The Greatest College Basketball Players of All Time
If it’s a feature at ESPN, you know it’s a countdown, or a list, or a ranking, or a fan poll. So this Friday version of the Final Four Blog is going to toss some classic ESPN features your way. Today’s sample is a new video project- presented by IBM- that is counting down the 25 best college basketball players of all time. Who wants to guess if Tyler Hansborough is number one? Kidding of course. You’ll actually find that their picks are pretty legit. You can argue about the placement, but you’ve got to agree with some of their choices. For instance, Patrick Ewing, who went to three Final Fours, is right in the center of this thing. Side note: you can see his son play for Georgetown if you get tickets to the Tournament…
It is a bit funny that they’ve gone through a lot of the greatest already, and they’ve got six players to go. Who do you think will be in the top six? Bobby Hurley? Hakeem? Michael Jordan? The Final Four Blog is predicting that LSU legend Pistol Pete is awarded the top spot. Anybody want to bet? Make sure to check out the videos. Enjoy a great weekend of college basketball, and we’ll see you back here on Monday.
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Sports Illustrated Abuses Abusive Fans
Have you been to the SportsIllustrated.com college basketball page yet? If not, you need to check out the latest theme they have going: abusive NCAA basketball fans. There are a few articles about what the NCAA and schools should do to try to limit some of the problems that abusive fans bring to the game, the players and the rest of the viewing audience. But because it’s Sports ILLUSTRATED, there are plenty of great pictures for those of us without the patience to read an article about why we should calm down. Interestingly enough, in their picture slideshow there is more than one sign that reads “If you can read this…”
The Final Four’s initial response to all this anti-fan hysteria is this: Death threats are not cool, but neither is being merely a spectator at sporting events. You pay for your seat, and you get to use it, so why not scream your head off for your team and do your best to get into the head of your team’s opponents. One of the reasons that college basketball is the best sport to be a fan of is because there are no more passionate and exuberant fans in the world. So to have blanket criticisms of the culture of college hoops when it’s clear that the “abuse” comes from a few idiots is unfair. BOOOOOO!
Fans, keep up the enthusiasm. School spirit is never wrong. And keep buying NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com.
Vandy Beats No. 1 Vols
The Tennessee Volunteers weren’t ranked No. 1 for very long before they were beaten on the road at Vanderbilt. The loss will probably take them out of the No. 1 spot in next weeks poll, barring some losses by Memphis, North Carolina and Texas. Read the game summary from the guys at CBS Sports. Apparently this is the first time ever that the Volunteers have been ranked No. 1 in the nation. They found out that it’s tough having a target on your back. It’s always harder to defend the No. 1 spot than to beat the current No. 1.
But the Volunteers can take solace in the fact that they did not loose to a bad team. At 24-4, Vandy is ranked No. 18, and is one of the teams that look to stand in the way of the Volunteer’s attempt at the SEC title this year. If this game was any indication, the final few games of the regular season in the SEC should be something to behold. Make sure to get out to the games as the Tournament gets closer.
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Parrish of CBS Sports Projects the Field
Garry Parrish, senior writer for CBS Sports, has a regular article feature called “Projecting the Field.” In it, he goes trough who he thinks will be the top four seeds in each region in the NCAA Tournament. He also gives his predictions for each conference- who will win the automatic bids and who will get in as an at-large. As the regular season comes to a close, it’s getting easier and easier to predict which teams are going to get top seeds. It would take a monumental collapse for, say, Tennessee (the nation’s No. 1 team) to get knocked out of a high seed in the Tournament. The probability that Parrish’s predictions are right is getting higher and higher.
As you will notice, there is a distinct Southern feel to the top seeds. Parrish makes mention of this fact as well. The NCAA Tournament’s Final Four is scheduled to take place in San Antonio, and if current trends hold, there will be a lot of teams around that area playing for the national title. Tennessee, Memphis, North Carolina and Texas are four of the best teams in the country, and some of the most likely teams to make it to San Antonio. If you throw in Duke and UCLA, there are just plain a lot of top teams located below the Mason Dixon line. Coincidence?
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Check Out Bracketology at ESPN
Those familiar with ESPN’s coverage of the college basketball world have probably been introduced to the regular feature by Joe Lunardi called “Bracketology.” I guess it’s something that you study while at ESPNU. Ha! But anyways, Bracketology is basically a running assessment of where teams would place in the NCAA Tournament if the Tourney were to start today. Things change from week to week. For instance, because Tennessee beat Memphis they are the nation’s new No. 1 seed, although both Memphis and Tennessee got No. 1 seeds in different regions. North Carolina and Texas both received No. 1 seeds in their regional brackets as well.
In some ways the Bracketology feature is more helpful than a poll ranking like the AP Top 25 because, for many teams, getting into the Tournament is much more important that getting a high ranking by the end of the season. The Bracketology feature also gives you the schools that Lunardi feels will just miss the dance, the rundown by conference- which conference will be most represented in the Tournament- as well as the predicted mid-major conference winners. Feel free to disagree with his assessments and comment on the page- many, many people do.
