July 2009 - Posts
Say this for Isiah Thomas – he’s giving it the old college try.
A pair of Thomas features surfaced this week, as Florida International’s new coach made the recruiting rounds at various tournaments. See what you think.
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Hand it to North Carolina – the school knows how to kick off a celebration.
A pro alumni game featuring the likes of Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace and members of the 2005 and 2009 title teams is set for Sept. 4. Tickets are $20 a pop, but that seems like a deal to see roughly 24 ex-Heels strut their stuff.
This news has been around a while now, but it’s still enthralling. It’s the stuff arguments and reminiscing are made of.
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Everyone knows John Wooden is the greatest coach who ever lived. But Sporting News made it official.
UCLA’s legendary coach was honored during a luncheon Tuesday, where a packed room toasted him – and that mind-boggling run of 10 NCAA tournament titles in 12 seasons (still the most remarkable run in all of sports).
The rest of Sporting News’ list of the 50 greatest coaches – selected by a panel of 118 Hall of Famers, championship coaches and other experts – was kind to college hoops as well. Nine more coaches (two women’s coaches) were honored, most of the people you’d expect.
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Tuesday’s must-read story contains so many delectable elements and features so many varied, amusing takes from the around the Internet that I’m a little sad it took this long to surface this summer.
In other words, many thanks to Anthony DiLoreto and Rick Majerus. You’ve provided me with hours several minutes of amusement on an otherwise irritating Tuesday. (The blame lies with ol’ No. 4, who finally made up his NFL mind…)
Of course, maybe I’m just going a little crazy from the Seattle heat and my sense of humor is skewed. After all, Gary Parrish’s story on a high school prospect who’s facing two felony charges for his role in a bank robbery but says he has been offered a scholarship by Majerus’ St. Louis program could be seen as a sign of the college hoops apocalypse.
Or not. Maybe it’s because the whole thing is just so ridiculous.
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Think that movie ticket for “The Hangover” is expensive? Try being a college basketball coach.
They spend most of July in the gym, watching recruits at various camps and tournaments. If they feel like paying up to $600, that is.
This great read from the N.Y. Times’ Pete Thamel illuminates the aggravating costs of summer recruiting. Forget travel and food. Some coaches have to pay $350 simply to see players in a single game at a tournament, or even more if they want extra scouting information. You know, really top-end stuff like players’ names and where they go to school.
If it sounds nuts, that’s because it is.
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Hoops fans already know the ideal game for the 2009-10 season: Kansas vs. Kentucky.
Turns out oddsmakers feel the same way. Sportsbook.com installed the Jayhawks as 4-1 favorites to win the NCAA tournament next season. Kentucky’s right behind at 5-1.
The small surprise is who’s right behind the blue bloods.
It’s not Michigan State or Duke. Both are listed at 15-1. Purdue, North Carolina and Villanova are all 25-1. Everyone else is 40-1 or higher.
Except two.
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Who knew Ed O’Bannon would be the origin of so many stories this year?
This spring brought stories about O’Bannon’s post-basketball career, which center around his job as the assistant promotions manager for a Las Vegas car dealership. Pretty interesting stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Until today.
O’Bannon is the lead plantiff in a lawsuit against the NCAA over its use of former student athletes’ images in DVDs, video games, photographs, apparel and other material. It’s a familiar refrain, the NCAA profiting handsomely off of its major sports and those athletes, but it’s always been able to win any lawsuits.
Now, that may change, mostly thanks to O’Bannon.
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July’s for beaches, BBQs and fireworks. Unless you’re a college basketball coach or recruit.
Then you spend the month in a gym, watching or playing hoops. So what's the scoop?
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Chris Washburn was just before my time. N.C. State’s game weren’t broadcast much in our area, and his NBA career never amounted to much. Most of what I know relates to him being on assorted lists of the NBA draft’s biggest busts.
Still, it was a small shock to grasp the details in Rick Bozich’s Louisville Courier-Journal story. Trying to decide which nugget sticks out the most.
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The revamped SEC is hardly a secret anymore. Even if John Calipari wasn’t a Tweeting machine, the conference will assuredly be a far cry from its 2008-09 version that saw just three teams earn NCAA tourney berths.
Except, that is, for Arkansas.
It just doesn't seem possible given the turnover John Pelphrey has to deal with.
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Love the bracket.
Check that. Love THE bracket. You know, the ultimate way to categorize and argue anything and everything? Love it.
Lowercase is the original, the NCAA tournament. Uppercase is for everything else, much like the guys at “The Final Four of Everything” figured out. Best action movie? Seed ‘em and throw ‘em in a bracket. Most overrated candy bar? Bracket ‘em.
It’s the best way to have a little bit of March extend into summer without actually having games to focus on. (Or so I think. You might have other stuff to do.)
Still, the best brackets usually involve sports. Dunno if it’s the argumentative aspect or the natural tendency to match up sports topics and see how it all comes out, but sports remains the go-to.
Cue the guys at Buster Sports.
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Summertime means movie time.
I’ve seen “Transformers 2” (a little long, but lots of loud action), “Public Enemies” (stylish, interesting and worthwhile) and the “Hangover” (hi-LAR-ious, even if it’s not overly quotable), but if there’s a movie to see, it’s “The Street Stops Here.”
The documentary focused on legendary high school coach Bob Hurley and his St. Anthony team during the 2007-08 season. Two things will assuredly keep the flick from being a standard-feel good sports movie: the hoops quality and Hurley.
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