Archive for category college basketball

Basketball Will not Be the Same without Pat Summitt

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on April 18, 2012

Pat Summitt has stepped down as women’s basketball head coach at the University of Tennessee.  Her long-time assistant Holly Warlick will take over as head coach.

Color me stunned.

Look, I know this day was coming sooner rather than later after Summitt revealed that she was diagnosed with early onset dementia.  I just cannot associate women’s college basketball without Summitt – let alone Tennessee women’s basketball.

Simply put, Summitt put women’s college basketball on the map.  She begat other women’s coaching legends such as UConn’s women’s coach Geno Auriemma, Baylor’s coach Kim Mulkey, and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.

In fact, could you picture Auriemma and Summitt not going at it?  Neither can I.  Those two helped make women’s college basketball cool to watch – even for the casual fan.

Oh, since I am a numbers guy, here is what Summitt leaves behind:

  • A 1,098-207 record
  • 16 regular season Southeastern Conference championships
  • 16 SEC tournament titles
  • 18 Final Fours
  • Eight national titles

Not only is Summitt the best women’s coach, she is one of the best coaches in basketball, period.

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Kentucky vs. Louisville = Duke Vs. UNC

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on March 29, 2012

Move over Duke-UNC.

Kentucky-Louisville is as fierce as it gets.

Growing up in ACC country, I never thought I’d see myself type that.  But, as they say, “I gotta keep it real”.

Sure, Duke-UNC is intense and is arguably the best rivalry in college basketball.  Hell both schools are less than 10 miles from each – a short, straight drive down highways 15 and 501.  The fans of both teams work with each other.  The Battle of the Blues: Royal Blue and Light Blue.  Dick Vitale slurping Duke at every Duke-UNC clash on ESPN.  Most of all, players for both teams play pickup ball against – and with – each other every summer.  There is a lot of mutual respect to go around.

However, Kentucky-Louisville is just flat-out nasty.  The players hate each other.  The fans really hate each other.  And the coaches despise the hell out of each other.  After all, what other rivalry has one fan punching the other during dialysis treatment?

There is no neutrality in the state of Kentucky.  You are either red (Louisville) or blue (Kentucky).  It divides family members.  Word on the street there are family members who are not talking to each other this week.  Friendships had been ruined in the UK-UL rivalry.

Do you think these guys really like each other?

There is lot of trash talk among family members and friends who are Duke and UNC fans, but not to that level of bitterness.  I never heard of Duke fan punching UNC fan, let alone in a dialysis joint.  To me it’s more about bragging rights than bitterness.  And it didn’t take years for one to FINALLY play the other in basketball.

There is a bit of history between UK and UL.  Kentucky refused to play Louisville for years until 1983 – and that was because it was during the NCAA Tournament.  Louisville was seen as the “scary big city” in the state, and was ahead of the curve in integration.  In fact, legendary coach/bigot Adolph Rupp refused to recruit black players until he had to do so while kicking and screaming.  Despite all of that, it didn’t truly become a rivalry until Louisville begin winning national championships.  Louisville was suddenly on par with Kentucky in basketball, and it’s led to intense recruiting wars ever since.

And now that they are going to play each other in the Final Four, the state of Kentucky is going to be nuclear.  Hell I would just love to be at the Final Four in New Orleans to see the inevitable carnage between fans of both schools.

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2012 NCAA Tournament Preview

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on March 12, 2012

East Regional

Top four seeds:

  1. Syracuse
  2. Ohio State
  3. Florida State
  4. Wisconsin

Dark horse: Florida State

Analysis:  Syracuse might not have looked so good in the Big East conference tournament, but it is too long and deep to not make a deep run in the tournament.  While I have Syracuse as a favorite coming out of the East, keep an on Florida State.  FSU plays hellacious defense and can score some points if needed (see the win over UNC yesterday).  In fact, look for FSU to upset Syracuse to win this region.  Side note:  Look for Harvard to make some noise too.  They should beat Vanderbilt and Wisconsin and make the Sweet 16.

Midwest Regional

Top four seeds:

  1. UNC
  2. Kansas
  3. Georgetown
  4. Michigan

Dark horse: NC State (don’t let me down fellas!)

