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 »

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 – the top 16 teams in the nation will be previewed individually in the next few weeks. After we broke down Big East giants Syracuse and UConn yesterday, we’ll keep this going with No. 3-ranked Ohio State (ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll).* Read More »

82 games? A secret schedule? David Stern having a conscience? No way. But rumors continue to mount that all of this might be true (even the stuff about our man Stern). Obviously, Stern has been throwing threats around for the last few weeks. He made good on the first one – to cancel the first two weeks of the season – but now it’s possible the season might be in jeopardy – or at least all the games before Christmas – if nothing is improved by next week. ESPN.com reports that there’s a belief amongst the players that the owners may start turning on each other if the players hold firm. Of course, we’ve heard that one before. What if neither side budges? A bunch of stubborn millionaires/billionaires dig themselves even further into the sand? Let’s not talk about it. Read More »

After last week’s NBA Draft, you are probably left wanting more, right? Well, with the NBA Summer League cancelled and the lockout looming, the next best thing we can analyze is the 2012 NBA Draft. With that, here is a list of the top 15 prospects that will hear their names called by David Stern next year. Read More »

Yesterday, Baylor freshman forward/center Perry Jones III – a would be damn near Top-5 lock in this June’s NBA Draft – declared publicly that he would return to school for his sophomore year.

In his first year in Waco, Jones dropped in 13.9 points and 7.2 boards a game on 55 percent shooting for the 18-13 Bears. With Jones returning, Coach Scott Drew and company now have a loaded and talented young core slated for next season. Read More »

It wasn’t even a year ago when everything was different. Young. Exciting. Most of all, fun. But being from Northeast Ohio is tough right now. Learning to swallow your pride and bearing the brunt side of jokes takes a toll. “Cleveland Stays Takin’ Ls.” It’s become a slogan. The economy is down. The basketball team can’t win. You would think the sun hasn’t shown up above Lake Erie for months.

Still, it could be worse. At least the fans are showing up. Cleveland could be New Orleans, a city wrecked by the forces of nature, a still uneasy, rebuilt culture just coming back, an organization that can never tell from week to week how much support it will get or from year to year what the future holds. Read More »

John Calipari is spoiled. Quit being selfish, Cal – Do you really have to snatch up every great guard? Y’all know the lineup. Rose. Evans. Wall. Brandon Knight ain’t on that level. But he left his mark last night … In perhaps the best game of the tournament, Knight hit the game-winning jumper with five seconds left to give Kentucky an insane upset win over the number-one overall seed Ohio State, 62-60. Knight (9 points) had already beaten Princeton with a game-winner last weekend. But this was different. This was a Sweet 16, best team in the nation, Lottery-screaming pull-up. Chuck said Kentucky played a perfect game. Read More »

While the star power of this year’s NBA Draft is almost completely absent, the NCAA Tournament still allows us the chance to look at many of the guys who will hear their names called early this summer. And after looking at the Top 10 NBA Prospects in the NCAA Tournament last week, here are the 10 best still alive in the Big Dance and where they’d best fit in the League. Read More »