What we got on Friday night in MSG was a tale of two oddly similar yet completely different teams. Arizona has the hype, and the high ranking. They came in at 4-0 but still playing a little bit over their heads, a good team that appeared to be playing better than they actually were. On the other side was Mississippi State with enough talent that most experts see them as one of the most dangerous unranked teams in the country. Despite that, they started the year somewhat unassumingly. So if you told us pregame that the Bulldogs would finish with a flurry and take over the game late to win by 10, grabbing the 2K Sports Classic, we wouldn’t have been surprised. Read More »

If there were a general consensus among NBA scouts of having a “type,” those once-in-a-lifetime prospects that they’ve got to have, then the 6-10, 300-pound big man with a silky jumper and crafty footwork would be it.

You know, guys like the the Sacramento rookie DeMarcus Cousins, who can shoot from 20-feet out before overwhelming opponents in the paint, scoring with their feathery hook shots with ease. Those are the type that can win you a ring. Only if they came without the baggage. By my count, college basketball has two of those guys: Mississippi State’s Renardo Sidney and UCLA’s Joshua Smith. Read More »

I’m outraged. And you should be too. If you don’t know about Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado, then you don’t know about basketball. Here’s a guy, who not only goes out and blocked eight shots last night in a win against Alabama, but he also broke the NCAA career mark (held by Louisiana-Monroe’s Wojciech Mydra) with No. 536. And his name is nowhere to be seen on ESPN.com’s college basketball home page. Read More »

Why would Jarvis Varnado, the nation’s leading shot blocker the past two years, give up his scholarship the summer after he tested the NBA Draft waters? No, he wasn’t kicked off the squad – Varnado is doing it for the betterment of his team. Read More »