Analysis:  Whoever set this region up has to be a huge Tar Heel fan.  UNC should not be remotely challenged until the Elite Eight.  I mean, Creighton/Alabama in Round 2, followed by Michigan in the Sweet 16?  Really?  The only team that could challenge UNC is Kansas, but I do not like Kansas as a tournament team.  It didn’t look so hot against Baylor in the Big 12 tournament, and that hangover will carry over into this tournament.  It wouldn’t shock me to see Kansas get upset by St. Mary’s in Round 2.  Side note:  look for my Wolfpack to upset San Diego State and an unimpressive Georgetown and make the Sweet 16.  GO PACK!!!

South Regional

Top four seeds:

  1. Kentucky
  2. Duke
  3. Baylor
  4. Indiana

Dark horse:  Wichita State

Analysis:  Kentucky and Duke are the prohibitive favorites to come out of this region, and it’s easy to see why.  Duke does not have any tests before the Sweet 16 (Notre Dame and Xavier?  Really?), while UK has Wichita State blocking its path to the Elite Eight.  Speaking of Wichita State, the Shockers (an interesting choice of a nickname) are really good.  Sure they stumbled in their conference tournament, but the Shockers are a fearless bunch that will give UK problems.

As for whom I think will come out this region, this is Kentucky’s region to lose.  If they fail to get to the Final Dour, coach John Calipari should be drug tested…

West Regional

Top four seeds:

  1. Michigan State
  2. Missouri
  3. Marquette
  4. Louisville

Dark horse: Murray State

Analysis:  this is clearly the “Murderer’s Row” of the four regions.  Six (or seven) of the teams in this region could win it.  I love Michigan State as a tournament team, but I am feeling Missouri.  The Tigers have been on a mission in what is their final season in the Big 12.  In addition to winning the Big 12 tournament, Missouri was a collapse away from sweeping Kansas in the regular season.  I would keep a close eye on Murray State.  They’ve been counted out all season and have a low seed (a sixth seed) to show for it, despite losing only one game all season.

Who’s going to win the whole damn thing:

Kentucky

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Not Many Complaints over the Selection Field

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on March 11, 2012

God, do I love the month of March.

It’s the time where spring training in Major League Baseball winds down as it readies itself for Opening Day.  It’s the month where the NFL’s hot stove percolates before the NFL Draft.  It’s when spring football goes into full swing for college football fans everywhere.

And most importantly, it is the month that blesses sports fans with the NCAA Tournament.

This year, I do not have many gripes over the teams selected to participate in the tournament.  The NCAA Selection Committee actually hooked up the mid-major conferences.  The Atlantic-10 got multiple teams in the tournament, as did the West Coast, Mountain West, and Missouri Valley conferences.

However, every year it gives us teams that shouldn’t made the tournament over teams that deserved to be there.  This year is no different, though it’s not as big an issue as in years past.

Enter UConn, West Virginia, and Cal.

UConn and West Virginia are only in the tournament on the strength of its overrated conference, the Big East.  The media (read: ESPN) fall in love with that bloated conference every year, and it clouds the judgment of the NCAA Selection Committee.

Both teams finished no better than a .500 record in the conference, with UConn finishing at 8-10 in conference play.  Hell, it finished with a worse overall record than Seton Hall, who did NOT make the tournament.

And as for Cal, I don’t know how in the hell they got there.  They didn’t even win a “turrible” Pac-12.  Worse, Cal didn’t even win its tournament.  And yet they are there.

Oh well, I guess no one is perfect.  Nonetheless, expect me to practice my “sick coughs” for my Thursday “sick day”.

God bless the NCAA Tournament…

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A Close Look into the Cincinnati-Xavier Rivalry

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on December 15, 2011

I lived in Cincinnati for four years (1999-2003).  While experiencing life as a midwesterner, I came to appreciate the following: Big Ten football, Cincinnati Reds baseball, Ohio State-Michigan, and…

Cincinnati-Xavier.

For those who do not know, both those schools are located in the inner city and are separated by a mere three miles and change.  Both schools play in the “Crosstown Shootout” every year before conference play.  That game receives a lot of hype and features intense battles.

