We’re not sure if President Obama felt the pressure to go above and beyond for the UConn Women’s National Championship squad on their official trip to the White House in order to make up for the most ridiculous story of the year, but this is still cool as hell: Read More »

Blake Griffin (23 pts, 16 rebs) won the beast-on-beast matchup with Tyler Hansbrough (8 pts, 6 rebs), solidifying his spot as the best player in the country and the No. 1 prospect in the ‘09 Draft (if he chooses to leave), but Psycho T had the stronger squad behind him and helped push North Carolina to the Final Four, completing the field of UNC, Villanova, Michigan State and UConn … Despite Hansbrough getting in foul trouble early, Ty Lawson (19 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts) and the rest of the Heels never really looked to be in danger of losing; they were just too deep for Oklahoma, who only really goes about six players deep … Read More »

Now that all the underdogs and Cinderellas have gone home, it’s time for one of the remaining Elite Eight to step up and win this NCAA ‘chip. Last night the PTP’ers took over: Blake Griffin leading Oklahoma over Syracuse, Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson leading UNC over Gonzaga, Terrence Williams and Earl Clark leading Louisville over Arizona, and in the only close game of the night, Kalin Lucas lifting Michigan State past Kansas … Read More »

A couple of themes dominated last night’s NCAA tourney Sweet 16 games: Defense and Onions. First you had UConn defensive stalwart Hasheem Thabeet putting together his first dominant game of the tourney (15 pts, 15 rebs, 4 blks) to push the Huskies past Purdue. Then Villanova slapped a stifling total team defensive effort on Duke, ball-pressure and denial for which Coach K’s boys seemed totally unprepared. And then Missouri’s new-school “40 Minutes of Hell” paved the way for them to get past Memphis … As for the onions? Look no further than Levance Fields. Read More »

Thank God for the great Americans at COED Magazine. Someone had to put together photo galleries of the cheerleaders from every school in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, and they stepped up to the plate. Read More »

Could Ben Gordon be a quality NBA point guard? Clearly he has a good enough handle — just ask Arron Afflalo, who was getting mixed up by BG in last night’s Bulls/Pistons game — and he’s shown some passing skills when he wants to pass. If the right coach got Ben in the right mindset, could he be a more effective scoring PG than an undersized two-guard? You could ask that question with a straight face after Gordon put up 19 points and six assists while helping fill in for injured Derrick Rose (wrist), the rare game where BG was a force despite not hitting any threes. Read More »

The NY Times has an article today called “Timeout Tactics Include Seating and Setting” that breaks down the science behind how and where some top college coaches seat their players during timeout huddles. I’m sure you’ve noticed that every team’s timeouts look different - bench, no bench, stools, etc. - but there is apparently real, detailed strategy behind the way players are situated. And it’s as much about girls as it is about game-planning. Read More »

O.J. Mayo might be battling the rookie wall, or else Dwyane Wade just makes the young’uns feel that way. Two minutes into Heat/Grizzlies (with Miami already up 7-0), Wade brought the ball up on O.J. and skated past the flat-footed rook with a move that wasn’t really a crossover or a lethally quick first step, just a simple change of direction for a layup in the lane. When he wasn’t giving O.J. the business, Wade (27 pts, 8 asts) seemed to be on a mission to make Memphis’ big men look silly. Read More »

The first weekend is in the books, the field of 65 is down to 16, and I seriously need a break from watching basketball. After the first two rounds of the Big Dance, here are my big winners (big losers coming soon):

THE HIT LIST

Cole Aldrich — Going into the Tournament, nobody was talking about Aldrich in regards to the 2009 NBA Draft. Read More »

While No. 1 seeds UConn and North Carolina had little trouble getting through the first two rounds of the tourney and into the Sweet Sixteen, Louisville and Pitt haven’t looked nearly as strong. Yesterday, Pitt was tied with Oklahoma State around the 2:30 mark of the second half, struggling again to put away a lesser-talented team before Levance Fields took over. Read More »