With the NBA ensnared in a labor battle that appears all but certain to derail its entire 2012 season, hoops lovers from all over the nation and the world will have their eyes firmly concentrated on the American college game in 2011-2012. Coast to coast, the NCAA ranks have no shortage of star power. But three elite college ballers stand poised to lay waste to their competition and clip down the nets in the Big Easy when the Final Four tournament concludes in New Orleans in March of 2012.

Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger might be the nation’s most feared player heading into the new season. Last season’s National Freshman of the Year and first team All-American, Sullinger is a physical freak show at 6’9, 280 pounds. He complemented his 17 point per game output in 2010-2011 with 10 rebounds, establishing him as one of college basketball’s premier two-way players. No doubt the Columbus born Junior will be hell bent on bringing a trophy or two back to his beloved Ohio.

There has never been a shortage of star power at the basketball mecca that is the University of North Carolina, and veteran coach Roy Williams will lean heavily on the one of the nation’s premier athletes this winter in small forward Harrison Barnes. Known by the Tarheel faithful as the “The Black Falcon,” Barnes entered the national consciousness with Read more…

Posted on October 24th, 2011 by Debbie
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(11) Marquette vs. (2) North Carolina

Newark, N.J. is host for a Sweet 16 East Regional meeting between the #2-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels and the 11th-seeded Golden Eagles of Marquette. The Tar Heels (28-7) have been made six-point favorites by the oddsmakers.

The Tar Heels survived an 86-83 nail-biter over Washington. In one of the tournaments’ better games thus far, UNC’s prized freshmen, Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall rescued coach Roy Williams’ squad, twice fighting back from hefty deficits. Marshall had a sterling performance, finishing with 13 points, 14 assists and 5 rebounds. Barnes, the ACC’s rookie-of-the-year, added 22 points and 3 steals, while center Tyler Zeller led the ‘Heels with 23 points. John Henson continued his defensive toughness, blocking four shots .

Marquette (22-14) also came out on the good end of a third-round nail-biter, 66-62 over Syracuse. Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom snapped a tie game by hitting a three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining. Johnson-Odom paced Marquette with 17 points while Jae Crowder’s all-around performance off the bench (16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) helped Marquette advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the Dwyane Wade 2003-led squad.

One of the Tar Heels’ keys all season has been outside shooting, or the absence of the same. As for Marquette, expect Buzz Williams to keep his foot heavy on the gas. All-out hustle and going above and beyond expectations got the Eagles this far.

(12) Richmond vs. (1) Kansas

The #1-seeded Kansas Jayhawks (34-2) tussle with the Richmond Spiders (29-7), the 12th-seed out of the Atlantic 10 conference this

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Posted on March 25th, 2011 by Debbie
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The Florida State Seminoles are looking to continue their success under head coach Jimbo Fisher. Fisher came into a tough situation as the head coach in waiting as Bobby Bowden seemed to be forced into retirement by the Florida State administration.

You can question whether or not Florida State will have a great amount of success given that Christian Ponder has moved on to the NFL, but you have to remember that Jimbo Fisher happens to be an offensive guru and the recruits that Fisher has brought in are not likely to have as many off the field red flags in their pasts when you compare to a player like former Florida State quarterback Xavier Lee.

Many teams like Wake Forest and Clemson are probably going to end up in rebuilding mode this season and are a year or two away

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Posted on March 20th, 2011 by Debbie
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Two schools better known for their football programs than basketball success square off Friday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C. in an NCAA West Region second-round matchup. The eighth-seeded Michigan Wolverines, coached by John Beilein, finished at .500 (9-9) in the Big Ten with an overall record of 20-13. Their opponent, the Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC, also fashioned a .500 record in-conference mark (8-8) and finished 19-14 overall. Tennessee is a two-point favorite by oddsmakers.

Embattled Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, currently under investigation by the NCAA for recruiting violations as well as admittedly lying to officials looking into the infractions, will no doubt use the mantra of “us vs. them” for motivation for this game and any other future encounters (if they win). Rocked by scandal for most of his recent tenure in Knoxville, look for Pearl to pull out all of his considerable motivational skills to inspire his sometimes-under-achieving team. Junior wingman Scotty Hopson leads the Vols with his 17.4 ppg, and is also the teams’ inspirational leader. Freshman whiz kid Tobias Harris, a versatile 6’8 inside-out performer, lends Hopson assistance

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Posted on March 17th, 2011 by Debbie
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March Madness has begun. Are you ready to fill out your brackets? With Selection Sunday just around the corner college basketball fans everywhere are predicting who the top tournament seeds will be. After the brackets are shown and fans debate who the tournament favorites are, the focus will immediately shift to the dark horses, the cinderellas, the schools that are not seeded highly but are good teams with a chance to make some noise.

Richmond, Michigan, and Alabama are three schools who should make the tournament – barely. Each will most likely be seeded an eight seed or lower and given little chance to advance past the first round. But each team has the ability to make serious noise in the NCAA tournament Big Dance.
Richmond

The Richmond Spiders are the classic dark horse candidate because they come from a mid-major conference, the Atlantic 10. They also have shown throughout the season that they are capable of something special while also struggling at times.

