Daily Basketball
NBA and NCAA blogging on an occasionally daily basis
Archive for NCAA
April 6, 2007 at 9:24 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
After Billy Donovan spurned the chance to coach the Kentucky Wildcats, the school hired another top NCAA coach. Billy Gillespie, the former Texas A&M coach, will replace Tubby Smith as head coach. His contract is worth $2.3 million a year and he knows that expectations will be high. Gillespie said, “This is the place that basically invented college basketball,” referring to the school’s glory years under Adolph Rupp.
The Toronto Raptors clinched their first division title after the team beat the Philadelphia Sixers and the Chicago Bulls defeated the second-place New Jersey Nets. The Raptors will return to the playoffs after a five-year absence, and likely face either the Washington Wizards or the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
The Nets’ Vince Carter may return to the team, regardless of speculation that he plans to head south to join the Orlando Magic. The Nets seem skeptical that Carter is worth $60 for a three-year extension, but they could get more from a trade than letting their All-Star guard go for nothing.
Dwyane Wade hopes to return to the Heat sometime in the next couple weeks, in a limited sixth-man role. The Heat played better basketball with their star guard out since late February, including a nine-game winning streak that helped them get back into the race for the division title and a playoff spot.
Both Teams Played Hard compiled a list of the Top 50 NBA commercials. It’s definitely worth a look, with the best of the NBA commercials found on YouTube. This comprehensive list has all of the videos embedded on one page, so you can watch each individually without leaving the site.
April 4, 2007 at 10:08 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
Gilbert Arenas suffered a sprained knee after colliding with Gerald Wallace. This injury will likely keep Arenas out of play for multiple weeks — teammate Antawn Jamison missed 12 games earlier this season with a similar injury. With only a handful of games left in the regular season, an MRI will tell whether or not the Wizards will be without Agent Zero (as well as Caron Butler) when the team opens the first round of the playoffs.
It only takes one guess to figure out Tracy McGrady’s recent injury. McGrady left the Houston Rockets’ game against Golden State Warriors after his back stiffened up. The same injury has bothered McGrady for several seasons now…
LeBron James continues to delay a decision on playing for the USA Basketball team. Surely, this means James doesn’t want to play, or he’d have accepted by now. The only decision left to make is whether or not James will damage his sponsorships by turning the team down.
Once again, Kevin Garnett expects major change in the Minnesota Timberwolves organization this summer. He hasn’t demanded a trade yet, but rumors will continue until the team develops into a contender.
NCAA champion head coach Billy Donovan has to consider a position with Kentucky, if they were to offer him a job. While avoiding the issue of his coaching job at Florida, Donovan said he wouldn’t immediately dismiss any offers. The Memphis Grizzlies have also been mentioned, as well as the Miami Heat, though there seems to be little base behind the NBA team rumors.
April 2, 2007 at 10:03 pm · Filed under NCAA
For the first time since Duke won back-to-back titles in 1992, the NCAA had the national champions successfully defend their title.
The Florida Gators beat the Ohio State Buckeyes by a score of 84-75, though the Gators were in control for most of the game. The Gators used incredible three-point shooting (10-18, 55%) to overcome foul trouble plaguing Joakim Noah, Al Horford, and Chris Richard.
Head coach Billy Donovan used an unexpected strategy to overcome Greg Oden. After playing limited minutes so far this NCAA due to foul trouble, the Gators allowed Oden to stay on the floor. Oden played 38 minutes, far more than his season average, and the Buckeyes had little gas left in the tank at the end of the game.
Greg Oden scored 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
Florida returned all five of its starters from last year’s championship team, thanks to the team’s several NBA prospects returning for another year and fifth-year senior Lee Humphrey staying with the team.
Florida swept its two championship games with Ohio State this year, making them the only team in college sports history to win championships in men’s basketball and football during the same season.
Expect Daily Basketball updates to resume, following both NCAA basketball and the NCAA.
