Last season’s UConn men’s basketball team had one of the craziest and rarest runs to an NCAA Championship that we’ve ever seen. 11 straight postseason wins eventually climaxed with a 53-46 win over Butler for the program’s third NCAA Championship. For such an incredible season, amazingly no one had covered the whole story: how they all got there, the expectations (or lack thereof) and the motivation. Until now. Read More »

In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

No one wants to come out and admit it right now, but is there a race going on between Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to get to Hollywood? Some believe so. How it came to this, we aren’t sure. But it suddenly feels like the two biggest pieces in this new age NBA and are both privately gunning for the same team. The only problem is, most likely, only one of them gets there. As Yahoo! Sports reported, the Lakers and Hornets have already talked deals. With Howard not coming out one way or another and with the Hornets’ front office determined not to have a repeat of what happened in Cleveland, the focus shifted to CP, and the Lakers reportedly offered New Orleans their pick: Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol? Who do you want? Read More »

The Washington Wizards rounds out our rundown of fantasy basketball analysis for each NBA team. The Wizards are led by a talented point guard who supposedly has an improved shot, along with two big men who’ve struggled so far to truly break through in any real way. Though the rest of the roster’s fantasy potential is a bit hazy, one thing is certain: a rookie’s girlfriend is about to take the NBA by storm. Read More »

Since jumping onto the national radar in Butler’s amazing 2010 National Championship run, Shelvin Mack has gone from unexpected surprise to burgeoning star. Last season, many of the accolades associated with the Bulldogs’ success was credited to current Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward and Coach Brad Stevens – and rightly so. But this season, with an even more improbable return to the NCAA title game, Mack made the difference. And along with graduating forward Matt Howard, Mack made the nation once again take notice of the skills that Coach Stevens has so openly coveted. Read More »

We have all witnessed history. On many, many levels. We wake up this morning with UConn as champions of college basketball; the Huskies the last team standing at the end of an absolutely incredible postseason rampage that included winning five Big East Tournament games in five days and then reeling off the six Ws needed to win the NCAA Tournament. That type of run would have been considered unreal for a top-ranked team – the fact that it was put together by a UConn squad that wasn’t even ranked until Week 4 of the season and then entered the Big East Tourney as a No. 9 seed is just absurd. History will remember this Connecticut squad as one of the most unlikely championship teams in college basketball history … Kemba Walker should donate his kicks (Air Jordan 6-17-23) to Springfield. He’s been wearing these ever since the start of the Big East Tournament and hasn’t lost since. After the Big East tourney, he told us he was ready to go get six more Ws … To the game … Read More »

So what are you doing at 9:23 PM ET tonight? Unless you’re watching WWE RAW’s recap of last night’s Wrestlemania, you’ll be tuned in to the NCAA National Championship game between No. 8 seed Butler and No. 3 seed UConn.

So how is this going to play out tonight? You’ve undoubtedly watched/listed to Jay Bilas, Doug Gottlieb, Digger, Hubert, Dickie V, and any number of other talking heads; you’ve probably read plenty of pre-game analysis and you may have even made your opinion known in the comments section of the site or on our poll (most of you appear to be feeling UConn). So last but not least, some members of the Dime Crew wanted to weigh in our personal picks for tonight’s game: Read More »

Monday’s National Championship game is set after UConn and Butler emerged victorious from two hard-fought semi-final games yesterday in Houston. In the heavyweight game, the Huskies took out the Kentucky Wildcats behind Kemba Walker’s 18 points, seven dimes and six boards. The game was won in the backcourt, as Walker and mates Shabazz Napier (four points) and Jeremy Lamb (12 points) outplayed the Kentucky duo of Brandon Knight (17 points on 6-23 shooting) and Doron Lamb (13 points). Kentucky was down 10 at intermission but came storming back in the second half to tie it up. Down two with the ball and 16 seconds left on the clock, Kentucky came out of a timeout and ran a “play” that saw Knight dribble around for several seconds before passing to DeAndre Liggins for a fadeaway, contested 30-footer that had no chance. Ballgame … Read More »

The Butler is back again. You ever doze off, then wake back up to see the game you thought you were watching be turned upside down? You sit up, confused, eyes straining like “Huh?” Thank Butler for that. They are pretty good at making people look stupid … Gus Johnson called Florida’s style “bullyball.” It took five extra minutes, but eventually that big bully was sent home by the little guy as Butler staked it’s second consecutive trip to the Final Four with a come-from-behind 74-71 overtime win. The Bulldogs got help from everybody but it was Shelvin Mack (27 points) who was the difference. He came back from an ankle sprain in the first half to hit every big shot, including the go-ahead three-pointer with just over a minute left in overtime. … As much credit as Butler deserves, the Gators really screwed up. In the first half, Vernon Macklin (25 points) looked like Kevin McHale. Read More »

Words. Eitan Tye

The Butler Bulldogs stamped their ticket to the Sweet 16 this year in spectacular fashion, edging out a bruising Old Dominion team with a tip-in at the buzzer, and muscling their way past No. 1 seed Pittsburgh with a clutch free throw late in the game. However, despite defeating “the two most physical teams in the tournament,” in the words of ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes, the Bulldogs’ improbable run has been largely overshadowed by the successes of fellow mid-majors VCU and Richmond. In addition, numerous writers have focused their attention on the dramatic nature of Butler’s victories, choosing to revisit the officiating in the Bulldogs’ games and to scrutinize Pittsburgh for their early exit, rather than to highlight Butler’s impressive play. Read More »