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 NC State beat Duke in Raleigh back in January, fans rushed the court, C.J Leslie was deemed a hero, and we were all supposed to think it was an ACC power-shifting victory for the Wolfpack. Then Mark Gottfried’s club took a return trip to Durham, and were beaten decisively, restoring reality and balance to the top of the league. Following the game, this was the scene at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Yes that’s right, just another day in the office for the Blue Devils
A Faux Chant About Tyler Lewis’s Grandmother
There’s nothing worse than a baseless rumor that lives and dies on Twitter… but when one occurs in the college basketball world, we have to at least trace its arc. Following said loss to Duke last week, NC State Wolfpack fans, or alumni, or beat writers, or maybe just Blue Devil haters, started something nasty declaring that the Cameron Crazies started a chant about Tyler Lewis’s grandmother, who passed away just days before. Totally awful, right? Absolutely, but ultimately something totally awful that likely never actually happened. The seeds were planted after it got in front of a former Wolfpack star with a bit of clout and a few thousand followers.
Within minutes many had immediately jumped at how horrible it sounded, while some took a second to think that it was probably not true.
Checking their timelines, and neither seem confident enough to deliver an earnest and clear response. So from there, all the Dookie fans got defensive, and rightfully so, and pretty quickly it was clear that this was a Twitter troll with a very short life span.
And finally.
Sigh. Oh and, by the way. Rodney Purvis checked Twitter, saw what was going on, posted his thoughts completely based on hearsay, looked like a clown, then deleted his tweet. All in the span of 45 seconds.
Let’s face it, NC State was just bitter. This did not happen or it would have had legs in the general media over the following days. The Cameron Crazies have hurled some not-so-flattering chants at opponents over the years, but rarely have they leapt over the line like this.
The Knee Buckle Heard ‘Round #BBN
Yeah. I would say now Kentucky has real problems.
Notre Dame Wins The Worst Best Game Ever
It was ugly, but you had no choice but to watch it. You wouldn’t show the game film to children as a model for fundamentals, but you would use it as an example for playing to the final buzzer. Notre Dame’s upset over Louisville Saturday night was pretty much the 2012-13 college basketball season in a nutshell: unsightly but thrilling. The sentiments from those watching were pretty consistent, and grew increasingly incensed and delirious.
After one overtime…
After three overtimes…
And suddenly it was 1:00 AM and nobody was quite sure what they just witnessed or if it was worth the angst.
Indiana – Illinois
Whether it was an upset or not – No. 1 Indiana was beaten by Illinois, yet retained its No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll – last week’s game between the Hoosiers and Fighting Illini was one of the most dramatic of the season. After blowing a 10 point lead with four minutes to play, Indiana allowed little old Tyler Griffey to trip into a game winning lay-up. Tyler Zeller got lost and the senior from Wildwood, Missouri, became the BMOC. Or did he…? Not sure if this is true or misleading, but very intriguing if so.
The viral photo of the week in sports probably goes to John Groce and his son. Even Hoosier fans were gushing over it.
Nate Wolters’ Biggest Fan Loses His Ish
If you peruse the blogosphere, then you know that the great Matty Norlander is a huge fan of South Dakota State’s Nate Wolters. He’s unquestionably the unofficial president of #NatersGonnaNate fan club, touting the scoring acumen of this harmless looking but scrappy guard who is the full embodiment of a mid-major star long before anyone else was paying attention. So when Wolters dropped a career-high 53 points against IPFW on Thursday, it was the long-awaited opportunity for Norlander to gush poetically about his favorite player. But not so fast my friend.
Just lost my entire Wolters story/quote with a webpage crash. Fellow bloggers feel my pain. I just wasted an hour of my life.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 8, 2013
In the end, Norlander had to ditch his story with direct quotes and settle with a high level “yeah me and Nate chatted about stuff and it was neat” post. Big bummer. I guess Wolters will have to hang 60 on an overmatched opponent before the season is over.