In other words, UC-XU is an intense rivalry.  Both teams hate each other to the point that it has gotten ugly the last few seasons.

So it was not a surprise to me that the last game ended in a brawl.

As I person who grew up in North Carolina, I would rank this rivalry up there with Duke-UNC.  I am dead serious.  At least players from Duke and UNC respect each other – even if they do not like each other.

While it’s sad that this brawl happened – and I was even more disappointed with the Xavier players’ responses during the press conference after the game – this is a great rivalry.

I just hope that this brawl doesn’t put an end to it.

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So Much for the “EAST” in Big East…

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, college football, sports blogging on December 6, 2011

The Big East added five schools to its conference – two football-only schools in Boise State and San Diego St, and Central Florida, Houston, and SMU for all sports.  The schools will compete in the Big East starting in the 2013 season.

So much for the Big East being, well, “east” right?

Look, I understand why the conference is doing this.  Everyone and their mamas are looking to bail on the conference and the Big East was desperate to keep its BCS-automatic qualifier status.

Hell, the teams joining the Big East – especially Boise State – are desperate.  Desperate to be part of the BCS party, and even more desperate for the BCS $$$.  Speaking of Boise State, I should have known that something was coming down the pipe when its football coach Chris Peterson said that people were “tired of the BCS”.

Having said all of that, I think it was a stupid move on both parts.

For starters, so much for a conference having the same agenda.  A good, sound conference has to have teams on the same page – i.e. for all sports.  I thought the Big East learned that lesson from having teams leaving the conference because of that.

I loved the fact that the Big East stayed true to its northeastern roots by expanding into the southwest and pacific northwest.  Way to go fellas!

What TV network will be willing to shell out untold billions of dollars to a crappy conference consisting of schools in smaller television markets (Boise, Idaho and Orlando)?

Speaking of the schools joining the conference, what in the hell were they thinking?

“You know what, we are so (plucking) tired of being left out in the BCS-cold, so let’s join a sinking ship of a conference so that we can qualify for the BCS $$$.”

I would love to see where Boise State and Co. are willing to go when the Big East loses its AQ status and dies as a football conference.

Man I swear.  The older I get, the more stupid (spit) I see.

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ACC-Big Ten Challenge Wasn’t Much of One

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on December 1, 2011

The ACC-Big Ten Challenge once again goes to the Big Ten (B1G).  With wins by Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota and Penn State last night, the B1G prevailed by an 8-4 margin.

It’s time to face this unfortunate fact: the ACC is not as good of a basketball conference as it used to be.

In years past, the ACC would never let another conference – let alone the B1G – dominate it in head-to-head challenges like this one.  I remember when the ACC would dominate the Big East, which was thought to be a basketball conference that was more than worthy of challenging the ACC.  Hell, in the first few years of the ACC-B1G challenge, the ACC dominated to the point the question was asked “why have this challenge?”

Now the conference of my youth has lost this challenge for the third year in a row, and the difference between the conferences were not even close.  Ohio State beating down Duke pretty much summed it up.  The B1G’s best team (Ohio State) smashed the ACC’s second-best team (Duke).

Aside from Virginia upsetting #15 Michigan (actually it was an ass-whupping), the B1G showed that it is the clear-cut better conference.

Growing up in ACC country, that is a hard pill to swallow.  It was even tougher for me to type.

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Syracuse Did What Penn State Should Have Done

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on November 28, 2011

Syracuse basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine was fired by the university over allegations of sexual abuse on ball boys.  After a third victim came forward and in the wake of a damning – but legal – recorded conversation with Fine’s wife, Syracuse had to break him off.

Bravo, Syracuse University.

The school didn’t mess around like, oh I don’t know – Penn State.  Syracuse’s president didn’t offer a clumsy statement in supporting the alleged transgressor like Penn State’s did.  Syracuse’s administration had not lawyer-ed up (yet) like Penn State’s.

In short, Syracuse did what Penn State was too cowardly to do: the right thing.

However, there is a parallel (albeit a small bit) here.  Head basketball coach Jim Boeheim was not only outspoken of his right-hand man and friend in Fine, but he also called two of the accusers liars.  Remember that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno supported Jerry Sandusky, even if it was a bit quieter.

