October 2009 - Posts
Thad Matta’s no dummy. Ohio State enters the season without a good option at point guard, so he’s doing the next best thing. Maybe even the better thing.
Turner ended up leading OSU in scoring (17.3), rebounds (7.1), assists (4.0), steals (1.8) and was its best 3-point shooter (44 percent).
As a result, expect to see even more of Turner at point this season. Matta wants the ball in his hands as much as possible. I’d say expect to see a lot more of him overall, but that’d be tough. He played in 90 percent of Ohio State’s available minutes last season. When you have a player like that, why not?
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Tom Izzo had himself a nice little Thursday.
Michigan State was ranked second in the AP and coaches’ polls, picked to win the Big Ten and even secured a commitment from a Top 25 prospect. If that wasn’t enough, his point guard, junior Kalin Lucas, was the Big Ten’s preseason player of the year.
Take a bow, Spartans.
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Say you’re trying to figure out 50 of the best players in college hoops. What are your options?
The easiest way would be to click here. It’s the only place where you’ll find 50 guys cross-indexed by position, school and class.
Need another option? You could always try the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list.
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Blake Griffin may be the best thing that’s ever happened to Oklahoma basketball.
And that’s saying something. It’s not like the Sooners were devoid of hoops history before Griffin arrived on campus in 2007. Waymon Tisdale was a three-time consensus first-team All-American. Billy Tubbs’ 1987-88 squad was one of the sport’s glorious up-tempo teams. Kelvin Sampson led the Sooners to the 2002 Final Four.
Sure, it’ll always be a football school. But coach Jeff Capel says Griffin’s breakout 2008-09 season has helped change all that. Heck, freshman Tiny Gallon said he’d never even heard of OU until Griffin.
And now? Capel has a permanent sales pitch.
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The first game isn’t for 11 yet, but it’s always a good day when the preseason AP and coaches’ polls are released. It gives college basketball that extra little nudge into that crowded late October/early November sports scene of World Series, NFL, college football, NBA and NHL.
Of course, casual fans won’t care until they catch highlights of the Thanksgiving week tournaments, but that’s another post. An angry one.
Back to the Top 25. Kansas was a nearly unanimous No. 1 – stunner – and the rest was what you’d expect. (If you’ve seen our Top 25, that is. It’s almost spot on.)
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Hard to believe the cliché “nowhere to go but up” actually applies to Indiana basketball.
After all, the Hoosiers are one of the greats. They’ve won five NCAA tournaments and were the last men’s D-I team to finish a season unbeaten. In many ways, Indiana is college basketball.
Except last season. A 6-25 campaign featured 1 Big Ten win the school’s worst winning percentage in nearly a century. When that happens, you’re not rebuilding a program. You’re doing a complete overhaul.
That’s Tom Crean’s task. He’s even sounding a little hopeful about this season. The Hoosiers may not win the Big Ten, but they’re done being an embarrassment.
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That the in the headline should be italicized, but sometimes you just gotta accept the limitations of how the blog is handled.
Anyway, the NBCSports.com All-America team is live. Who's on it? You'll have to click to find out.
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Syracuse is trying to replace its three top scorers/players from last season. It’s no easy task, especially when one of them was star point guard Jonny Flynn, the No. 6 overall pick in the NBA draft.
Then again, maybe it won’t be that hard.
The Orange started freshman Brandon Triche during an exhibition win last weekend against Cal State-Los Angeles, while redshirt sophomore Scoop Jardine also nabbed some minutes.
Their line: 14 assists, zero turnovers.
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Part of me is really, really fond of the NBA’s minimum-age requirement.
Is it wrong that it cheers me a little to have seen Kevin Durant and Kevin Love play college ball? Or Michael Beasley and Eric Gordon? Even if it was just one year for all those guys, it was better than seeing the likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James jump straight to the pros.
But I get the downside. The NBA’s one of the few professional leagues that doesn’t encourage its athletes to join its ranks ASAP. Players miss out on money, and some guys – who, let’s be honest, may not have any interest in college – are forced into an academic farce.
Well, NBA commissioner David is toying with the idea of raising the minimum age requirement to 20. Good or bad?
