One of the commentators on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” said it best earlier this week: Upsets are the life-blood of the NCAA Tournament. Even if it’s at the cost of a busted bracket, people want to see Cinderella stories and have lovable underdogs.
As our editorial team was brainstorming content for the Sweet 16 games this Thursday and Friday we realized that most of us had some kind of attachment to at least a few of the squads represented. Most of that attachment goes back to who we grew up rooting for as kids (check out Austin Burton’s favorite Washington Huskies of the past 25 years). For me, after Temple and Boston College (my alma mater), I loved Duke. A lot.
I’m pretty sure it started when my Dad took me to see Duke play at the Palestra in Philly against one of the Big 5 schools in the era before the Blue Devils started dominating college basketball. I attached myself to some of those Duke squads that were around pre-Christian Laettner title runs and obviously, being a kid, was more than happy when the program really took off a short time later. They lost me a little with the J-Will/Will Avery/Greg Paulus teams, but I will always support Duke.
Here are my Top 10 Favorite Blue Devils of the Last 25 Years: Read More »
At this point, Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils are in that elite class of college programs who can pretty much pick and choose who they want to play for them rather than ever “settling” for certain recruits. But even then, it’s not so easy putting together a powerhouse.
For the majority of this decade, Duke hasn’t had the best luck with five-star high school point guards. Read More »
Every day, more signs are popping up to tell us we’re getting closer and closer to the actual NBA season. Over the last week or so, we’ve watched guys going through the motions in practice (the “Real Training Camp” cameras never lie); Shaq throwing his old teams under the bus to hype up his new team; a valuable Kings player getting hurt; Vince Carter‘s critics blasting him for shooting (and missing) too many jumpers; Gerald Wallace dunking on cats; some decent preseason games; a couple of fights and suspensions; and further proof that the Warriors are officially the Oakland Raiders of the NBA. Last night was another milestone, with the first nationally televised game of the year: Suns/Warriors on TNT. Read More »
Now that NBA training camps are underway, some guys will have to get used to having all eyes on them — or more specifically, all eyes on their knees, shoulders, ankles, etc. — waiting to see if they’ll hold up or crumble like a toothpick sculpture … Chris Bosh wasn’t supposed to be on that list, especially given the results we’d seen from his offseason workout, but then he tweaked his hamstring right before Raptors camp opened. Bosh apparently hurt himself while playing golf, which just sounds like the first chapter of another bad-luck season in Toronto … Read More »
After an up-and-down couple of weeks that saw them perform up to their potential and down to some lesser competition, Team Spain is right where they’re supposed to be at the FIBA European Championships: playing for the gold medal. In yesterday’s semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 18 points and Rudy Fernandez added 14 and three steals to lead Spain in a blowout win over Greece, while Ricky Rubio continued his underwhelming (at least stats-wise) tourney with a 5-point, 3-assist effort. Spain will face Serbia in the final, the team that upset them on the first day of the tournament. In Serbia’s semifinal, Milos Teodosic dropped 32 points (6 threes), and Nenad Krstic had 18 points to lead them past Slovenia … Read More »
Two days later, Michael Jordan‘s Hall of Fame speech is still the biggest topic in basketball. And for the most part, the reviews were not positive. Common accusations were that MJ was confrontational, bullying, petty, ungrateful, and that he primarily used his stage to settle old scores. Our take? It’s obvious who amongst the critics have never played sports, or is so far removed from playing that they forgot what it’s like to be competitive. True, Mike didn’t exhibit anything near the vulnerability of, say, Michael Irvin‘s H.O.F. speech, but he wasn’t that bad. Read More »
NBA training camp is still a few weeks away, so Saturday was all about college football. Some basketball-related notes from the day’s action: Greg Paulus lost his first game as Syracuse’s starting QB, racking up 167 yards on 19-of-31 attempts with one touchdown against Minnesota, but he threw a crucial pick in overtime (‘Cuse was also 1-for-12 in converting third downs); Javier Arenas (Gilbert’s cousin) had a handful of kick/punt returns in fifth-ranked Alabama’s win over No. 7 Virginia Tech, but didn’t break any for a long gain … With Ramon Sessions spoken for, the only two point guards anybody is looking out for in free agency are Allen Iverson and Ray Felton, and the former’s eventual destination likely has a big impact on the latter’s next move. Read More »
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Syracuse’s new starting quarterback (named after just a week of practice!), Greg Paulus. After seeing the ire raised by the news that Paulus was making a run at the NFL this summer and the general reaction to his choice to play football in college, we can only assume that the majority of college football fans are going to be dying to see defenses bring the house when they line up across from him.
No NBA games yesterday or today, as it’s all about prepping for Sunday’s pair of Game 7′s: Rockets at Lakers (3:30 p.m. EST, ABC) and Magic at Celtics (8 p.m. EST, TNT) … We’ll be previewing the Eastern Conference showdown in tomorrow’ Smack, so for now let’s look at the West. What should you be checking for in this all-or-nothing battle? Aaron Brooks has been the X-factor throughout the series; when the Lakers have contained him, they’ve won. When they haven’t, they’ve lost. Read More »
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