The college basketball scene has seen this story too many times. Scratch that, the basketball world has seen this story too many times. The mystery surrounding Baylor, Connecticut and Illinois makes us wonder one thing: What is going on? These three teams all have one thing in common – one very talented big man. Perry Jones (Baylor), Andre Drummond (UConn) and Meyers Leonard (Illinois) all seem incapable of consistently leading their team to success. Read More »

The Knicks haven’t exactly been outclassing people, but a win is a win even if it took them all of 48 minutes to get one over the Bobcats. Carmelo Anthony (6-for-18, 22 points) struggled for most of the night, but when it counted he hit the buckets and free throws, and gobbled up enough boards to send New York home with a much-needed four-point win. Charlotte had their chances. Down one in the final 20 seconds, D.J. White missed a crazy jumper off the bounce (who drew that one up?). Then, D.J. Augustin (12 points, eight boards) hit a wild three on the following possession to make it a one-point game. Read More »

One thing was clear coming into this season of college hoops: the excitement was at a high not seen in about five years. For the first time since the 2006-2007 season, college basketball has a collection of talent that rivals nearly any other time before it. That season, talents like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Mike Conley all played their obligatory one year of college basketball before entering the NBA.

This year we have an impressive group of freshmen starting that same journey and numerous key figures from last year all returning for another year on campus. All of this talent has scouts flooding gyms across the country to see who is going to be the right guy for their team in the upcoming draft. Read More »

It takes a full-time job, or a full-time class schedule, for one to truly appreciate a four-day weekend. And when those two extra days off come courtesy the Thanksgiving holiday, the full-time college basketball fan (or writer) goes into overtime mode.

Just about every D-I team in the country seemed to be playing in a holiday tournament this past weekend – from the balmy paradise of the Bahamas to the cold-ass bustle of New York City on Black Friday. When it was over, some top dogs were going home with their national-championship promise in doubt, while some underdogs returned to campus with brand-new hero status.

Here are the highlights and lowlights from the long weekend: Read More »

UCF didn’t want to talk Big East. They were also apparently sick of hearing about UConn’s 16-game winning streak as well. Whether they make the jump to the Big East soon or not, the Knights let their play do the talking: we deserve to be there. Down 17 with 16 minutes to go against the defending champs, a team that hadn’t lost a game in seemingly forever, and sporting probably the best backcourt in the country… none of it fazed UCF. Behind Marcus Jordan (yes, the son of MJ) and Keith Clanton (both dropped 20, Jordan added seven rebounds and assists), they stormed back and beat the No. 4-ranked Huskies 68-63. Read More »

At this point in the year, there is no way to tell who will be the surefire first pick in the NBA Draft. Shoot, we do not even know what the 2012 NBA Draft will look like with all of the bad NBA lockout news and rumors going around. At this point, there’s superstar talent littered throughout the college game, and NBA scouts – with nothing to do other than go to college games – are working harder than ever. Right now all we can do is speculate, but there are some interesting story lines to follow. Read More »

Besides having an insanely fine wife, Steve Lavin is doing a phenomenal job at St. John’s. Coming into their matchup with Arizona last night, they were 3-0, full of life and full of potential. In a few of their wins so far, they’ve already stormed back from big deficits, letting their defense and athleticism do the talking, and with fifteen minutes left (down seven), it looked like it might happen again. They raced back, overwhelmed ‘Zona in pretty much every way possible and retook the lead. The ‘Cats didn’t have any standout performances, but they got solid games from a number of players, including Solomon Hill (15 points, six rebounds) and when they found their stroke at the end, they just had too much, winning 81-72. Read More »

In the words of one of our more eloquent Twitter followers: “What the f— am I supposed to watch after the Super Bowl?” The season hasn’t exactly been canceled yet, but with the players rejecting the latest proposal from the owners and threatening to take them to court, the ugliness might’ve just started. David Stern promised that the next time the two sides do negotiate – whenever that’ll be – the owners will be discussing 47 percent BRI and no more, and yet the players still hit the owners with a backhanded slap. So now Stern is calling it a “nuclear winter,” the players are saying it’s a good move and everyone is all wrapped up in self-destruction. Read More »

You can’t not enjoy March Madness. Games all day long. Upsets. Bracketology. Skipping classes to see Indiana State and Oakland. Considering yourself an expert on Belmont because you watched their conference championship for about eight minutes. It doesn’t eclipse the NBA playoffs for me as far as enjoyment, but it definitely has it’s share of Shining Moments. Take away brackets and polls, and the main reason why I watch the field is to find the future pros, the guys who’ll be All-Stars down the road, the different makers, the next Taj Gibson, the next Jared Jeffries (more fun than you might realize). March will reveal sleepers who turn out to be busts. It’ll reveal nobodies who get their first glimpse of the big time. Frauds will emerge. Stars will develop. Read More »

While this might not be as good as Arizona’s intro video, the defending national champions do a pretty good job.

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