NEW YORK – “Déjà vu all over again,” to quote a wise sage. The NIT semifinal doubleheader was similar to the semis of the recently completed Newark Regional in the NCAA. Washington State versus Wichita state was a one-sided rout devoid of ties or lead changes. Following that, Alabama and Colorado saw five ties, nine lead changes and an SEC team emerge victorious in a game not settled until the final shot.
A tempo-free look follows.
How big a deal is VCU reaching the Final Four? It varies, but in each case, it’s very big.
The obvious is that it’s the first time it’s happened in school history. In fact, the Rams had never even been to the Sweet 16 prior to this season. And for fans, well, all you need to know is that not long after the game was over, there was basically nowhere to walk on Broad Street in downtown Richmond. Joey Rodriguez said that by the time the press conference began after Sunday’s game, he already saw a picture illustrating this.
NEWARK, N.J. – Kentucky is Final Four bound. The Newark Regional started off slow but gave us two outstanding contests to cap off a wild weekend. A tempo free look at the games, beginning with the final.
Kentucky 76, North Carolina 69
Possessions:
Kentucky 69
North Carolina 71
DORCHESTER, Mass. – Our first look at travel team competition came at UMass-Boston at the Boston Spartans Tournament 300 Shootout. A trip there on Saturday allowed for a look largely at younger high school talent, and our attention was naturally focused on the high school age groups.
Here are some quick hitters on what we saw at the Clark Athletic Center.
Will Cinderella’s slipper fit on VCU? At this point, the better question might be: Why wouldn’t it?
Led by coach Shaka Smart and point guard Joey Rodriguez, the Rams have burned through USC, Georgetown, Purdue and Florida State to move within one game of going from the First Four to the Final Four. If they make it happen, the run will look awfully familiar.
Five years ago, George Mason captured the country’s attention by receiving a controversial at-large bid as a No. 11 seed, then tore through Michigan State, North Carolina and Wichita State to set up a meeting with tournament-favorite Connecticut. The Colonials shocked the world with an overtime upset of the Huskies. … Continue Reading
Let’s dive right into today’s Elite Eight match ups between Florida and Butler, followed by Connecticut and Arizona.
In each of the past two NCAA Tournaments that Florida played Butler, the Gators reached the national title game, winning it in 2007 and losing to Michigan State in 2000. These two teams are different from their recent counterparts, and the winner will be one step away from the championship game. … Continue Reading
Let’s take a look at each Sweet 16 game on the schedule and ask a couple of questions for which the answers could easily decide the outcome of the game. Much of the analysis for these teams comes from the wealth of statistics available at Ken Pomeroy’s website.
San Diego State might be playing within two hours of home and have the better seed, but Connecticut is playing better than any team that’s not a No. 1 seed in this tournament. Led by Kemba Walker, Connecticut has been on fire since losing back-to-back games to close the regular season. Will Walker’s quickness and ability to create his own shot carry the Huskies past one of the best defensive teams in the country? … Continue Reading
I have written extensively about the old arenas, the history and when watching a game the sense of being taken back to a different era. But how about the new venues?
Let’s take a look at the best newer arenas for fans to watch a college basketball. The new arenas have seating bowls with wide seats, cup holders, huge video score boards, stat boards, wide concourses, all kinds of good food and of course, passionate fans.
This is my top 10 college basketball arenas built in the last 15 years. The two main criteria are the facility and the atmosphere. Louisville, Auburn and Oregon opened new arenas this season. I am not including them in this ranking because they are too new to get an accurate reading of the atmosphere. I will evaluate those venues next year after the newness factor wears off a little. … Continue Reading
NEWTON, Mass. – Mt. Ida College was home on Sunday to the third annual Fitzy’s New England All-Star Challenge. The event is three all-star games with players from around New England, along with a three-point shootout and a slam dunk contest. It started with a group of Connecticut players taking on the most powerful travel team in the region, then had a game with public school players and concluded with a game played between two teams of prep school players.
In between the second and third games of the day, Andre King of Suffield Academy, who recently committed to St. Anselm, won the three-point shootout. The slam dunk contest came down to DeShawn Murphy (Choate Rosemary Hall) and Drew Crudup (Hillhouse HS), with Murphy coming out on top. … Continue Reading
Surprise! After the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the two conferences performing the best are the ACC and CAA.
