CHICAGO — Three headlining freshmen. Three spectacular performances. Julius Randle? All he did was take his youthful Kentucky Wildcats and rally them with a dominant second half performance of 23 points and eight rebounds against Michigan State, one of the more consistently well coached and talented teams in college basketball. [Read more…]
Is Andrew Wiggins still the top pick in the 2014 NBA draft? Wiggins certainly was good Tuesday night, when the Windy City was rocking for the State Farm Champions Classic. But so were Jabari Parker and Julius Randle, who may have closed the gap on Wiggins. The event pitted Kentucky vs. Michigan State and Duke vs. Kansas – traditional powers from major conferences meeting on the hardwood in an early season measuring stick. But while many fans were entertained by the games and
Mid-October is not synonymous with the NBA draft. Basketball fans are usually starting to notice the NBA preseason and getting ready for the start of college ball. But unlike past years, there has been a greater focus on the 2014 NBA draft and the overwhelming star power it has. That is why “Tankapalooza” is already part of basketball lexicon. For a long time, this next draft has been called the Andrew Wiggins Lottery, and one year prior to the 2014 draft, the
This is the time of year where everyone and their mothers offer up a series of fearless prognostications about the upcoming NBA season. Here’s what I can tell you about my skills at predicting the future. If I was really any good at it, I wouldn’t be wasting it on the NBA season. And neither would anyone else. I am not reading tea leaves, interpreting tarot cards, gazing into crystal balls, holding seances, poring over analytics or buying classified information on the
NEW YORK – When the NBA draft lottery ended with the Cleveland Cavaliers owning the No. 1 pick, most observers assumed they would take Kentucky freshman big man Nerlens Noel. But because Noel is not considered a dominant player or a presumptive top pick, there remains speculation that the Cavs might take Georgetown forward Otto Porter Jr. or Maryland center Alex Len — or consider trading the rights to Noel to Minnesota for Kevin Love. Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore is also considered by some to be worthy of the
NEW YORK — Eleven years after they played in the Jordan Brand Classic at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire sat courtside at Barclays Center to watch the next generation of future NBA stars on display in the 2013 Jordan Classic. The two Knicks stars were joined by a star-studded group that included teammate J.R. Smith, C.C. Sabathia, Spike Lee, Worldwide Wes and Drake, who later performed a concert. Michael Jordan himself sat up in the
This year will mark the 10th anniversary of LeBron James’s grant entrance into the NBA, when he wore an all-white suit (perfect garb for a Savior) to Madison Square Garden and was chosen No. 1 by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. Two years later, the NBA and the players union instituted the so-called “one-and-done” rule mandating that players had to be 19 years old and a year removed from their high school graduation class in
While March Madness officially tips off Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, some of the top college basketball programs and their fanbases are anxiously looking ahead to the recruiting madness that will unfold in the coming weeks. Five elite Class of 2013 recruits remain uncommitted and are expected to make their announcements during and after March Madness. Among the group of five are three who are considered lottery locks for the 2014 NBA draft: Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon. One NBA GM recently