It’s March. And for those of us basketball junkies, that means it’s the most glorious time of the year. March is filled with sneaker-squeaking, channel-flicking, mini-hoop jamming madness. It’s a time when we fill out brackets until the blood from our paper cuts advances to the Sweet 16. We place an inordinate amount of self-worth into our clicker skills and hear buzzers sounding in our sleep. During media timeouts, we chase down the leftover pizza in the fridge down like LeBron
The road to the Final Four is complete after an epic March Madness filled with defining moments that gained tournament immortality. Georgia State’s R.J. Hunter hit the shot of the tournament that had his coach – and dad – Ron Hunter literally falling out of his seat. People still debate whether UCLA should have advanced due to a goaltending call against SMU. Most significantly, Kentucky is two wins away from a perfect 40-0 season, which would be the first perfect
I once heard the statement in coaching, “if you are a great coach but a weak recruiter, you will get fired. But if you are a great recruiter and even a fair coach, you will survive.” Obviously, the goal is to be both. But it does explain the importance in college basketball of getting the best players. Ever since I started coaching, I have always been compared to John Calipari more than any other coach. I guess it’s because I made
As it often does, the NCAA Tournament provided a wild first weekend. Mercer saved Warren Buffett $1 billion, Dayton won the state of Ohio and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 30 years, Stanford sent Andrew Wiggins and Kansas packing, and the young Kentucky Wildcats ended Wichita State’s dream season. So out of the 32 second and third-round games won by the 16 teams still in contention for the national championship, what statistical trends and insights can we gain
I don’t like the NCAA Tournament. I don’t like that college basketball’s regular season provides little postseason incentive. I don’t like that the coach is a bigger personality than the players. I don’t like that the games are played on neutral courts. I don’t like that one bad game or bad call or bad break can end a team’s season. I don’t like that “close” becomes a synonym for “well-played.” And I don’t like that poor play determines the outcome much
Click on this banner to search for NCAA Tournament tickets. As we look at our brackets and try to pick who will advance to the Final Four, a lot of focus will be given to likely national player of the year Doug McDermott, the Creighton do-it-all-forward. “McBuckets” is one of eight players to score more than 3,000 career points and could be the most dynamic and discussed player in the field of 68. So how do you defend
Enjoy “February free agency” while it lasts, folks. After Metta World Peace and maybe even Danny Granger get bought out and waived, you know what awaits? The dark days. March Numbness … or Sadness … or Badness. If you think the Sixers are bad now, allowing 130 points to the Bucks on Monday night, just wait. It will be mind-numbing. The six weeks after All Star Weekend is the part of the schedule that players dread. It’s the part of the season
Admit it. You’ve been infected by the Madness, too. With 48 games in the rearview mirror and another 12 on the docket for next weekend’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, the NCAA Tournament is in full swing. But the most activity isn’t happening on court in regional venues; it’s taking place virtually on Twitter. In that spirit, let’s break down the tournament’s massive social-media response thus far in fitting micro-form fashion: – The biggest story of the Dance so far has been