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Fans and both former and current NFL players have been up in arms over NFL rule changes, fines, and suspensions for helmet-to-helmet hits the past few seasons. Now the story that has the players all riled up is the New Orleans Saints players receiving lengthy suspensions for their part in “Bounty-Gate”. Yet these are the same players that will someday take part in lawsuits against the NFL for failing to protect them. That’s why I am so sick of all the complaining they are doing. It’s their former colleagues’ fault that this is happening. The lawsuits are the main reason NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is making player safety a huge issue. Football is a violent sport so injuries and concussions can’t be eliminated, but Goodell has to do everything in his power to limit their occurrences. He has to come down hard on people like Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma who allegedly paid teammates to injure opposing players. A severe injury on the football field could drastically affect a player’s livelihood. Issues like this have to be taken seriously.

It’s been an eventful few weeks since the college basketball season ended as a record number of unhappy players chose to transfer, coaches changed jobs, and stars are deciding whether or not to enter the NBA Draft. Here I take a look at the biggest storylines of the B1G offseason so far:

Coaching Changes

The coaching carousel was fairly quiet compared to years past, but the highest profile job opening was at Illinois after they fired Bruce Weber. The Illini came up empty chasing VCU’s Shaka Smart and Butler’s Brad Stevens, so they settled on former Ohio coach John Groce, who had just led the Bobcats to a Sweet 16 appearance. Illinois fans were upset with this hire at first because they live in a delusional world where they bought into CBS Sports’ Seth Davis’ argument that Illinois was a top ten job. I think it’s a great job but not top ten. In my opinion Groce is a great hire and the best candidate available after Shaka and Stevens turned them down. He’s a Thad Matta protégé and will bring a fresh energy to Illinois.

With Purdue’s 2011-2012 season now concluded, the Boilers transition to a new era as all the key players from the strong teams of the past three years are gone. I’m a known pessimist, but looking at the roster for the 2012-2013 season, I think even the biggest optimist would not be thrilled with the outlook. There’s inexperience, zero good defenders, a lack of shooters, and no team leaders. That is not a recipe for success. In the coming years Purdue will be fine and have more talent on the roster than I can ever remember, but not next season. Barring some major (and unlikely) offseason development, the Boilers will have a hard time making the NCAA Tournament as they’ll finish in the lower half of the Big Ten.

The three graduating seniors, Robbie Hummel, Ryne Smith, and Lewis Jackson, will be missed but not as much as I originally thought. Despite his struggles during the heart of B1G play, Hummel is simply irreplaceable. He was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. He caused mismatches with his size and ability to shoot from the perimeter as everyone clearly saw against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. Not having Hummel and Ryne Smith’s outside shooting is a big issue because that leaves senior D.J. Byrd as the only proven perimeter threat. But Smith was such a liability on the defensive end that Purdue will be fine without him. Due to multiple injuries Lewis Jackson wasn’t able to build on a very good junior campaign. He never developed a jump-shot and his defense was not up to the standard he set in previous years. Jackson was the heart and soul of the team and it’s his leadership that will be missed more than his actual talent. (I’m still a Lew Jack fan though, nobody was tougher, he just never could get healthy in all four years.)

Here is the second part of my NCAA Tournament preview:

EAST

Top 5 Seeds: (1) Syracuse, (2) Ohio State, (3) Florida State, (4) Wisconsin, (5) Vanderbilt

This must be the “Perennial Underachievers” region. If you want to go risky with your Final Four pick, this is the region to do it in. Syracuse, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt usually get upset early in the tournament. Syracuse is one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country (ranked 341st out of 345 teams) and that makes no sense considering their massive size in the post and on the wing. Now with the news coming out that center Fab Melo can’t play due to eligibility issues, Syracuse is in trouble. I thought Ohio State was going to be great this year but they haven’t lived up to the expectations. They aren’t better than last year’s team that was shot down in the Sweet 16 by Kentucky.