Basketball

Bill Buckner and the ’86 Red Sox. Jean Van de Velde and the ’99 British Open. Memphis Tigers and the ’08 National Championship. Up 9 points with two minutes left, Memphis completed one of the great choke jobs in sports history Monday night, losing in overtime to the Kansas Jayhawks. Missed free throws. A key […]

Ohio State beat UMass for the NIT title Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. There was a time when the NIT meant something. Even as late as 1970, the NIT championship was regarded as a legitimate claim to a national championship. Since then, it’s become the race to see who’s the best team of those […]

So I spent all Friday and most of Saturday telling friends how Tyler Hansbrough wouldn’t be able to handle Louisville’s front line. No way he could put up big numbers against the combo of David Padgett and Derrick Caracter, not to mention having Earl Clark’s big arms near his face. Case closed – the Cards […]

After enduring two weeks of generally boring basketball and few compelling stories, this news is no surprise: This year’s [NCAA men’s] tournament might become the lowest-rated ever, or at least the lowest without an asterisk. Heading into Thursday’s games, CBS’ ratings were off 9% from last year, which was the lowest-rated ever except the 2003 […]

Via Deadspin comes this image from a Duke college basketball message board. It was after Duke lost to West Virginia and was bounced from the NCAA men’s tournament. And all we hear is how classy the Duke fans are: Via Deadspin comes this image from a Duke college basketball message board. It was after Duke […]

The other day Jim Buzinski offered up an idea to speed up the end of college basketball games: limiting the number of timeouts a team can take at the end of the game. However, if Dick Vitale had his way, Jim's suggestion would likely do no good. Vitale was on ESPNews last night discussing the […]

The terrific last-second 3-pointer than lifted Western Kentucky over Drake, 101-99, in overtime: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tre8Xa04g8Q] The terrific last-second 3-pointer than lifted Western Kentucky over Drake, 101-99, in overtime: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tre8Xa04g8Q]

Ok, I’ll come clean: I’m a message board junkie. And few are more entertaining than the one for the University of Kentucky, named aptly Cats Pause. You see, UK fans have had a tough year. After a mediocre start, the team finished 12-4 in the SEC and squeaked into the tournament. Suddenly, Lexington started romancing […]

One of the joys the NCAA tournament game is hearing Gus Johnson to do the play-by-play. Jim Allen and I don’t call him “The Screamer” for nothing: [youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=sgeqrYxu_YM] One of the joys the NCAA tournament game is hearing Gus Johnson to do the play-by-play. Jim Allen and I don’t call him “The Screamer” for nothing: […]

Basketball is a terrific, fast-paced, up-and-down-the-court game … until the final minute. Then it degenerates into a flurry of timeouts that turn mercury into molasses. Duke beat No. 15-seed Belmont ($5 to anyone who knows what state it’s in without looking it up), 71-70, but the last minute seemed like it lasted an hour. Possession, […]

In a way, it was business as usual for Allen Iverson. In his first game in Philadelphia since being traded to Denver in late 2006, the Wachovia Center was full, Iverson was greeted with a long, loud standing ovation in the pregame introductions, and he led all scorers with 32 points. Oh, and his team […]

(Editor’s note: Sean Jackson wrote our preseason men’s college basketball preview in which he picked UCLA to win it all. Having watched the entire season unfold, he is back with his tournament preview): So what have we learned this season? Just a few things. – Turn your phone to vibrate if you know Kelvin Sampson […]

The bracket to your right is my best guess for this year’s NCAA men’s college basketball tournament. The operative word here is “guess.” For the record, my Final Four are UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas and Pittsburgh, with UNC beating UCLA. You can clearly do better. Sign up here and play for free. We will give […]

Why does ESPN even have “experts” picking to talk about the NCAA tournament? Their insight is no better (actually, it’s worse) than simply looking at the seedings. Last year, we heard “look out for Long Beach State,” which got dismantled by Tennessee in the first round. This year, ESPN had five “experts” pick their Elite […]

The Philadelphia 76ers are 18-28. They're a game and a half (two games in the loss column) out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It's amazing that the East is so competitive the East really, really sucks — worse than even the most horrendous American Idol contestants. — Joe Guckin […]

Last month the Atlanta Hawks edged the Miami Heat in overtime, 117-111. However, the victory now doesn't count thanks to a screwup by the official scorer in Atlanta. With 3:42 left in the 4th quarter a foul was called on Miami's Udonis Haslem. However, the scorer recorded it as a foul on Shaquille O'Neal. So, […]

For most of us, losing our jobs around the holidays would be particularly difficult. It seems to be a trend in the world of professional sports, though. The NHL's Washington Capitals fired head coach Glen Hanlon on Thanksgiving. Just a month later, on Christmas Eve, the NBA's Chicago Bulls lowered the boom on coach Scott […]

Since I've been picking on the New Jersey Devils, it seems only fair to pick on my hometown as well. The announced attendance for tonight's Philadelphia 76ers home game against Charlotte was just 9,317, which is bad enough. The Associated Press game summary put the actual crowd at about 6,000. Without the drawing card of […]