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Bob Knight refused a $75,000 check from an anonymous Indiana booster, which would’ve settled a long-standing suit between the legendary Hoosiers coach and his ex-school.
Is there a better way to say “I’m not coming to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and I’m not even bothering to decline the RSVP” than by shrugging off 75 grand?
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Via John Calipari’s Twitter account, Kentucky’s athletic department has translated Coach Cal’s speech at Big Blue Madness into eight different languages. This is not a typo.
Maybe it’s just the next step in creating an unstoppable Kentucky basketball force in a 24-7 Internet world, but … it just leaves me kind of speechless. Now Kentucky fans can see Calipari’s speech in Spanish, Kazakh, Russian, Chinese, Afrikaans, German, Arabic and American sign language.
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For those who think college coaches’ salaries are excessive, change is coming. Slowly. Maybe.
A Knight Commission poll released Monday found that 85 percent of the 119 university presidents at D-I football schools think coaches’ salaries are too high, but 56 percent of them are pessimistic about controlling those salaries. Most would love to see a reduction in the sheer number of assistant coaches and support personnel for revenue-producing sports.
Translation: We’re not sure we want to anger the big guy by paying him less, but we’d like to take away part of his staff that helps him do his job.
No wonder university presidents are feeling pessimistic.
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Every coach starts the season optimistic. Maryland’s Gary Williams is no different.
Yet it doesn't sound like he's desperate to fulfill any preseason expectations. Neither of his highly touted freshmen are going to start, which speaks volumes about the players Williams has returning.
And when was the last time he felt that way?
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Every college hoops season preview features the usual staples. A Top 25. Players to watch. Top conferences, coaches on the hot seat, elite scorers…well, you get the idea. So what’s that leave?
The best names.
You know, a post that centers around other sweet monikers like Kevin Pittsnoggle, Chief Kickingstallionsims and – my favorite – Fennis Dembo.
With 344 rosters to sift through, there are a host of intriguing, funny and flat-out silly names out there. And thankfully, Rob Dauster at Ballin Is a Habit has already done the dirty work.
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So Duke and North Carolina are picked to finish atop the ACC. This is new?
Seems like the Tar Heels and Blue Devils are always picked to rule the roost, and usually do. Since 1954, one of those two has either won or tied for the ACC title 44 times.
But this is the first time in the 41 years of the conference’s preseason day that they’re officially co-favorites.
Huh. So this means the ACC media guys can’t settle on which team’s gonna be better, either.
But this could be an issue for the rest of the ACC. In the media’s eyes, everyone else is a loooong way back.
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Anytime someone puts out a preseason Top 25, there’s going to be grumbling. Teams might be ranked too low, ranked too high or omitted altogether.
And those omitted teams usually have a pretty good case.
By March, some or all of the following 10 teams may be in the Top 25. They’ve each got talent and experience, but are either replacing one or more key players or have yet to really make an impact with the guys they’ve got.
Well, now’s the time.
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With Big East coaches pleading parity, there’s an opening for the mythical “toughest college basketball conference” in the country.
And it sounds like the Big 12 wants it.
"I believe this is our league’s year,” Kansas coach Bill Self said at Big 12 media day. "I don’t think we’ll be talking about maybe getting six in the tournament next March. That’ll be something that’s very disappointing to everybody involved if this league doesn’t have six, seven, eight teams at least.”
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Those seeking a quick resolution to the questions surrounding John Wall’s eligibility won’t find any answers today. Just a lot of Internet chatter.
The mess – Wall’s former AAU coach, Brian Clifton, was once a licensed sports agent and the NCAA has questions about that relationship – will probably end up being less than a mess. More like a hiccup. Wall could miss a few games.
And it won’t loom over Kentucky’s head all season. There’s already a report that Wall will be cleared before the Wildcats’ opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13.
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This is every Kentucky fan’s worst nightmare. Kind of.
Star point guard John Wall, the nation’s top recruit, is dealing with an eligibility issue that could affect his season. SEC commissioner Mike Slive confirmed the report to ESPN.com on Thursday.
