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Blogger Spotlight: The Big Lead on Kentucky, the Big East vs. the Big Ten and some Final Four picks
Feb 10, 2012, 9:30 AM EDT
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The Big Lead covers everything sports, and then some. NFL, NBA, MLB, MMA, fantasy sports, sports gossip, babes, statistical analysis, you name it. It’s there. With NFL season over, expect even more college hoops to surface on the site as it reflects the nation’s annual rising interest in the sport. But if it seems as…
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Gonzaga 73, No. 13 St. Mary’s 59: See here. Tennessee State 72, No. 7 Murray State 68: See here. No. 22 Wisconsin 68, Minnesota 61 OT: In one of the stranger games you are going to see this season, Minnesota whiffed on a golden opportunity to land a marquee win heading into the season’s crucial…
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The key for St. Mary’s: don’t let the Gonzaga loss spark another collapse
Feb 10, 2012, 2:10 AM EDT
Last season, St. Mary’s had the inside track to becoming the first team not named Gonzaga to win an outright WCC title since 2000. They were sitting two games up on the Zags with three to play in the league, meaning that even with a loss to Gonzaga in the second-to-last game of the regular…
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Murray St. loses its first game, but it’s still a team to be feared
Feb 10, 2012, 12:14 AM EDT
Murray State cracked under the pressure in its 72-68 loss to Tennessee State. I have no problem with saying that. The burden of being the nation’s last undefeated team finally got to the Racers. That’s the only way to explain how a team with so many veterans — eight of the nine players in Murray…
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If Mississippi State was going to keep Ole Miss from sweeping the season series for the first time in nearly a decade a half, the onus was going to fall on point guard Dee Bost. After shooting 4-of-15 in the Bulldogs’ 75-68 loss to the Rebels on Jan. 18, Bost showed up on Thursday night,…
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Video: Is North Carolina the nation’s most confounding team?
Feb 9, 2012, 9:05 PM EDT
OK, one last Duke-North Carolina post. Can make an exception for a great rivalry with a classic finish. Our SportsTalk crew caught up with Yahoo! Writer Pat Forde to solicit impressions of the game, Austin Rivers’ moxie and UNC’s odd performance. The only issue I have? The Heels aren’t the nation’s most confounding team given…
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NC State early leader for most ’12 McDonald’s All-Americans
Feb 9, 2012, 7:09 PM EDT
The McDonald’s All-American game will have an N.C. State flavor this year. Three of the Wolfpack’s 2012 recruits – Tyler Lewis, Rodney Purvis and T.J. Warren – landed spots on this year’s squad, the most of any college. Arizona and Kentucky both have two recruits on the 24-player roster, which were announced Thursday. Of course,…
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Thursday’s slate, what to watch centers on St. Mary’s-Gonzaga
Feb 9, 2012, 5:08 PM EDT
The last time St. Mary’s and Gonzaga played, St. Mary’s turned things into a one-sided affair and sent a message to the Zags that their WCC reign might be ending. Tonight could cement that notion. The Gaels (22-2, 11-0) are one of eight teams who have yet to lose a conference game. Yet with four…
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Damian Lillard is the game’s best PG. Why isn’t he a bigger deal?
Feb 9, 2012, 2:10 PM EDT
If Damian Lillard played in a bigger conference or at a more prominent school, he’d be a superstar by now. Heck, if he just had a catchy moniker for a first name, that’d work too. As a result, reminders are often needed as to the junior guard’s talents. So consider this your latest reminder that…
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Following Missouri’s come from behind victory against Kansas Saturday night, one of the most indelible images was of a pair of Tiger players giving students the universal sign for “Do Not Pass Go”. They weren’t telling them to stop celebrating, but rather encourage them not to storm the court. Because as exhilarating as that may be, it would…
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Connecticut is desperate to avoid its bad from the 2013 NCAA tournament? How desperate? It’s willing to play fewer games (presumably a take a revenue hit) and restrict what coach Jim Calhoun can do off the court. It’s a self-imposed penalty with some notable details. From the AP, which obtained UConn’s waiver sent to the…
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In praise of Jeff Withey, Kansas’ unheralded frontcourt savior
Feb 9, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT
If Scott Drew never coaches against Jeff Withey again, he’ll be just fine with that. Kansas’ 7-foot junior center has defied convention when playing Baylor this season. The Bears feature a lineup of future pros in Perry Jones III, Quincy Miller and possibly even Quincy Acy. Yet Withey – who until this season languished on…
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Austin Rivers delivered for Duke when it mattered most. His buzzer-beating 3-pointer over 7-foot Tyler Zeller will be one of the season’s signature moments and an incredible cap to the game’s greatest rivalries. This sequence shows it all. But how did it get to that point? How did North Carolina, which had controlled so much…
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We’ve already written pretty extensively about the three marquee games that took place tonight. This post will focus on all of the basketball that happened around the rest of the country that no one seemed to notice. No. 10 Kansas 68, No. 6 Baylor 54: See here. No. 2 Syracuse 64, No. 11 Georgetown 61…
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Before we get into the meat of this post, before we spend anytime analyzing what happened in Duke’s 85-84 win over UNC in the Dean Dome or how the Blue Devils were able to erase a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes, let’s all sit back and admire how the game ended: That is…
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Austin Rivers is a stone-cold killer. How else to explain his 29 points (on 9-of-16 shooting) and his ridiculous game-winner over North Carolina’s 7-foot center Tyler Zeller in Duke’s 85-84 win? Kid’s got game. So let’s take a visual tour of those final moments, shall we? It made for quite the moment. Rivers pulls up.…
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Kentucky’s got Anthony Davis, the freshman shot-swatting sensation. With him anchoring the defense, the No. 1 ‘Cats are truly one of the game’s elite teams. But Syracuse has Fab Melo. And I’m not sure the Orange want anyone else. The 7-foot center blocked six shots in Wednesday’s 64-61 win against Georgetown, including this crucial block…
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Twenty-three days after Kansas handed Baylor their first loss of the season, Bill Self’s team entered the Ferrell Center in Waco, TX on Wednesday night and did it again. After falling behind 7-0 in the opening minutes, the Jayhawks, behind 25 points from center Jeff Withey and 19 from guard Tyshawn Taylor, were in control…
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Best teams? Pah! Let’s focus on college hoops’ best hairdos
Feb 8, 2012, 6:30 PM EDT
See that ‘do? That’s Michael Wilder of UC-Irvine. His game is solid. He’s averages 11.6 points (tied for first) and 5.3 rebounds (second) for the Anteaters, but there’ no question he’s their leader in fantastic hair. Maybe that’s why he’s one of the headliners from Ballin Is A Habit’s All-Hair team, compiled by Troy Machir.…
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On a night featuring Duke-North Carolina and Georgetown-Syracuse – two of the sport’s greatest rivalries and a pair of Top 15 showdowns, no less – it’d be easy to overlook Kansas-Baylor. But don’t. In fact, it’ll probably be the best game of the night. (All times ET; TV info from HDSportsGuide.com) Kansas at Baylor, 7…
