After having one of their family members break his leg in half right in front of their bench, it was only fitting that this tournament, this season would end with the Louisville Cardinals winning a championship for the school (its first in 27 years), for Rick Pitino (who found out yesterday he’ll be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame), and for Kevin Ware (for obvious reasons). Read More »

We’re only a few days away from one of the best weekends in college basketball. With Louisville, Michigan, Wichita State and Syracuse set to go to battle this weekend, expect to hear a whole lot of Cinderella, zone defense and Trey Burke talk. It’s inevitable. Hopefully, the games live up to the billing. But in all likelihood, none of them will make this list. Read More »

Sportswriting often speaks about ephemeral events in inflated, grandiose terms. Just about all of us who love sports and attempt to write or speak about it are guilty of this at one time or another. Prisoners of the moment, we forget, as time passes, about the events that we once deemed so significant, the result of some combination of our collective societal attention deficit and the actual triviality of the events. Read More »

I’ve been having a running conversation all day on Twitter about some of my favorite NBA rappers, and while I once wrote a post on the 10 best rappers in the game, this piece of news may make me update that list. It sounds like a bunch of NBA stars are going to be collaborating with some of the best in hip-hop to release a fan-friendly album called “Full Court Press Vol. 1.” Read More »

Indiana’s Lance Stephenson had to have known while he was putting his hands around his own neck that the hoops world would see it. He had to have known, at least, that Miami would see it. So if he knew even one of those two, he should have known the Heat weren’t going to be happy about it. Specifically, Juwan Howard. Read More »

If you’re a fan of Jackie Moon and Semi-Pro, then you’re going to love this. The Miami Heat will pay tribute to the ABA this season as part of the NBA’s “Hardwood Classics Nights” by hosting a series of 1970′s retro-themed games. Leave your Heat jerseys at home this weekend, because starting tomorrow night the Miami Floridians will take the hardwood at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Philadelphia 76ers. Read More »

With no return date in sight for the 2011-12 NBA season, there are at least 10 current players that wake up every morning during this lockout and check their watch, clock or calendar to see what day it is. Because unless they can channel Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, each 24 hours means their internal NBA clock is ticking closer to the zero. Not everyone can be John Stockton or Karl Malone and play into their 40s. As we saw at the end of last season with Shaquille O’Neal‘s retirement, all good things must come to an end. With that, we evaluate the future of the NBA’s 10 oldest players: Read More »

The Miami Heat’s shortcomings last season were well-documented. That said, it should do nothing to diminish the fact that this time has some serious fantasy firepower. Aside from the Big Three, there is some residual value to be had on this squad. Whenever the NBA starts up again, fantasy owners would do well to keep a close eye on which players the Heat adds to its roster, and which of its free agents it chooses to re-sign. It’s very possible that this team will have a whole new batch of role players once its retooling is over with. Read More »

With Transformers: Dark of the Moon coming out today, I thought it would be fun to compare NBA players to some of Michael Bay’s 30-foot titanium killing machines. Naturally. Read More »

I watched Game 5 in a bar full of my anti-Heat friends. When Jason Terry sank that off-balanced, are-you-kidding-me three, a “U-S-A!” chant broke out first amongst my friends, then throughout the entire bar. When I asked why that started, I was told that what Miami did this offseason was “un-American.” So congratulations, Dallas, for winning America’s heart. Now to the rest of the winners and losers. Read More »