jstevrtc – Rush The Court

Rushed Reaction: #1 Kentucky 87, #8 Iowa State 71

jstevrtc — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 03:26:03 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

When Kentucky shoots like that, forget it. The Wildcats shot 48% in the first half and led by 11. They shot 16-25 (that is not a typo, 64%) in the second half. Listen, you don’t need to be some kind of genius to know that when this UK team shoots like that, the only thing you can do is hand them the trophy. If you saw the game, you’d agree that Iowa State didn’t play that badly. They did a super job of battling back on the boards compared to their effort there in the first [...]

Rushed Reaction: #3 Marquette 62, #6 Murray State 53

jstevrtc — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 23:43:48 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

Catch your breath. We haven’t seen any tempo stats on this game yet, but who needs ’em? This game was played at a Formula One pace despite not producing much in the way of scoring, but what fun it was. Mid-major local club with a packed partisan arena (even bigger than its home gym) going against a Big East trendy pick — and deservedly so — of a team that also boasts their conference MVP? Excellent storyline for an Elite Eight game, let alone a Round-0f-32 affair. Players sacraficing their bodies at every opportunity. Great passing. Superb hustle. [...]

Rushed Reaction: #8 Iowa State 77, #9 Connecticut 64

jstevrtc — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:35:57 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

Pardon Our Cliches… If you watched this game, you saw exactly what we did, in terms of the most important takeaway from this game. Connecticut’s roster oozed with talent. Kentucky fans stuck around for this game because they feared seeing UConn again, and for good reason. UConn had enough NBA talent on that roster to frustrate Kentucky. Both Kentucky- and non-Kentucky fans knew it. It was evident in the Big East tournament last week, even in the close loss to Syracuse. All they needed to play like that is motivation. You would think that, [...]

Rushed Reaction: #1 Kentucky 81, #16 Western Kentucky 66

jstevrtc — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:39:03 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

All Business. Kentucky had this one wrapped up and in the mail by halftime. The specific play that did it was at the end of the half when the Wildcats put together an Anthony Davis dunk, a Doron Lamb three, and a block by Davis to lift the lead at 19 and bring the crowd to life. Western Kentucky walked off the floor and, frankly, didn’t provide much resistance upon coming out for the second half. There Was a Little (One-Sided) Fun, Actually. Watch for two straight Davis alley-oop dunks on your favorite highlight show tonight if you didn’t [...]

Rushed Reaction: #3 Marquette 88, #14 BYU 68

jstevrtc — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:42:03 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

Not Just the Big Three For Marquette. In the first half, BYU had nobody who could contain Davante Gardner. The Marquette big fella scooped in 12 first-half points that all came from either attempts within five feet or free throws. We mention him specifically (he finished with 15/6) because his first-half performance was indicative of Marquette’s wise and efficient shot-selection on the day. Jae Crowder (10-20) was phenomenal, posting a 25 point/16 rebound performance enhanced further by the fact that he led his team with six offensive rebounds and pilfered five steals. Darius Johnson-Odom was his usual [...]

Rushed Reaction: #6 Murray State 58, #11 Colorado State 41

jstevrtc — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:40:44 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

Racers Win With Defense. From about the 10 minute mark of the first half, head coach Steve Prohm urged his players to crank up their intensity on defense. They obeyed. It changed the game. It’s often said that defense leads to offense, and even though (likely 1st-team All-American) Isaiah Canaan didn’t get his first bucket until almost 10 minutes into the first half, as the Racer defense clamped down, buckets became easier to come by. This continued into the second half, as the Rams were forced into turnover after turnover and Murray State capitalized. The [...]

We’re Talkin’ About Practices: 2011 Edition

jstevrtc — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:30:27 +0000

BEHOLD, friends, as the countdown clock approaches the all-zero for the first time this year, signifying the moment that we can at least say that practices are in session and our game has returned. The rocket has been moved to the launching pad and we’re about to light this candle, and just as launching a rocket into outer space is a process with many stages, so is getting a college basketball season off the ground. There’s Midnight Madness, or what might be more accurately called the First Official Day of Practice (FODP). The first exhibitions. The first official [...]

