0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/3/2016
A fever has swept through the Southeastern Conference. As a result, what once figured to be a fascinating conference tournament has quickly been drained of its drama. SEC basketball is defined by
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
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 1/7/2016
The foremost drama of coaching — in terms of regularity, though not in terms of raw emotional impact — is the attempt to avoid being fired. The coaching drama which captures the heart and tugs at the emotions is the attempt of the beloved veteran to finally make a first Final Four, or a first […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/10/2015
The Student Section begins College Basketball Preview Week, a crash course on the coming season. In this piece, we provide a list of the five coaches — legends and lurkers alike — who have the most to prove: * Mike Brey and Mark Few parked themselves in the Elite Eight for the first time in […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/18/2015
When we think of game management in team sports, baseball is the first one that comes to mind. After all, the leader of a baseball team isn’t called the “manager” for nothing. Day after day, a manager must make the same kinds of decisions: Lefty-righty or individual matchup? Trust the hot hitter or use a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/6/2015
Thursday night in college basketball, a number of exasperating teams stepped on the hardwood. Iowa is playing well this season, but that doesn’t mean the Hawkeyes don’t know how to toy with the emotions of their fan base. A penchant for blown second-half leads is the most central reason this season had been such a […]
