The best men’s basketball team in the Big Ten Conference over the past quarter century is in the throes of its worst year since the first season of its esteemed coach, so you could be forgiven for assuming that the rest of the conference might also struggle. Instead, the Big Ten hasn’t missed a beat. […]
The final instigator, Bob Huggins once said, was all the losing. He began his tenure at West Virginia with five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, from 2008 to 2012, and one Final Four. Then the old Big East broke up, and the Mountaineers shipped off to the Big 12, where they received a rude awakening. A […]
In the early 1980s, the Houston men’s basketball program was the best show running. Led by two future Naismith Hall of Famers in Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the team nicknamed “Phi Slama Jama” pioneered above-the-rim offense, bringing a modern twist to a game that still didn’t have a shot clock. PHI SLAMA JAMA may […]
On offense, the Iowa men’s basketball team sure looks like a national title contender. Entering Tuesday’s games, the Hawkeyes led Division I teams in adjusted offensive efficiency on Ken Pomeroy’s site. They own four of the top 35 offensive single-game performances of the season, adjusted for opponent quality. They rank fourth in the country in […]
The all-consuming wave of the Alabama Crimson Tide was supposed to dissipate in January after Nick Saban claimed his seventh national title. Instead, it appears to have swelled and swallowed the SEC again, this time on a different field of play. Shortly after capping its best season in program history on the gridiron, Alabama is […]