There is an NBA team that started this season with a roster that included an MVP winner from this decade; a recent Defensive Player of the Year; the runner-up in the most recent Rookie of the Year voting; and two All-Stars, including one deemed the league’s Most Improved Player. The roster also included some highly promising youngsters and a handful of savvy, playoff-tested veterans. The team seemed to be a lock for the postseason, having made the playoffs every year but
Whenever I’m asked if I have been watching the NCAA Tournament, I say, “No. I haven’t.” That raises some eyebrows in my home state of Connecticut, where both genders of Huskies basketball have been winning national championships for nearly a generation and are followed religiously by the Nutmeg State’s hoops fans. But among the many reasons I don’t go mad in March is because over that same generation, the college game has become less and less of a barometer for NBA success.
The “hazing” – if that’s what you want to call it – of rookies and young players by veterans happens in almost all college and professional sports. Carrying bags or equipment, paying for meals and ridiculous haircuts are just a few examples of such hazing. Anything along the lines of giving them a small sense of embarrassment and humiliation usually works. One common approach by veterans is to somewhat emasculate the rookie. Whether it’s football, baseball or basketball, male athletes are
Congratulations to Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals for winning the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship. This year’s tournament, like many before it, had its share of highlights, buzzer beaters, and breakout stars. Every year, prospects use March to springboard into the draft and surge up boards — but at the same time several players’ hurt their lofty draft stock with poor or inconsistent performances. With a focus toward June’s NBA Draft, here is a breakdown of the prospects that helped
Hello and welcome to The 6 O’Clock News: your daily feature for the latest NBA content… Let’s get right to it. [Read more…]
The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is pure mayhem; games begin and end simultaneously, buzzers sound from TV’s, iPads, iPhones, and computers, celebrations are loud … and defeat is inevitable for more than three-quarters of the field… Which brings us to these next four days of college basketball: Games are fewer than the week before, but the stakes continue to rise as the Sweet Sixteen turns into the Elite Eight, and, eventually the Final Four. [Read more…]
The first week of the NCAA Tournament is in the books, and one thing is clear — the draft stock of many of the top players did not improve. In fact, Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel’s stock was probably helped the most of any top prospect — and he was unable to play in the NIT because of a torn ACL. But there were certainly others who helped themselves. [Read more…]
With the NCAA Tournament finally underway, we’ll be bringing you the stars of the night after each day of action. For those of you with day jobs, it’s hard to keep up with all the action. 16 games were on the schedule Thursday (while four are still in progress) so lets take a look at the stars of the day. [Read more…]