Meet Dennis Clemente of Kansas State

Kansas State point guard Dennis Clemente sits down with Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn this week and the two talk about all kinds of things. Winn first breaks into the conversation by talking about Clemente’s crazy, internet sensation shot that appeared all over YouTube.com.  Clemente shoots a basketball off the center court scoreboard, it bounces off the ground and then goes into the basket. The video is on the same page as the article.

Besides the incredible shot, Winn also talks with Clemente about the Wildcats’ chances this next season. While he doesn’t give away too much, K-State fans are going to like this interview. Clemente also comments on some of his earlier run-ins with the NCAA, like the time he got into a kind of a fight with KU players. You can read all about it at SI.com. Well, enjoy your weekend hoops fans! We’ll see you all back here on Monday!

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

Permalink - Posted in General on September 11, 2009 - Post a comment

Hoops Stars Jordan, Stockton, Robinson Inducted into Hall of Fame

Michael Jordan, John Stockton and David Robinson were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame this past week. While they might be better known for their NBA careers, here at the Final Four Blog we’re interested in college hoops. So here are some of the accomplishments of Jordan, Stockton and Robinson while they were in college.

Michael Jordan played three seasons on Dean Smith’s North Carolina Tar Heels. He’s well known for hitting the game-winning basket against Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA Championship game. He also won the Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year awards.

John Stockton played for mid-major Gonzaga University, which is located in his home town of Spokane, Washington, before it was well known as a basketball powerhouse. Ha averaged over 20 points per game and an incredible field goal percentage of 69.2% in his senior season there.

David Robinson played for the Navy Midshipmen during his college years, and is widely considered to be the best Navy player of all time. He won the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award and the Wooden Award in 1987.

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

Permalink - Posted in General on September 10, 2009 - Post a comment

Memphis Adds Another Top 10 Recruit

Memphis doesn’t seem to be having any trouble adding talent to their hoops team, despite the departure of 4former coach and famed recruiter John Calipari. The new coach at Memphis, Josh Pastner, seems to be doing just fine. Pastner has landed his second top ten recruit this summer, reports multiple sources.

Joe Jackson, a 5-11 point guard and native of Memphis, Tennessee, will join the Tigers next season. He dropped some very obvious hints the other day about how he was going to make his college decision at the Memphis practice facility. Clearly that means he’s going to chose Memphis.

Joining Joe Jackson in Memphis next season will be Will Barton, a taller combo guard who was also ranked in the top ten.  What is it about Memphis that gets these top tier high school basketball players to commit?

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

Permalink - Posted in General on September 9, 2009 - Post a comment

Coaches Contracting and Extending

NCAA basketball coaches are taking advantage of the offseason to do some contract negotiations.  Some of the highest profile sideline-paces in college hoops have signed extensions to their contracts that will keep them with their current teams for several years. Here are a few of the highlights.

Oklahoma State has extended Travis Ford’s contract, giving him a deal worth millions and millions that will keep Ford at OK-State through 2019- a ten-year deal!  He’s supposed to make over 2.8 million a year in the final four years of his contract.

Michigan State was the national runner-up last season, and they’re showing some love for their famous coach, Tom Izzo. Apparently Izzo was extended a contract that would keep him in Lansing, Michigan for another seven years.

Finally, Big East contender Seton Hall has invested big time in their current head coach, Bobby Gonzalez, who has been given a contract extension through the 2014-2015 season. Seton Hall is a rising program in the Big East, and we’re sure he’s going to do wonders with the Seton Hall basketball team now that he has, well, some of the best job security in college basketball.

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

Permalink - Posted in General on September 8, 2009 - Post a comment

FIU-North Carolina; Disparity Growing in College Hoops

Florida International University will play the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels in the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament this November. The FUI Panthers, coached by Isiah Thomas, had been balking at th idea of playing UNC in the first round of the tournament- they thought they were going to get to play Ohio State. But the issue is resolved, finally, and fans will get to see Isiah Thomas vs. Roy Williams in the preseason tournament.

On a somewhat related note… Gary Parrish of CBS has a nice article describing the growing disparity between the halves and the have-nots in college basketball these days. As the wider economic depression continues, the bigger, more powerful conferences are widening the gap between themselves and the mid major schools, as the mid majors lack the capacity to deal with tough times. Hard times hit the poorest the hardest.

