Each Wednesday, we’ll be assessing how the top prospects of the 2013 NBA Draft are faring in college and overseas. Stick with us each week for assorted thoughts, including the biggest risers and fallers, the standouts, the sleepers and what we know and don’t know about the next NBA Draft class… Read More »

Each Wednesday, we’ll be assessing how the top prospects of the 2013 NBA Draft are faring in college and overseas. Stick with us each week for assorted thoughts, including the biggest risers and fallers, the standouts, the sleepers and what we know and don’t know about the next NBA Draft class… Read More »

Whether it’s one and done or four and out, the NCAA Tournament can either confirm what we know about players’ college credentials or burnish new ones entirely. It’s the ultimate job fair, but this one doesn’t involve schmoozing or hors d’oeuvres and is televised to millions (hope you wore your best suit, er, sneakers). Read More »

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 »

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 »

*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 »

What’s the difference between 82 and 78? Four. In the grand scheme of most things, that’s not a whole lot, especially if we’re talking NBA games. An 82-game schedule pretty much went out the window after last week, but the NY Post is saying if a deal is finalized sometime this week, we could be looking at a 78-game affair. We’ll take it. They’re saying it has to be an even number of games, and that David Stern is willing to push the season back enough to fit in as many games as possible, maybe even push a possible NBA Finals Game 7 to just a few days before the draft. That might affect the way the games are played, but for us it just means more basketball packed into a shorter time. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing … Read More »

It’s tough to honestly pick an All-American team. Gone are the days when so much of the nation’s high school basketball talent was concentrated in major cities like New York, L.A., Chicago and Philly – now the game is everywhere, with superstars coming out of small Midwestern towns, previously overlooked Northwest suburbs and the football territories of the Deep South, to name a few. So even in an era where YouTube highlights and regular national TV broadcasts allow more people to see more high school stars outside their own area code, the sheer volume of quality players spread around the map can be overwhelming. As a result, hype and reputation play too much of a role in determining who gets what awards and honors, and people make lazy picks, sometimes without even having seen a kid play. Read More »

Before the NBA All-Star Game’s hottest debate turned into a LaMarcus Aldridge celebration — I think the people of Portland are vying to get LMA awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom as we speak — the big argument was over Yao Ming being voted in as an All-Star starter despite playing only five games this season.

In high school basketball, a similar situation has surfaced with today’s unveiling of the Jordan Brand Classic rosters. The annual prep all-star game, played April 16 at the Charlotte Bobcats’ arena, is one of the most popular postseason showcases where college fans get their first look at next year’s freshmen. Read More »

I’ve grown so accustomed to college basketball’s one-and-done culture that now it’s startling to see an NCAA team with as much veteran poise as Duke. The current landscape has also trained me to stop looking at a team like North Carolina and making predictions for next year.

In the Blue Devils’ latest win over their blood rivals this week, the defending national champions were down 14 at halftime as Carolina was beating Duke at their own game in their own gym. Read More »