Archives

OXFORD, MS – SEPTEMBER 17: Jalen Hurts #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide leaps over Terry Caldwell #21 of the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 17, 2016 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Alabama shines in comeback as Ole Miss gets in its own way

0 comments by on 9/17/2016

The best teams in college football win in myriad ways. Blowouts mixed with consistent victories, blended with nailbiting survivals and comebacks. Yet again, Alabama showed America why it is the class of college football in a massive comeback win over Ole Miss. In Oxford. When they were down 24-3 in the first half. Against an […]

College hoops coaching carousel, part II: the redrawn conference map

0 comments by on 4/22/2016

In our latest review of the college basketball coaching carousel — such a broad topic requires multiple examinations — we consider the new balance of power among the conferences. No, nothing earth-shaking occurred in the latest cycle of upward moves, downward moves, and relocations of all kinds. However, this isn’t a static landscape, either, and […]

8 Mar 1996: Tim Duncan of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons lays the ball up as Chris Alexander #30 of the Virginia Cavaliers looks on in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Doug

Conference tournament history: 10 facts that might surprise you

0 comments by on 3/8/2016

The ACC Tournament began Tuesday afternoon, accelerating the parade of conference tournaments. The flurry of conference tournament basketball will reach its crescendo on Thursday and Friday, arguably the two craziest weekdays of the entire season. The conference tournaments possess an uncertain identity in college basketball. In the ACC, the conference tournament is sacred — largely […]

Endgame management: Avery Johnson and Kevin Ollie come up short

0 comments by on 2/22/2016

The arrival of March — just a week away — means that coaching decisions will be met with a lot more scrutiny. Let’s get into the habit, then, shall we? Two coaches made the same basic mistake this past weekend, and while their teams were already likely to lose, their decisions turned defeat from a […]

A reconsidered thesis: Maybe there’s room for more little guys this March

0 comments by on 2/21/2016

Any commentator who dives into the pool of news analysis — and makes assessments based on what s/he sees — has to do one thing more than anything else: acknowledge when the flow of events changes. What might have been one week’s accurate-enough analysis can be overturned the following week. Any forceful or firm proclamations […]

College basketball chaos: Wednesday night was a study in moving parts

0 comments by on 2/18/2016

The continuing chaos of the 2016 college basketball season emerged in a number of striking ways on a wild Wednesday night which felt a little bit like March. Fact No. 1: Penn State has now beaten both Indiana and Iowa at home this month. Fact No. 2: Penn State has work to do to merely […]

BracketBusters needs to return… but with a new look

0 comments by 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 […]

Texas A&M, Providence, and SMU: February tales as old as time

0 comments by on 2/11/2016

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 […]

South Carolina braces for the defining stretch of its season

0 comments by on 2/3/2016

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 […]

Alabama Arguments: you need luck, but the Tide have been uncommonly fortunate

0 comments by on 1/14/2016

It’s unavoidable — discussion of Nick Saban as the greatest head coach in college football’s 147-year history has already become a feature of 2016. It will become an even bigger talking point if, 11 months from now, Alabama returns to the College Football Playoff in search of a repeat title it will be favored to […]

Alabama Arguments: the case for Saban

0 comments by

Where do Alabama and Nick Saban stand in the larger theater of college football, and in the pantheon of the sport’s history? These topics are the talk of the village this week… if your village cares about college football, at any rate. We have a long offseason ahead of us, especially if you’re not into […]

Fighting the law: Alabama’s defense on championship night

0 comments by on 1/11/2016

I apply my own law to big college football games: The offense-defense matchup which gains a much smaller portion of the pregame buzz is the matchup which will more centrally decide the contest. This law was set aside in the Orange Bowl playoff semifinal, when the confrontation between Oklahoma’s offense and Clemson’s defense — the […]

← Older posts
Quantcast