A Philly Hoops Renaissance
LaSalle has a proud basketball lineage. From guys like Tom Gola to Lionel Simmons to Michael Brooks to Ken Durrett, the Explorers have well-known players to go with well-documented success, including a 1954 NCAA Title. They have two players — Brooks and Simmons — in the top 25 of all-time scoring in NCAA basketball history [...]
BYU’s tournament chances don’t ride on suspension of Brandon Davies
It was reported Tuesday evening that BYU’s starting center Brandon Davies was suspended for the rest of the season because of a violation of the school’s honor code. Speculation involves a pregnant girlfriend. Regardless of what happened, Davies is gone for the rest of the season. The knee-jerk reaction from local radio and newspapers in [...]
Will Fairfield create any madness this March?
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — You could look at Fairfield’s 70-69 victory at St. Peter’s in one of two ways. If you’re all about the here and now—the race for the conference crown and league tourney seeding—Sunday was an important day. If, on the other hand, you’re the type who spends February scouting potential NCAA Tournament bracket-breakers, [...]
The fast and the efficient: Meet the Long Island University Blackbirds
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — One season ago, Julian Boyd and C.J. Garner spent their evenings at the end of the bench, digesting their Long Island University team’s 11-7, fourth-place finish in Northeast Conference play. Garner, a transfer from South Alabama, was waiting for his one-year waiting period to run out. Boyd was sitting out of the action [...]
I believe: A program blossoms in the Ancient Eight
Editor’s note: John Ezekowitz is currently a sophomore at Harvard. On occasion, he will chronicle his up-close look at what it’s like to follow his Crimson’s quest for an Ivy League crown. Ivy League basketball story lines are usually predictable. The “last true student-athletes” earning their education and still finding time to play basketball. The [...]
Syracuse: Teetering on the brink of absolute collapse
The “Celebrate Martin Luther King Day Undefeated and Collapse” club is dangerously close to accepting the 2011 Syracuse Orange as its latest member. Recent inductees include Clemson from 2007 and 2009 (yes, I know their first loss both years was the week before MLK Day, but work with me here), Wake Forest from 2009 and [...]
The behind-the-scenes program on Duke: worth your time
It began last night, but there’s plenty of programming to go. If you’ve got ESPNU on your cable package and are really aching for college basketball at this juncture, “ESPNU All-Access: Training Days with the Duke Blue Devils” is just the cure.
LaceDarius Dunn is back in class
Baylor’s got plenty to deal with right now, but at the very least, LaceDarius Dunn’s academic eligibility appears to be safe once again.
Saint Louis down 2 players in wake of mysterious sexual assault allegations
How about this as the last big blast of bad news we receive before the season starts? Can we go three more weeks without an arrest or a player getting kick off a team? A coach or a member of his staff getting busted for breaking a rule? We can only hope. Saint Louis announced [...]
Breaking: BYU parts ways with MWC, will join WCC next year
It’s now official: BYU has less than a year remaining as a member of the Mountain West Conference. The school and the WCC announced tonight they’ll be teaming up in all sports save for football come 2011-12. The Cougars are going through with their threat of being an independent in pigskin, a move that will [...]
Texas Tech bringing reality TV back to its campus
Reality television probably doesn’t have much of a long-term place on college campuses. It may not have any place, some would argue. But Texas Tech is going back into the business anyway. It’ll be the school’s second foray; you’ll remember the first go-round four and a half years ago, when “Knight School” had a six-episode [...]
Brandon Knight nudges that bar nice and high with big debut
It was against the University of Windsor. Let’s keep that fresh and in the front of our minds. But most Kentucky fans will cull as much as possible from 28 minutes of play after Brandon Knight exploded for 31, seven and four — and zero. That’s turnovers. He also made 58 percent of his shots. [...]
Chris Allen booted from MSU
Little noise from East Lansing tonight, as Chris Allen was dismissed from the team. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Allen, you’ll remember, was benched in the beginning of March for disrupting the team/violating rules/open-to-interpretation. Izzo called Allen a bad teammate amid Michigan State’s run to the Final Four. Though Allen sat out in the Big Ten [...]
N.C. State’s got quite the potential next season now
Getting top-five-class talent isn’t something N.C. State is used to. It’s, frankly, part of the bane of the existence that is State Fan, the inferiority complex that comes with rooting for the red and white. Duke and Carolina have only extended the gap distance between the Wolfpack in the past six seasons. But the role [...]
The ACC has won 5 of the last 10 titles
It’s a stat you may have heard tossed out there after Duke fended off Butler. In the last 10 years, only Florida, Kansas, Syracuse and Connecticut have gotten in the way of the ACC winning in college basketball on the grand scale. Duke’s titles bookend a half-score of domination that will further allow ACC honks [...]
Tonight, Ronald Nored needs to play the role of Ricky Moore
Remember 11 years ago? When a team that was plenty good but plenty underrated/underappreciated went up against Duke in the national championship game and few gave it a shot? That team went on to win its first title in program history, despite being the underdog. Despite having no Final Four prior Final Four experience. Despite [...]
A Butler win wouldn’t be the same as Villanova, N.C. State
It’s an easy story for ESPN.com to run on its front page this morning. A small school going up against college basketball’s preeminnent program of the past 25 seasons. The storylines just unfurl right in front of you, don’t they? We can ponder about Butler winning tonight, how great of a victory that would be [...]
Anyone got the guts to take Vermont?
If UVM wins, it would have the trump card on central New York. Forever. A 16 only beats a 1 for the first time once. Are you brave enough to call it? Have made no attempts to mask my subjectivity to the Vermont Catamounts (what a nickname). A reset: I lived in South Burlington, Vt., [...]
