Good Wins: Northern Iowa, Villanova, West Virginia, @Providence Bad Losses: @South Florida Strengths: 1. Dribble Penetration. A lot of their scoring comes off penetration. Most of their scoring plays begin on the wing or the high elbow. The dribble weave made famous by Michigan State’s Tom Izzo begins most of the Eagles’ possessions. The guards [...]

Good Wins: N-Texas, Georgetown Bad Losses: @St. John’s Strengths: 1. Flow. The Irish get good shots. Between Luke Zeller, Kyle McAlarney, and Luke Harangody the Irish have good shooters at three key positions. Mike Brey has a great success rate on plays out of timeouts. This shows the strong link between coach and players. His [...]

Facing the African giant, Hasheem Thabeet, the small town kid from Indiana suckered his foe to the baseline. Lesser men had cowered when faced with Thabeet’s arms, long and fear provoking as Medusa’s snakes. From the baseline the five-inch shorter Luke Harangody evaded those frightful arms with his patented spin move, releasing the ball while [...]

Every city celebrates college sports success the same way.  Initial delirious celebration gives way to naming a child after the heroes.  The in-game chants and baby-making bizarrely go hand in hand.    What separates fanbases is the way in which they handle setbacks, failures.    Big 10 fans internalize the frustration.  Burying such silly anger [...]

After traveling through the undulating landscape of the University of Pittsburgh, longtime fans and curious parties alike stacked the rafters of the immaculate Peterson Events Center. The buzz in the building exceeded that of a dozen beehives. People stood in the top rows eager to witness the purported preeminent college basketball team. Hundreds of animalistic [...]

In the cutthroat world of playground basketball, any advantage helps, no matter how small. An unorthodox shot or awkward dribble can be of real benefit. For a defender to block a shot they need to know the release point. A few left-handed guards are exploiting their most natural gift. They didn’t choose to be left-handed. [...]

Flight found its way home. The new edition Dayton Flyers truly soar. A trio of starters dubbed “The Dayton Flight Club” brings fun, and the illusion of carefree play to UD Arena. The building itself appears to have wings on which to fly. Its contours resemble Calgary’s Saddledome but with more rigidity and less abstraction. [...]

In the words of DMX, “X is gonna to give it ya!” The Musketeers are sliced through November competition like D’Artagnan’s rapier through a tunic. The two stumbling blocks were apparent characters from the Wars of the Roses, a Duke and a Butler. The follow up to the 2008 Elite 8 appearance might break the [...]

The Thanksgiving Weekend shopping spree coincided with some costly losses for Big East teams. While you picked out that new cell phone or barked at masses of shoppers, Georgetown, Cincinnati, and Louisville all joined the highly populated, extremely unpopular “Defeated club.” This week in the Big East Report, we take a look at each team’s [...]

The man just won’t quit. Miami (OH) head coach Charlie Coles returns to the basketball court this season after missing the spring  and summer with health problems. As the severity heart ailments increases, so too does Coles’ resolve. At several points during the course of his coaching career he has been faced with seemingly career-ending [...]