The Blue Workhorse

On Monday, the NCAA announced the 64 collegiate baseball teams to earn the honor to be a part of the Division I national tournament, which will begin Friday at noon when the Missouri Tigers take on the Ole Miss Rebels. In preview of the regional tournaments that will be held this weekend, throughout the week our resident college baseball fanatic Rosenblogger will examine each individual regional:

Palo Alto Regional

1. Stanford Cardinal (33-21) vs 4. UC Davis Aggies (34-22)
2. Pepperdine Waves (36-18) vs 3. Arkansas Razorbacks (34-22)

One of the three SEC teams that did not make the national tournament is a Tennessee baseball team that finished 27-29 overall (the first losing season since 2002) and failed to even make the SEC tournament after having previously making the national tournament in three of five seasons from 2001-2005, including twice making the College World Series during that span. As far as this season, many point to this being the first year of a rebuilding project under Coach Todd Raleigh, and it may very well be a couple of seasons before the program can be restored to national prominence.

The question I ask myself, however, is ‘What was wrong with the University of Tennessee baseball program before Raleigh got here? ‘

There were several great games in the first round of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, whether it has been an upset (San Diego over Connecticut, Siena over Vanderbilt), a near upset (Duke surviving Belmont), or double-digit comebacks (Villanova over Clemson, Drake against Western Kentucky only to fall in OT), and each of the great games has had key players.

But who had the best game of the first round and has earned the right to be deemed the “1st Round Workhorse” or most outstanding performance of the first round of the NCAA tournament?

Here are our candidates (in alphabetical order):

Unlike the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year and Pro Bowl MVP out of the University of Oklahoma, who has repeatedly shown he is “a bright, articulate and classy young man as well as a terrific football player,” questions about McFadden’s character are starting to become as numerous as the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs.’

McFadden is currently battling a paternity suit, and according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, McFadden “told a team during an interview Saturday night that he has two children on the way.” Add in two altercations outside of night clubs (one in July 2006 and the other last month) as well as allegations (that were later retracted) that agent Mike Conley Sr. helped him purchase a Cadillac Escalade, and McFadden’s character has become something that is being questioned by NFL coaches and front office members alike.