Category: College

Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Al Horford announced that they would be returning for their junior season on Friday night in front of a group of students and fans in Gainsville.  Billy Donovan confirmed this statement afterwards, saying he had talked to the students earlier and they told him they wanted to win a second straight national championship… and if other teams in Division 1 can’t hold on to their prime time players, the Gators might just do so.

It’s been the trend over the past few years for players to leave college early or come straight out of high school to go to the NBA.  College players who dominate at that level for more than one year without entering the draft have become a dying breed.  While there’s always a chance Joakim Noah is going to be the new trend setter, it’s highly unlikely that many more will follow in his footsteps.

Gators Chomp UCLA 73 – 57

Cutting down the nets after winning the NCAA National Championship game is a dream come true for just about every young boy in America (except for those named Lebron and Kobe).  That dream became a reality for the players of the 2006 NCAA National Champion University of Florida Gators.  The Gators chomped their way into the history books by defeating the UCLA Bruins 73 – 57.  Florida, a three point favorite coming into Monday’s championship game, placed their championship stamp on college basketball history for the first time, winning their first basketball title in school and state history.  The Oakland region representative UCLA Bruins succumbed to the style of aggressive play that they had thrived on throughout the regular season and the tournament.  The Gators played a patient yet attacking style of game and literally pummeled the Bruins for the entire 40 minutes.

Bruins Bully Bayou Bengals 59 – 45

The NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four has produced some of the most magical and memorable games in basketball history.  That was definitely not the case in Saturday’s UCLA – LSU regional semifinal game in Indianapolis.  The Oakland region representative, number two ranked UCLA Bruins seemingly channeled the mojo of John Wooden, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, and Reggie Miller while pounding the LSU Tigers for 40 straight minutes.  A game what many said to be an instant classic was quickly turned into non-competitive rout with UCLA defeating LSU 59 to 45.  The UCLA Bruins, who even went under my radar this season, came out and overmatched and outplayed a widely heralded Tigers team.  LSU, sporting two future NBA lottery picks in Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tyrus Thomas, looked fatigued and bamboozled against the Bruin defensive tenacity.  

Just a couple of weeks ago, people all across the world began analyzing the teams, watching Bracketology, and making their predictions on the NCAA tournament. After all of the dramatic finishes, the clutch shots, and the upsets, who could have possibly had these four teams in Indianapolis.

I know I didn’t.

So, after watching only one of my Final Four teams advance to Indianapolis, I will try to make up for my sub par predictions with a perfect Final Four. But with the way this tournament has turned out, perfect is a huge stretch for anyone.

For a small public university in Fairfax, Virginia this kind of national media attention is no doubt very abnormal.  The George Mason Patriots were underestimated from the beginning.  Even their selection by the board to play in the tournament was criticized by American sportscasters like Billy Packer.  George Mason was shrouded in some early controversy as well with the suspension of Tony Skinn after punching a Hofstra player below the belt in the midst of a CAA tournament loss.  The Hofstras who beat the George Mason patriots twice in the final 10 days of the season were overlooked by the board for admittance to the tournament.  It is reasons like this that not many people were paying attention to Mason when the tournament began on March 14th.  It literally wasn’t until Denham Brown’s three point attempt overshot the rim as the final buzzer of overtime sounded that most of us could believe that George Mason University was going to be going to the semifinals.  That win made them the first mid-major team to reach the Final Four since 1979 when Larry Bird’s Sycamores and an underestimated Penn team did it as well.  

Indiana University has hired Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson as its next head basketball coach.  Honest.

by Trevor Freeman

“I know you guys can shoot, but there’s more to the game than shooting there’s fundamentals and defense.”

By Sean Quinn

Part of it was George Mason. OK, a lot of it was George Mason. Still, long before the Patriots slipped on the glass slipper, nobody was rooting for the Connecticut Huskies – not even themselves.

The Huskies had as much talent as any team in the country, but they were as heartless as the girls that rejected me in high school.

LSU is back in the Final Four for the first time in 20 years after defeating Duke and Texas, the top two seeds in the Atlanta Regional. Their tight defense and great frontcourt play dominated in both games for the 4th seeded Tigers.

LSU features five starters who are from just over 50 miles from the school campus. Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas, and Garrett Temple are all from Baton Rouge, while Tasmin Mitchell is from the small town of Denham Springs which is within five miles of Baton Rouge down I-10. The lone senior starter, Darrel Mitchell, is from the town of St. Martinville.

These five players have been playing with or against each other for years, which is one of the major advantages for a team that is one of the youngest in the country.