Along with social networking and a concrete resume of NBA alumni, it looks like one of the best ways for college coaches to land big-time recruits nowadays is to sign up that kid’s friends. And it’s not like if Georgetown had offered Bugaloo a scholarship to get Kyle-Lee Watson — since travel schedules and national schedules allow the best high schoolers in the country ample opportunity to get to know each other, you can entice one five-star kid to your program with the lure of a five-star friend of his.

At Texas, coach Rick Barnes has landed his next great point guard thanks to the buddy system. Read More »

Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) forward C.J. Leslie is a Top-10 prospect nationally. Previously committed to N.C. State, Leslie recently re-opened his recruiting and has opted to wait until the spring to decide on a college. That alone makes his one of the most intriguing stories in the 2010 senior class, and Leslie also happens to be one of its most exciting players. C.J. has agreed to give Dime and High School Hoop exclusive access in a regular diary about his season and the recruiting process as he inches closer to a decision. Here’s an excerpt from his latest entry: Read More »

To start the preseason, Michigan State and Texas were No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in the polls. Everyone saw Michigan State fall short in the national championship game and many predicted they would return to cut down the nets in 2010. Texas’ combination of youth (Avery Bradley and J’Covan Brown) and experience (Dexter Pittman and Damion James) makes them a national championship contender.

MSU’s season hasn’t gone exactly as planned, having lost to both of their opponents from major conferences (UNC and Florida). The somewhat shaky start to Sparty’s season has created a little more room on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, Bevo’s wagon is completely full. After Texas defeated North Carolina 103-90 and proved they were an elite team, more and more basketball fans have yelled “hook ‘em horns.” Later tonight, we see a team on the rise (Texas) face off against a team on a slight decline (MSU) and it will be the best game of the season thus far. Read More »

Last night when I got back from my basketball league, I turned on SportsCenter just in time for the Top 10. I was not disappointed, as one of my favorite players in the country, Avery Bradley, had a ridiculous poster dunk on 6-9 junior Richie Gordon as Texas routed Western Carolina, 73-41. Instantly searching YouTube to find the video and post it on the site, to my disbelief there was nothing there. I’m like, ‘Alright, perhaps in the morning I can find a link.’ Nothing. Read More »

That’s right, the college hoops season is here and you know what that means: it’s time to unleash the mother effing fury! For the past seven months, I’ve been bottling up a vicious mixture of excitement and rage, just waiting for the moment to release my emotions onto the rest of the world. Well that time has come. Your boy Matty D is back to give you a look at the top teams in the country and to separate the champs from the chumps. Read More »

Just like an art collector scouring the globe for a masterpiece, sole searching sneaker fiends will go to great lengths to find an exclusive pair of kicks. Back in Dime #25 (August 2006), we put together a list of the Top 25 Sneaker Stores when the kick game had never been bigger. But while that list was limited to mostly US spots, we decided in our 50th issue to take it worldwide. Read More »

Whether you’ve got just one empty Big Dance bracket staring back at you or five, here’s a few pointers before you put that crucial $20 on the line:

1. Be wary of the “hot” teams I know it’s tempting to take teams like Mississippi State and USC after they both just ran through their conference tournaments, but be careful. Look at the teams that have pulled off similar runs in the past few years: ‘Cuse in ’06 and Georgia in ’08. Read More »

For any coach, winning in college basketball has everything to do with two things: Actual coaching (game planning, X’s-and-O’s, etc.), and recruiting. As Pete Bell painfully found out in Blue Chips, you can be the best in the world at Column A, but you won’t get very far without success in Column B.

That’s what makes the 7-versus-10 matchup in this year’s East regional so intriguing. Read More »