March 17, 2007 at 9:59 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
Just when the Los Angeles Lakers appeared to have fallen apart as of late, Kobe Bryant took the game into his own hands and scored 65 points as his team defeated the Portland Trailblazers. It required about 50 combined shots and an overtime, but the effort was enough for his team to get the win. Kobe’s 65 points is more than 33+ NCAA teams have managed to score so far throughout NCAA March Madness.
Ohio State survived a scare from Xavier in their second round matchup. The #1 Buckeyes were losing to #9-seeded Xavier, but a three-pointer at the end of regulation put the game into overtime. Greg Oden fouled out with 30 seconds left in the second half, but Mike Conley was enough for the Buckeyes to get and lead and win the game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers finally got their chance to boo traitor Carlos Boozer. The Utah Jazz’s starting power forward had yet to play a game in Cleveland since leaving his former team. In a dismal, low-scoring game, the Cavaliers were able to hand the Jazz their fourth-straight defeat. Carlos Boozer shrugged off the crowd after scoring 19 points and getting 14 rebounds: “It wasn’t even that bad. They had a lot of signs. I saw a couple of them. Chants were OK. They could have been more creative with their chants. It was good though.”
Mark Cuban thinks he’s found the missing key for his NBA championship contenders. “We don’t have that one intimidating force,” he said. Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan have earned a combined 10 championships in the last 15 years, and both are competitors who’ve shown their intensity on the floor — something Cuban knows the Dallas Mavericks don’t get from Dirk Nowitzki.
March 12, 2007 at 9:03 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
Now that the young nucleus of New York Knicks have put the team in the playoff race, Isiah Thomas will remain with the team. Originally, Thomas was on the brink of losing his job, but now Thomas is set to sign a multi-year contract offer.
The Orlando Magic have said that their head coach, Brian Hill, will coach for the duration of his contract. The team’s GM, Otis Smith, said, “My coach has done a good job to this point. Our guys have just not played very good basketball.” The Magic opened up this season as one of the top teams in the league, yet they aren’t currently headed to the playoffs.
North Carolina, Kansas, Ohio State, and Florida were all named #1 seeds for upcoming NCAA tournament. Click here to view the entire tournament bracket. The tournament officially begins March 13, when the play-in game takes place.
Ohio State finished #1 in the last AP Top 25 poll of the season. The Buckeyes were one first-place vote short of being unanimously the best team in college basketball.
During a summer during which Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was artificially silenced, he claims he considered selling the team. Meanwhile, the team blew out the Los Angeles Lakers by the largest margin in Lakers home-game history, 108-72.
LeBron James and Manu Ginobili were the NBA’s Players of the Week.
March 10, 2007 at 3:01 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
With several upsets occurring over this weekend during the conference tourneys, the NCAA Selection Committee will be working hard for the next 24 hours to choose the 65 teams participating in March Madness. While some upsets only affect the seeding, many team have likely cut themselves out of the tournament with early losses. Several teams from the Top 15, including UCLA, Texas A&M, Nevada, and Washington State.
Chauncey Billups may end up playing for the Denver Nuggets next season if things don’t work out with the Detroit Pistons. While Billups doesn’t want to put things out of proportion, he says the Nuggets are an option. Though Billups is an exceptional point guard, the team already struggles to keep Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony happy with touches.
After Iverson departed from the Philadelphia Sixers, rumors arose that Larry Brown would promote himself to another tenure as coach of his former team. After a dismal season so far, current head coach Maurice Cheeks faced the possibility of losing his job. Now, though, team president Billy King says Cheeks will be back.
Scottie Pippen’s comeback seems to be falling short. Pippen’s former coach, Phil Jackson, said the Los Angeles Lakers won’t be bringing in Pippen, and no other teams have made mention of any plans.
During a season which started out with many technicals for Rasheed Wallace as part of the “Anti-Sheed” rule, the power forward should be happy he made it this far. But now, Wallace gets a one-game suspension for every other technical foul he receives.
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