basketball Page 505 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Jeremy Tyler Is Too Cool For School
Sorry Rick Pitino; Jeremy Tyler will not need your services in 2011. In fact, not only is the 6-foot-11 center bypassing Louisville to play in Europe, he's even skipping his senior year of high school....

Tom Izzo To Make Musical Theater Fans <i>Les Miserables</i>
Look...I love Tom Izzo and I hate cancer, but if a Broadway-style musical extravaganza starring an undersized Yooper doesn't have Bad Idea Jeans written all over it, I'll eat my tap shoes....

Even Kansas Is Somehow Benefiting From John Calipari's Move
The Henry brothers—high school senior Xavier and his Memphis Tiger sibling, C.J.—are both enrolling at Kansas. (Sources say!) Way to kick a Door when it's down. [Fox, via RTC; more @ SI]...

Karen Sypher Speaks (Sort Of)
Karen Sypher, the woman at the center of the bizarre Rick Pitino extortion thingy wants to give her side of the story. Her vague, paranoid, possibly disturbed side of the story....

Andy Kennedy Avoids Another International Incident
Mississippi's fun-loving, cabbie-punching basketball coach pleads guilty to disorderly conduct for his drunken police adventure and will not serve jail time. Hopefully, that means Mrs. Kennedy will finally get some release. [ESPN]...

Hasheem Thabeet Has Checked Out
The junior center will give up his final year at UConn—as if this image didn't already scream, "Your amateur athletics bore me." [SI]...

Isiah Thomas Is Florida International's Problem Now
Florida International stinks at basketball, so I guess they figured—if we're going to stink we might as well leave a spectacular stench all over the basketball world. That's the only explanation for hiring Isiah Thomas....

Yep. That's Bruce Pearl Rapping With No Shirt On
The UT athletic department held their third annual VOLSCARS ceremony that I think is supposed to be a play on "Oscars" (as in Academy Awards) but it just reads as "Vol Scars," which is disgusting. Anyway, it's some sort of school-wide ESPY awards and this year's "entertainment" featured head basketb...

Isiah Thomas Is Never Going Away
Rumor has it that Florida International wants to has hired organizational wunderkind Isiah Thomas to be their new head basketball coach. Unbelievable. I guess FIU doesn't have a history department. [ESPN]...

Your Team Is A Fan Of Being On Probation
Please don't take any "What cast member of 'Saved By The Bell' is your 4-star basketball recruit?" quizzes on Facebook, unless you want your program to get slapped with an NCAA violation for being dumb....

High School Basketball Without The High Schools
Sports Illustrated has a very curious story this week about Findlay Prep, the team that won ESPN's inaugrual RISE National High School Invitational tournament last weekend. There's just one issue—Findlay Prep is not a high school....

John Calipari Continues His Dismantling Of Memphis
It was bad enough when John Calipari's daughter decided to follow her dad to the University of Kentucky, but it looks like Memphis isn't going to get to keep any of his players either....

Connecticut Goes For Perfection Once Again
The UConn Lady Huskies go for broke tonight in the National Championship game. Win and they're immortal—lose and they're the biggest chumps of all time....

Blake Griffin Heading To NBA
Blake Griffin will get paid for his concussions from now on, thank you very much. (Also, joining him: Chase Budinger and Jodie Meeks.) Repeat after me: No Clippers, No Clippers, No Clippers, No Clippers. [AP]...

Taking Stock Of Tyler Hansbrough
The big question on the mind grapes of college basketball fans this morning—after "Hey, what happened to the couch?"—is just how good was Tyler Hansbrough?...

North Carolina-Michigan State Live Blog
This one's for all the General Motors, laddies. Will it be the Tar Heels? Or the Tar Heels? Then again, the Tar Heels could pull it out. Time will tell....

Josh Pastner Now In Charge Of The Door
Memphis has promoted boyish assistant Josh Pastner to replace John Calipari as their head basketball coach. But when does the live 24-hour live web feed begin? [MyFoxMemphis]...

So Here's A Story About How Ashley Judd Almost Got Kentucky In Trouble With The NCAA
Ashley Judd could be one of the more annoying of the celebrity super-fans. It is adorable when famous people are so vocal about their teams, but screamin' Ashley just tends to overdo it a bit....

Someone Went A Little Nuts With The Paint
I find this court design a bit disorienting, but perhaps the players in the women's Final Four in St. Louis have had no problem with it. Whoa, OK now I'm dizzy. [Yahoo Sports]...

Tom Izzo: The Early Years
Here's a great find: Tom Izzo's first day as a coach at Ispheming High School in 1977. His jacket scored 12 points. [The Daily Drink]...