Anybody else starting to get the itch?
Midnight Madness is just around the corner and we’re just a week or so out from “preview madness”. With September practices underway, the season tip-off is finally starting to come into view. Heck, I was actually fired up for weeknight #MACtion college football last week. Seriously.
Speaking of which, this is a great place to start The Morning Mix:
- KSR’s Ally Tucker provides some great stats to prove that it is really difficult for a university to harbor both an elite football and basketball program.In fact, Ohio State and Florida are the only schools that have come close in the past decade. In fact, thru three weeks: Kansas is 1-3, Kentucky is 1-3, Memphis is 0-4, Syracuse is 1-3, UNLV is 1-3 and Vanderbilt is 1-3.
Is anybody else opposed to scrapping the rest of the college football season right now and start the hoops season next week? I know I’m not.
- Mike Rutherford of SB Nation drops the first Top 100 Players of 2012-2013 list. Mid-Major Madness references the “little guys” who show up in the Top-100
- The ACC will not be able to hold its postseason tournament at Madison Square Garden. Matt Norlander makes some preposterous statement about Madison Square Garden not wanting the Big East tournament. Pppfffff. That guy. Sometimes I just don’t know about Norlander, man
- Horrible news for Montana: Star guard Will Cherry is expected to miss 6-8 weeks due to an unspecified injury
- Jason King of ESPN explains why expectations are high at Colorado State, where former-Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Eustachy is set to keep the Rams steady on an incline
- UNC head coach Roy Williams had a tumor removed from his kidney last week. As it turns out, the tumor was benign and will not spread
- BYU is heading in to their second season as members of the West Coast Conference. Andy Katz briefs us on how Dave Rose and the Cougars plan to approach their sophomore campaign
- Another good read on the much improved Michigan State big man Derrick Nix
- Maryland big-man Alex Len has been improving on and off the court this off-season. the Ukrainian seven-footer cites communication as on of the key improvements
- Speaking of Maryland, star guard Pe’Shon Howard should be able to practice at full speed starting this week. The junior missed much of last season due to both foot and ACL injuries. With the departure of Terrell Stoglin, Howard is expected to be the Terrapins offensive leader
- Wayne Seldon, the 23rd ranked playe in the class of 2013, will visit Kansas during their “Late Night at The Phogg” Midnight Madness event
- Rob Dauster provides a list of impact players who will be returning from injury
- Ed Isaacson’s latest “Road to the 2013 NBA Draft” entry profiles what guys like Murray State’s Ed Daniel and Creighton’s Gregory Echinique can do during the 2012-2013 season to improve their draft stock
- Memphis landed yet another top-100 recruit this week. Kuran Iverson, the cousin of former Georgetown star Allen Iverson, is a highly touted 6-foot-8 forward from Hartford, CT and was a serious “get” for the Tigers
- South Carolina head coach Frank Martin landed his first commit from the class of 2013
- Sure why not? The top-20 UConn players of the Calhoun-era
- Jason Groves provides a solid Q&A session with New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies. In six seasons at NMSU, Menzies has amassed a 102-68 record and guided the Aggies to two NCAA tournament appearances
A final note:
There must be something we can do to help the good people at Unranked America East. You see, UnrankedAE was the best location on the web for any and all news pertaining to the America East Conference and it’s member institutions. But they’ve run into quite the dilemma.
The SB Nation blog network just launched a whole new interface, SB Nation United yesterday. You probably noticed the layout change in some of the above links. But UnrankedAE was left out of the new SB Nation United model. There must be something we can do to make sure these good people get the backing they need.
You gotta just trust me on this one.
Remember, if you find an article that is worthy of being in The Morning Mix, be sure to use the #ReadoftheDay hashtag on Twitter.
Troy Machir is the managing editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @TroyMachir.