More College Studs Opt for Europe

Nick Calathes, a recently-turned former University of Florida college basketball player, has decided to sign with a European team, Panathinaikos of Greece. Luke Winn covers the story at Sports Illustrated.com.  Apparently Greece has been eyeing the young hoops star since his days in high school. Nick has some Greek relatives, and had contact with the youth Greek National Team. He’s the latest player in a growing trend to opt to head off to Europe instead of play out his college career and try to enter the NBA in a traditional manner.

Tyler Smith, a forward on the Tennessee Volunteers, is mulling a decision these days. He can return to school and complete his senior season with Tennessee. He could opt to enter the NBA Draft, as he has until June 15 to decide not to go to the NBA. He would likely be a second round pick in the Draft. Or he could go to Europe, which is becoming more and more of a viable option for Smith. He has a young son and wants to get a paycheck to support his family. What will he decide? Stay tuned.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on June 3, 2009 - Post a comment

Media Guide Mayhem in the Big Ten

Here’s a story that has been making the headlines lately. Apparently some Big Ten schools aren’t going to be handing out media guides anymore. The move is a cost cutting measure aimed at reducing the money strain on athletic budgets. These are tight times, and accordingly the paper mills are going to feel this one, too. Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin are expected to save over $200,000 by not giving out media guides for their sports teams. One figures that the guides will be available online, or that media outlets that are familiar with the teams will have a good base of knowledge from which to go on before the year starts.

Do you think this news story has been widely permeated in the national sports wire because it has to do with the media, or because it’s an example of larger stories from the world of business and economics and how it affects sports? Probably a little of both. It’s interesting that the teams who are planning on cutting media guides come from the upper Midwest- one of the places hardest hit by the recession and the current state of the auto industry. In related news, General Motors filed for bankruptcy today.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on June 2, 2009 - Post a comment

The Mid-Majority

Basketball season is a long, long way off. Most of the hoops news these days isn’t much news at all. A former coach at UK sued UK and now they’re suing him back. Instead of coving this story, we’re going to try to get you basketball fans pumped (instead of disheartened via that last story) by familiarizing you with a new blog we hope to feature in the coming basketball season. It’s called the Mid-Majority. Check it out.

Here at the NCAA Blog, we try to do our best to talk about the mid-majors just as much as the high-majors. Even though they have higher athletic budgets and even though they get most of the national media attention, high-majors account for only about 20% of the NCAA basketball teams out there. The Mid-Majority seeks out the stories from this somewhat silent majority of college basketball teams and their fans.

Last year was a tough time for college basketball little guys. We covered this phenomena leading up to and on into the 2009 Tournament. If you want a good introduction to the Mid-Majority, you should read this blog post, “The Waiting Room for the Exit Interview.”

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on June 1, 2009 - Post a comment


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