Morning Five: 10.12.11 Edition

jstevrtc — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:20:32 +0000

Indiana self-reported a violation to the NCAA yesterday, specifically the contacting of recruit Gary Harris by head coach Tom Crean on October 6 even though the period for allowable contact ended on October 5. The university report said that one of Crean’s assistants told the head coach that the contact was permitted and they didn’t realize the error until the communication had occurred. Self-imposed penalty: loss of two recruiting days, loss of an allowable contact, and no further contact with that recruit. That’s probably all that will be necessary to appease the NCAA, but this is just odd [...]

Morning Five: 10.11.11 Edition

jstevrtc — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:20:02 +0000

One might think that Robbie Hummel, or any other player who’s torn the same ACL twice within eight months, might be a tad cautious upon returning to the basketball court. A burnt child shuns fire, after all. Right. Being the type of competitor he is, he probably went to the place on the gym floor where his last ACL tear happened and jumped up and down on it using his bad knee. That’s speculation on our part, but here’s more: Michigan State’s Draymond Green knows about Hummel’s skill and intensity first-hand, and wonders if Hummel might not even [...]

Indiana’s Maurice Creek Out Indefinitely

jstevrtc — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:09:41 +0000

Robbie Hummel has been the title-holder of Unluckiest College Basketball Player in Indiana since October 16th, 2010, when he tore his right ACL for the second time. Unfortunately, it looks like Hummel has some serious competition for that lamentable honor.

There Is No Timetable for Creek’s Return From His Third Injury Inside of Two Years

Indiana guard Maurice Creek had surgery earlier today to repair a torn left Achilles’ tendon. This makes his third lower-extremity injury within 22 months. On December 28, 2009, just 12 games into his first season at IU, Creek went up for a layup against Bryant University and broke his left kneecap, costing [...]

Morning Five: 10.07.11 Edition

jstevrtc — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:20:30 +0000

One week, people. One week.

So many people are assuming threat postures over this so-called battle of words between John Calipari and Rick Pitino, but to us this is just a symptom that fans of college basketball just want something to talk about. We’ll never fault anyone for that, but it just doesn’t seem like there’s a lot in this. Here’s the deal: speaking in front of the tent village that pops up around Lexngton’s Memorial Coliseum annually as people camp out for Midnight Madness tickets, Calipari told an interviewer that Kentucky basketball was the biggest deal “throughout this whole state,” raising the [...]

Steve Lavin To Undergo Prostate Surgery

jstevrtc — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:12:34 +0000

St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin will have prostate surgery in New York City on Thursday as part of what will hopefully be the beginning of the endgame of the treatment course for his diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Go Get 'Em, Coach, And Feel Better Soon

Back in April, Lavin went public with that diagnosis, noting that his physicians had recommended a trial of watchful waiting that had started about six months prior. Taking a “wait and see” approach is a common course of action in the treatment of the disease, especially when it’s caught early. [...]

The Ultimate Kentucky Villain Will Coach In Rupp Arena

jstevrtc — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:28:19 +0000

Kentucky basketball fans, get ready. He…is…coming.

Just under two weeks ago, several Kentucky outlets reported that another one of these NBA lockout-induced games was in the works, this time one that would pit a squad of former Kentucky players against a team comprised of guys considered “villains” of the UK program. We’re talking about players like Kemba Walker, who, along with the rest of Connecticut mates, bumped Kentucky from the Final Four last season. Tyler Hansbrough would certainly be a candidate for such a team; UK thought they had Hansbrough wrapped up during his recruitment in 2005, and his eventual signing with [...]

RTC Conference Primers: # 31 – MEAC

jstevrtc — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:03:59 +0000

For our complete list of 2011-12 conference primers working backward from #31 to #1, click here.

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Top Storylines

Turmoil at Bethune-Cookman. Bethune-Cookman is the defending regular season champion, but can they concentrate on basketball? Since least season, the school has fired Clifford Reed, its head coach for the previous nine years, because of “insubordination and failure to cooperate” during an investigation of the basketball program. His son, C. J., was last year’s conference Player of the Year and the league’s top scorer, but was named (not [...]

Morning Five: 09.23.11 Edition

jstevrtc — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:20:06 +0000

As we’ve said before, one of the few positives that’s come out of the conference congealment/realignment mess is that some writers have simply had enough and are pulling out all the stops in their critiques, and the readers are benefitting from it. The latest example of this came yesterday from Yahoo!’s Dan Wetzel, who explains why the current system blows, the new superconference system will be even worse, and that it’s not too late to save these conference and school administrators from themselves and try to save college athletics, certainly (our favorite section coming here), “…for the average fan, who [...]