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.
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.
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.
And then the ultimate jab from the in-state rival:
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.
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.
Even Uncle Drew was watching and nodding in agreement.
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.
Collins has his team overachieving, meaning talk of accolades is only natural at this stage of the season.
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.
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.
Still though, he’s driving people crazy.
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.
And even cooler was a famous alumnus footing some of the bill…