It question centers around Wall’s former AAU coach, who was a certified agent. The school has been investigating Wall’s the situation for months. Mississippi State recruit Renardo Sidney also is dealing with eligibility issues. It goes back to 2007 when Wall made two unofficial visits to the UK campus but it’s unclear how much money he may owe for the visit.
Slive says the NCAA’s agents, not NCAA enforcement, is handling the investigation.
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One of the best ways those scrappy underdogs pull off NCAA tournament upsets is to shoot a ton of 3-pointers and hit the boards. Then again, it’s a good way to avoid an upset, too.
Just ask Memphis. Roburt Sallie’s 3-point barrage in the tourney’s opening round last season saved the Tigers against Cal State Northridge.
And, in case you haven’t heard, Memphis lost most of its players and its coach from last season’s 33-4 squad. So what to do?
New coach Josh Pastner thinks he has the answer: 3-pointers.
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Marcus Jordan’s pride in his dad may end up costing his school big bucks.
Jordan, a freshman guard at Central, Florida, is Michael Jordan’s son. Maybe you’ve heard of him, and his shoes. Well, as to be expected, Marcus is an Air Jordan guy, and only an Air Jordan guy.
Except … the school has a $3 million, six-year contract with adidas that requires coaches and athletes to wear its stuff, including the shoes. Therein lies the rub.
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A year after arguments were made about the Big East being perhaps the best conference ever, the 16-team league is now talking about parity. How’s that for a one-year swing?
The conference’s coaches are giving fair warning: don’t expect more this year. You know, like three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, five teams in the Sweet 16 and four in the Elite Eight – all Big Dance firsts.
"Last year was the best year that I think any league has ever had in terms of teams top to bottom," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.
Instead, last year’s top teams are gonna be a little worse, and the bottom feeders aren’t gonna be as bad.
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Phew. After 5,500 words, several revisions and agonizing over teams 23, 24 and 25, the 2009-10 college hoops is finally finished. You can read it all here.
I tended to favor experienced teams who returned a lot of their players, with some exceptions to those who brought in great recruiting classes. To my thinking, there is a clear No. 1, seven more teams who are serious Final Four contenders, another dozen who will move up and down the Top 20, and 15 others switching in and out of the Top 25.
That said, the teams and order is pretty close to what I was thinking in June, but with some changes and additions.
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Maybe the Big East coaches and the media people who cover them aren’t so different. Turns out they see eye-to-eye on pretty much everything regarding preseason basketball.
Both think Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody is the player of the year.
The league’s top three teams are (in this order) Villanova, West Virginia and Connecticut. DePaul is the worst (again).
But there's one major difference.
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Been a lot of talk about Duke’s “demise” the last few years.
The Devils haven’t been to the Final Four since 2004. No titles since 2001. Last year’s thrashing by Villanova seemed to signal a turning point that Duke wasn’t … well, Duke anymore.
That talk is about to stop, all because of one player.
Kyrie Irving, one of the elite prospects from the class of 2010, will reportedly commit to Duke, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
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So your school rakes in the revenue. But odds are it isn’t profitable.
That’s according to the NCAA’s latest report on revenues and expenses. Only 25 percent of all D-I football schools made money in 2007-08. The others plays D-I hoops struggled to break even.
In other words, if you’re playing D-I football and not selling out your stadium AND bringing in the booster money, you’re hosed because the rest of the sports are gonna cost enough money to make your A.D. sweat.
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If you haven’t already, this may be the year to finally invest a DVR. Or even add another TV to your living room. You’ll need it.
ESPN says it’ll broadcast more than 1,000 college basketball games this season. Yes, 1,000. It’s almost as if their 24-hour hoops marathon is a warm-up for the rest of the season.
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Ben Howland isn’t coaching a basketball team right now. It’s more like a M*A*S*H* unit.
Six scholarship players are nursing injuries, most of which are the nagging kind that could linger. Malcolm Lee’s suffered a mild concussion Sunday. Freshmen Brendan Lane (sprained ankle) and Mike Moser lower back sprain) both hurt themselves at Monday’s practice.
Throw in already ailing forward James Keefe (shoulder) and guard Jerime Anderson (groin) – neither of whom will be available until Nov. – and it’s a thin roster out in Westwood.
