If nothing else, Northern Iowa needs to keep this run going so we can see how many more times Greg Gumbel butchers the name Ali Farokhmaneh. One of the 14 variations he had yesterday was pronouncing the kid’s first name “Aloof” … In case you missed it, Farokhmanesh is becoming the breakout star of the NCAA Tournament. After dropping the game-winning three against UNLV in the first round, the 6-foot senior delivered the dagger yesterday as the Panthers took out overall No. 1 seed Kansas. Northern Iowa was up by one with 40 seconds left when they broke KU’s full-court press and got it ahead to Farokhmanesh. Read More »

Derrick Rose has only participated in one dunk contest in his life. And he can’t even remember exactly when. Arguably the most athletic point guard in the NBA and one of the League’s most explosive players, period, Rose has a strong resume of in-game dunks — this season alone he’s had notable bangers on Greg Oden, Zach Randolph and Goran Dragic — he’s just not a contest dunker.

But that won’t stop him from being a tough dunk contest judge. Rose and Chris Paul and part of Powerade’s Dunk Domination, where regular folks can send in videos of their best dunks to be evaluated by D-Rose and CP3. Read More »

See what help defense will get you? This was a solid highlight in an otherwise heartbreaking game for the Bulls. After the game, Zach acknowledged the cram, saying that Rose “got me good.”

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Beast of the Night: Zach Randolph was a bully last night in Chicago, finishing with 31 points, 18 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 turnovers. He shot 67 percent (12-18) from the field and 88 percent (7-8) from the free throw line. He’s improved his shooting from the stripe, rebounding and has managed to swipe and block a few more balls this season, making him a top-25 fantasy player. Read More »

A whole lot of things didn’t make sense about last night’s Grizzlies/Hornets game. It didn’t make sense that Mike Conley (26 pts, 7 asts, 5 stls) was sticking jumpers like Mark Price. It didn’t make sense that Darren Collison (17 pts, 14 asts, 5 stls) and Marcus Thornton (24 pts) kept playing like the best backcourt in the League. It didn’t make sense that Emeka Okafor had one whole rebound. It didn’t make sense that Aaron Gray and Hamed Haddadi guarded each other for about 10 minutes and the sport of basketball wasn’t set back 30 years. But most improbable thing, according to one Hornets’ announcer, was the shot that eventually won Memphis the game … Read More »

It wasn’t too long ago — just a couple of months, actually — that Rudy Gay was a lock to put Memphis in his rear view mirror as soon as possible. Forget 2010 free agency; there was some talk that Gay could be traded before the February deadline to a contender in need of a scorer while Memphis insured itself against losing a young All-Star caliber talent for nothing. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Dirk Nowitzki takes this honor after averaging 36.5 points, 1 three, 8.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1 steal and 0.5 blocks per game during his two games this weekend. He shot 57 percent from the field and 93 percent from the line during this span and averaged just a turnover in each game. Diggler’s as steady a fantasy beast as they come. Read More »

If you thought last Thursday’s loss to the Cavs was a sign the Celtics don’t have enough in the tank to win a championship this year, Saturday’s loss to the New Jersey Nets — yes, we said the New Jersey Nets — was all the confirmation you needed … Tommy Heinsohn and the two psychos from Celtic Pride would have a hard time coming up with an excuse here: Boston was at home, they hadn’t traveled since last weekend, they weren’t playing a back-to-back, and Kevin Garnett (26 pts, 9 rebs) and Rajon Rondo (13 pts, 17 asts) didn’t play horribly. Read More »

Interesting fact: Of the 28 players that made up this year’s NBA All-Star rosters, 16 of them (57%) were Top-5 Draft picks once upon a time.

That could mean nothing. Or it could mean that, while we all love the second-round underdogs and outside-the-Lottery gems, the more boring truth is that we typically know where our future superstars are coming from.

While it’s been fashionable over the last few years to bemoan the drop in talent on the college level, when you look across the ‘09-10 NCAA landscape, you can still see more than a handful of future NBA All-Stars. Read More »

A few minutes before last night’s Thunder/Spurs game in San Antonio got underway, Kevin Durant was on the OKC bench casually chatting with Bruce Bowen. After the game started, KD must have felt like Bowen had never left. Facing a combination of quick, strong, tough and crafty defenders, Durant was harassed into his worst offensive performance in about two months … KD’s jumper with 3:30 left in the third quarter was the last time he saw the ball go in the basket. Read More »