Basketball Page 953 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

One-Armed Basketball Player Commits To Florida
Zach Hodskins is a 6-foot-4, 200-pound high school senior from Milton, Ga. He played well enough on the AAU circuit last summer to get attention from several major college basketball programs. Saturday, Hodskins made a verbal commitment to play for Florida. He also was born with no left arm below t...

Was Tom Izzo Fired Out Of A Cannon? (No, No He Was Not.)
Tom Izzo kicked off Midnight Madness at Michigan State by entering the arena to a Phil Collins song while straddling an enormous cannon. He was then blasted out of that cannon into a safety net clear across the court. Except of course he wasn't fired out of a cannon....

C.J. Fair's Shitty Drawing Of The Syracuse Mascot Is A Masterpiece
ESPN asked a bunch of ACC basketball players and coaches to draw an image of their respective school's mascot. C.J. Fair is the league's preseason player of the year. This was his bold rendering of Otto, the Syracuse Orange. Fair's Otto has no face, and its arms are growing out of its legs. Fair loo...

What Is This Photo Of The Duke Basketball Team Handling Assault Rifles?
We received this picture from a reader early Saturday & spent most of the day trying to figure out where it came from or what it's really depicting. We're at a loss, and maybe you have some answers....

SJSU Puts Scary Spartans On Basketball Court
The San Jose State Spartans are the latest college basketball team to get in on the over-the-top court design trend. FIU's beach towel is pretty cool, but not as cool as five angry Spartan warriors who are poised to stab you in the face!...

WNBA Finals Games Kicked Out Of Philips Arena For Disney On Ice
The Atlanta Dream has to play its Finals home games at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, about a half hour outside of Atlanta, because Philips Arena is hosting Disney on Ice. ...
![Diana Taurasi And Seimone Augustus Kiss, Have To Be Separated [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/Image_Not_Found_1x_qjofp8.png)
Diana Taurasi And Seimone Augustus Kiss, Have To Be Separated [Update]
Basketball players have been hit with technical fouls for silly things—see Rasheed Wallace receiving a second T and getting ejected for staring—but what about kissing a player?...


Former WMU Hoopster Looks To Set Record For Longest Freestyle Rap
Old Mountain Man Remus here is actually former Western Michigan basketball player Pat Cleland, who now goes by the stage name Rick Chyme. On Saturday, September 21, Rick Chyme will try to set a record for longest freestyle rap....

Infographic: Are College Sports In The Midst Of A "Shaq Boom"?
Over on his blog, Ken Pomeroy makes a convincing case that we're in the midst of a "Shaq Boom." The babies named "Shaquille" that were born in O'Neal's heyday in the '90s are now turning 18 and entering college basketball. The name "Shaquille" first entered the list of top 1,000 baby names in 1991 (...

Kevin Ware Has A Leg Again And Is Dunking
It's heartening to see Kevin Ware, who suffered perhaps the most gruesome injury in the history of televised sports, back on the court and doing basketball things. And yet, I had to fight the urge to yell out, "Oh God! No no nononono!" as soon as his feet left the ground. ...

UNLV Billboard Features Coach Who Left Two Years Ago
That's Bobby Hauck and Lon Kruger, inviting Rebels fans to buy tickets. Lon Kruger has been at Oklahoma since 2011....

Butler's Bulldog Mascot Dies, Then Tweets From Heaven
We've been aware of Butler mascot Blue II's health problems for some time now, and last night the nine-year-old bulldog finally succumbed to congestive heart failure. As if the thought of an adorable dog dying wasn't enough to bum you out, Blue II "penned" a first person blog post shortly before hi...

Candace Parker Bloodies Teammate While Celebrating
Los Angeles's Candace Parker was so freaking excited over this completed layup Sunday night, she accidentally headbutted Nneka Ogwumike while going to celebrate. Blood everywhere....

Here Is Michael Jordan's First Career Basket At UNC
Eye On Basketball unearthed this little gem today from YouTube's wayback machine. It's footage of a game that matched preseason No. 1 North Carolina against unranked Kansas on Nov. 28, 1981. It was the season opener at the Charlotte Coliseum. And it featured the first two collegiate shot attempts by...

A Horrible Week For Bulldog Mascots Continues
On Wednesday it was announced that Georgetown mascot-in-training J.J. was being drummed out after biting a child. Now, sad news: Butler Blue II, the mascot emeritus for the Butler Bulldogs, has just weeks or months to live....
![Georgetown Is Mysteriously Getting Rid Of Its Bulldog Mascot [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18vl581bzabeajpg.jpg)
Georgetown Is Mysteriously Getting Rid Of Its Bulldog Mascot [Update]
Jack the Bulldog retired this spring after 10 years of representing Georgetown as its mascot. Last year, the school brought in Jack Jr., or J.J.—a precious little Bulldog pup who would be the "mascot-in-training," and take over for the start of basketball season in the fall. But today it was announc...


Holy Shit: Brad Stevens Is The New Coach Of The Boston Celtics
Humming along, day before a national holiday, late afternoon, nothing to see here—wait, holy shit, Brad Stevens just took the head coach position with the Boston Celtics. The 36-year-old Stevens had been in charge at Butler for six years, with two NCAA finals appearances, four Horizon League champio...