0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/16/2016
For more than a decade, the BracketBusters event represented a well-intentioned attempt to separate some mid-major bubble teams from others in late February. The idea was — and still is — excellent. If any sport must select a given number of teams for its postseason event, it is necessary for that sport to provide an […]
0 comments by Bart D
Alan Jackson once said that “too much of a good thing, is a good thing.” Jim Harbaugh agrees. The Wolverines secured the commitment of 2017 quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, rated currently as the number two overall pro-style quarterback by 247 Sports. McCaffery has strong bloodlines with his brother being Christian, the 2015-16 Heisman finalist at Stanford, […]
0 comments by Mike Abelson on 2/15/2016
There are three weeks left in the college basketball regular season, which means that the fine-tuning found in team maintenance is done. The next fundamental challenge for coaches is to maintain and maximize the resources they have as they hit the stretch run. The average teams have effort. The good teams have talent. The great […]
0 comments by Mike Abelson on 2/14/2016
With a month to go until the next Atlantic 10 tournament champion is crowned, much is left to be decided. The A-10 is as tough as ever and could potentially send as many as four teams to the NCAA tournament. Yet up and down the league standings, plenty is yet to be determined as teams […]
SMU guard Nic Moore (11) shoots over Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer (33) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jim Cowsert)
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s one of the most forgotten nights of the college hoops season, easily the most forgotten Saturday night of the season in the weeks after NFL Divisional Playoff Saturday. The Saturday night of NBA All-Star Weekend belongs to the league’s slam dunk contest. This is true in any year, but it’s especially the case when […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
You don’t need to be told again that this college basketball season is crazy, bonkers, bananas, silly-pants, looney tunes, and all the rest. We have that part down, especially after a Saturday in which six top-15 teams and eight top-25 teams fell. Another theme is worth emphasizing after a full Saturday of plot twists and […]
South Carolina should have been included, but that’s another story. What’s worse about the Selection Committee’s performance on Sunday is that by excluding both the Gamecocks and Monmouth, it made it impossible to tell whether ambitious non-conference scheduling mattered or not. That’s the worst part — not the bad exclusion, but not offering an intellectually consistent message to the snubbed teams.
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/12/2016
It’s almost Presidents’ Day, which means that college basketball is getting down to the nitty gritty. The Super Bowl is done. The NBA All-Star Game will be done when America’s next federal holiday arrives. You might be sane right now, but you can begin to get a whiff of madness, wafting into the room. Yes, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/11/2016
Follow the bouncing ball? That’s easy. Follow the bouncing team? That’s what’s so hard about this college basketball season. The “bouncing team” dynamic can simply refer to any team which displays a great deal of volatility over the course of the season. It is better understood as the combination of rapidly declining teams (from a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Remember the 2014 Iowa Hawkeyes? They merit a place in a discussion of the current college basketball season, and more specifically, what transpired on a wild Wednesday night. Other teams have done what 2014 Iowa did. Consider the 2011 Villanova Wildcats as another example. If you look through the record books, you’ll find yet more […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/10/2016
March is the month of reckoning in college basketball. It’s the time when individual free throws — especially front ends of 1-and-1s — can mean hundreds of thousands of extra dollars for schools and conferences. Yes, free throws come with a lot of pressure, but unless chronically bad charity pitchers are involved, they’re first-world problems. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
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 […]
