College football is right around the corner, which means one thing: College basketball isn’t far behind. Whenever the attention of the football-mad SEC turns to basketball, one of the conference standouts will be Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke, one of the best outside shooters in the country and a candidate for All-SEC. Clarke is featured in Dime #58, available on newsstands now: Read More »

As much as we talk about Dwight Howard, have you thought about how much of a beast Joakim Noah would be if he developed an offensive game? With the Bulls battling for a playoff spot and getting a gift on Thursday with LeBron James (rest) sitting out their game as a late scratch, Noah helped them pull into a tie with Toronto thanks to those intangibles he’s known for; namely effort, energy and being in the right place to make the right play at the right time … Twice in the final two minutes, Noah (17 pts, 15 rebs, 4 blks) gave Chicago the lead: once with one of his ugly mid-range jumpers, and again with a tip-in. Read More »

*Dime’s NCAA Tournament Day 2 coverage*

This was the first-round game I wasn’t gonna miss for anything, even if I had to watch it on my little computer screen. Clemson likes to run and gun; Missouri thrives on a full-court press taught by Mike Anderson, a disciple of Nolan Richardson and “40 Minutes of Hell.” Mizzou’s J.T. Tiller is a defensive demon and one of my favorite college players, while Clemson’s Noel Johnson is the son of ex-NBA player “Cheese” Johnson, who always makes sure to call up the Dime office and update us on his kid’s progress since we did a story on Noel in 8th grade. AND Gus Johnson is on the mic? You couldn’t drag me away. Read More »

It’s Championship Week in college basketball, otherwise known as the week of tournaments before THE Tournament. And honestly, it seems this year people only really care about two conference tourneys: the Big East and the Big 12 … maybe the ACC based on history and hype.

So far I’ve previewed the Big East and the Pac-10 (hometown allegiance); next up is the Big 12. Read More »