Barring an undefeated run through the Pac-10 tournament, the Arizona Wildcats (14-14, 8-8) are poised to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a quarter-century. In a down year for the entire Pac-10, one of its signature programs isn’t even in the “bubble” discussion.

A transition like this is commonplace when one legendary coach retires (Lute Olson) and a younger coach takes over. But for first-year AZ boss Sean Miller — who made the Big Dance field in four of his five years at Xavier, including an Elite Eight — it’s not something he’s used to. Read More »

Working at Dime Magazine, a ton of headlines, news and opinions pass through our website each week. Everyday a new story breaks and we change our focus to the next game on the schedule. Before this week gets started, I’ll take the time to reflect on what the NBA taught me last week. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki not only hit the game-winner in Milwaukee last night, he also finished with 32 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while shooting 48 percent (12-25) from the field, 88 percent (7-8) from the line and didn’t have any turnovers. He’s the hottest fantasy commodity to come out of Germany since Heidi Klum. Read More »

In honor of the first trade of the 2009-10 season, today’s Reebok Still Talkin Quote of the Day is a throw back. In 2006, the Suns were on the rise, coming into the playoffs as the number two seed. Kobe Bryant, on the other hand, was struggling to lead the Lakers, who were starting Smush Parker and Luke Walton at the time. The Lakers took a 3-1 series lead and it seemed that Kobe was going to single handedly lead the Lakers into the second round. Then the series turned physical and Raja Bell took charge guarding Kobe. Bell looked to frustrated the Lakers star and responded to Kobe’s physical play by clotheslining him. Raja earned a one game suspension but didn’t hold back when talking about Bryant. Read More »

Check out these highlights from the Lakers’ parade down Figueroa Ave. in Los Angeles. Construction workers are basically hanging off of their scaffolding to see Kobe & Co. going by on double-decker buses. Kobe was the most excited of the whole bunch, pumping his fists and screaming virtually the entire way. While everyone on the roster has a championship tee, check out what Kobe and D-Fish are rocking… Read More »

About an hour before the Lakers and Magic tipped off Game 4, Dime reader “SparkyJ23″ wrote us: “The Lakers have to win tonight or it all goes tits up for ‘em.” Not quite sure what that means, but by the end of last night’s overtime nail-biter, Derek Fisher made sure everybody’s tits were where they should be. And when Orlando looks back at the 99-91 loss, there are a handful of sequences that will bug them all summer long. Read More »

Ask an old-timer about how much the NBA has changed, and all they have to do is point to this week’s biggest story leading up to the Lakers/Magic championship series. Almost 40 years ago, the Finals revolved around, “Will Willis Reed play?” Today, you can’t find anybody under the age of 50 named “Willis,” and now the big question is, “Will Jameer play?” Doesn’t quite sound the same coming out of Marv Albert’s mouth as the first one … Jameer did practice with the Magic yesterday, after which Stan Van Gundy said he looked good. Read More »

As much as everyone has talked about the cooler, calmer, more collected Denver Nuggets in this second Chauncey Billups era, this is still an energy-driven squad, especially at home. So throughout last night’s Game 6 loss that ended Denver’s season and sent the Lakers to the NBA Finals, Kobe Bryant was all about delivering daggers and taking the crowd out of the equation. Kobe (35 pts, 6 rebs, 10 asts) was handing out silencers like Nic Cage in Lord of War, and in turn the Nuggets were generally listless, particularly in the second half when you’d expect them to come out on fire. Read More »

THE GOONS ARE OUT. That was the e-mail sent by one of the Dime crew last night during Lakers/Rockets, around the time everybody from typically fiery Kobe and Ron Artest to mild-mannered Derek Fisher to teen heartthrob Luke Walton was issuing chin-checks and techs and getting themselves ejected … With L.A. down 0-1 in the series, Kobe (40 pts, 16-27 FG) came out on a seek-and-destroy mission. Read More »

With the remaining NBA teams approaching the 90-game mark, almost everybody is playing through some kind of pain. Going into tonight’s schedule, here’s the latest injury update: Read More »