basketball Page 46 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The WNBA head coaching situation, in Black and white
When the WNBA tips off the 2023 season on May 19, it will be with two Black women head coaches on the sidelines of courts on which 79 percent* of the league’s players are Black women and other women of color. (This figure is accurate as of March 2023, when six of the WNBA’s 12 teams had more than 12...
The men's NCAA Sweet 16 storylines to watch
The Sweet 16 is when the NCAA Tournament starts to feel less like an ear-splitting house party and more like an interpersonal kickback in the penthouse suite. The setting is more personal, the opponents are scouted more thoroughly and the quality of basketball gets upgraded significantly. The CBS an...
St. John’s makes it clear: Winning is more important than ethical standards with Rick Pitino hire
The last three decades have turned the St. John’s men’s basketball program from one of the most sacred brands in collegiate sports to an indifferent sigh. The Red Storm try to label themselves as New York’s college basketball team — the only non-low-major program inside America’s most populous urban...
Do people actually work less during March Madness? If not, they should start
A handful of weekdays on the sports calendar truly command Americans’ attention from coast to coast. Of course, one is Super Bowl Sunday, which results in National Hangover Day at work on Monday. Then there are the first two days of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. Games start at noon EST and e...
Sean Miller, Xavier headed to Sweet 16 — former assistant Book Richardson went to prison
Sunday was a big day for Sean Miller. In his first season, during his second stint at the school, Xavier men’s head basketball coach guided the program to its first Sweet 16 since 2017. And to get there, Miller had to beat a school that’s near and dear to his heart, the University of Pittsburgh — hi...
The best NBA games on this week’s schedule
This is the time of year in which sports fans should be primarily focused on the Men’s and Women’s college basketball postseason tournaments. The “amateurs” have put on quite a show that deserves attention this week....
The craziest storylines of the NBA season (so far)
The NBA is never drama-free, and there’s a reason the NBA playoffs are one of the few reasons to remain on the toxic hell site that is Twitter these days. But even for the NBA, this season has been a spectacle worth of Vanderpump Rules. As we inch ever closer to the post-season, here’s a look back a...
No upsets in Women’s College Basketball, huh?
For those still clinging by their fingertips to the argument that their lack of interest in Women’s College Basketball is due to a lack of competitive balance, just let go and fall into the sea of bad takes. You folks can join the crowds who believe that men’s college basketball is more fundamental...
Stop bitching about the World Baseball Classic
We tend not to appreciate things that don’t matter as much to us as it does others. If there’s anything more American than “I got mine,” I don’t know what that would be. That seems to be the trouble with the World Baseball Classic, even though with every iteration it seems to pick up more steam. The...
Joel Embiid has overtaken Nikola Jokić for MVP
Don’t count MVPs before they hatch. Nikola Jokić’s third consecutive MVP has seemed like an inevitability during the first three-quarters of the season. Jokić’s triple-double averages, improved offensive efficiency, advanced statistics, and Denver’s No. 1 seed in the Western Conference all appeared ...
The Timberwolves’ awful season just got a level worse than awful
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season from hell continued Friday night as they lost to the Chicago Bulls in double overtime and may have lost Anthony Edwards for the remainder of the regular season to an ankle injury. There hasn’t been an official update from the team. Edwards returned to the bench in ...
Charles Barkley airs his own dirty laundry during March Madness telecast
No one wants their dirty laundry aired on national television, especially not on the Turner network of channels during March Madness. But Charles Barkley did just that — only he was the one doing the rinsing, scrubbing, and air drying. The Chuckster revealed that he used to clean his own NBA uniform...
The big man is dead in basketball until further notice
I have a question for both college and NBA basketball fans: When was the last time a team won anything with a low-post big man as their No. 1 option? Purdue’s Zach Edey is going to take home a treasure trove of hardware, and lucky for him, he’ll be at his place of residence to make sure no one poach...
I called Saint Peter’s and Furman, now Auburn is going to take down No. 1 Houston
Now that my undefeated record of picking No. 13 seeds or lower in the NCAA Tournament publicly is still intact after Furman’s victory over Virginia on Thursday, I’m deciding to not rest on my laurels and tell you all about another prediction I made earlier this week. For fans of Deadspin’s Agree to ...
NBA's GOAT is looking to sell his stake in the Charlotte Hornets and other failures
When you’re so incredibly talented at something, it tends to give you a false sense of confidence in other areas of your life. Perhaps no one in a star’s inner circle wants to be cast out so they evolve into yes-men, or a player’s competitive drive makes them believe anything is possible. I’m not a ...
These NBA playoff performers have the most to prove
Every year a group of players enters the NBA playoffs with the weight of their legacy on their shoulders. And every year, all but one player exits bearing even more weight than they went in with. This season is no different, despite the unprecedented parity in the league. So we’ve pinpointed the pla...
South Carolina women’s basketball team is the best in the NCAA Tournament — regardless of gender
Whether you call it irony or coincidence, the best team playing during college basketball’s biggest moment during a month that’s dedicated to the history of women makes too much sense. Yes, we all think of the men’s game when we think of March Madness. And yes, the men’s game brings in all the money...
Presenting the ‘You Gotta Be Kidding Me’ Team from opening day of March Madness
If you’re like me — an NBA fan who pivots to college basketball for a few weeks in March — the best part of the NCAA tournament is the unknown. What I don’t know about draft stock, a coach, a player, a team, or anything, makes the discovery all the more entertaining....
March Badness: Scandals defined the year in college hoops
In a year devoid of a dominant blue blood or player, college basketball stayed in the headlines for the worst reasons. Preseason No. 1 UNC whiffed on the season and missed the tournament entirely. Gonzaga is relying on a normal supply of veteran talent, but is less interesting to watch for casual fa...