0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/10/2016
If you thought that February would really clear up the 2016 college basketball season, and that the jumble of January would give way to something more orderly this month, it’s not looking good. It’s hard to get a read on teams in the first place, but now — in at least a few isolated instances […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/9/2016
Let’s get two things out of the way, just to frame this article the way it’s meant to be received: First, what follows will not be an argument for an eight-team playoff. It will reaffirm what was said here at our partner (and hub) site, The Comeback, just after the New Year’s Day bowls ended. […]
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Monday night in Columbia, South Carolina, the Connecticut women’s basketball program entered its 22nd 1-versus-2 game. The Huskies’ record in their first 21 such encounters: 18-3. The 2016 edition of the Huskies didn’t exactly have an easy task in front of them in the attempt to push that record to 19-3. UConn faced an unbeaten […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s true that in a 30-game regular season, single nights or weekend afternoons don’t fully determine postseason destinations. When experts say that “Game X is an elimination game” or “Game Y is a must-win,” it’s true that the weight of a season and all its hopes fall upon that one contest. However, such a perception […]
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The Wisconsin Badgers could leave no doubt about their NCAA tournament credentials in the coming weeks. Greg Gard — filling in for his mentor, the esteemed Bo Ryan — will take a huge step toward locking up permanent status as UW’s head coach if he can win just one of four upcoming road games: at […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/3/2016
The Texas Longhorns are going to be in the NCAA tournament, so they’re not a particularly weak team within the larger world of college basketball. Yet, the Horns started a 24-hour sequence in which the nuttiness of both the Big 12 and all of college basketball this season was perfectly encapsulated. Monday and Tuesday were […]
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The date was January 13, 2016. The South Carolina Gamecocks had not lost a basketball game this season. At 15-0, they joined the SMU Mustangs as one of only two unbeaten teams in the country. SMU, being ineligible for the NCAA tournament, will unavoidably become a team which will miss the Dance after entering January […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/2/2016
To the casual American sports fan, Ben Simmons might indeed represent a ratings magnet for ESPN, thereby convincing the WorldWide Leader to broadcast a disproportionate amount of LSU basketball games this season. It’s been rather conspicuous over the past month: Not only do commentators reserve a ton of airtime for Simmons, but ESPN does as […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Two coaches lost home games in this past weekend’s Big 12-SEC Challenge: One was the coach of a bad Auburn team, Bruce Pearl. He gets a pass, because he’s rebuilding a mess of a program. The other coach? Johnny Jones of LSU, who has a transformative talent on his roster but can’t seem to use […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/1/2016
The arrival of Monday marks the arrival of February. This brings us in touch with an annual in-season lamentation from college basketball diehards: The regular season doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. It’s an argument that is hard to measure in terms of media focus, even more so when one realizes: A) how many […]
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In the course of time, the Big 12-SEC Challenge could very easily become an event which reshapes several college basketball seasons. We could sit here in April and realize how much this midseason event — staged in the middle of the conference season — altered the trajectory of a crazy college basketball campaign. Right now, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/29/2016
Steve Alford came to UCLA intent on reviving a program. The somewhat ironic truth about Alford is that he’s been good at authoring revivals in Los Angeles. The problem? Those revivals haven’t lasted long enough, and they haven’t occurred under circumstances favorable enough to lead UCLA to the Promised Land. Alford has been a magician […]
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Yes, Saturday’s Big 12-SEC Challenge is a day for improving resumes and gaining NCAA tournament leverage. LSU, Florida, Georgia, Texas Tech, Texas, Vanderbilt — they could all significantly improve their standing to varying degrees. It is a day to burnish the nitty-gritty profile, with January about to end and March coming ever closer. However, the […]
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The Big 12-SEC challenge is not a new thing in the world of college basketball. Conference challenges have become a regular part of the sport. The Big 12-SEC version has been around for a few years, following a six-year period in which the SEC paired up with the previous (old-school) version of the Big East. […]
November 8, 2013 – Atlanta: Georgia Tech’s head coach Brian Gregory gives his team instructions during Georgia Tech’s home opener in McCamish Pavilion against Presbyterian on Friday , November 8, 2013. Georgia Tech won 88 -57. JOHNNY CRAWFORD / JCRAWFORD@AJC.COM
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/27/2016
If money was no object at all, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State would not have to think twice about firing their head men’s basketball coaches at the end of this season. Brian Gregory and Travis Ford work hard and field competitive teams in tough, deep conferences. Georgia Tech consistently plays ACC opponents close, and Oklahoma […]
