basketball Page 541 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Looking To The Past To Overcome The Present
Now that Florida has won its second national title in a row, everybody's an amateur historian — which is good, because sports would be no fun if it has professional historians. The big question: Are the Gators one of the best teams ever? The answer of course is that there is no answer, which is why ...

At This Rate, Florida's Gonna Win An Oscar This Year
It was rather difficult not to admire Greg Oden in this game, but Florida, man, those guys are good. Not the epic game we were hoping for ... but when you go 4-for-22 from the 3-point line, it doesn't really matter if you have a 64-year-old Bill Russell under the basket....

Give Us At Least ONE Shining Moment. One Will Be Fine.
All right, well, we think we can all agree that, as sports fans, we are owed an epic national title matchup tonight. This has been the least memorable NCAA Tournament of the last decade — except for those ones we can't remember — and the only thing that can salvage it is a Connecticut-Duke or George...

What A Win Tonight Would Mean: Florida
A national title, or a championship in any sport, resonates for years beyond just one small victory for a group of tall men. It stands for something not just in athletics, but for a university as a whole, a matter of civic pride, an achievement disparate groups of people can all stand alongside, joy...

NCAA Championship Game Blogdome: Let's Play Two
What they're saying, blogwise, about tonight's National Championship game ......

What A Win Tonight Would Mean: Ohio State
A national title, or a championship in any sport, resonates for years beyond just one small victory for a group of tall men. It stands for something not just in athletics, but for a university as a whole, a matter of civic pride, an achievement disparate groups of people can all stand alongside, joy...

Hey, The Couch Is Better Than Atlanta. Totally.
If you're one of those Frank Rich-obsessed souls who read the TimesSelect column, you already know this, but if not, we should make this clear before we start talking about the Final Four: We did not make it to Atlanta. Because Peter King is the only person left on earth who doesn't recognize that i...

Buckeyes Tend To Look Old
The man on the left, Ohio State head coach That Matta, is two years younger than the man on the right, Florida coach Billy Donovan. There must be something in the water in Columbus that ages people prematurely. At this time next year, Mike Conley Jr. is going to look like Laurence Fishburne....

One Of These Men Does Not Play Basketball
The guy in the middle sent this picture into us ... some of the Florida Gators were nice enough to pose for a shot with him at a TGI Friday's last June. It's weird that Taurean Green, Al Horford, and Corey Brewer all smile politely for the camera, while Joakim Noah stands there with no expression on...

That Was A Dress Rehearsal, Right?
It was just so thoroughly disappointing. I won't believe that the hype was unwarranted; it absolutely was. All the ingredients were there for a fantastic evening of basketball, but it never happened. It was never what it should have been. I feel like I just watched The Godfather III....

The Final Four Open Thread
I'm afraid I won't be with you for tonight's basketball festivities — I decided to try actually watching a game without a keyboard in front of me. I don't know what that's going to be like, but I've heard it's wild....

What's More Beautiful Than Atlanta In March?
After what seemed an interminable week off, we're finally back moving with the NCAA Tournament tomorrow night, and we kind of can't wait: After last year's wretched Final Four — three lousy games — we should be in store for some double-plus pleasantness....

Seriously, You Should Be Very Honored, Mountainers
We'd like to congratulate the West Virginia Mountaineers on their NIT championship last night; that's something that can never be taken away from them. In fact, fans can buy the officially licensed T-shirt above. Truly, it's quite an honor....

The Lovely Ladies Of Duke
Continuing their rather impressive rampage through the college basketball landscape that the Hoops Odyssey kids are on, they've found some rather, uh, spirited female Duke fans....

Billy Packer Admits The Truth
We're beginning to think that Billy Packer is actually charming and clever, and this is all big prank he's playing on all of us. This clip confirms what most of us already knew....

Gus Johnson: Get On The Dance Floor!
Because the NCAA Tournament is never quite the same once Gus Johnson leaves — a week earlier this year, dammit — someone who knows how to use that audio software on your computer that we never understand has put together a Gus Johnson remix, featuring some of his greatest moments set to one of them ...

Jim Nantz Does Like Him A Good Pun
With the official Week Of Jim Nantz just around the corner — starting Saturday, Nantz is about to take a starring role in all your nightmares — we are reminded that Nantz, right now, is probably sitting in a hotel room in Atlanta, jotting down puns and single entendres based on which ever team wins ...

Ronald, Wooden And Some Teenagers
Last night was the McDonald's All-American Game in Louisville. It attracts a colorful, surreal crowd....

"The Ball Is Tipped ..."
Because we are just more than two days away from the Final Four, we thought we'd all work ourselves up into a sappy, cheesy frenzy with the good ole "One Shining Moment." Never before has something so horrible felt so, so right. (Note: Everything horrible feels right, actually.)...

More Fun With Joakim Noah
Because Saturday's Final Four matchup between Florida and UCLA is a rematch of last year's national championship game, some bad blood is still stewing, or boiling, or whatever bad blood does, and UCLA fans are wanting revenge. And how does today fan fire himself for revenge? Funny PhotoShops!...