0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/19/2016
Tubby Smith is not what one would call a “typical” hire for a program with Memphis’ stature and aspirations. That’s a definite part of why a lot of Tiger fans didn’t immediately embrace the decision to bring him aboard (even though many certainly accepted the larger situation). When it became plain that Gregg Marshall, Buzz […]
Greg Sorber — Aggies coach Marvin Menzies directs his players during the game against UNM in the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, NM.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The college basketball coaching carousel hasn’t stopped spinning, but its main whirl has run its course. When Marvin Menzies took the UNLV job — which was caused by the opening of the Texas Tech job, which was caused by Memphis’s decision to hire Tubby Smith, which was caused by Josh Pastner bolting for Georgia Tech […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/18/2016
People have far worse problems than the ones faced by UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy. That said, within the theater of college athletics and the pressures of a cutthroat business, Kunzer-Murphy just endured one of the more difficult months any athletic director has ever faced. It’s not just that Marvin Menzies — formerly the coach […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/12/2016
The city of Cincinnati is uncomfortable enough in the realm of professional sports. The Reds are in rebuilding mode, and the Bengals… well, they’re the Bengals. This discomfort extends to the collegiate ranks. Let’s be clear at the outset: An uncomfortable situation is not equivalent to a rock-bottom situation. Discomfort is not purely a reflection […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s the dream of athletic directors and many fans at certain college basketball programs: A coach doesn’t feel entirely comfortable at his job… so he leaves for another job. It’s a fresh start for everyone involved, and the program obtains a better-than-even chance of making an upgrade. This is what has happened at Vanderbilt, with […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/11/2016
The story of Memphis basketball isn’t fully contained in the picture above, but a lot of the Tigers’ best moments flowed from the two men in that photo. More instructively, the prestige and cachet of the Memphis job were built by those two individuals, so that future players and coaches could attempt to take the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/10/2016
It’s time for a Yann Hufnagel rule in college sports. So much is happening in the world of collegiate athletics in April of 2016, and while championships in basketball and hockey have been decided, the real action has occurred off the court and away from the rink. Tyler Summitt at Louisiana Tech. Baylor football. Satellite […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/8/2016
As soon as college basketball ended — putting an end to the football-basketball portion of the college sports cycle — the headlines have exploded with big developments, the latest being the shutdown of satellite camps by the NCAA. More precisely, this is not “the NCAA” or Mark Emmert; this is the collection of NCAA member […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/7/2016
On Wednesday, we viewed UConn women’s basketball through the lens of history. Here, we’ll attempt to appreciate the Huskies and Geno Auriemma through the lens of what happens on the court — in practice and gameday situations alike. Why include practice (especially for you, Hall-of-Famer-elect Allen Iverson)? It’s where Geno Auriemma has built the foundation […]
UCLA coach John Wooden, second from left, holds the 32nd NCAA Men’s Basketbal championship trophy he received as the Bruins won their sixth NCAA basketball title after defeating Jacksonville, 80-69, at College Park, Md., March 21, 1970. UCLA’s only senior player, John Valleley, wears the net he cut down at left. At right is John Ecker (52). The official in the middle is unidentified. (AP Photo)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/6/2016
No, we’re not going to spend time arguing about whether UConn women’s basketball is just as good as UCLA men’s basketball. We’re not going to spend time debating whether Geno Auriemma is just as good a basketball coach as John Wooden was. No — we’re not going down any of those routes. This isn’t a […]
HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 02: Phil Booth #5 and Jalen Brunson #1 of the Villanova Wildcats react in the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners during the NCAA Men’s Final Four Semifinal at NRG Stadium on April 2, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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This was not a great Final Four. The semifinal doubleheader was one of the worst of all time. This was not a great NCAA tournament from start to finish — the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and National Semifinal rounds all left a lot to be desired. Yet, the Final Four and the NCAA tournament still […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/5/2016
The 2016 NCAA Tournament — literally — merited the following adjective: half-bad. The first two rounds were spectacular. The Sweet 16 and the Final Four national semifinals were total busts. The Elite Eight was okay, but the most memorable game was an all-time gack attack by a Virginia team which had been the portrait of […]
HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 04: Phil Booth #5 of the Villanova Wildcats handles the ball against Nate Britt #0 of the North Carolina Tar Heels in the first half of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at NRG Stadium on April 4, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
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A person named Booth hasn’t received this much publicity for his shooting since April of 1865. If you had taken a poll of Villanova fans, coaches, students, support staff, sports information employees, priests, or members of the 1985 championship team — anyone — before Monday night’s championship game, and you had asked them which player […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/4/2016
It is part of the charm and uniqueness of the NCAA Tournament that Villanova and North Carolina get just one day off before deciding college basketball’s national title in 2016. One national championship football game gets at least a week in which to breathe, but the NCAA Tournament is an organism in which the title […]
The Oklahoma bench watches play against Villanova during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Houston. Villanova won 95-51.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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Previously, the Final Four National Semifinal games had DirecTV. The one we just watched this past Saturday in Houston? It had cable. Hi, TBS. Jokes aside (and goodness, there was plenty of time to make them during two blowouts), the 2016 Final Four easily made the short list of worst semifinal doubleheaders of all time. It […]
