Before we embark on this final edition of the M5 for 2010, we’d like to wish all of you a happy, healthy and safe New Year’s and a fantastic 2011. Thanks for making us a part, no matter how large or small, of your regimen of college basketball enjoyment. And by all means, be careful out there tonight. Now, to the Five…

1. Seth Davis is trying to follow up on a tasty 7-3 week with his latest batch of weekend game predictions, and if his score projections are any indication, we’re all going to be diving into the new year with some exciting basketball games. You’ve got to give credit where it’s due, here — 19-11 so far is a respectable tally. We have one question, though: when is Courtside going to show up on our televisions again? Soon, we hope. You know, because Seth probably isn’t busy enough.
2. Another Davis — this time, Ken, from NBC Sports — minces no words when it comes to his opinion on who he’d hire if he were running a program and had to choose between Rick Pitino and John Calipari. That query is the first of his latest mailbag, and we really wish there were a comments section so we could read the volleys that would surely have occured between Kentucky and Louisville fans. When you click the link, though, check out the subtitle (right below the title, obviously) that they tried to slip by us. You really think so, Ken?
3. Something about Jelan Kendrick to Ole Miss just feels right to us. Kendrick was dismissed from Memphis quicker than Ricky Ponting in the Ashes (our demos show that we have a few readers from England, for some reason), but eventual opponents of the Rebels would do well to remember that this kid was also the third-ranked shooting guard prospect (or second-ranked small forward, depending on who you asked) in last year’s high school senior class. He’s also Mississippi’s first-ever McDonalds All-American. Adam Zagoria brings you up to speed.
4. This was a nice display of friendship and sportsmanship, and yet…why does this make us uncomfortable? After that hard-fought Vanderbilt vs Marquette game from Wednesday night in which Vandy dealt the Warriors with quite a(nother) heartbreaking loss, the head coaches from each team — Kevin Stallings and Buzz Williams, respectively — sat up on the post-game dais together, exchanged compliments, patted each other on the back, so on. We’re aware that the two are good friends. It’s just all this friendliness between opponents on game day…fine, maybe we’re just Philistines.
5. We’re big San Diego State fans around these parts, but we’d like to issue a challenge. See, according to this piece at KPBS.org, the Aztecs’ final non-conference game of the year (which takes place today at 1 pm PT) isn’t sold out yet, with over 2,000 seats left open in a 12,000-seat arena. Yeah, we know, it’s agaisnt Occidental College. We know they’re Division III. But come on, SDSU. You’re undefeated, but don’t get too cocky. Respect every opponent. Your team wants you there. If you’re reading this as it posts, you’ve still got a few hours to make this right.

One of the best things about college basketball is the rivalries. Whether rational or not, rivalries usually manifest themselves through the players and fans of the involved schools in the form of true, unmitigated disdain for the other side. Because we love making trouble, and with apologies to Orwell, we give you the Two Minutes’ Hate, a series of posts in which we give fans/bloggers/writers of both sides of a given rivalry a chance to vent about the other side, with minimal but identical prompting from us. We encouraged them to cut loose and hold nothing back, and we’ll be doing this with various rivalries throughout the year as such games arise. If you want to nominate a rivalry or even offer a submission, email us at JStevRTC@gmail.com. And remember, the published opinions are those of the respondents and not necessarily those of RTC, heh heh.

Today’s Rivals: Louisville and Kentucky

Coaches Crum And Hall Might Be Smiling Here, But BOY, Do These Two Teams Hate Each Other.

First, speaking on behalf of the Cardinals, we have Mike from the excellent Louisville site Card Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter here. And you should, if for no other reason than because his bio describes him as the “fourth-ranked Chaucer scholar in the Ohio Valley.”

1. In your opinion, what was the Ville’s greatest win over UK?

The 1983 “Dream Game” without a doubt.

Even after Louisville had established itself as a national power, Kentucky refused to play them. The game finally happened in ’83 when the teams were paired in the same region and met in the Mideast Regional championship on March 26 in Knoxville. Despite a buzzer-beating shot by Jim Master to send the game into overtime, the Cardinals ran off 14 straight points in the extra period and prevailed, 80-68.

