After an amazing run to the Final Four last season, VCU is trying to make it back. So with the preseason wrapping up, here’s a glimpse into some of the their workouts. Daniel Roose, the Rams’ strength and conditioning coach, is the mastermind behind the program that blends functional strength training with on-court conditioning. Oh yeah, and a little boxing and Navy SEAL training is thrown in there for good measure. Shaka Smart is that dude…

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 »

More than just a championship is on the line in this weekend’s Final Four. A lot of these players – guys like Kemba Walker, Shelvin Mack, Joey Rodriguez and Brandon Knight – have the chance to do something special. This has been the year of the underdog with not a single number-one or number-two seed still dancing. These four teams weren’t expected to be here, but that doesn’t mean the basketball won’t be great.

Great, but perhaps not great enough. With the games set to tip tomorrow, I went diggin’ in the crates to try to find the greatest players in Kentucky, VCU, UConn and Butler’s history.

So here are the all-time starting lineups for each of the four schools playing this weekend. Read More »

Words. Julian Caldwell

Conspicuously absent from this year’s Final Four are the top seeds that steamed rolled their way through the regular season. Instead, you see teams that struggled to perform like elite squads and drew questions of whether they even deserved tournament bids.

Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Pittsburgh, the four No. 1 seeds, came into the Big Dance with a combined 13 losses. Butler, Connecticut, Kentucky and Virginia Commonwealth go into the Final Four with nearly triple that number. Read More »

What a game in Oklahoma City last night between the Thunder and the Blazers. It was a battle that had playoff intensity, physicality and atmosphere, great individual performances, and we saw the young core of a burgeoning NBA juggernaut take a formative step forward in their development. When it got down to winning time, the Thunder’s offense resorted to a two-man game focusing on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook running pick-and-pops and taking turns on isos and clearouts. Westbrook (28 points) ended up as the closer, burying three monster treys down the stretch to give OKC the 99-90 win … This season, it absolutely feels like the Thunder are starting to belong to KD and Russ (have you seen Russel’s kicks?), as opposed to just being Kevin Durant and a bunch of sidekicks. Everyone can feel it, including those two. Case in point, Read More »

Friday was an absolute bonanza of basketball, both college and pro. NCAA Tournament games all day and a 12-game slate of NBA games had us locked in sitting in front of a TV from noon til after midnight … Arguably the best game of the entire day was the Bulls/Pacers overtime battle in Indy. Two weeks ago it looked like the Pacers’ season was a wrap, but after outlasting Chicago 115-108 last night have now won three of their last four … Seriously, the Tyler Hansbrough thing is starting to become ridiculous. He had another monster game, going for 29 point and 12 boards, and when he fouled out in OT, it seemed like there was a definite “Uh oh, what do we do now?” vibe among the Pacers and their fans … Odd night for Derrick Rose. He tied a career-high with 42 points, but he only had 2 assists in 39 minutes. Yes, the Pacers were doubling him all over the place, but for a guy who has the ball in his hands 80% (maybe more) of the time on Chicago possessions, he needs to be setting up guys better than that … Read More »

You may have seen this on SportsCenter this morning, but if you haven’t, it’s definitely worth a look. In a French League game, former VCU Ram Jamal Shuler, with his team up one with six seconds to go, missed two free throws. The other team raced down the floor and hit a scored with 1.4 seconds left in the game. Shuler redeemed himself mightily a split second later. Check it out…

Read More »

While the rest of us have the luxury of filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket in relative peace — only having it picked apart game-by-game if somebody in your office pool is really bored — President of the United States Barack Obama (I still like typing that out in full) gets no such treatment. Read More »

Whether it’s Dick Vitale‘s hoarse screaming or Bruiser Flint reading it off some intern’s notes, every college basketball analyst will tell you that backcourt play is beyond critical in the Tournament; especially point guard play. Like I said in picking Louisville senior PG Andre McGee (and backup Edgar Sosa) to lead the Cardinals to a national ‘chip, each of this decade’s title-winning teams had, without exception, good to great point guards. Read More »