Well that was ugly. On a night where the big stories were supposed to be Lamar Odom‘s return to Staples and Kobe‘s shot at a fifth-consecutive 40-point game, neither side could hit a shot and couldn’t get out of each other’s way. So it came down to a guy who’s shooting 33 percent and averaging 4.3 points a night. Derek Fisher (13 points) hit the game-winning three with three seconds left, and the Lakers won one of the ugliest games we’ve seen in a long time when Vince Carter‘s last-ditch look was off. Read More »

It’s finals week on many college campuses, which means it’s a good time to take a look at which players are in the lead for National Player of the Year. It’s only six weeks into the season, so don’t worry if your favorite player (Austin Rivers?) isn’t listed quite yet.

Some of these names aren’t the standard fare, but rest assured, you’ll likely be seeing these names as March approaches. Rather than a traditional Top 10, I’ve chosen to go with a Top 8 to reflect a coaches’ regular rotation. Read More »

I’ve been to some good games at some great venues – Madison Square Garden for the NBA, CenturyLink Field in Seattle for the NFL, Busch Stadium in St. Louis for Major League Baseball – but I doubt there’s a better place to watch a big game than Assembly Hall at Indiana University.

The house that Bob Knight turned into NCAA hoops holy ground was the site of not only the best college basketball game of the season on Saturday, but maybe the best game of any sport in 2011. Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis tweeted afterward that Indiana’s buzzer-beating upset of No. 1 Kentucky might have been the best regular-season game he’s ever seen. Read More »

The first month of the college hoops season has already had enough defining moments to warrant the Luther Vandross treatment.

There was the poignant high of Coach K surpassing his mentor Bob Knight as the all-time leader in NCAA D-I coaching wins; the gut-wrenching (and ongoing) low of Syracuse assistant Bernie Fine throwing his program into scandal; the inspiring comeback stories of Arizona forward Kevin Parrom and Kansas forward Thomas Robinson; made-for-March upsets like UNLV over North Carolina, Presbyterian over Cincinnati, and Central Florida over UConn; and big-time matchups like Ohio State vs. Duke, Kentucky vs. Kansas, and Syracuse vs. Florida that were dipped in Tournament atmosphere.

This past weekend, though, gave us the most thrilling game, the highest display of talent, and the most grand exhibition of the best of college basketball, all wrapped in one 40-minute showcase in Lexington, Ky. Here is that game, plus the rest of the best and worst of the weekend: Read More »

One thing was clear coming into this season of college hoops: the excitement was at a high not seen in about five years. For the first time since the 2006-2007 season, college basketball has a collection of talent that rivals nearly any other time before it. That season, talents like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Mike Conley all played their obligatory one year of college basketball before entering the NBA.

This year we have an impressive group of freshmen starting that same journey and numerous key figures from last year all returning for another year on campus. All of this talent has scouts flooding gyms across the country to see who is going to be the right guy for their team in the upcoming draft. Read More »

We sort of called this. Duke lives and dies by the three. They did again last night. Tyler Thornton, the last guy you might expect to take a big shot – maybe the last guy you’d even expect to be in the game – hit not one but two huge threes in the final moments against Kansas. The second one was an end-of-the-shot-clock heave from nearly out of bounds that you just knew was going in the moment he released it. Combine those shots with a three from Andre Dawkins, and Kansas – who played them even all the way – couldn’t finish it off and lost 68-61. Read More »

At this point in the year, there is no way to tell who will be the surefire first pick in the NBA Draft. Shoot, we do not even know what the 2012 NBA Draft will look like with all of the bad NBA lockout news and rumors going around. At this point, there’s superstar talent littered throughout the college game, and NBA scouts – with nothing to do other than go to college games – are working harder than ever. Right now all we can do is speculate, but there are some interesting story lines to follow. Read More »

On a night where history was in the air, fans from the South, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions flocked to the World’s Most Famous Arena to see four of the top teams in college basketball. As impressive as coach Mike Krzyzewski’s record breaking 903rd victory was, the night might have been overshadowed by the sheer dominance of the Kentucky Wildcats. I left Madison Square Garden last night dreaming about the potential of a Duke vs. Kentucky match-up. Read More »

Sometimes when you’re putting together an issue it takes on a life of its own. That was definitely the case for Dime #66. Typically this would have been our NBA Preview Issue, looking at all the stars and storylines for the upcoming year. But with the 2011-12 NBA season indefinitely on hold until a new collective bargaining agreement is in place, a central theme began to arise while we were planning. Read More »

*College basketball is here (unlike the NBA), and this year might be one of the best in recent memory. The powerhouse is back, while the Cinderellas believe. That’s a deadly combination. We know some of y’all have been asking for some previews. We have you covered – the top 16 teams in the nation will be previewed individually in the next few weeks. After we broke down a Wisconsin and their All-American earlier today, we’ll keep this going with No. 13-ranked Kansas (ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll).* Read More »