basketball Page 444 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The 15 Or So Most Watchable Teams In College Basketball: An Occasional Ranking
An occasional ranking of college basketball teams on the basis of watchability and with very little regard to how good they might be....

Jim Boeheim Closed His Press Conference Last Night With A Call For More Gun Control
Last night, Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim earned his 900th career victory when his team defeated the University of Detroit Mercy 72-68. After the game, though, Boeheim seemed to have the tragedy in Newtown on his mind, as he ended with some spirited words about gun control. Boeheim a...

<em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>: David Stern Schedules Games On Christmas Because He "Celebrates Hanukkah" And "Has No Real Feel For Christmas In The First Place"
Oh, good: Bruce Jenkins took some space in his recent column about the NBA to suggest that David Stern ruined Christmas with basketball because he's Jewish:...

Syracuse Sophomore Accused Of Stealing, Is Awfully Good At It
On Friday, The Post-Standard reported that Syracuse sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams was accused of stealing $120 worth of merchandise from Lord & Taylor after reports emerged about an "incident" earlier in the week....

Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik Will No Longer Be Taking Callers On His Radio Show Because They Were All Angry Wake Forest Fans
Wake Forest was once a proud basketball program: only two different men helmed the team from 1934-1965, Murray Greason and Bones McKinney, and those two built a strong winning tradition. Carl Tracy stabilized the ship after some turnover in the 70s, and from 1989-2007, it was again a tale of two co...

The Texas Basketball Holiday Song Wars Continue: Here Are The Dallas Mavericks, Trying To Sing "Sleigh Ride"
Not to be outdone by their rivals in Houston, who sort of sang the Dreidel Song, the Dallas Mavericks got together to sort of sing a "Sleigh Ride" karaoke. It's pretty good, especially, Chris Kaman, who is funnier than he looks. Rick Carlisle, too, and O.J Mayo, who only makes sound effects. Now a...

Unranked Butler Knocked Off No. 1 Indiana In Overtime On An Awkward Floater From Walk-On Sophomore Alex Barlow
It shouldn't have even been as close it was down the stretch—Butler has been a tough draw since Brad Stevens became coach after the 2007, and it's doubtful that Indiana took them lightly, but this was a match-up of a No. 1 ranked team against an unranked opponent on a neutral floor. Indiana had come...

Nate Silver Argues That The Breakaway Big East Teams Have A Chance To Rid Themselves Of Unsightly Football Baggage
News came down today that the Big East's non-FBS football schools have officially decided to leave the conference, a decision made by unanimous vote and one we've been expecting for a few days. It's easy to feel a little fearful about the Big East's basketball powers (sans UConn) striking out on the...

Daryl Morey Made By Far The Most Transactions In His Fantasy Football League, But Still Came In Eleventh And Lost To His Wife
Via the Twitter of Daryl Morey—God bless him, he has a sense of humor about the whole thing—comes this scorecard from his season of fantasy football. Daryl Morey is the GM of two teams: the Houston Rockets (a basketball franchise) and the Morey Eels (a fantasy football franchise). One of the jobs, h...

Andrea Bargnani Calls The Raptors "Pretty Much The Worst NBA Team," Which Is Pretty Much True
Andrea Bargnani did an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian newspaper dedicated to sports, in which he said some harsh words about the objectively awful team that employs him. Raptors coach Dwane Casey cautioned the press not to blow what might be a mistranslation out of proportion, ex...

"That Was Real, And That Was Spectacular!" Ian Eagle Shoehorned A <em>Seinfeld</em> Reference Into His Call Of Joe Johnson's Game-Winner
I watched this game while sort of glancing at the television and then looking away again, so when I first heard this call, from the YES Network's Ian Eagle, I thought it was pretty irredeemably dweeby, regardless of the quality of the source material. Now that I've watched again and seen that Jerr...

Kevin Durant Memorialized Sandy Hook Last Night With A Message On His Sneakers
It must be hard for professional athletes to figure out to respond to national tragedies like the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary yesterday. In times of national mourning, sports can seem pretty starkly trivial, and the juxtaposition between the day's news and the night's sporting events has a way...

What's Next For The Big East's Non-Football Schools?
So what do the Big East's non-football schools do now that they've pulled the old it's-not-you-it's-me routine and broken up with the Big East? They can form their own seven-team conference, but a basketball league with Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette isn't all that appealing when it also only ...

Carmelo Anthony Isn't Winning By Being Unselfish. He's Winning By Being A Better Kind Of Selfish.
Before leaving last night's game against the Lakers with an ankle injury, Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points in 23 minutes. And that was after he had a relatively cold second quarter, hitting only one of his four shots....

Another Proud Moment For Rutgers Men's Basketball: Head Coach Mike Rice Suspended After Flinging Basketballs At Players' Heads
It's been more than two decades since the Rutgers men's basketball team made the NCAA tournament, and it seems like every coach that has been paraded through Piscataway, N.J. during that time has had a complete and total meltdown. Today's edition? Coach Mike Rice decided to whip some basketballs at ...

Someone Please Remind Andy Katz That ESPN Had A Hand In The Big East's Demise
Now that the Big East's non-football schools have decided to ditch the Big East, ESPN senior college basketball writer Andy Katz is among those waxing nostalgic about the Big East's heyday as a hoops league. But at the end of his paean published early this morning, Katz gets a little defensive about...

Top Basketball Recruit Jabari Parker Is Ideal For BYU, But BYU Isn't Ideal For Him (Or For Any Black Athlete)
This has been a breakthrough year for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mitt Romney captured the Republican presidential nomination. Manti Te'o led the Notre Dame football team to an undefeated regular season and a No. 1 ranking. And now the nation's top basketball prospect, Jabari Al...

The Houston Rockets Singing "The Dreidel Song" Is Simply Fantastic
When paraded one after the other, it's really easy to see which Houston Rockets were ready to bring the Hanukkah spirit and which ones were sorely lacking. (Good job, good effort there, Jeremy Lin.)...

It Looks Like The Big East's Non-Football Schools Are Jumping Ship
ESPN is reporting that the Big East's seven non-football schools are planning to leave the conference, with an announcement coming within the next two days. The presidents of Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, and DePaul met in New York on Sunday and had a teleconf...

Pacers Rookie Ben Hansbrough's Older Brother Tyler Totally Embarrasses Him In Front Of His Friends
There are two ways to look at this incident, which took place during the Pacers-Cavs game last night, in which Tristan Thompson (probably inadvertently) elbowed Pacers rookie Ben Hansbrough, and Pacers psychopath Tyler Hansbrough intervened and admonished Thompson with gusto....