I don’t think many people saw that coming. But those two conferences account for a quarter of the Sweet 16 teams and have more teams advancing to the second weekend than the Big East and Big 12 combined. That’s even more impressive when you consider the latter two conferences fielded 16 teams to the seven from the ACC and CAA. In addition, 12 of the Big East/Big 12 teams had seeds of No. 6 or better, while only two of seven ACC/CAA teams could say that. … Continue Reading
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Everyone wants to be in the NCAA Tournament, and understandably so. You want to compete for a national championship, and with the nation watching closely as they always do in March. But when your program has a chance to make history and it comes in the NIT, that’s not a bad thing, and Northwestern is doing just that right now. They continued to do that with Saturday’s 85-67 win at Boston College.
With the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in the books, we’re moving into the third round. By the end of Sunday, we’ll know which teams will form this year’s Sweet 16, and there promises to be a few surprises. Let’s take a look at 16 questions for the third round of action. … Continue Reading
SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I – On the surface, you wouldn’t think much would happen. There wasn’t much energy in the arena, especially at the outset, and the game was one of a few in a tournament dwarfed in prestige by the NCAA Tournament, which had two of its First Four games being played on the evening. But Delroy James made it memorable for those who came out, recording the first triple-double in program history to lead the Rams to a convincing 76-59 win over Miami (Ohio).
Did he know about it?
Let’s take a quick run through every first-round match up to highlight the top question in each game.
(5) West Virginia 84 (12) Clemson 76
How will the Mountaineers handle Clemson’s pressure defense, which forces turnovers on 23.2 percent of defensive possessions?
ANSWER: After an ugly start, West Virginia recovered to beat Clemson 84-76 in the first game of the day. The Mountaineers succeeded in limiting turnovers to about 16 percent of their possessions, better than their season average 19.0 percent and even more impressive against the Tigers. … Continue Reading
LYNDHURST, NJ – For years the video games have provided a pleasant diversion. Yes, I religiously purchase Madden every August. The basketball simulations as NBA Live and NBA 2K as well as the college games (I always seem to do great with Xavier) are also favorites. Unfortunately no one released a college video game this season but that’s another story.
For a convenient, easy to play and enjoyable game, GoHoops is highly recommended. In addition, it’s ideal for travel. … Continue Reading
LYNDHURST, NJ – Have netbook will travel. Seriously, a time to assess the Big East Championship game. UCONN made it five wins in five days and one satisfying Big East championship at Madison Square Garden. The Huskies prevailed 69-66 in a game that literally came down to the final shot.
Possessions: UCONN 65 Louisville 65
Offensive Efficiency: UCONN 106 Louisville 102 … Continue Reading
Most Division I basketball players never get a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. It’s what most players dream of when they choose a school at this level. Among those who don’t make it are some of the best players in the country; three of the nation’s top five scorers this season won’t be playing in it, and only one of the top five rebounders will be in it.
John Holland is one player who will be in the NCAA Tournament that college basketball fans can be happy about getting the experience.
Editor’s Note: Kenny Smith, an analyst for TNT and CBS and a former North Carolina point guard, is partnering with Coke Zero to help promote a new, interactive site called the Coke Zero Social Arena, where college hoops fans can follow all the March Madness action this year. Smith chatted with Hoopville’s Michael Protos for a few minutes to talk about his outlook for the NCAA Tournament, critics of TNT’s analysts, and a few details about the Coke Zero campaign. TNT’s NBA coverage team, including Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Smith, will be covering their first tournament since the NCAA signed a new TV deal with the combined forces of CBS and TNT. … Continue Reading
We’ve got just about 90 minutes until the selection committee releases the field for this year’s NCAA Tournament. After the action of yesterday and today, we’ve got a decent amount of movement in seeding. Here’s what’s been going on. … Continue Reading
BOSTON – You could tease Boston University players and coaches that they had this one all the way, and in a sense, they really believed they did. There was never a doubt in their minds that they would come out on top in Saturday’s America East championship game, even if their 56-54 win seemed in doubt for most of the game.
“Even though they were up 15, we knew we were going to try to get stops, we knew eventually we were going to make some shots, and we got ourselves to the foul line,” said head coach Pat Chambers. “To only take the lead with two seconds to go is not how I drew it up, but we’ll take it.”
Some quick hitters about Boston University’s rebounding, a transfer helping Marquette, an improving Husky guard and a couple of key road wins among others as we head into another weekend.
Quinnipiac can now head home with the hope that their last game in the current road stretch does more for them than add one into the left-hand column. The Bobcats had a few tough games recently, and had another one in which they managed to pull out a 78-71 win in overtime at Bryant on Saturday.
