor without their awesome defensive center on the game's last possession.

You know what happens next: LeBron burns Paul George because he is LeBron and the rest of us are just flawed human beings, there's no rotational help to challenge the shot because Hibbert is on the bench, and the Heat steal a ridiculous victory in Game 1. Mike Prada has the full breakdown and you should read it. He argues that Hibbert's presence wouldn't have guaranteed a stop, and it's totally true. But still: the logic behind taking your best rim protector off the court in the game's final seconds, especially after doing the same thing *eight seconds ago* just got your team burned, is a little bit infuriating.

I feel for Pacers fans right now, because their team played a hell of a game. But back to that final play one more time, let's not discount one thing:

2. The Heat are masterfully crafted

Watching Kendrick Perkins kill the Oklahoma City Thunder during these playoffs, my colleague Jonathan Tjarks commented "If Scott Brooks was coaching the Heat, Joel Anthony would be starting."

This is true and it's the reason you have to appreciate the tactical genius of Erik Spoelstra and the Heat's front office.

As ridiculous as it was not to have Hibbert on the floor, you can sort of see what Vogel was thinking. Miami's lineup on that final possession was: LeBron, Shane Battier, Norris Cole, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen. Notice something about that group? All five can space the floor and hit an open three-pointer.

Much has been made of the Heat's makeover this year, an evolution that started when Bosh injured himself against the Pacers in the playoffs last year and Miami was forced to move to a small-ball lineup with LeBron at power forward. Whether the Heat stumbled into this accidentally or not, it changed everything forever. The last possession of Game 1 was a premium example of why.

More postgame coverage: Indy Cornrows Hot Hot Hoops

As Prada detailed, watch all of the action that starts the play before Battier even makes the inbounds pass. There's a lot going on there, and a lot the defense has to notice. Screens and switches and all of that. What makes it all so scary from the defense's perspective is that there's no Kendrick Perkins on the floor. Any of those five dudes could have hit a game-winning shot from distance and it would have been over.

Credit the Heat for building and properly using a team that seems ahead of its time. Vogel still made what looks like an egregious error, but it only happened because Miami is so difficult to successfully defend.

3. Paul George, star in the making

Why Paul George is not a star.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 23, 2013

Skip Bayless, bless his well-paid contrarian heart, tweeted this about two minutes before Paul George hit the single most ridiculous shot of the playoffs. It was a 32-foot three-pointer off a broken play that swished through the net with under one second remaining to push the game to overtime. It was fantastic:

Seriously: that is an insanely difficult, clutch shot from what might be the breakout star of this NBA season. What happened on Wednesday in Game 1 was simply a continuation of what's been developing all season: Paul George just being a monster, turning himself into one of the coolest players in the league.

George ended with a final line of 27 points, five assists and four rebounds on 7-of-16 shooting, which is impressive enough by itself. Factor in that he played 47 minutes and defended LeBron as tough as one can humanly defend LeBron, and George starts to look heroic. Then consider this: coming into the fourth quarter, George had nine points on 3-of-8 shooting.

Dude did what great players do: he turned it on in the fourth quarter. When the Pacers played the Bulls in the first round of the 2011 players, the common refrain was that Indiana was more goon than good, a phase highlighted by the existence of Jeff Foster. Not anymore. Indiana has a star, and his name is Paul George.

After the game, he also wore a pretty dope shirt:

Paul George wears green enzyme shirt twitpic.com/csj3oz/full
— Ben Golliver (@blazersedge) May 23, 2013

4. BAD SPORTS TOWN

LOL RT @ethanjskolnick: Fans are leaving.
— SBNation NBA (@SBNationNBA) May 23, 2013

"To be a great sports town you need a dying economy and millions of horrible white people who buy those NFL lawn gnomes from NFL.com and spend $20,000 on tailgating every year. If you live in a great sports town you should probably move immediately."

Those are the immortal words of Andrew Sharp, and they are no less true now than they were during the NFL season. But still: there's something totally hilarious about a good percentage of Miami's crowd getting up and leaving after George knocked down his free throws and before LeBron would rescue the win with his buzzer-beating layup.

I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to beat the traffic in Miami on a Wednesday. "Party in the city where the heat is on / All night on the beach 'til the break of dawn." Sure. I get it. I owned "Big Willie Style", too. But that doesn't make this any less funny.

5. LeBron's perfect non-reaction

Buzzer-beating shots in the playoffs are a thing to be celebrated. Unless you're the baddest man on the planet, I guess. When LeBron made the layup to give Miami a Game 1 victory, everyone was going crazy. Everyone expect LeBron.

Look at the reaction in the heat of the moment. Stone-cold.

The wide angle might be even better:

(Credit: Chris Trotman / Getty Images)

LeBron was put on Earth to do this, which is why it impresses everyone except him. You realize he finished with a triple-double last night, right? The man dropped 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and much of the in-game chatter focused on how great a job George was doing defending him.

Only LeBron, man.

More from SB Nation:

• Prada: Would Hibbert have stopped LeBron?

• Video: LeBron's game-winner | GIF: Hibbert shakes his head

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• Cavs win the Lottery | Complete draft order

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Don Maloney near contract extension with Coyotes, according to report

2013-05-23T18:36:48Z

The Phoenix Coyotes are nearing a contract extension with general manager Don Maloney, according to a report by Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona.

For more on the Coyotes visit: Five for Howling

Morgan cites multiple sources in saying that the Coyotes, in conjunction with the NHL (the team's current owner), are finalizing the details of an extension. The specifics of the contract were not made available. Maloney's current contract will end on June 30. Many believe he would be highly sought after in the event that he was not retained by Phoenix.

