VILLANOVA 89, UCLA 69 Back in October, I interviewed Villanova PG Scottie Reynolds for Dime’s college basketball preview. “I have to make sure everybody is on task and has the right mindset,” Reynolds said then, “that we’re gonna play Villanova basketball for 40 minutes.” Read More »

If Day One of the NCAA Tournament lacked the drama everybody expected, Day Two more than made up for it. Put it this way: two of the late-night batch of games went into overtime (one to double-OT), and they still got outshined by another game in that same time slot. The biggest story was 13-seed Cleveland State knocking off Wake Forest, who if you remember was the No. 1-ranked team in the country not too long ago. This wasn’t your storybook Bryce Drew/Princeton-backdoor kind of upset, either; Read More »

The Bulls launched the Derrick Rose Rookie of the Year campaign yesterday at http://www.droseroy.com. Rose is one of only three rookies to start every game this season (can you name the other two?). Who would you give the ROY to?

It’s almost over. With the morning, afternoon and evening sessions in the books, this is the last batch of games in the hectic first two days of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Florida State and Wisconsin are among the teams in action. If you missed the earlier games, click the live links in red.

* I’m hoping to see a lot of the Ohio State/Siena game, so I can get a better look at B.J. Mullens. Before he’d even stepped foot on the OSU campus, Mullens was a top candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in the ’09 Draft. Read More »

The third No. 1 seed (narrowly) made it through in the today’s afternoon session of Day Two of the Big Dance; the No. 1 overall seed Louisville plays its first game this evening, along with Xavier, Arizona, Utah, USC and Boston College.

* Arizona/Utah is underway. Utah has “Runnin’ Utes” on the first of their jerseys, with “Runnin” above the numbers and “Utes” below. It makes them look 15% cooler than they normally would. Read More »

Over on Yahoo! Sports, they have the standard “Who is this year’s MVP?” poll, but one that includes a surprise entry. Next to the usuals — Kobe, LeBron and D-Wade — is Dwight Howard. I’m glad somebody is finally starting to realize Dwight deserves to be there. Read More »

This was on TMZ a couple days ago, and is now getting picked up by some legit news sources:

Kobe Bryant has just been excused from jury duty — but the way it all went down is priceless. Read More »

After the morning session provided two thrillers and a near-upset in a 3-vs-14 game, the afternoon session features Pitt, West Virginia, Temple, Arizona State and Missouri.

* Right into Temple/Arizona State, as it’s James Harden and Dionte Christmas going at it like everyone expected. “Christmas has unlimited range,” one announcer says as he sticks a three. Harden hasn’t made a field goal yet, getting at least one of his shots blocked, but has gotten to the line twice. Read More »

Niketown New York is setting up to be a prime time hoops destination for the month of March. Every week they’re going to be rolling out different free games, events and contests for college hoops fans in NYC.

It kicked off last week at the store with various giveaways (everything from gift cards to Nike gear to free subscriptions to Dime Magazine) and was a huge success. Read More »

Welcome to the second half of the best two days in basketball. Kansas, Marquette, Tennessee, Oklahoma State and Syracuse headline the early session. If you missed Thursday’s action, get the full recaps HERE …

* Syracuse is about to tip with Stephen F. Austin. Is Dime’s Matty D announcing this game? Somebody just said, “Jonny Flynn might be the best point guard in the nation.” Read More »