CBSSports.com bracketology expert, Jerry Palm, joined Jon Rothstein on the Tim Brando Show to discuss potential NCAA tournament teams like South Florida, Seton Hall, Mississippi State and Tennessee.
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Now, this 85-63 beatdown that Duke just got from OSU means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it does send a message to the rest of college basketball. It tells teams all over the country that, if you want to tangle with Jared Sullinger and the Buckeyes, you do so at your own peril.
I truly thought that Duke’s system that is devised around a bunch of guys who are all the same but can do different jobs would stump the Buckeyes. Boy, was I wrong.
The Indiana Hoosiers may not be ranked in AP’s Top 25 or USA Today’s Coaches Poll, but that doesn’t mean they’re not playing like a championship-caliber team right now.
With a dominant 73-49 win Monday night over Gardner-Webb, the Hossiers started off the season 5-0 for the second straight year.
Yes, it was Garder-Webb, and yes, the other four wins were over Stony Brook, Chattanooga, Evansville and Savannah State—not exactly NCAA powerhouses. But what Indiana has done in those five games is what talented squads are supposed to do—dominate. The Hoosiers easily disposed of all five of their opponents so far, winning each game by at least a 21-point margin, which ties a team record.
“You know last year I said I was finally going to dummy down the schedule, and that’s why this year we are opening up with North Carolina and Duke.”
That was Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo’s crowd-pleasing opening remark when he grabbed the mic to address the Spartan faithful at their Midnight Madness event a couple of weeks ago.
What’s the next natural thing to do for aircraft carrier that buried Osama bin Laden at sea? Why, hold a collegiate basketball game on it, of course.
Michigan State and North Carolina were the participants in front of a crowd of 7,000 aboard the USS Carl Vinson in the first annual Carrier Classic.
The Tar Heels topped the Spartans 67-55, and while it wasn’t the most exciting game, NCAA should think about playing more outdoor games in random locations.
The game was the highest rated game in the month of November since 1991. Overall, it was the highest viewed game since a UNC-Duke game in 2006.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta didn’t ask for this, but he’s getting it anyway. Thanks to tattoo-gate and Jim “The Vest” Tressel, all eyes in Columbus now immediately shift to the hardwood.
Everyone knows that Ohio State is a football school—check that, a school where football is king and all other athletic programs are viewed as recreational activities. This even includes the OSU Men’s Basketball team. Sure, they may have won four Big Ten regular season titles and three tournament championships in the past five years, but everyone was so occupied with what happened on the field that no one seemed to notice what happened on the court.
The Michigan State Spartans recieved a bit unexpected bad news last week when forward Delvon Roe announced that he was ending his playing career due to degenerative knee pain.
“I started playing basketball because I loved the game, but the pain has taken that away,” Roe said.
Injuries are nothing new to Roe, who has had issues with his legs ever since his prep days when he missed his senior year at St. Edward High School. However, despite his battles with his body, Roe never missed a single game for the Spartans while dealing with multiple injuries in his first three seasons. After averaging 6.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game last season, he hoped to be healthy this fall for his senior season, but his injury combined with the grind of the season would be too much for him.
For every promising athlete coming out of high school, the dream is simple: get recruited by a major university, get drafted by a professional team.
For Dwuan Anderson, this plan is no different. But in life there are things bigger than basketball.
On Friday, Anderson, Michigan’s Mr. Basketball, informed Michigan State University that he will not be playing for them in the upcoming season. But unlike so many collegiate athletes today who get kicked off of teams for selfish reasons, Anderson is removing himself from the court for a selfless reason. Anderson will not enroll for the fall semester and will not be on the active roster for the 2011-12 season because of reasons related to the death of his mother.
The Wisconsin Badgers were defeated by the Butler Bulldogs in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament last season while finishing third in the Big Ten behind Purdue and Ohio State.
If the Badgers are going to improve in the upcoming 2011-12 season, senior point guard Jordan Taylor will have to once again be a major force.
In order to make sure he is ready for the season, Jordan withdrew from the USA team tryouts for the World University games to have minor surgery on his ankle.
Ohio State, Kansas. Kansas, Ohio State. Which one is the best team left standing? It’s so easy to forget they’re even here because there are so many other storylines in the tournament that have nothing to do with the Jayhawks or the Buckeyes.
Kansas sports the Morris twins and Bill Self. Ohio State has Jared Sullinger, a three-point shooting marvel, and some experience on their side.
Everyone keeps saying that Ohio State is the best team because Sullinger is a player of the year candidate and they have veteran presence on the team. However, some people counter that Bill Self has already won a title and knows how to get through the tournament without any “major” problems.
