When kids grow up dreaming of playing college basketball, usually the team they want to play for is the one they grow up rooting for. So for someone from Kentucky, the dream is ultimately to play for the Kentucky Wildcats, and that is why the team has a history of getting Kentucky’s best players because kids there grow up dreaming about playing in Rupp Arena. Well, for Taylor Rohde, this dream of playing for his hometown team became a reality in 2008. Read More »

Thursday started as a good day for the New Jersey Nets. They began the day by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson. Stevenson won a championship with the Mavericks last season and will immediately provide a winning pedigree, toughness and perimeter defense to a team lacking in all three areas. However, the way the day ended overshadowed the shrewd morning signing of Stevenson. Yesterday evening it was announced that starting center Brook Lopez had a stress fracture in his foot and would be out for six to eight weeks with the injury. This injury is one that could change the course and future of the franchise and hurts the Nets on multiple levels. Read More »

Throughout the NBA lockout, David Stern said repeatedly that he and the owners would be willing to lose the season if that is what it took to get what they deemed to be a “fair” deal. While those claims by Stern would most likely have come to fruition if the two sides didn’t come to a last-minute agreement, once a deal was in place, Stern wanted to maximize the number of games played this season. It was announced that the NBA would have a 66-game season this year stretching from Christmas Day until the end of April. Read More »

One of the biggest storylines in college basketball this season is the Florida Gators’ backcourt. People are saying it is the deepest and most talented backcourt in the country, and comparing their lineup to the four-guard lineup Villanova employed in the mid-2000s with Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry, and Mike Nardi that helped Nova reach the Elite Eight in 2005. People see the Florida backcourt and they see a fourth-year starter in Erving Walker, a third-year starter in Kenny Boynton, a 16-point per game scorer from the Big East in Mike Rosario, and a top-five recruit in Bradley Beal. However, what people don’t see when talking about that backcourt, or just choose to overlook, is Scottie Wilbekin. Read More »

Santa Barbara is one of the more beautiful cities in America. Nestled on California’s shoreline, north of Los Angeles, “The American Riviera” has some of the best beaches in the state. The city is also home to the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), whose campus is literally located right on the beach. For many students there, the beach is their second home right behind their dorm rooms. However, for Orlando Johnson, the shooting guard for the UCSB Gauchos, the beach is an afterthought; his second home is the team’s home arena. Read More »

For many people who grew up playing basketball, it is hard to get away from the sport they love. Some actually grow up to be in the NBA or cover the sport like us here at Dime, but some find more creative ways to stay in the business. For Brandon Payne, the way he stayed connected to basketball was by founding his own training company, Accelerate Basketball, in Charlotte. I caught up with Brandon to talk about how he got started, his clients, and his goals for the future. Read More »

Every year, one team makes a surprisingly deep run in the NCAA Tournament. This past year it was Butler and VCU making the Final Four, while in 2010 it was Butler making the national championship game and sixth-seeded Tennessee reaching the Elite Eight. This coming season, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio State are heavy favorites to reach the Final Four in New Orleans, but here are 10 teams that could make a surprising run in March. Read More »

Many basketball fans grow up dreaming of one day owning an NBA team. They see themselves sitting in a luxury box or courtside for every game. They dream of building their own championship team and hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Mark Cuban is their idol. These few sentences aptly describe me, and I’m sure millions of others, but one man they don’t describe is Michael Alter. Read More »

In March, I wrote a story about the astonishing decline of former Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl. I talked about how in one year’s time, Pearl had taken Tennessee the furthest they had ever gone, reaching the Elite Eight in 2010, to being mired in scandal. Pearl was eventually fired, along with his three assistant coaches. Pearl was the face of Tennessee Basketball for the six years he coached in Knoxville, and with his charisma and outgoing personality making him a hit in the college basketball community, most thought it wouldn’t be long before he was coaching in a position of prominence yet again. And that appears to be happening, with the D-League’s Texas Legends pursuing him hard to be their next head coach. Read More »

Last July, Amar’e Stoudemire made waves when he took a trip to Israel to research his Jewish roots. The trip was embraced by Jews everywhere, including myself, as it is not everyday that a 6-9 athletically gifted NBA All-Star declares himself to be a member of the tribe (a colloquial expression used by Jewish people to refer to other Jewish people). So when I saw former University of Florida power forward Alex Tyus tweet before the NBA Draft that he was hosting his Draft party at the UF Hillel, I thought to myself, “Is another 6-9 athletic power forward joining the tribe?” The answer to that question is yes. Read More »