Austin Rivers must’ve known I was there because he tied the perfect bow to the end of a trip that started in Hoboken, New Jersey and ended with a once-defeaning crowd of 21,750 eerily silent. The buzzer beater that won it for Duke set off hysteria for the party behind Duke’s bench – Doc Rivers and his crew – but for the rest of us there, it was more quiet than the school’s library. If you’ve been keeping up with my posts the last few days, you know I was in New Jersey for the launch of the Air Jordan 2012, and that Jordan Brand also brought me down to Chapel Hill to see one of the biggest rivalries in all of basketball up close and personal. Read More »

It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of the NBA, NCAA or high school – great basketball is great basketball. And yesterday has to go down as one of the greatest days in hoops history. Ever. Take for example the first four games of the day: you had a one point game, a buzzer beater for an upset, an overtime scare and a double overtime thriller. Only if Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery called all four games, could you have asked for anything better … If you were on the site at all yesterday, then you know the Dime crew was on top of everything. So we’ll try and bring some new thoughts and observations to Smack … Let’s start with BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. Read More »