Are you serious? Word just broke that University of Memphis forward D.J. Stephens recorded an NBA Draft record 46-INCH VERTICAL LEAP in combine testing. And the dude is 6-5, so it’s not like he’s some crazy Nate Robinson clone or something.

Want to see him work? Check out DJ’s top dunks at Memphis and in AAU: Read More »

Let the Madness begin. The two most exciting days of the college basketball season are upon us, and we here at Dime are just as pumped as you are to see what will play out in the coming weeks. To get you primed for the first round, we’ve picked out some of the most intriguing matchups to look for on Thursday and Friday. Read More »

In my bracket, I had Kentucky and UNC. The two best teams, I figured, should meet again to determine the 2012 championship. Then Kendall Marshall was taken out in the air by a lumbering big man in the round of 32, and everything was turned on its head. Kentucky might look like runaway favorites tonight with a top six that could probably play with any core group of any college team in the past 20 years. But we’ve seen upsets before. In college basketball, sometimes talent can be trumped by experience, and Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson have a history together. It’s not likely they’ll lead Kansas to yet another championship upset over John Calipari. But it’s not out of the question either. Read More »

You can always tell when one of your boys got some the night before. He comes strolling into the apartment kitchen doing his best to conceal a smile, pours himself a big ol’ glass of water, leans back in a chair with everyone else staring and just starts chuckling. But damn, the way Andrew Bynum was cheesing last night after his hook shot in the lane helped knockout the Celtics, you would’ve thought he smashed Lauren London. He was hyped. And he should’ve been. Kobe Bryant, who scored 26 and hit a go-ahead pull-up in the final minute to help quiet the growing mass attached to the “Kobe ain’t clutch” bandwagon, overturned another play to tell everyone they should go inside to the Big Knee Injury. 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 Clippers better hope David Stern likes their team because if it comes down to it, he’ll have a huge say in whether or not they get the best point guard in the game to possibly ignite the next Gary Payton/Shawn Kemp oop combo. ESPN is reporting Chris Paul likes the Clippers if he can’t ever get to the Knicks or Lakers, and luckily for L.A. they have a ton of assets that should please Stern, Dan Gilbert and anyone else who wants to complain. They have expiring contracts (Chris Kaman), draft picks (a possibly top three-five pick in a loaded June draft) and talent. Read More »

A perfect blend of old school and new school. 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 »

If Duke played all of their games out in Maui, they might end up as the greatest college team ever. Yesterday they added to their all-time perfect record (14-0) there and clinched a spot in the championship game, beating Michigan 82-75. Living and dying by the three is the way of the college game now, and however unpredictable it might be, Duke is the best at it. It came through for them again. Michigan needed a perfect night of basketball, but they certainly didn’t get it during the first half. Tim Hardaway Jr., for all the praise we’ve been giving him, was terrible for most of the night. The Devils shut him out in the first half and built up a double-digit lead that withstood any comebacks the Wolverines countered with in the second frame. Read More »

The last time we were supposed to have some type of world basketball tour, we had denials and confirmations, we had a long list of All-Stars agreeing on playing, we had a schedule and we had the first night all planned out. Then we ended up with nothing. But LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony – four of the biggest stars in the world – are teaming up to try again. They’re planning on putting together a four-city homecoming tour of their respective cities: Akron, New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, starting December 1. We just want to see one of these ideas come to fruition. Too many heartbreaks and cancellations this year … Read More »