0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/2/2015
The Super Bowl is done. No more high-profile football games until late August. You’ve read about how the NFL can become more like college football. You’ve read about how college football should become more like the NFL. What about the ways in which both versions of this sport can improve at the same time? Here […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The end of the Super Bowl — and all of football season until late summer — invites football fans and commentators to explore the relationship between college football and the NFL. We’re exploring how these different versions of America’s most popular sport can embrace each other and change together. We’ve already published an installment on […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Super Bowl and — with it — the full run of the live-game football season at all levels of competition (high school, college, and the pros) are over. There are two times of the year when it makes sense to explore the question of how the NFL and college football compare to each other […]
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – JANUARY 31: Jahlil Okafor #15 and Tyus Jones #5 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrate following a late-three pointer by Jones against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 31, 2015 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
0 comments by Steve Fetch
The debate over which conference is the best seems to crop up every year around this time, and while I am not sure how relevant it is to college basketball in general, it still gets to be an interesting topic most years. This year, however, I think the only real discussion is how one chooses […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer on 2/1/2015
When Wichita State traveled to Northern Iowa on Saturday, it marked the first time that two top-25-ranked Missouri Valley Conference teams squared off since 1982. While the game did not live up to its billing, as the Panthers curb-stomped the Shockers, the lopsided result does not devalue the teams or the Valley at all. Think […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Saturday before the Super Bowl is one of the busiest single days of the entire college basketball season, since more schools try to avoid playing on Super Sunday. Which five stories jumped off the page more than any others from 151 games? Here’s the list: * 5 – SEC: CLUTTERED MORE THAN CLEAR The […]
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – JANUARY 31: Jahlil Okafor #15 and Tyus Jones #5 of the Duke Blue Devils celebrate following a late-three pointer by Jones against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 31, 2015 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
0 comments by Ryan Palencer on 1/31/2015
When a game abruptly turns in the final few minutes of regulation, making far-reaching conclusions can be imprudent. Yet, it can still be said that after handing Virginia its first loss of the college basketball season, Duke also supplied the nation with the blueprint of how to knock off the Cavaliers. In the first half, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/30/2015
Remember the end of last March? Heading into the Elite Eight’s four regional finals, three Big Ten basketball teams had a chance to go to the Final Four. Two teams were seeded higher than their opponents (Michigan versus Kentucky in the Midwest, Michigan State versus Connecticut in the East), and the third team was arguably […]
“Hey, Big 12! We’re really good!” — The message BYU wants to send in its bowl game, even though the Big 12 won’t expand next year or the year after that. BYU is trying to plant seeds that will sprout several years down the line.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
If you were to cite one pervasive flaw in college football — not a specific policy such as pass interference not being reviewable, or an isolated failing such as the unwillingness to schedule New Year’s Six games on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016 — you could come up with several legitimate and compelling answers. You could […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/29/2015
When 19- and 20-year-old athletes are thrown into the fires of midseason pressure, with every game potentially pointing the way toward the NCAA tournament, volatility will emerge. This is just a fact of life. Some teams will win more consistently than others — think of Florida and Wichita State last season, Kentucky and Virginia this […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
D’Angelo Russell’s shoulders are not that broad, but as the ultimate barometer for Ohio State, Russell is certainly carrying his team. The Buckeyes go as Russell does, and their success will be determined by how far one of the top freshmen in the country can propel Thad Matta’s troops. The stats are clear. Russell’s 19.4 […]
0 comments by Steve Fetch on 1/28/2015
The Big 12 is the best conference in college basketball this season. The league has an average KenPom rating of .8507, by far the best in the country. 8 of the 10 teams in the league are in the KenPom top 50, and 9 are in the top 100. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The circumstances under which Anthony Grant became the head basketball coach at the University of Alabama are, weirdly enough, the very reasons why the Crimson Tide need to start fresh with a new basketball coach at season’s end. Following a loss at home on Tuesday night to Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators, it’s clear […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
For the University of North Carolina (and, for that matter, Wake Forest University), this is supposed to be basketball season, a time of year when sports news focuses on the true religion of the Carolinas. Yet, the Tar Heels and the Demon Deacons have raised a few eyebrows in the province of pigskin with an […]
0 comments by Scott on 1/27/2015
It’s January 27. Super Bowl week also marks the run-up to college basketball insanity. League titles for the most part will be won or lost in the month of February. Contenders and pretenders will show themselves with road wins and home losses. It’s part of what makes the sport so much fun. A large part […]