The situation with the Coyotes has been tumultuous. The NHL has had operational control of the franchise since 2009 and has been attempting to sell it since. However, no deal has successfully been finalized. Many believed this would impact the negotiations with Maloney and head coach Dave Tippett, whose contract also expires on June 30. Some had expressed the opinion that they would wait until the ownership situation was resolved before renegotiating with the team.

However, if this report is accurate, it seems Maloney will still be in place regardless of what happens.

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NASCAR Charlotte 2013: NHRA drag racing champion Antron Brown to test stock car

2013-05-23T18:34:51Z

NHRA champion Antron Brown has no problem going fast, as he regularly hits speeds in excess of 300 mph. The question is can the Top Fuel pilot transfer his skills to NASCAR and turn left?

A stock-car test scheduled for Tuesday should provide us a clue, as Brown will be driving a K&N Series car at the half-mile Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.

"I just want to compete and when I go out there, I just want to learn the right way,'' Brown said Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I want to take steps to learn everything and actually develop my driving ability to drive ovals.

"I know I can go straight. Now I've got to put a left-hand turn in there and see where it goes from there."

Complete coverage of Charlotte Motor Speedway 2013

Brown, the first African-American to win a major motorsports championship in the United States, has never driven a stock-car before. He will be driving a car by Rev Racing, which fields cars to minority drivers through NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.

The defending Top Fuel champion isn't planning an immediate career change and a switch to NASCAR. But while there is nothing planned beyond Tuesday's test, he does say that this could open the doors to future opportunities, something he sounds interested in pursuing.

But at age 37, Brown is a long way from competing at Sprint Cup and would need a few years of development in the Truck and Nationwide Series before he could expect to compete at NASCAR's highest level.

"I don't think racing has an age anymore,'' Brown said. "I think it depends on what type of shape and what kind of level of competition you bring week in and week out. That's one thing that I pride myself on, staying in shape and condition. I never hold myself back because of an age or a number. It is not a mid-life crisis.''

Redskins injuries: Pierre Garcon, Josh Wilson had offseason surgeries

2013-05-23T18:03:55Z

While most of the talk about injuries around Redskins camp surrounds the knee of Robert Griffin III, head coach Mike Shanahan announced two starters are recovering from surgery. Not only did Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon apparently have ~~chest surgery~~ labrum surgery over the offseason, but cornerback Josh Wilson had surgery to repair a torn labrum two months ago.

Garcon is reportedly making a quick recovery and Wilson is expected to be back in time for training camp.

More: VIDEO: Griffin running and throwing at OTAs

Garcon missed six games last season with a foot injury suffered in Week 1 against the Saints but finished his first year with Washington with 44 catches for 633 yards, which led the team despite him playing in only 10 games. Wilson started all 16 games in 2012 and recorded 74 total tackles with two interceptions in his second year with the team.

Both players play significant roles in their respective units. The Redskins struggled to find a receiver that would step up in Garcon's absence last year when he was forced out of those six games. The defense also finished 30th in the league against the pass with Wilson and DeAngelo Hall as the starting cornerbacks. Washington drafted cornerback David Amerson with their first pick in the draft, which came at 51st overall after previously trading away their first-round pick to land Griffin the year prior.

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Coach K says ACC will be 'best conference in the history of the game'

2013-05-23T18:01:44Z

Mike Krzyzewski made headlines on Wednesday by announcing that he would be returning to coach Team USA in the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Coach K turned more heads on Thursday, this time with comments regarding his thoughts on how formidable the Atlantic Coast Conference will be following this most recent helping of conference realignment.

"We're going to be a 10-bid conference," Krzyzewski said. "We're going to be the best conference in the history of the game."

The ACC will be adding longtime Big East powers Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame this season, and will then add reigning national champion Louisville in 2014-15. The conference will be losing Maryland to the Big Ten next summer.

"I think it'll be great," Krzyzewski said. "From a basketball guy, a lifer, to have so many brands, basketball brands in this conference and the level of coaching and accomplishment ... I think will be great for the game. I'm really excited about it."

The ACC has only averaged five NCAA Tournament teams per season since it last expanded in 2004, but it did produce national champions in 2010 (Duke), 2009 (North Carolina) and 2005 (North Carolina). The league sent just four teams to the big dance a season ago.

More from SB Nation:

• Prada: Would Hibbert have stopped LeBron?

• Video: LeBron's game-winner | GIF: Hibbert shakes his head

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SBNation.com - All Posts

Alabama recruiting: Nick Saban admits not all offers are committable

More from SB Nation:

Spilly makes an NHL Playoff breakfast

THE EDIBLE PACKING PEANUT

BONUS CONTENT:

Frank Vogel: 'Miami had a more intelligent plan to attack Roy Hibbert'

The King Stay The King

More from SB Nation:

NBA Playoffs 2013: 5 things that ruled about Heat-Pacers Game 1

1. Frank Vogel needs to get on Twitter

The greatness of LeBron

2. The Heat are masterfully crafted

3. Paul George, star in the making

4. BAD SPORTS TOWN

5. LeBron's perfect non-reaction

More from SB Nation:

Don Maloney near contract extension with Coyotes, according to report

More in the NHL:

NASCAR Charlotte 2013: NHRA drag racing champion Antron Brown to test stock car

Redskins injuries: Pierre Garcon, Josh Wilson had offseason surgeries

More from SB Nation:

Coach K says ACC will be 'best conference in the history of the game'

More from SB Nation: