College Basketball by the Tweets: #BBN Whining, Berkeley Celebrating, Marcus Smart Flopping, and More…
Posted by Nick Fasulo on February 4th, 2014Nick 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.
Our latest College Basketball by the Tweets piece opens up again in Lincoln, Nebraska, where a young Cornhuskers fan is really excited to receive a headband from sophomore forward Terran Petteway following the team’s win over Indiana.
How great is the look on this kid's face? Part of what makes sports so great, right here – pic.twitter.com/bJjGtEMoDi (via @hilary_winter)
— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) January 31, 2014
As the #BBN Turns
The so-called perfect recruiting class John Calipari brought to Lexington this season has been exposed to have a handful of imperfections. To make it worse, some of those issues may be that of the intangible kind (i.e., lack of effort, team chemistry) than pure talent. Following a rather ugly road loss to LSU last week, the #BBN whine train was chugging along quite nicely.
The Harrison Twins aren't even sweating…#BBN I am not emotionally attached to this team at all.
— Anissa K. Sturgill (@AKSturg) January 29, 2014
From what I've seen, #Kentucky could get about as much out of Benjamin and William Henry as the other Harrisons tonight. #UK #BBN
— Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan714) January 29, 2014
Well this is frustrating… Getting dominated by Dave Chappelle's character from Nutty Professor step it up #BBN pic.twitter.com/SVq5tyhpPQ
— John F. Cox (@CoxTalks) January 29, 2014
Dakari Johnson's back in because Willie Cauley-Stein has been largely worthless all night.
— Chandler Rome (@Rome_TDR) January 29, 2014
Cauley stein went from lottery pick to pumping my gas
— shawn (@Treestandasasin) January 29, 2014
And then the ultimate jab from the in-state rival:
Not even a year later. #BBN pic.twitter.com/3B5O7hitPV
— Teddy Fridgewater (@UofLMemes) January 29, 2014
The ‘Cats did right the ship a bit over the weekend with a nice road win over Missouri, but signs point to continued road inconsistency for the rest of the regular season.
A Sea Of Yellow As No. 1 Goes Down
We’re going to deviate a bit from Twitter and focus on Instagram to showcase the scene at Haas Pavilion Saturday night as the California Golden Bears knocked off the then-undefeated and No. 1 Arizona Wildcats. Perhaps it is the look yellow and blue gives when a filter is applied, but there’s a lot of great looking pictures and videos that captured a wild scene in the game’s final moments and subsequent court rush. Click the image below or here to browse through the entire feed from Saturday night.
Duke vs. Syracuse Blesses Us With Game of the Year
The first installment of Duke vs. Syracuse as ACC foes did not disappoint. In fact, it is nearly a unanimous clubhouse leader for the college basketball game of the year.
My top 5 in 35 years @ 83UNC-Virginia 95 Duke-UNC 96 UCONN- Hoyas 2013 Louisville-ND 2014 Cuse-Duke @jksports http://t.co/S5xT6qEZ5f
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 3, 2014
Syracuse hosted Duke in MBB on Sat and the attendance was 35,446. When Syracuse hosted Pitt in football this year they drew 35,317.
— Ed Franks (@efranks25) February 4, 2014
Best game ever: Syracuse 6 OT win against UConn. Second best: Saturday night's Syracuse vs Duke game #HashItOut
— Luke Shehata (@LukewarmAtBest) February 4, 2014
After the dud that was Super Bowl XLVIII, the choice was clear that the NFL may not have “won the weekend” in many people’s eyes.
Playing the Super Bowl after Syracuse-Duke is like eating the amuse-bouche after the main course.
— Sean Keeley (@NunesMagician) February 2, 2014
The letdown of this Super Bowl emphasizes how special the Syracuse-Duke game was. Lived up to the hype.
— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) February 3, 2014
This Super Bowl isn't nearly as entertaining as last night's Syracuse-Duke game. And it's not close.
— R.L. Bynum (@RL_Bynum) February 3, 2014
Even Uncle Drew was watching and nodding in agreement.
GREAT GAME BY THE YOUNGBLOODS FROM DUKE AND SYRACUSE
— Uncle Drew© (@UncleDrewGB) February 2, 2014
It is theater like this that will make purists care less about the idea that conference realignment ruins the rivalries we’ve all grown to love. Frankly, there’s nothing stopping these two programs from developing some very bad blood over time.
Chris Collins Giving Northwestern Real Cred
Don’t look now, but Northwestern is competing and winning in the Big Ten. In just his first season at the helm, head coach Chris Collins has the Wildcats at 5-5 (fourth place) in the second-best league in the country.
That awesome moment when you realize that Northwestern basketball has a better conference record than Illinois, Indiana, Ohio St, & Wisco
— Andrew Abate (@BigDaddyDrew27) February 2, 2014
Collins has his team overachieving, meaning talk of accolades is only natural at this stage of the season.
Lot of good choices for Big Ten coach of the year. John Beilein in lead but Chris Collins making his own case. Wildcats won three road games
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) February 1, 2014
Northwestern with a win on the road again. Chris Collins is showing that Bill Carmody was not a very good coach. #bigten #coachingmatters
— Drew Kanzler (@DrewK34) February 1, 2014
You can just give Chris Collins the B1G Coach of the Year award now
— Matt Hickman (@SlickSportsTalk) February 1, 2014
And then there is this poor guy, who is both late to the party on Collins’ coaching acumen and naive to think Collins would have ever taken that job.
#Illini starting to think I wish we had Chris Collins as our coach instead of Groce
— Allen Wesley (@illiniwez85) February 2, 2014
Marcus Smart was Born for the NBA, European Soccer
The Oklahoma State star has an innate ability to irritate and of course draw fouls with his exceptional flopping ability. In a triple-overtime thriller Monday night vs. Iowa State, Smart’s latest act wasn’t rewarded as the Cowboys came up just short in a home loss to Iowa State. While he may be a winner in other ways, he’s sort of becoming a loser in the court of public opinion.
Real reason smart didn't go to the NBA: he wanted one more year of flopping without getting fined
— Paige Hoiberg (@PaigeHoiberg) February 4, 2014
Marcus Smart is making a fool of himself the last few weeks with these flops. That was terrible.
— Ryan Greene (@ryanmgreene) February 4, 2014
Smart barely got hit
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) February 4, 2014
Marcus Smart has a future as an Italian soccer player if basketball doesn't work out.
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) February 4, 2014
Marcus Smart is clearly ready for the NBA
— Dave Ryan (@dryanbball) February 4, 2014
Still though, he’s driving people crazy.
#Sooners student with a Marcus Smart "Flop Counter" sign. #okstate pic.twitter.com/ID2tkWU0rs
— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) January 28, 2014
Davidson Now Plays on Bob McKillop Court
Davidson hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since its magical run to the Elite Eight back in 2008, but that doesn’t mean that long-time head coach Bob McKillop is on the hot seat. He’s still one of the most respected coaches in the game, and he was rightfully honored over the weekend when when the school named the court at John M. Belk Arena in his name.
Terrific image by photographer Tim Cowie of Bob McKillop with the newly named McKillop Court logo in the background. pic.twitter.com/ng5Z7kg3bz
— Joey Beeler (@Joey_Beeler) February 1, 2014
And even cooler was a famous alumnus footing some of the bill…
Release from Davidson shows Stephen & Ayesha Curry on short list as "lead donors" to name court after coach Bob McKillop. Very cool.
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) February 1, 2014
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