The U of L community erupted and quickly the governor, legislators and even the boards of trustees at both universities began to talk about a series between the two. Shortly thereafter, the announcement was made that Louisville and Kentucky would begin playing each other annually.

The game played a huge role in making the rivalry what it is today. If Louisville loses that day, the two might still not be playing annually.

2. What was the most painful loss?

Probably the ’04 game where Louisville led by 15 at half and as many as 18 before the Cats came all the way back and won it on Patrick Sparks‘ free-throws with less than a second left. Sparks walked twice. Neither were called. Louisville won the game.

Still, we went to the Final Four a few months later and UK didn’t.

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During tomorrow’s matchup between Xavier and Florida at the Cintas Center, you might notice a unique smell wafting from the concession stands — that of fried alligator.

Get it? Fried alligator? Florida Gators? Of course you do. That’s not a typo, though. For the XU vs UF game — while supplies last — the folks from Xavier Dining will have fried alligator on offer.

We Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny That Your Serving Will Be This Large

Not that we’re anti-Florida around here, but you have to love this move. And going by the linked article, fried alligator isn’t exactly cheap, but I guess you’ve got to expect that, since they flew these babies in from Louisiana. We think that Florida should take this as a compliment, since this is the kind of thing you’d do only if you think it’s a big, important game. If you attend the game and you try this delicacy, we’d love to hear what you think of it, so don’t hesitate to e-mail or tweet us your Bourdain-like review.

[grateful h/t to the Lexington Herald-Leader’s John Clay, at @johnclayiv]

1. You simply must check out how, in his attempts to get back to school for a game against Albany, Xavier’s Tu Holloway went through his own version of Plains, Trains, and Automobiles. Even more impressive was what he did when he made it back — 32 minutes, 11 points on 4-6 shooting, nine dimes, one turnover, and all while sick and exhausted. And let us say this — Tu, we love ya, man, but the image of you on a Greyhound bus with a morbidly obese man snoring on your shoulder is freaking hilarious. At least you didn’t have a conversation upon waking that ended with the words, “Those aren’t pillows!“
2. Speaking of Xavier, you can likely find coach Chris Mack down at City Hall in Cincinnati inquiring as to whether the Cintas Center was, in fact, built on a Native American burial ground. Whatever it is, there’s something out there that doesn’t like Xavier basketball — yesterday it was announced that freshman swingman Jay Canty (1.0 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 9.5 MPG) has a broken right foot and will be shelved for a month. That leaves XU with nine scholarship players. If we know Coach Mack, though — and we don’t — he’ll somehow get the Musketeers to overachieve in March even if he has to suit up the mascot and a pull a couple of business majors out of Smith Hall in order to have enough practice players.
3. “Some guys hate losing more than they love winning.” A memorable line from a simply outstanding look at the life of Rutgers basketball under new boss Mike Rice. Writer Adam Zagoria intimates that Rice might just be the right man to bring the Knights back to prominence in the future, and that’s been our position as well; this article makes us feel confident about that prediction.
4. The Niagara Gazette’s Jonah Bronstein invites all Western New Yorkers to come out and see native son Jimmer Fredette when he and BYU arrive at Buffalo tonight to play the Bulls. Bronstein and UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon anoint Fredette as the best player “ever to visit Western New York,” which we assume to mean UB’s Alumni Arena in this case. Bold claim, but the gentlemen make an interesting case.
5. We’ve heard from so many people rooting for Northwestern to finally make the NCAA Tournament this season. Chicago Sports Guru takes a look at some NU stats and offers an intriguing breakdown of the Wildcats’ remaining schedule. And we’re totally diggin’ the “John and Juice” reference in the article’s title — strong work, fellas. Despite the 9-1 start, though, KenPom projects a 18-11 (8-10) final record for the ‘Cats, but six of those crystal-ball Ls are predicted to be by four points or less. The next chance for NU to change fate (that is, the next KenPom-predicted L) is this Friday at Purdue. KenPom gives the Wildcats a 12% chance of winning. Ouch.

