Marquette Fighting Way Into March Madness

March 4th, 2010 Posted in Big East, NCAA Tournament | Comments Off

 

After the trio of Jereal McNeal, Wes Matthews, and Dominic James left Marquette last year, few picked the Golden Eagles to do very much in 2010. Today, head coach Buzz Williams has his team almost a lock for the NCAA Tournament this year and going into their final regular season game against Notre Dame at home. The Golden Eagles are 9-1 in their last ten games and are coming off a complete thrashing of Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals 69-48 at the Bradley Center last Tuesday. Finishing February with three consecutive away overtime victories over Cincinnati, St. John’s, and Seton Hall showed the kind of grit and determination Marquette has. Not one of Louisville’s players scored in double digits against on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Sophomore guard Darius Johnson-Odom went 4-6 from behind the arc scoring 22 points to lead Marquette. A victory over historic rival Notre Dame on Saturday could give the Golden Eagles the confidence they need to do well in both the Big East Conference Tournament and NCAA Conference.

Duke Looking Good Heading Into March

February 25th, 2010 Posted in College Basketball News, Duke Blue Devils, NCAA Tournament | Comments Off

 

A lot still can happen from now until the NCAA Tournament kicks off, but Coach K’s Duke Blue Demons (23-4) are in good form. Ranked #6 in the country, Duke outlasted a formidable foe last Sunday night in Virgina Tech (21-5) 67-55 in Durham, North Carolina. The three-headed attack force of Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith are a handful for any team in the country. Senior Brian Zoubek has dominated the boards at times this season and if he can play up to his potential in the tournament count on Duke to make a good run at the Final Four. The Blue Demons plays good defense, shoot the ball extremely well, can penetrate when they need to, and are very experienced. Duke has lost this season to Georgetown, NC State, Georgie Tech, and Wisconsin all on the road. Tonight the Blue Demons host Tulsa, travel to Virgina on Sunday, take on a solid Maryland team in College Park, and finish the year up at home against rival North Carolina. If the Demons can finish out the year winning they could have some serious momentum going into the ACC Tournament. The next three weeks will be huge for the blue and white of Duke.

Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim Shares Secret of Success

February 5th, 2010 Posted in College Basketball News, Syracuse | Comments Off

Jim Boeheim has the Syracuse Orangemen off to a 22-1 start this season at age 65 and looks to have his players poised to make a deep run in the Big Dance this year. Boeheim doesn’t credit his longevity in coaching to a obsessed work-around-the clock approach, but to the balance he’s found between his life outside of basketball and his life within the game. Boeheim told SI’s Paul Daugherty that he watches crime drama shows like CSI and NCIS to relax at night during the season and makes sure he spends time with his family and in the off season he makes sure he sees friends and plays a lot of golf. Often we associate college coaches with the crazy hours they put in all year long and the little time their families get to see them. Boeheim told SI that he’s been able to be on hand for all his daughter’s events as she grew up by not allowing basketball to hinder his ability as a father. In the present day conditions of college sports where you have coaches like Urban Meyer burning out before he hits 50, it makes you wonder if coaches aren’t better off mimicking Boeheim’s approach to the job.

Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas Shows His Worth

January 28th, 2010 Posted in Michigan State, ncaa basketball | Comments Off

 

Growing up in the state of Michigan only made it sweeter for Kalin Lucas when the Michigan State guard hit the game winning shot against heated rival Michigan. The Sterling Heights, MI born junior saw something in the Wolverines defensive set up and suggested to MSU head coach Tom Izzo that they give him the ball and let him attack the middle of the defense. Izzo allowed Lucas do the coaching and it certainly paid off. The Spartans were down 56-55 with when Lucas and his team mates returned to the floor in front of rambunctious crowd Tuesday night in Ann Arbor. Lucas darted into the center of the floor confusing three blue and gold defenders and nailed a mid-range jumper to put the Spartans ahead 57-56. The 2008-09 Big Ten Player of the Year looks to have the Spartans making another deep run in the Big Dance and perhaps Coach Izzo will let him call a few more plays as well in the future.

