Since jumping onto the national radar in Butler’s amazing 2010 National Championship run, Shelvin Mack has gone from unexpected surprise to burgeoning star. Last season, many of the accolades associated with the Bulldogs’ success was credited to current Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward and Coach Brad Stevens – and rightly so. But this season, with an even more improbable return to the NCAA title game, Mack made the difference. And along with graduating forward Matt Howard, Mack made the nation once again take notice of the skills that Coach Stevens has so openly coveted. Read More »

It is 11 p.m. on Saturday night of Halloween weekend, one of the biggest party weekends of the year at Vanderbilt University. People across campus are putting on their costumes getting ready for the night’s festivities, including Vanderbilt men’s basketball manager Rob Cross. However, Rob then gets a text from Steve Tchiengang, power forward on the team, saying “Let’s shoot in 45 minutes.” Most sane people would say not tonight, but Rob is not sane when it comes to basketball. So at 11:45 he trudges over to Memorial Gym in full costume and rebounds for Steve before starting his night. This incident is just one of many that exemplify Rob’s undying commitment to Vanderbilt Basketball. Read More »

We have all witnessed history. On many, many levels. We wake up this morning with UConn as champions of college basketball; the Huskies the last team standing at the end of an absolutely incredible postseason rampage that included winning five Big East Tournament games in five days and then reeling off the six Ws needed to win the NCAA Tournament. That type of run would have been considered unreal for a top-ranked team – the fact that it was put together by a UConn squad that wasn’t even ranked until Week 4 of the season and then entered the Big East Tourney as a No. 9 seed is just absurd. History will remember this Connecticut squad as one of the most unlikely championship teams in college basketball history … Kemba Walker should donate his kicks (Air Jordan 6-17-23) to Springfield. He’s been wearing these ever since the start of the Big East Tournament and hasn’t lost since. After the Big East tourney, he told us he was ready to go get six more Ws … To the game … Read More »

So what are you doing at 9:23 PM ET tonight? Unless you’re watching WWE RAW’s recap of last night’s Wrestlemania, you’ll be tuned in to the NCAA National Championship game between No. 8 seed Butler and No. 3 seed UConn.

So how is this going to play out tonight? You’ve undoubtedly watched/listed to Jay Bilas, Doug Gottlieb, Digger, Hubert, Dickie V, and any number of other talking heads; you’ve probably read plenty of pre-game analysis and you may have even made your opinion known in the comments section of the site or on our poll (most of you appear to be feeling UConn). So last but not least, some members of the Dime Crew wanted to weigh in our personal picks for tonight’s game: Read More »

Words. Eitan Tye

The Butler Bulldogs stamped their ticket to the Sweet 16 this year in spectacular fashion, edging out a bruising Old Dominion team with a tip-in at the buzzer, and muscling their way past No. 1 seed Pittsburgh with a clutch free throw late in the game. However, despite defeating “the two most physical teams in the tournament,” in the words of ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes, the Bulldogs’ improbable run has been largely overshadowed by the successes of fellow mid-majors VCU and Richmond. In addition, numerous writers have focused their attention on the dramatic nature of Butler’s victories, choosing to revisit the officiating in the Bulldogs’ games and to scrutinize Pittsburgh for their early exit, rather than to highlight Butler’s impressive play. Read More »

For anyone that was free to sit in front of the television all day, they were in for a treat. Between eight NCAA Tournament games and six NBA contests, there were enough highlights to make sure SportsCenter didn’t feel compelled to show us any B-roll from the NFL lockout negotiations. And if you’re a fan of amazing individual performances, you had eight guys drop 30-plus: Jacob Pullen (38), Jimmer Fredette (34), LeBron James (33), Dwyane Wade (32), David West (32), Shelvin Mack (30), Brandon Knight (30) and Blake Griffin (30). So let’s get started … Read More »

Five NCAA teams that got my attention this past weekend for various reasons:

1. Connecticut (7-0) According to preseason predictions, the Huskies would be overachieving had they reached sixth place in the Big East. Today, UConn is undefeated and ranked No. 6 in the nation following its rout of Maryland-Baltimore County on Friday. Kemba Walker is the alpha and omega of Coach Jim Calhoun‘s young squad. Read More »

With it becoming increasingly likely that Tom Izzo takes the Cavaliers head coaching job, those at Michigan State must be wondering who can replace their legendary coach if he decides to leave. With that in mind, here are some potential candidates: Read More »

Under the list of ingredients that have become standard in the NCAA championship recipe — defense, momentum, chip on the shoulder, good coaching, depth, etc. — perhaps we should add one more: Ability to win ugly. Last night’s national title game between Duke and Butler wasn’t one for smooth flowing offense and highlight buckets, but it was nonetheless an instant classic with crazy intensity, where both sides played like their lives were on the line and put on a defensive clinic before Duke walked out of the octagon with its fourth national championship … Read More »

The always entertaining and interesting Jonah Lehrer has an essay in this past weekend’s Wall Street Journal which uses recent studies to examine The Superstar Effect: “While challenging competitions are supposed to bring out our best, these studies demonstrate that when people are forced to compete against a peer who seems far superior, they often don’t rise to the challenge. Instead, they give up.” Tiger Woods is the prime example, and though the studies mostly revolve around individually geared performances from SAT’s to performing in the work place, the effect applies more generally to underdogs. Read More »