Richmond’s signature win came against the #9 ranked Purdue Boilermakers in November on a neutral court to win the Chicago Invitational Challenge 65-54. Richmond was led by tournament Most Valuable Player guard Kevin Anderson who scored 28 points and gathered 5 rebounds. Purdue Coach Matt Painter later called Anderson, “perhaps the best guard we have faced all year.”

As of press time, Richmond had a 24-7 record and had won four straight. The Spiders, who are led in scoring by forward Justin Harper, have an RPI in the mid-50’s, a perfect spot to fly under the radar. Don’t be fooled though. Richmond has the athletes Read more…

Posted on March 12th, 2011 by Debbie
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So the Miami Heat has lost again. A. They couldn’t win in Boston during the season and it had been doing now. Well maybe the players will bring something like you to them.

Rajon Rondo at the triple double and James have missed some free throw locations. He’s playing worse and worse don’t you think?

The Boston team has 185 to 82 with the Miami Heat yesterday, it was that another victory over the team from the sunny Florida. I’ve been disappointed with Miami recently they used to be a good team and their place in to be very good but now it is crap.
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Posted on February 14th, 2011 by Debbie
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Those who follow college hoops are probably already familiar with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings. The ESPN/USA Today list drawn up based basketball coaches all around the country. Updated weekly, the popular list draws in quite a number of interested fans.

At the moment, Duke currently sits on top of the heap but a recent loss could bump them down a notch or two. Ohio State and Kansas have both unbeaten records with 16 wins and 15 wins respectively. These men’s basketball programs are considered by many as the best in the nation.

Previously unranked teams like Washington, Wisconsin and Temple were also recently added to this list thanks to their impressive wins against talented squads. Other teams Read more…

Posted on January 16th, 2011 by Debbie
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The Spurs & Hornets had been 2 of the best squads within the Western Conference when they matched up the previous month, however increasing that momentum has been much more of a struggle for The Hornets as of late.

San Antonio are trying to avenge one of their 3 defeats this year when they host New Orleans, who wish to have their best scorer David West return to the starting 5 Sunday evening .

The Spurs (16 – 3) have the League’s best record & improved to 8 – 2 on their home floor having a 107 – 101 win against the Timberwolves on Friday. San Antonio came back from a fifteen point hole, out-scoring the T’Wolves 36 – 15 during the 4th quarter.

Tim Duncan got twenty-two points & ten boards as Tony Parker & George Hill both put in twenty.

The fifteen point 4th quarter by the T’Wolves helped salvage an unusual defensive void for San Antonio, who allowed 100 points for the 1st time in 4 matchups. They had been out-rebounded 59 – 37 & permitted a worst for the year twenty-four offensive rebounds.

The Spurs have also dropped behind by double figures during each of those games versus The Hornets (13 – 6) this year. Although San Antonio came back from a seventeen point hole for a 109 – 95 win in New Orleans on November 28th following dropping a game 99 – 90 on their home floor October 30th.

Duncan appeared to be the game changer for the Spurs between these games. He had been kept to 7 points within the defeat, however got twenty-one in the latest meeting.

Playing New Orleans in in San Antonio, however, it has been challenging as of late for Duncan, a 2 time Most Valuable Player. He has put in 9 .3 points within the previous 3 games versus them at the AT&T Center in comarison to to 21 .3 within the previous 3 at The Hornets Arena.

The lagging Hornets hope that pattern carries on. They’re Read more…

Posted on December 5th, 2010 by Debbie
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Considering the fact that soccer fans tend to be starving, in support of obtain Sixteen days within the normal period, no viewer really wants to see a hit. However like the NHL as well as Mlb, the NFL offers observed it’s players on the picket lines. The very first occurred in 1982, lasted Fifty-seven times and decreased the regular period through Sixteen games in order to Nine.

The hit itself began on Sept 21, 1982 as well as lasted until November 16, Early in the eightys. Major income were reported as the basic reason for the actual strike. The actual NFLPA desired the players to receive 55% associated with gross revenue rather than the prior 50%. Tv systems suffered great difficulty within helpful their own television routine. NBC broadcast football plus some Canadian Soccer League games.

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Posted on December 3rd, 2010 by Debbie
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The Indiana Pacers will be making the trip up to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers in one of the most important Saturday match ups. This will be a battle between division rivals, and while Chicago has slipped into the top spot in the central division the winner of this game takes a huge step forward in unseating them. These two teams know each other very well, and always play one another hard.

The Cavs are still looking for their identity in the post Lebron ages, and while they have slipped a little since the superstar departed they have still shown their toughness and savvy on the way to a 4-4 record that may people thought would be much worse at this point. The one thing that Cleveland has lost is that one guy who can put up the big points. They still play defense very well, they are excellently coached, and get lots of help off the bench, they just seem to be missing that lynch pin to put everything together. Having Mo Williams hindered by a lingering hip injury hasn’t helped their case. This team really needs someone to step up on the court and really take control, this season they haven’t had that dominant personality out there that everyone rallies too, and it has hurt them.

The Pacers are another frustrated team, their 3-4 record could be much better, but just as soon as they seem to pull the game together they fade away and miss out on the win. They have been frustrated by a series of near wins that they simply let get away from them. The Pacers have lost games, not been beaten. With the exception of the fluke loss to Philly, the game Indiana Read more…

Posted on November 13th, 2010 by Debbie
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