As if Howland wasn’t dealing with enough already.
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Without even coaching a game, John Calipari’s given Kentucky basketball fans everything they could want.
National attention. A recruiting class for the ages. Making himself accessible to fans and generally being an exceptional ambassador for the program.
And somehow, Calipari keeps topping himself. The response to his speech at Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness has already reached mythical proportions among the Big Blue Nation.
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Sometimes it’s hard to explain the animosity surrounding Duke to people who aren’t die-hard college basketball fans. Anyone who’s filled out an NCAA tournament bracket in March is used to seeing the Devils and knows they’re supposed to be good.
And surely they’ve seen and recognize Coach K -- even if they couldn’t come close to spelling Krzyzewski.
But why the hate? Well, everyone has their reasons. Maybe the players are smug, maybe it’s the fans, maybe it’s because Duke seemingly gets preferential treatment from the refs and the media. But a casual fan may not get it. And maybe you don’t want to explain it to them.
Well, it just got easier.
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Pick your favorite scoring outburst from 2008-09. Was it Ryan Toolson hitting 63 against Chicago State? Or Ben Woodside’s 60 vs. Stephen F. Austin? Or Jodie Meeks dropping 54 against Tennessee?
Meeks passed Dan Issel in the Kentucky record books, while the last time two players passed the 60-point mark in the same season was 1977. It may be years before we see something like those performances again.
Then again, maybe not.
Any one of the following 16 players could go for 50 on a given night. Or even 60. Some, like Meeks, are efficient players who don’t need a lot of shots. Others are volume scorers. But all of them can fill it up.
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Tonight, everyone gets caught up in the madness. Well, almost everyone.
Midnight Madness (Thanks, Lefty Driesell) has kicked off the college basketball season for years, but it’s becoming bigger than ever. Once schools figured out the first day of practice (officially, tomorrow, thus the midnight) could be a showcase for fans and an excellent recruiting tool, everyone got in on the act.
It’s even televised. (Though you could always follow the events on Rush the Court’s live blog.) The only thing better would be if it were March Madness. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Here’s a guide to Midnight Madness.
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Another day, another round of college basketball media days. But that’s a good thing! Even the most mundane press conference have some tidbits worth sharing.
OK, it helps that the stories focus on Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas, among others. Still, the best factoid came from Arizona State. Derek Glasser threw Rob Evans under the bus.
But I’m saving the best for last. Check out these others first.
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Tom Izzo is trying to downplay his Michigan State squad that’s pretty much a consensus Top 5 team entering the 2009-10 season.
“I enjoy the expectations, but I’ve got to remind myself and you (media) what we lost,” Izzo said Wednesday. “I am concerned about living up to them, but I like the challenge of living up to them.
“I speak with guarded optimism.”
Wow. When did Lou Holtz start coaching the Michigan State basketball team.
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OK, one last post on John Wooden’s 99th birthday.
He did an interview with ESPN’s Rick Reilly a few weeks ago, which resulted in a few more trivia gems. Sure, reading about the last time Wooden swore (1924) or drank (1932) seems a little silly, but what’s the point of reading about a guy if you can’t revel in the little things?
And it seems like there’s a Wooden factoid for just about everyone.
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It sounds corny, but don’t underestimate how beloved Kay Yow was by the N.C. State faithful.
Yow spent 34 seasons coaching the Wolfpack women’s team, amassing 672 wins, 5 ACC titles, 20 NCAA tournament berths and a Final Four in 1998. And a good portion of that was after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She spent more than 20 years raising money for cancer research and raising awareness about the disease. In 2007, the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund was established, leaving her a lasting legacy beyond the court. She died on Jan. 24, 2009.
So a N.C. farmer decided to honor her with a corn maze portrait.
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Billy Gillispie finally settled his wrongful-termination lawsuit with the University of Kentucky. It should be a nice sense of relief, right? A potentially messy situation is resolved, which lets the ex-Wildcats coach focus on his current off-court issues and the school gets to turn its eye to a promising basketball season.
Except when it comes to the amount of money Gillispie will receive – nearly $3 million.