We have a few quick hitters on a streaking America East team, another whose star had his first rough night, two inconsistent Patriot League teams and a couple of teams who have lost a player for the season but for different reasons.
Ron Hunter knew he had a culture to change at Georgia State, and he knew he was in a different place. Now he has a different issue on his hands with his team, which stands 5-2 in CAA play after a loss at Northeastern on Wednesday night.
There’s a big surprise near the top of the ACC standings. With only Duke sporting an undefeated record, one team in the logjam at 2-1 is the very young Boston College Eagles after two straight home wins.
Just over a month ago, Boston University looked ready go on a good run. But a six-game losing streak resulted instead, and the Terriers hope to regain confidence after ending it on Sunday.
Harvard improved to 13-2 on Saturday by winning the first Ivy League game of the season. While the bottom line is all positive, the Crimson also lived dangerously for a while, more so than the 16-point final margin of victory might lead one to believe.
With conference play, a bad non-conference run with one loss after another doesn’t matter on the bottom line. One example of that is UMBC, a team that won one game in non-conference play but is tied atop America East after an 82-76 win at New Hampshire on Monday night.
Boston College has come back from the Christmas break in a better place than they were before it. In fact, it’s better than where they were over a week before their last game, as their 83-73 win over Sacred Heart last Wednesday was their third straight.
Stony Brook probably welcomed the relative break in the action they are coming up on the end of. This stretch, with a lot of practice time, followed by three straight at home, gives this team a chance to gain some momentum.
JUST IN TIME FOR TONIGHT’S GAMES… All the news you ever wanted to know about the Big Sky, the weekly edition. YOUR WEEKLY DAMIAN LILLARD IS A STUD LINK-FEST: A Salt Lake Tribune story on his success. USA Today also jumped in sometime in the last week to talk about …
In a game with major implications for the regular season Horizon League championship and seeding for the Horizon League Tournament, the Cleveland State Vikings dominated the Milwaukee Panthers by a score of 83-57 in a game in which the Panthers never led. The Vikings and Panthers began the day in …
One team stands alone atop the standings for now, with another a little behind them and a logjam near the middle of the pack.
The Cleveland State Vikings started 2012 off on a winning note with a 69-48 victory at home on Saturday afternoon over the visiting Loyola Ramblers. In his pregame radio comments, Vikings coach Gary Waters stated that the Ramblers’ 5-10 record heading into Saturday’s matchup was deceiving and that the Ramblers were …
Opening weekend in the Big Sky Eastern Washington Record: 7-7, 1-1 Weekend: 1-1 Major superlatives: Won by 16, lost by 8; 76.5 ppg for, 72.5 against; plus-4 scoring margin; 52-112 FG; 20-53 3pt; 29-43 FT. Summary: One night, the lead stuck. The other, it didn’t. The Eagles made an early …
The Big Sky is about to dive in to conference play, and so far, the season has unfolded pretty much as expected, with Sacramento State looking like the one surprise.
Like the rest of the country, the Horizon League teams have been enjoying the holiday season and taking it easy on the hardwood. Here’s a roundup of the action that did go down during the past week.
Cleveland State had plenty of Christmas cheer to share in the Vikings’ easy win against Sam Houston State, though they didn’t exactly give the Bearkats a festive feeling.
Butler Bulldogs (5-7): Butler began the week with a matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers at Conseco Fieldhouse. Having struggled in the early part of the season, the Bulldogs probably weren’t given much of a chance by most observers against the Boilermakers. Summing up some of the magic that has helped …
Butler Bulldogs (4-6): Butler has continued to struggle in the early stages of the 2011-12 college basketball season. However, don’t start writing Butler’s obituary just yet. Horizon League fans shouldn’t forget that Butler began last season slowly and bottomed out with a loss to Youngstown State before turning their season …
We take a quick run through the results from the past week in the Big Sky Conference, giving a little love to each team in the conference.
Missouri and Baylor are looking great, but we love the improvement of one of Lon Kruger’s guards.
Longtime Cleveland sports fans are familiar with the “Kardiac Kids,” which was the nickname bestowed on the 1980 Cleveland Browns team that won multiple games in the waning seconds of the game. Although the 2011-12 college basketball season is still somewhat young, the Cleveland State Vikings have already given that …
The Vikings keep rolling as they take out Detroit in an early battle for positioning at the top of the Horizon League.
Yes, a few Big East teams have faltered early in the season. No, that’s not a reason to panic, as it is still November.
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