We first saw the news on Twitter via Adam Zagoria and then saw this report from the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Brendan Prunty that Seton Hall senior guard Jeremy Hazell was shot four times under the right arm last night. He was in Harlem, his hometown, and suffered only “flesh wounds” per the Star-Ledger account.

Through what must be some kind of miracle, despite taking four slugs, Hazell was treated at a local hospital, released, and is at home resting. There has as of yet been no official statement from the school regarding this incident.

Sounds Like Hazell Is Yet Another Pirate Who's Lucky To Be Alive

Hazell has been sidelined by a broken left wrist he sustained in a mid-November win against Alabama. He led Seton Hall in scoring each of the last two seasons and was again this year before the injury. A report from Mr. Zagoria’s site states that it had not yet been decided if Hazell planned to redshirt this season because of the wrist injury and come back next season, or if he was on course to play again this year, or if he had indeed played his last game at Seton Hall.

Seton Hall lost to Richmond earlier today, 61-69.

We saw this bit of news on Twitter a little while ago, and now an AP story on SI.com confirms it: Mississippi State’s Renardo Sidney fought with a teammate in the stands on Thursday night just moments before the tipoff of the Hawaii vs Utah game at the Diamond Head Classic. According to the linked article (and the video below, of course), punches were thrown and Sidney was escorted out by police. No arrests were made.

[h/t: @dlhil00]

Sidney’s opponent in this particular scrap was junior forward Elgin Bailey. Earlier in the day, Sidney had scored 19 points and pulled six rebounds in just 20 minutes of action in the Bulldogs’ 69-52 win over San Diego, playing in just his second game for MSU. Bailey had two points and eight boards in 21 minutes of play.

Susan Shan, a sportswriter covering the tournament and proprietor of SusanShan.com, posted an eyewitness account from a person associated with the team who saw the buildup to the fight as well as the aftermath. In the account she received from this witness, while the reasons for the squabble were rather trifling, Bailey appears to be more in the wrong, and may have even tried to attack an officer.

Sidney was suspended by head coach Rick Stansbury for Mississippi State’s game against Washington State on Wednesday because of an “outburst” of Sidney’s during the team’s practice on Tuesday. While there have been no official details emerge as to the reason for the fight in the stands on Thursday — we admit, no matter why it started, we can’t think of many things that would justify a brawl in the stands with a teammate — it doesn’t really matter who’s found to be at fault in the end. It cannot be ignored that, since joining the squad, Sidney now has as many behavioral gaffes as games under his belt. Sidney is bound to again face punishment from Stansbury, if not an outright removal from the team. Forget why the fight happened — the point is that it happened at all, and that Sidney, just off a disciplinary action, is seen throwing punches in the stands at a person — a teammate who is on the ground, mind you — in full view of spectators and TV cameras.

This thing brings to mind those awful images from the infamous Pacers-Pistons atrocity exhibition  (the Malice in the Palace) from 2004, one of the lowest moments in American professional sports. True, the court/crowd barrier was never broken in this case — or was it? Whether they’re on the playing surface or sitting in the stands, athletes are representatives their schools, and we wonder how many invites to the Diamond Head Classic that Mississippi State will be receiving in the upcoming years.

Obviously we should all reserve final judgment until the full details are known, or at least until Stansbury comments on this issue. We’ll update the story as details emerge.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is taking a little heat for expressing his thoughts recently on the increasing incidence of concussions among athletes, specifically his own Cardinals. Actually, it’s not a perceived increasing number of head injuries he seems to have a problem with as much as the increasing frequency with which they seem to be diagnosed:

“It’s the seventeenth concussion we’ve had this year. I’ve been coaching now 35 years. I’ve seen maybe five concussions in 35 years. The new thing is everybody has a concussion. If you walk out and slightly brush the door, you have a concussion. That’s the way it is today.”