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

Permalink - Posted in General on September 4, 2009 - Post a comment

Nebraska Hoops Team Grabbing the Headlines

The University of Nebraska has been all over the college hoops headlines these days. Apparently they have just been given a little help from the NCAA in that they’ve been allowed to give out 14 scholarships for their men’s basketball team instead of the usual allotment of only 13. You see, a 6-8 German player by the name of Christian Standhardinger was all set to play for Nebraska, when it was determined that he didn’t meet the academic guidelines set by the NCAA. Well, the rules changed after Christian’s scholarship had been given to another player. But the NCAA is giving the Cornhuskers a little leeway. Christian Standhardinger will have to ride the pine for the first half, though, because he used to play on a team with pros.

In other Nebraska Cornhuskers news, center Christopher Niemann will not be able to play next season because of a torn ACL. Niemann was recruited, you guessed it, out of Germany, but couldn’t play last season because he used to play with professionals in Germany. Good thing the coach, Doc Sadler, has been getting German big men into the program at a steady pace.

… Speaking of Doc Sadler, here’s a real Get-R-Done article about the Cornhusker’s sideline pacer.

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

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

Former Duke Guard Greg Paulus Now Starting at ‘Cuse as QB

Greg Paulus’ college athletics journey has taken a turn for the road less traveled. Paulus, who you will probably recall used to be a guard for the Duke basketball team, is now the starting quarterback at Syracuse. He graduated from Duke last year, but has another season of athletic eligibility left. So, the native of Syracuse, who used to play that the Christian Brother’s Academy, entered graduate school to play football for another year. He recently won the starting job on the team. Nice going, Paulus, and good luck out there!

This kind of thing is pretty rare. You sometimes can see a player here and there excel at two sports in college. For example, Jeff Samardzija, while at Notre Dame, was the team’s best pitcher and wide receiver. However, you hardly ever see a kid go to graduate school to play a fifth year of a different sport. With so many kids going from college to the pros after just one year, it’s nice to see a player who will stick with a program through four years, get a degree and then go through another school to get another degree.

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

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

Top Recruit Barnes Has Six Schools in Mind

Many college basketball experts believe that next year’s top recruit will be Harrison Barnes, an Iowa native who is reportedly still deciding between six schools. He narrowed the list from seven down to six after he crossed off the University of Minnesota just recently. That leaves Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, UCLA, and his hometown school, Iowa State still in the running to get this talented kid… at least for one school year. Barnes is 6-7, 250 pounds and plays the wing position. We’ll keep you posted if there’s any more information about where he decides to go. He visits Duke and North Carolina next.

Also, we can’t let you guys leave this blog post without turning you to something really cool on the Internet. Dude Perfect is a group of college students who make incredible basketball shot videos online. Check them out. Technically, since they got o Texas A&M and they shoot hoops, this link belongs on the Final Four Blog.

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

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

Preseason Tournament Information

 The college basketball preseason tournaments are coming up faster than you might think. Some of the preseason tourneys will begin in November and many of them will go on through December. If you haven’t yet thought about getting tickets to see these fantastic tournaments go down, we highly recommend you begin looking around. Here’s a link to the SportsIllustrated.com page about the preseason tournament information. Teams are, for the most part, set (which teams are going to which tournaments), but sometimes the auxiliary information hasn’t come in yet.

Right off the bat you have Coaches vs. Cancer, beginning November 9. The early games in the CvC Tourney will take place at regional campus sites, but the final is set for Madison Square Garden. The teams are: Current National champion North Carolina, Cal, Syracuse and Ohio State. For those of you keeping track, that’s prominent members of the ACC, Pac-10, Big East and Big Ten. Can you get much better than that?

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

Permalink - Posted in General on August 31, 2009 - Post a comment

Vady Coach Pays 100K for Team Trip Down Under

Vanderbilt’s head basketball coach shelled out big bucks so that the Commodores men’s basketball team could go on an overseas trip to Australia. The team gets to travel overseas once every four years, and because of hard financial times at the University the Vandy team was considering postponing the trip another season. It had already been six years since the last trip the basketball team had taken.

That’s when Kevin Stallings, the head basketball coach, stepped in and offered to forgo some of the money he was due for a bonus to get the trip back on schedule. Apparently Stallings gave up $100,000 of bonus money he was due so that the Commodores could go to Australia to play exhibition games against foreign competition. It was also a good team building opportunity, and one of the star athletes on the team, A.J. Ogilvy, is from Australia. Nice going, Mr. Stallings! Your generosity ought to be rewarded and applauded.

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

Permalink - Posted in General on August 28, 2009 - Post a comment


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