Nick 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.
When you’re a member of the loudest and polarizing fan base in college basketball, you have no choice but to accept ridicule from trolls high and low when things start to go sour. Kentucky, the defending national champion, is off to a bad start. Everybody knows this, and everybody wants everybody else to know this, too. To Twitter we go. Following Saturday’s loss to Baylor, the first L the Wildcats took in Rupp Arena in 55 games, our favorite social media platform has been a hub of negative sentiments pointed directly at Big Blue Nation (#BBN). The activity has become so pervasive and toxic that Wildcat players are one by one shutting the doors on their account until further notice.
My thought: This will either destroy or galvanize this young group of kids.
Louisville Leaves The Big East
Just 80 miles west of Lexington, the mood is bittersweet. On one hand, the Cardinals are without the services of their frontcourt anchor Gorgui Dieng for 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist. On the other, the school is the latest to ditch the Big East for the ACC, an addition to a short list of moves based more on basketball than football, and one that could serve as the tipping point in terms of a movement towards four (and not six) super-conferences.
Seriously, is there a better rivalry in all of sports? Love the passive-aggressiveness here…
Josh Smith Leaves UCLA
Speaking of leaving, Josh Smith became fed up with the food in Westwood and decided to deem his high major Division I experience a failure.
All the jokes and then some have been told, many of them not very good, but the reality here is that a very talented kid was unable to handle the rigors of the next level and meet his potential. An anecdote from a guy who knows Josh very well tells it best…
Down Goes Creighton
The biggest upset of the week was Boise State taking down Creighton, and Twitter was all over it. While the Bluejays are the mid-major team that is supposed to be relevant all season, the Broncos may be playing their way into the national conversation.
With just a lone loss to Michigan State, Boise State could be dangerous this season, and Derrick Marks your Mountain West Conference POY darkhorse
RIP, Rick Majerus
Frankly, I don’t know why you’re still here. You could be here, or here, or even here reading some great stories about the late Rick Majerus, who passed over the weekend. One of the game’s most gregarious characters, Majerus truly loved to teach the game of basketball while shooting off some memorable zingers along the way. We’d known for some time that Rick’s heart was failing him, but we didn’t know how many different ways people will remember him.