Auburn baseball sweeps Georgia, puts up more gaudy numbers

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The Auburn baseball team made a serious first impression in SEC play this weekend, beating up on poor Georgia for three straight days to complete a three-game sweep.

Today’s installment was a 19-3 rout. That’s just two days after the Tigers put up 20 runs. Count the two whoopins Auburn put on Alabama A&M earlier in the week, and it has outscored opponents, 72-10, over the past five games.

The sweep marked Auburn’s first in SEC play since 2003.

Hunter Morris was the BMOC for the weekend, going 11-for-16 with four home runs and 14 RBIs. All three of Auburn’s starting pitchers—Cory Luckie, Cole Nelson and Grant Dayton—picked up victories.

Auburn travels to Samford on Tuesday before facing Alabama on Wednesday in Montgomery. The game is a make-up date from earlier in the month and will not count toward the conference standings. The Tigers host their first conference series at Plainsman Park when South Carolina comes to town Friday.

She called it ... Northern Iowa wins

That’s right, the most improbable upset of the NCAA Tournament just happened, and the Busy Girl called it.

Well, she didn’t really call it. She just picked it. You can see it right here on the BUSY GIRL’S BRACKET.

Yeah, she had Northern Iowa beating Kansas. Go figure. She’s also got Ohio State winning it all. The way it’s going, I wouldn’t doubt it.

Me? Yeah, I picked Kansas—the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed—to win the whole shebang. Man, do I stink.

Just one more example of how people who have no idea what they’re doing win 99.9999999 percent of every bracket pool they enter.

Next year, the Busy Girl is picking for me, too.

A much better day for Madness

Day 2 of March Madness roars along, and I’m having a much, much better day than Thursday.

I’m currently 6-of-7 today, with Clemson’s loss to Missouri my only blemish. Overall, I’ve won 15 out of 23 games. Still not great, but I’m making progress.

You want to know how big Thursday was for CBS and the NCAA Tournament?

Well, try this on for size ... 3.4 million hours of live streaming video and audio was consumed yesterday online, according to CBS.

That’s insane. Really. You want to talk about people not working. Man ...

Here’s some other highlights, according to CBS:
—3.4 million total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed
—3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players
—1.7 million clicks of the “Boss Button” - over 60% of the total clicks of the Boss Button for the entire 2009 tournament. (2.77 million)

That’s a lot of millions.

The most watched game online? That was the Florida-BYU double-overtime thriller, in which BYU won. More than 521,000 hours of watching and listening happened across the World Wide Web during that game.

Wanna read more? Well, here’s CBS’ release on the subject.

NCAA® MARCH MADNESS® ON DEMAND ACHIEVES RECORD BREAKING FIRST DAY OF TRAFFIC
3.4 million hours of live streaming video & audio consumed, the largest single day of traffic for a live sports event on the Internet.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - Mar. 19, 2010 - CBSSports.com, in partnership with CBS Sports and the NCAA, today released traffic statistics for NCAA March Madness on Demand (mmod.ncaa.com) for the first day of the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. In total, there were 3.4 million hours of live streaming video and audio consumed, over 20% growth versus 2009 figures, by 3 million unique visitors to the NCAA March Madness on Demand video players. Both figures represent the largest single day of traffic for a live sport event on the Internet.

Additionally, the NCAA March Madness on Demand “Boss Button” was clicked over 1.7 million times on the first day the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The “Boss Button”, which was redesigned for the 2010 tournament, hides the live video action on the screen and silences the audio, replacing it with a “business-like” image. The 2010 Boss Button was designed by cartoonist Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic. Click here to view the 2010 Boss Button.

The most watched game from 3/18 was the double-overtime Florida vs. BYU game with 521k hours of streaming video and audio. That’s +50% over 2009’s most watched game from the first day of the first round (Washington vs. Mississippi State) which had 348k hours of streaming.

The most watched hour yesterday was 2:00-2:59 p.m. ET with 533k streaming hours (16% of the total for the day). It peaked at 2:45 p.m. with 147k streaming hours between 2:45 and 2:59 p.m. ET.

“NCAA March Madness on Demand continues to regularly exceed our expectations,“ said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports.
Boy, I’ll say.

This Internet thing might really be catching on. You think?

Smith: Auburn rumors ‘just talk’

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Tubby Smith said his link to the opening at Auburn is “just talk” and is “looking forward to coming back to Minnesota” after the Gophers went down in the first round today against Xavier.

Smith was asked directly about Auburn at his post-game press conference, which can be viewed at NCAA.com.

“Obviously, that’s just talk, because I’m pleased with we’ve accomplished here, I’m pleased where we are in the program. I’m looking forward to coming back to Minnesota,‘’ he said.

Smith, who is apparently in the mix at Oregon and Georgia Tech should the Jackets’ job come open, was then asked if he had been offered a job by any other school.

“Nope,“ he said. “No, I haven’t.“

Today’s Smith Watch got started when Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com reported that Auburn was “close to hiring” Smith. Dodd, though, added “it could be nothing.“

Earlier today, Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he’d heard the rumors about Smith’s link to the Auburn job, but hadn’t yet been formally contacted by Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs.

Jacobs, who has declined comment throughout the search, said last week he would “go through the front door” during this search and would to talk to coaches until the end of their respective seasons.

Maturi also told the newspaper that he’d be unable to give Smith a raise because of the school’s wage freezes. Smith currently makes $1.75 million per season, which ranks third among Big 10 coaches. That salary would make him the fifth-highest paid coach in the SEC.

Former coach Jeff Lebo, who is now apparently the top candidate at ECU, made $785,000 per season, the lowest among SEC coaches.

(Photo credit: AP)

As Auburn candidates bow out of Big Dance, rumors start to pick up

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There’s been a lot of hubbub this morning about the possibility that Auburn is “close” to hiring Tubby Smith as its new basketball coach.

This report came from CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd. He also adds in the brief blog post that “it could be nothing.“

I’m not trying to dismiss Dodd’s credentials or sources by any means, but I typically wouldn’t write something if “it could be nothing.“

Also of note, Jay Jacobs has not requested permission to speak with Smith, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Let’s examine this development, though. It would be surprising in three ways if it were to come to fruition.

1. Smith makes $1.75 million per year. That makes him the third highest-paid coach in the Big Ten and would likely require Auburn to spend as much for its basketball coach as it is for Gene Chizik.
2. This would be happening just one week after Auburn fired Jeff Lebo.
3. Smith is still coaching. Minnesota plays in a couple hours against Xavier.

There’s an interesting tidbit to consider here. Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi said yesterday he simply can’t afford to give Smith a raise, according to a St. Paul Pioneer Press article.

Smith has also spent the majority of his highly successful coaching career in the South. That, along with Auburn’s new facilities, may be quite intriguing for him.

If Smith follows the trends of other Auburn coaching candidates, he’ll be available to talk some time this afternoon.

UTEP’s Tony Barbee and North Texas’ Johnny Jones both had their teams bow out in unceremonious fashion yesterday and are presumably able to chat.

If the rumors about Smith are true, though, they won’t have to worry about checking their phones.

(Photo credit: AP)