Ladies and gentlemen… start your engines. With a tentative labor deal being reached, attention has now shifted towards free agency as teams prepare for what could become one of the most hectic, exciting and hopefully unforgettable periods of movement in NBA history. Teams need to make up for lost time, and what better way than to get your star player recruiting on Twitter? This weekend Kevin Durant tweeted at veteran free agent Shane Battier: Hey @ShaneBattier, just wanted to see how you were doing and what size jersey you wear and also do u still want no.31? Battier responded: @KDTrey5 yes #31 is preferable and it’s true that I enjoy OKC steakhouses. And @nickcollison4 is my boy. Hmmmm……big selling points. That should get your juices flowing for the season to start – players schmoozing players, guys using anything in their power to get a leg up on the competition, shamelessly trying to assemble a roster capable of winning a championship. 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 »

OK, college football, you got this one.

Responding to a week of college basketball that started strong with ESPN’s 24-hour tip-off marathon, then got scandalous with news of a potential catastrophe at Syracuse, the gridiron guys regained the spotlight with some Top-5 upsets and plenty of down-to-the-wire thrillers.

But even though college hoops took a comfortable backseat to the BCS, NFL and NASCAR, that doesn’t mean it was uneventful. Here are the best and worst of the weekend: Read More »

Is it UNC’s fault they are just too good? We see them beat Mississippi Valley State 101-75, and all the critics want to do is point out their terrible outside shooting (5-19) and bad numbers from the free-throw line (16-31). Someone like Brent Arrington drops 33 on them (in 18 shots), and we’re complaining, saying they really aren’t that good. The fact is they did what they had to, and they also still have some pretty good talent. John Henson went for 18 and 14 while Harrison Barnes added 18 of his own … 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 »

Hidden between the lines of the most depressing sports stories of the week – Penn State’s cover-up scandal putting a dark cloud over college football, and the NBA lockout threatening to put pro basketball on indefinite hiatus – are two words that should cheer up anybody who frequents this site: “college” and “basketball.” Read More »

You know big expectations are in store when you win by 16 points and yet the opposing crowd is still chanting overrated. But that’s just how it’s going to be all season for North Carolina. UNC Asheville isn’t much competition, no matter what Tyler Zeller (27 points) tried to say after the game was over. North Carolina did the same thing on Sunday that they did against Michigan State: play well enough to take control, and go on cruise control the rest of the way. Honestly, this team is so loaded with star power that they can get away with it. Yesterday, it wasn’t just Zeller but all of the big guns. Harrison Barnes dropped another cool 17 points, but was still out-shined by Kendall Marshall (15 assists) and John Henson (20 points, 12 rebounds). It is still early, but do you think they are at all overrated? … Read More »

So after months and months of rambling back and forth, he reported she reported, and the owners and players doing a fair amount of snipping back and forth, it looks like we will have some type of resolution within the next four or five days. Whether it’s the resolution we want is another story. The negotiating is over, and for the players this is really the last realistic deal they will have a chance of signing before the entirety of this season goes bye bye. Some, like Danny Granger seem to think this offer will be rejected by the players. This whole thing comes down to this: the players know they’re getting a raw deal. They know it’ll be conceding defeat. But it’s this or nothing. Do they really want to lose a whole season? … Read More »

*College basketball is here (unlike the NBA), and this year might be one of the best in recent memory. The powerhouse is back, while the Cinderellas believe. That’s a deadly combination. We know some of y’all have been asking for some previews. We have you covered – we’ve previewed each of the top 16 teams in the country. Today is the final one. After we broke down contenders Ohio State and Kentucky yesterday, we’ll finish this off with the best team in the country, No. 1-ranked UNC (ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll).* Read More »

North Carolina held its annual preseason media day yesterday afternoon, and while lots of people were talking about national championships, the rest were more interested in the unveiling of their new jerseys. So for those of you that can’t make it to Late Night with Roy tonight at the Dean Dome to see them in the flesh, we figured now was as good a time as any to show off their new threads. Check ‘em out: Read More »