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Being Bad Means Never Having to Say “And One”
In the game of college basketball, there are few stats that are more important to a team’s offensive success than free throw percentage. If a team is good at getting to the line and making their opponents pay from the charity stripe, then they’re usually going to be a successful team on offense. Defensively, the same sort of theory applies. If a team can keep you from getting to the line, keep you from getting free baskets, then they’re going to be stronger defensively. Here are the best college basketball teams at keeping their opponents from saying “and one!” We used the stats from basketball-prospectus.com and a secret recipe known only to us.
TOP TEN STINGY TEAMS (NOTHING FOR FREE AROUND HERE)
February 21, 2008
1. Ohio St.
2. Notre Dame
3. UCLA
4. Texas A&M
5. Florida
6. Connecticut
7. North Carolina
8. North Carolina St.
9. Washington St.
10. USC
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Duke Slips vs. Miami for the First Time in 45 Years
The Duke Blue Devils are having a bad week. They lost to Wake Forest on Sunday- their first ACC defeat of the season, and then last night they fell to Miami 95-94. It was the first time Duke had lost to the Hurricanes since the year John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Clearly, things aren’t going right for Coach K and his Blue Devils, but they can still rebound and close out the week on a good note if they beat St. John’s over the weekend.
The Final Four blog is not about to count out the Blue Devils– not yet. They were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation just a few weeks ago, and these two losses, while coming very close together, might even be a good thing for this team. Since Duke is relying heavily on freshmen and underclassmen, having some regular season adversity- to spark a fire, to toughen the troops, to give them some edge- will only help them when they get into some bad situations in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. Look for Duke to respond in a big way. Get tickets to see it.
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
North Carolina’s Coach Williams Getting Testy with Coach K
The feud between Duke and North Carolina is heating up. The two schools have spent plenty of time in the upper crust of the AP Top 25 Poll, so both are considered to be among the most capable of getting into the Final Four. Duke and North Carolina have always had an intense rivalry, but it appeared that UNC was getting the upper hand on Duke after the Blue Devils had a few seasons that ended sooner than those of their Tobacco Road counterpart. But now that they are both in top form the Heels and the Devils are experiencing a sharp rise in animosity.
Exhibit A: North Carolina coach Roy Williams has fired back at a perceived jab that Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski took at the Tar Heels. Apparently Coach K mentioned that “unlike other schools,” he does not discuss player injuries in much detail. Because William’s team has been experiencing several major player injuries lately- a problem that Williams has openly discussed- the UNC coach took offense and fired back on his radio show, saying that other coaches need to “coach their own damn team, I’ll coach my team.”
There should be even more gossip and posturing before the ACC Tournament, where the two rivals are expected to meet once again.
To get NCAA basketball tickets go to StubHub.com.
Top College Basketball Tickets for Tuesday, February 19, 2008
There are plenty of great games for which to get some college hoops tickets, so let’s take a look at some of the most interesting matchups for tonight. Make sure to get your tickets as soon as you can.
- Perdue-Indiana: There are a lot of story lines in this one. There’s the whole Coach Sampson drama for Indiana, the unexpectedly good season for Perdue, the regional and conference rivalry, the fact that it’s #14 vs. #15, plus Indiana’s D.J. White- one of the best players in the country- is injured, but says he will play. This one should be heated.
- Georgia-Kentucky: Basketball in the SEC this time of year is always good stuff. Neither of these teams are ranked, and neither are locks to go to the NCAA Tournament, so you can bet they will both put it all on the line tonight.
- NC-Greensboro-Davidson: Davidson is the better team on paper, but they both have a shot at getting to the Tournament via a Southern Conference auto bid. This is a great game if you like mid-majors when they’re getting scrappy at the tail end of the season.
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.
No. 1 vs. No. 2: Memphis vs. Tennessee - This Saturday!
The first No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting of this season will pit the Memphis Tigers against the Tennessee Volunteers this Saturday night. Although the AP Poll for this week has not come out at the time of this blog posting, Memphis has been ranked No. 1 and Tennessee No.2 by the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Since the Tigers were the No. 1 team in last week’s poll and they remain the only undefeated team in the country, their top spot is almost a sure thing in the next AP Poll. Tennessee, at 23-2, was the No. 4 team in last week’s AP Poll, but with Duke losing to Wake Forest and Kansas losing to Texas, the Volunteers might have moved up the board to No. 2.
So make sure you watch the game in Memphis this Saturday. Tonight there will be some supreme games to watch either at the gyms or on television. Of the college hoops games tonight I think the top three to get tickets to include Texas A&M-Texas, Xavier-Rhode Island and San Diego-Gonzaga. This should be another wild week of basketball!
To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.