It offended one writer so much, he ripped the coach and the school. And the writer doesn't even live in Kentucky.
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Louisville fans must be dying for the college basketball season to actually start.
First, summer’s derailed by the Rick Pitino-Karen Sypher saga (still ongoing), which resulted in nothing but a lot of grief for the coach and the program. This chart from Luke Winn sums it all up.
Add to that Terrence Jennings and Jerry Smith – two likely starters for 2009-10 – arrested last weekend in southern Indiana and charged with resisting law enforcement, battery and disorderly conduct, things could be better for the Cardinals.
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John Wooden turns 99 Wednesday. It’s going to result in a lot of birthday greetings from various sources, retrospectives and features.
Saw one this morning on Wooden’s birthplace, Hall, Ind. Here’s another from the L.A. Times – 99 factoids about John Wooden.
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Height usually makes people overthink thing. My favorite was when Kevin Durant entered the NBA draft, but there was heated debates among NBA pundits if he could actually play power forward. You know, ‘cause he’s 6-10.
“He’s gonna have to bulk up to bang down low in the NBA.”
“Durant could rebound in college, but that was because of his long arms. That won’t fly in the NBA.”
“Can he guard opposing power forwards?”
It was a bunch of hooey. Anyone who saw Durant play knew he’d be a 2 or 3 in the pros, even if he did struggle to guard shorter, quicker guards. Won’t they have to guard him as well?
Turns out a similar discussion surrounds incoming freshman John Henson at North Carolina.
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The thing about coaches on the “hot seat” is that there’s no one temperature.
Some coaches feel the heat immediately, depending on the expectations and the hoops environment. Others endure a rough few seasons – or six – finally put together a decent year and that seat ain’t so bad anymore.
But there are other reasons a coach may be feeling the heat. Here are 13 for 2009-10.
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John Wooden turns 99 Wednesday. I can only imagine that outpouring of stories next year, but this year should produce a fair number. (Not counting Web sites like this where you can wish Wooden a happy 99th.)
If we’re lucky.
Here’s the first one I’ve spotted. Mike Lopresti – a syndicated writer living out of Richmond, Ind. – traveled to Hall, Ind. to see what Wooden’s birthplace was like.
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One good Rumeal Robinson story deserves another. And by good, I mean ridiculous.
Last week it was how Robinson, the hero of Michigan’s 1989 national championship, finagled his foster mother out of her house. This week, it’s how he blew most of his NBA millions … at strip clubs
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Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are pretty much on every conceivable all-american/award list for college hoops this season.
Makes sense. Collins is perhaps the nation’s top point guard, while Aldrich is probably the best center and a surefire NBA lottery pick. They’re among the preseason candidates for the Wooden Award and were just named the preseason co-Big 12 players of the year.
And they’re dynamite together on the court. They’re the best inside-outside combination since J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams (both first-team All-Americans in 2006) and are pretty much always mentioned in the same breath when talking about Kansas.
If you think that kind of attention makes them close friends, you’d be right. But that’s only half of it.
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I can think of worse things than being Michael Jordan’s son. Unless I wanted to play basketball. Then all bets are off.
Pretty sure that’s what Jeff Jordan is going through.
MJ’s oldest son walked onto the Illinois team two years ago, earned a scholarship, then decided to quit the team last June. He said he wanted to focus on life after basketball, but at some point between June and now, things changed because now he wants to play again.
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If there’s one thing college basketball needs, it’s more nicknames. And by more, I mean any.
Thankfully, that’s where a guy like Lance Stephenson comes in.
Stephenson, a freshman at Cincinnati, is known in New York hoops circles as “Born Ready.” He left NYC as the state’s all-time leading scorer, thus the name. But at Cincy, he’s earned a new nickname.
“Almost There.”
I know. Feels like a Laurel and Hardy skit. And Stephenson and the Bearcats know it. They’re having some laughs with it.
But I like that he’s racking up the monikers. A budding sports star can never have enough.
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Ever read something, rub your eyes, re-read it and then just shake your head? (Don’t count this blog.)
This ESPN Insider column from Jay Bilas fits that description perfectly.
