College Basketball By The Tweets: Opening Weekend
Posted by Nick Fasulo on November 12th, 2012Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.
The concept was exciting, the buildup palpable. Friday, the hard start to the 2012-2013 season, was supposed to be a grand way to officially tip off the new season by building off of last year’s success of playing a game on an aircraft carrier. But this time around, things went horribly wrong. Yeah Kentucky – Maryland was a good watch. Alabama provided a thrilling finish in their victory over a dangerous South Dakota State team. And UConn surprised many with an impressive victory over Michigan State.
But two games had to be canceled. Canceled because they were being played outdoors on an aircraft carrier in humid areas. Marquette – Ohio State (the Carrier Classic) and Georgetown – Florida (Navy-Marine Corps Classic) were canceled due to excessive condensation on the court, an embarrassing pair of incidents that will likely put an end to this novel idea, or at least make organizers proceed far more cautiously when attempting to schedule a basketball game in a unique setting.
Naturally, fans took those responsible to task on Twitter. We’ll start with those directly affected, as Marquette blog “Paint Touches” was the first to state the obvious:
Bye bye, basketball courts on aircraft carriers. Boeheim and Fisher have to be dreading Sunday.
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) November 10, 2012
Just awful RT @zackbrandt: @painttouches spent $2k to get here to watch the game. I am very upset.
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) November 10, 2012
Then just under 24 hours later, he dropped some valuable empirical knowledge as San Diego State and Syracuse held their Saturday afternoon shootaround.
Aircraft carriers are for aircrafts RT @agustin_asr: check out view shooters will have when shooting at the west basket twitter.com/Agustin_ASR/st…
— Paint Touches (@PaintTouches) November 10, 2012
And while it seems as though the Orange would have handled the Aztecs if they played indoors, Steve Fisher’s team struggled to get to the rim, relying on perimeter shots that were likely affected by sun and wind.
Meanwhile, Marquette/Ohio State event organizer Morale Entertainment had a major PR crisis on their hands, tweeting out the following to a number of ticked off fans.
@michaelianppete Please contact Morale customer service at 770-549-6621 or send an email to customerservice@moralefoundation.org
— Carrier Classic (@carrierclassic) November 11, 2012
Basically, some people are likely out of a job and it may be time to think differently on how to “open” the college basketball season.
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Tony Mitchell vs. Creighton
One of the more intriguing games this weekend for true hoop heads was North Texas – Creighton, as two All America candidates from a non BCS-conference, Tony Mitchell and Doug McDermott, went toe-to-toe. And while the Mean Green certainly have quite the talent in Mitchell, they are far from being taken seriously as a real mid major threat.
Blowout alert in Omaha: Creighton up 53-30 on UNT, 14:47 left. Mitchell looks helpless. Both hands on the top of his head in disgrace
— Danny Spewak (@dspewak) November 10, 2012
Rewatching Creighton-North Texas. UNT runs as much offense as you’ll find in a Sunday morning pickup game at the Rucker.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) November 11, 2012
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Shabazz Muhammad Ruled Ineligible
Many have seen it coming for weeks – months, really – but before UCLA took the floor to open their season against Indiana State, the NCAA ruled freshman phenom Shabazz Muhammad out for an undetermined amount of time. The news put a damper on a celebratory night in Westwood, with people from many walks of life coming to the defense of Muhammad.
free shabazz muhammadncaa is out of control this is absurd
— Flea (@flea333) November 10, 2012
SI.com‘s Andy Glocker put it best, calling out the NCAA for its continued acts of kindness to allow many transfer players to not have to sit out a season.
Shabazz clearly should have enrolled elsewhere and then transferred to UCLA to be closer to home. NCAA would have rubberstamped.
— Andy Glockner (@AndyGlockner) November 10, 2012
And no college basketball scandal would be complete without a mention of #BBN.
@andyglocknerNo, he clearly should have went to Kentucky, then the NCAA would have let him play.
— Nicholas Richardson (@Slicknickshady) November 10, 2012
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Scott Drew And Skepticism
Seth Davis was the first to get official word that Baylor freshman center Isaiah Austin would miss Sunday’s game against Jackson State following an ankle injury during the Bears win over Lehigh. In what I expect will be a recurring bad joke this season, a fans were quick to point out that Scott Drew is, well, probably dirty.
@sethdavishoops tell him to rub some money on it.Bet it feels better.
— VALUE HUNTER (@CoalitionSports) November 11, 2012
@sethdavishoops do u ever feel like taking a bath after talking to Drew?
— Hoggerto (@Hoggerto2039) November 11, 2012
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Akron Players Suspended
Speaking of suspensions, the served up another head scratcher when they prevented Akron’s Nick Harney and Demetrius Treadwell from participating in the Zips’ first two regular season games due to a clerical error made by the school’s athletic department. For Treadwell, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Even when you do everything right. They gone find a way to hold you back smh
— Demetrius Treadwell (@Tall_ass_tree) November 9, 2012
My birthday tomorrow and I don’t even care about it Foreal
— Demetrius Treadwell (@Tall_ass_tree) November 9, 2012
Poor dude!
http://www.twitter.com/nickfasuloSBN
“SI.com‘s Andy Glocker put it best, calling out the NCAA for its continued acts of kindness to allow many transfer players to not have to sit out a season.”
He should perhaps be calling out the NCAA for the absurdity of the rule in the first place.