Basketball Page 961 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

UConn Provides An Official Celebration Video That Conveniently Excludes Rioting And Fire
A premiere research university like Connecticut has a certain image to uphold, even when its Division I basketball team wins a national championship and the entire student body goes apeshit crazy overnight. At UConn, this video suggests, students join together to peacefully sing "We Are the Champi...

Jim Nantz Predictably Overdoes It With The Dog Puns
To be fair to Worst Man Jim Nantz, we understand that a Huskies-Bulldogs final is a bit like Christmas for him. A Christmas trimmed with multiple opportunities for insufferable references to dogs and winning. And so when the buzzer sounded, Nantz dropped three dog puns in under 20 seconds. It was ...

This Year's "One Shining Moment" Includes Very Few Moments From The Title Game
Your morning roundup for April 5, the day Michael Jackson took watch over Fulham FC's stadium....

Your UConn-Butler NCAA Championship Open Thread
This one's for a considerable amount of the Tostitos. Will it be the likable Bulldogs, swiftly moving from giant-killers to giants? Or the Huskies, who haven't lost since we still considered the Big East fearsome?...

The Kentucky Wildcats Refused To Go Down Without A Fight Or An Internationally-Televised Nut Tap
Your morning roundup for April 3, the day it became clear that 16-year-old girls at meth labs hope you have rabies....

Your Final Four Open Thread
In the evening's first Final Four game, the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams tip-off against the Butler University Bulldogs around 6:09 p.m....

Dennis Rodman Recognizes The Importance Of Family
Your morning roundup for April 2, the day that the color starts returning to the knuckles of passengers and crew on Southwest Flight 812, the plane with a three-foot hole in its side....

It Took A Self-Proclaimed "Hockey Luvin Homo" To Make A Canucks-Kings Game Noteworthy
Your morning roundup for April 1, the day you are permitted to seek vengeance against anybody who you think has wronged you, with no legal ramifications whatsoever....

Purdue Is Sorry They Blamed Cheap Purdue Donors For Matt Painter’s Possible Departure
A day after sending out a letter that more or less blamed its boosters for men's basketball coach Matt Painter's meeting with Missouri officials, the Purdue athletic department sent out a hasty (or, as tipster and proud Mackey Challenge donor BigTenObsession calls it, "weaksauce") apology to its mai...

Coach K, Please Shut Up (Also: Jalen Rose Arrested For DUI)
We do some Duke-hating around these parts. And maybe a hair too much of it, if you ask no one. I mean, hey, Duke lost to VCU in 2007 in the first round, before it was cool....

Purdue Not-So-Subtly Blames Cheap Purdue Donors For Matt Painter's Possible Departure
Purdue head coach Matt Painter, who has led the Boilermakers to four straight 25-win seasons, is meeting with Missouri officials in Florida today to discuss their recently vacated head coaching job. The John Purdue Club is in a tizzy over his potential departure, even though this scenario seems more...

The VCU Band Director Is Just As Buoyant In The Wild As He Is At The Games
A dedicated Deadspin reader, known around here as Malik Sealy Dirt Mattress, made it to San Antonio this weekend to see the finale to the Southwest Regional. Out on Saturday night, he and a friend spotted somewhat known-person Ryan Kopacsi, the gyrating director of the VCU pep band and — as Out Spor...

Shaka Smart's Key To Success: Quoting <em>Scarface</em>
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: VCU likes to be the bad guy....

40-Year-Old Sheryl Swoopes Unretires To Join Something Called "Tulsa Shock"
Sheryl Swoopes retired from the WNBA in 2008 after averaging 7 and 4 for the Seattle Storm, her worst such figures as a pro. As of 2005, Swoopes endorsed lesbian cruise line Olivia, so presumably she redeemed some vouchers to travel to Greece last year. There she played for Ravenna Esperides, alongs...

Steven Pearl Laughs On Twitter At Dad's UT Replacement
You didn't really expect Bruce Pearl and kin to exit Knoxville quietly, with great dignity, especially when Tennessee didn't wait a full week before hiring a replacement, Cuonzo Martin, did you?...

Your VCU/Kansas Halftime Update
Should VCU hold its 14-point-lead form in the second half and defeat the Kansas Jayhawks, this will be the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 (or more) teams that no No. 1 seeds made the Final Four. The first: 2006 (Florida was a third seed, UCLA a second, LSU a four and George Mason w...

Your Second Elite Eight Open Thread
Virginia Commonwealth and Kansas will play for the right to face Butler in the Final Four next Saturday. The winner of Kentucky/North Carolina will draw UConn. Let the games begin....

Your First Elite Eight Open Thread
The Elite Eight will become seven after the Butler/Florida game, which tips off around 4:30 p.m. Seven will become six after Arizona tries to do to UConn what it did to Duke. (It really never gets old.) And then, we'll wait for tomorrow to learn the other two entries into the 2011 Hall of Final Fou...

Richmond Fought The Good Fight Against Kansas Until The Game Started
Your morning roundup for March 26, when James Corley of Conroe, Texas mulls the misfortune of not stopping after his 15th DUI conviction. Now, he'll have 99 years to practice counting to 1,030....

Let Us Rejoice In Duke's Misery
The Duke University men's basketball team has earned a special privilege in college sports and within March Madness: It will never be considered the underdog. As far as we're concerned, for as long as Coach K is patrolling the sideline and as long as his hair stays a surreal jet-black, Duke will ...