The only difference was Boeheim did the following in the wake of Fine’s firing: he retracted his support of Fine, and apologized to the alleged victims.  He also did not go to the Board of Trustees and told him that he wasn’t going anywhere – even though Boeheim’s job is not in danger.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, Penn State was slow to act and should have been held accountable.  At least Syracuse was not asleep at the wheel.

Again, bravo to Syracuse and shame on Penn State.

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Coach K Is the Greatest College Coach of All Time

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on November 16, 2011

NC State fans do not want to admit it.  UNC fans would rather throw up in their mouths rather than acknowledge it.

I’m sorry guys, but Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best college basketball coach of all time – and outside of Bob Knight it’s not even close.

A lot of fans would scoff at that statement.  After all, what about the likes of Henry Iba, Adolph Rupp (racist bastard), Dean Smith, Knight and most of all John Wooden?

Most of those coaches – namely Iba, Rupp and Wooden – have one thing in common: they coached during a time when college basketball was on a far different landscape.  There was not a competitive balance in college basketball as it is today.  When the University of Kentucky (Rupp) and UCLA (Wooden) were winning those championships, there were little resistance among other college basketball programs.  Plus, many colleges didn’t recruit black players during that time.

Coach K built a behemoth of a program at Duke that, outside of his first three turbulent years, has stood the test of time.  He’s won games and conference titles in the ’80s, the ’90s, and 2000s.  Speaking of titles, he’s won four NCAA titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010) to go with 12 ACC regular season titles and 13 ACC tournament titles.  And judging from the recruits he brings in, that train is going to continue until he decides to call it a career.

Here are some more accolades for you: Coach K is a five-time ACC coach of the year and a three-time college coach of the year.

Again, I understand that Wooden won more titles, but that was during a different time in college basketball.  I’ll take Coach K over ANY coach if I need to win a game.

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2011-2012 College Basketball Preview

Posted by klownboy in college basketball, sports blogging on November 10, 2011

Well, this is a bit weird.

Sure the 2011-2012 college basketball season is on the horizon, but there is no NBA.  Normally I would follow up a college basketball preview with an NBA preview, but the college boys will have to fly solo for now.

At any rate, here is how I see things shaking out among the major conferences, starting with the greatest basketball conference in all the land: the Atlantic Coast Conference.

ACC

  1. North Carolina
  2. Duke
  3. Florida State
  4. NC State
  5. Virginia Tech
  6. Maryland
  7. Virginia
  8. Georgia Tech
  9. Clemson
  10. Boston College
  11. Miami
  12. Wake Forest

Big East

  1. Syracuse
  2. Connecticut
  3. Pittsburgh
  4. Georgetown
  5. West Virginia
  6. Villanova
  7. Louisville
  8. Notre Dame
  9. Marquette
  10. St. Johns
  11. Cincinnati
  12. Providence
  13. Seton Hall
  14. South Florida
  15. Rutgers
  16. DePaul

B1G

  1. Ohio State
  2. Michigan State
  3. Purdue
  4. Wisconsin
  5. Michigan
  6. Minnesota
  7. Northwestern
  8. Illinois
  9. Indiana
  10. Nebraska
  11. Iowa
  12. Penn State

Big 12

  1. Kansas
  2. Baylor
  3. Texas A&M
  4. Missouri
  5. Texas
  6. Kansas State
  7. Oklahoma State
  8. Oklahoma
  9. Iowa State
  10. Texas Tech

Pacific-12

  1. Arizona
  2. UCLA
  3. California
  4. Washington
  5. Arizona State
  6. USC
  7. Washington State
  8. Utah
  9. Oregon State
  10. Stanford
  11. Colorado
  12. Oregon

SEC

  1. Kentucky
  2. Vanderbilt
  3. Florida
  4. Alabama
  5. Tennessee
  6. Ole Miss
  7. Mississippi State
  8. Arkansas
  9. South Carolina
  10. Auburn
  11. Georgia
  12. LSU

Final Four Picks: UNC (unfortunately), Ohio State, Syracuse, Connecticut

2010-2011: UNC (I’m about to throw up in my mouth)

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