For those who don’t have an Insider account, here’s the gist: Bilas breaks down the new NCAA rules for men’s hoops, summed up perfectly with the headline “New NCAA rules: The Good, the Bad, the Goofy.” Are they ever.
One forces refs to "use their imaginations," while another allows opposing coaches to pick who shoots the other team's free throws. Nice work.
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Just when Binghamton’s hoops program tries to dig its way out of rock bottom, it finds another crevasse and falls on its face. Again.
Fresh off the recent dismissal of six players for various infractions, the school announced Tuesday it would try to bolster the depleted hoops roster by holding open tryouts. Any able-bodied student with a physical could come on down (seven scholarships are available!) and potentially play for a program coming off its first-ever NCAA tournament berth.
Or not.
Binghamton canceled Tuesday’s tryout because it could have been against NCAA rules.
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It is funny to see the Duke-North Carolina rivalry spill over into other areas. Take recruiting.
Harrison Barnes, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2010, had a home visit Monday night from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, which was supposed to be the final in-home visit of the contact period allowed by the NCAA.
Except UNC coach Roy Williams showed up a couple hours later.
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What happens when your imploding program dismisses six players just before the season starts? You hold tryouts.
Binghamton’s men’s basketball is having tryouts Tuesday and Wednesday for any available students (provided they can bring proof of having had a physical). Lots of schools have tryouts, but they’re usually for scout team spots and guys who will be at the end of the bench.
Anyone who impresses the Bearcat coaches at these things could be one of the first guys off the bench…
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Hard not to think of Rumeal Robinson during the 1989 NCAA tournament, standing on the free-throw line with 3 seconds remaining in overtime. His two clutch free throws gave Michigan an 80-79 win against Seton Hall made for one of the greatest moments in tourney history.
Well, scratch that. Swindling your foster mother out of her home trumps anything.
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Here’s a question: What has more than 1,000 pages and is guaranteed to both infuriate and delight readers?
OK, as a guy who took part in “Infinite Summer,” I realize there’s probably more than one answer to that question. But this is a college hoops blog. The correct answer is “ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men’s Game.”
That’s right, “Complete History.” In other words, the book that can sit on your coffee table for the next 20 years and you’ll always have something to read. And, thanks to the rankings in the back of the book, fans can argue for the next 20 years as well.
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Some college hoops pundits think freshmen will play a key role in this year’s national title hunt. Others are reserving judgment until they actually get on the court.
How about a little bit of both?
Every fan has high hopes for their team’s incoming freshmen when they could be the missing piece of a championship puzzle. But those freshmen who don’t quite live up to the hype? That hurts.
Still, it’s hard not to get just a little bit excited about watching the incoming freshmen. Here are 16 I’m excited to watch.
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Fridays don’t always need to be relaxing. Sure, the weekend’s just hours away, but why not get fired up for that weekend?
Why not indulge in a rant? OK, it’s not mine. But it’s damn fine rant.
A co-worker (and North Carolina grad) sent me this link to Tar Heel Fan yesterday (with a mini-rant of his own, mostly centering on graduation rates). And it’s a great example of how the blogosphere can take apart the MSM with a little insight and a lot of passion.
Did I mention it’s about how Duke and Coach K are treated compared to the rest of the hoops world? Take it away, THF.
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Recruits are meant to feel welcome when they visit college campuses.
Just not too welcome. Ask Duke.
Star prospect Kyrie Irving, potentially the game-breaking guard Mike Krzyzewski needs to get back to the Final Four, visited Durham last weekend.
And, like any hoops school, the students knew about the visit and wanted to do their part, posting signs around campus to welcome him. Nice, right?
Turns out it’s too nice.
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Plenty of fan bases – Kansas, Duke, Indiana, UNC – go nuts for their schools. But I’m with The Dagger on this one: Kentucky fans just go above and beyond.
Big Blue Madness, the school’s annual midnight scrimmage, is set for Oct. 16. Tickets go on sale Oct. 3 at 6 a.m. ET. Fans are camping out en masse for those tickets – and have been for days.
Wow. That’s equal parts devotion, excitement and a little bit crazy. Even new coach John Calipari is blown away by the number of tents filled with fans.
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