Brett Thompson – Rush The Court

What Happened to the ACC’s Preseason All-Americans?

Brett Thompson — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 18:01:15 +0000

On Tuesday, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he had stripped junior star Montrezl Harrell of the Cardinals’ team captaincy. While Pitino claims that the decision was “no big deal,” it is yet another disappointment from one of the ACC’s two preseason AP All-Americans. Statistically speaking, Harrell has not regressed from his sophomore season, but he hasn’t really improved all that much either. His scoring is up about a point per game (14.0 to 14.9 PPG) and he is grabbing nearly an extra rebound per game (8.4 to 9.2 RPG), but while the junior shot the ball more efficiently last year, his level of impact looks and [...]

ACC Players Among the Most Valuable in College Basketball

Brett Thompson — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 18:15:19 +0000

This week, Business Insider released a list of college basketball teams that bring in the most revenue per player, with the ACC’s own Louisville topping the list, averaging over $1.53 million per player on its 13-man roster. Joining the Cardinals were Syracuse in the second spot ($1.12M), Duke in the fourth spot ($1.02M), North Carolina in the eighth spot ($788,000), and Pittsburgh in the 18th spot ($534,000). The list features the 20 highest “fair market values per player,” and the ACC accounts for half of the top eight. It’s important to note a few things about the methodology here, though. First, these figures were determined by taking 49 percent of the school’s [...]

Shaqquan Aaron’s Eligibility Provides Cards With Another Piece

Brett Thompson — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 20:35:17 +0000

Louisville freshman Shaqquan Aaron has received his verdict from the NCAA on his impermissible benefits case: A nine-game suspension, seven of which have already been served, meaning that he will be eligible to play starting on December 20 against UNC-Wilmington. The Cardinal freshman’s case stemmed from an NCAA inquiry about a tuition payment made during Aaron’s freshman year of high school, but the case dragged on because of disagreements between the NCAA and Aaron’s family. The suspension is punishment for extra benefits pertaining to housing; in addition to this, Aaron’s family will have to repay a fee, and Aaron will serve community service. ESPN ranked Aaron [...]

ACC Players in the Wooden Watch: Who Belongs?

Brett Thompson — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:01:40 +0000

The annual Wooden Award Watch list became public on Monday and eight ACC players could be found on it: In alphabetical order: Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), Olivier Hanlan (Boston College), Montrezl Harrell (Louisville), Tyus Jones (Duke), Jahlil Okafor (Duke), Marcus Paige (North Carolina), and Terry Rozier (Louisville). This is on par with last year’s performance by the ACC, which also included eight players on the preseason list, including names such as Jabari Parker (Duke), Rodney Hood (Duke), Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke), C.J. Fair (Syracuse), Joe Harris (Virginia), and James Michael McAdoo (North Carolina). One of last year’s selections from the [...]

Four Teams in the Preseason Top 10: Banner Year for the ACC?

Brett Thompson — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:15:18 +0000

The Atlantic Coast Conference looks poised to have a dominant season among basketball’s top conferences, boasting four of the nation’s preseason top 10 teams in Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville. After a short one-year stint in the American Athletic Conference, Louisville is the latest former Big East team to join the ACC, while the Blue Devils, Tar Heels and Cavaliers are ACC mainstays — each hopes to carry the conference banner to the finish line in March. Virginia wants to defend its conference title and prove last season wasn’t a fluke; Louisville hopes to send a message in its ACC debut; and the Tobacco Road teams are hoping to [...]

Assessing Coach K’s Evolving Position on One-and-Done

Brett Thompson — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 15:01:13 +0000

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is never one to shy away from his opinions on the state of college basketball. In fact, just last year, Coach K voiced his concerns about college basketball’s current era of the “one-and-done,” the highly touted freshmen who dominate the sport for a year before advancing to the NBA Draft mere months after arriving on campus. Krzyzewski stated just last year that he was “worried that that is always becoming a thing,” referring to the idea of elite freshmen overshadowing established upperclassmen. He has also made it clear that he is in favor of a two-year draft rule, and has backed this [...]

How Far is Jim Boeheim From the End of the Road?

Brett Thompson — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:01:22 +0000

At a book signing for his recently released autobiography on Tuesday, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim spoke about his life and Syracuse basketball. Boeheim spoke candidly with Orange fans, offering insight on this year’s team, the state of Syracuse basketball, and other topics you would expect a coach to engage fans with. He also, however, delivered an intriguing outlook on how much longer he will be sitting on the Syracuse bench.

“We are definitely near the end. When the end is I don’t know. I hope some day I will wake up and think it’s time! I have not yet had that morning, but I have [...]

ACC With Three Preseason All-Americans: Is the Conference Back?

Brett Thompson — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:01:53 +0000

The Associated Press announced their preseason All-America list today, and three of the five honorees come from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Freshman Jahlil Okafor (Duke) is the lone freshman on the list, joined by 2013-14 standouts Marcus Paige (North Carolina) and Montrezl Harrell (Louisville). Rounding out the group are Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky and Wichita State point guard Fred VanVleet. This result for the ACC is in stark contrast to last year’s preseason All-America list, where zero ACC players made the list (Russ Smith was there from Louisville, but the Cardinals were an AAC team at that time). In fact, the last ACC player [...]