Top Teams

January 15th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Texas, Kentucky and Kansas are still in the top of the college basketball standings right now, at least according to the ESPN rankings. It’s one of those interesting years these. I mentioned this several weeks ago, noting that the Texas football team had a phenomenal year and that their basketball team is also doing well. Texas isn’t known as a basketball powerhouse, but this year has been good. Further down on the list, the Tennessee Volunteers were able to jump up from 20 to 10 because they beat UConn, which dropped from 11 to 23. But Tennessee is having a lot of trouble right now, with several players who have been suspended and the hearing about the suspension hasn’t been set yet. It’s an interesting time for college basketball, and we’ll get to enjoy the biggest game of the year.

Wainwright Leaves DePaul

January 11th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Jerry Wainwright has been fired from the job of coached the DePaul Blue Demons. There was hope that he would be able to turn this team around again this year, but it hasn’t happened, certainly not in the Big East games that they absolutely need to win. There is a lot of talent on the team and he’s a good coach. But it just wasn’t working out for them anymore and he wasn’t able to bring them the kind of success over the last few years that had been hoped for. It wasn’t a good fit any longer. The assistant coach Tracy Webster will take on the job of coaching this team for the rest of the season, we assume. Wainwright told reporters at a news conference that he was certain that the team would be able to make it back into real success with just a couple of changes. Hopefully he’s right and this was the first step towards that big jump.

Top 3 Teams Again

January 8th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky. Those are the top 3 teams in college basketball right now. It’s going to be interesting to see how these teams are able to push forwards. With North Carolina having a lot of trouble getting into the groove this year. I’m not sure whether there were a lot of changes this year for them or what the deal was but it’s going to be extra exciting to see them attempt to make the cut before March Madness. When you look at your bracket in a few weeks, you will most likely see these teams and all of the Final Four teams from last year. It’s hard to imagine any team falling too far in a given year. One of the big surprises right now is that Duke is ranked at #5, and they are looking to make a big push into the late parts of the tournament. It’s not clear that they would make it to the Final Four, but at least you’ll get to see them in the tournament again, playing up to their potential.

Tarheels Surprised

January 5th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

 

Last night, the UNC Tar Heels found themselves in a loss. This isn’t so surprising. But it was the fact that they lost to a school called the College of Charleston. I’m not even sure which Charleston it is from, whether that’s a South Carolina team or a West Virginia. But they lost 82-79 to that team, potentially putting their #9 ranking at great risk moving into the middle of January. They gave up a 12-3 run as the game headed into the end of the ball game, showing either complacency or a bad defensive stance. There is only a little while until March Madness begins and any level in the rankings will make a big difference. This doesn’t mean that the defending champions are going to miss the postseason, because it’s hard to fall from #9 out of contention. But it’s still going to be important that they get a good ranking as March rolls around. Down the stretch they come!

Northwestern No longer in Top 25

December 31st, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

With Northwestern’s loss last night to the University of Illinois Illini, their entry into the Top 25 was spoilt and they might get bumped back down. However, that’s not necessarily terrible. It’s not like in European soccer where they have to play for a lower league for the next season. They could make their way back into the good rankings again. It’s been awhile for them, but this team is doing well. They’ve shown that they can win the hard-fought games this time around and hopefully they will find themselves back in the Top 25. The Illini are doing very well this year as well, sitting in the top 10 again this year. This will be a good year for both teams and we will see them right in the hunt again this year.

Texas Proves Mettle

December 23rd, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Texas basketball is playing at a level they never even could have expected. This year, the team started out without a major expectation of playing at the top level. But so far they’re undefeated and winning decisively against a bunch of different amazing teams. Last night they beat Michigan State by 11 points. Earlier this week, they beat out the North Carolina Tarheels. With Texas holding onto a Top 5 position and the Kansas Jayhawks possibly dropping a bit, the NCAA Basketball situation is changing. And with two of last year’s Final Four teams falling to Texas in the last few days, it looks like Texas will remain in the top positions for the next little while.

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