Sure, it’s probably not the best thing to say when you’re one of the main people responsible for the welfare of a group of young athletes, especially when you know it will probably get back to the parents. But even though it’s not said in the warmest and fuzziest tone, Pitino’s point is a fair one. That is how it is today.

Pitino Is Right: Concussions Are In Vogue, So To Speak

We’re hearing more about concussions for two reasons: the increased awareness that resulted from the NFL’s tightening of return-to-play standards for players who suffer head injuries, and the fact that concussion is a clinical diagnosis, not one that results from a specific blood or imaging test. This means that there’s more variance in what a concussion really is, leading to more instances of it being diagnosed. A knock to the head that makes you dizzy for a few moments? That’s a concussion. Did Ray Lewis blindside you with a helmet-to-helmet slobber-knocker that rendered you unconscious for a few days? That’s a concussion, too. So is everything in between.

Check out the guidelines for diagnosing and treating concussions in sports as established by the American Academy of Neurology. A helpful document, that. But painfully vague in places (could your depressed mood now be a result of the mild knock you took to the head a couple of weeks ago? Well…maybe). As we’ve said, saying “concussion” is no more informative than saying “head injury” because you can’t tell if it’s from a head butt or a harpoon. The best part of those guidelines is where it tells you how to grade the severity of the concussion, because if you can tell how bad it is, then you know how best to treat it (put ’em back in the game, or book it to the ER). The exact same information is presented in a slightly different way in a document on concussions the NCAA has provided to coaches in all sports.

You might not like the way he said it, but Rick Pitino is right in this case. It’s unlikely that there are more actual head injury-events happening. But concussions are receiving more attention in sports reporting because the NFL has made it a priority (and like it or not, we live in NFL Nation), and because a diagnosis of concussion represents one point on a wide continuum of head injuries, not just one specific entity. This can easily lead to a few more diagnoses from physicians and trainers, but that doesn’t mean the guidelines for diagnosing them are being violated. Plus, we’re dealing with people’s brains, here. If it was your head that had just taken a hit from, say, Jared Sullinger or Brian Urlacher, wouldn’t you rather the person examining you err on the side of caution?

On Tuesday night, St. John’s hosted Northwestern in Madison Square Garden and erased the Wildcats from the list of our game’s unbeaten teams with an 85-69 win. The Red Storm trailed 40-37 at halftime.

Then, it happened. A series of commonplaces combined to make something incredible.

Lavin Was Able To Get His Team To Eschew the Three and Embrace the Inside, Which Isn't Easy

St. John’s took a halftime message from head coach Steve Lavin to heart and made finding good shots their top priority for the second half. They ended up attempting 20 shots in the half, which broke down thusly:

• 20 field goals attempted
• 16 made field goals
• 10 layups
• 2 dunks
• 2 “other” two-point shots
• 2 three pointers (on just three attempts)

There were also 14 made free throws, and when you add that up it amounts to a 48-point half. Not bad at all, especially against a team that was undefeated at the time, and completely aware that beating major-conference opponents on the road can only help them gain entrance to the NCAA Tournament, that promised land the Wildcats have never visited.

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After sitting out for a season and nine games, Renardo Sidney made his debut for Mississippi State this past Saturday. The 6’11, 270-pound forward played 25 minutes, scored 12 points, snagged three boards, and fouled out against Virginia Tech. The Hokies smoked Sidney’s Bulldogs, 88-57.

Now, for Sidney, it’s back to the pine. He’s not sitting because of his performance during his only game, though. The problem was his behavior during practice on Monday.

Sitting Out Is Nothing New For Sidney

Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury suspended Sidney one game for an outburst during the Bulldogs’ workout ahead of their game against Washington State on Wednesday in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Stansbury originally announced the suspension as an indefinite one, but a school official later confirmed that Sidney would only be out for a single game.

We’re constantly impressed by the fearlessness shown by athletes in coming back from injuries and medical hurdles, playing as if nothing had ever happened, ignoring that the rolled ankle becomes a little less stable every time it happens, that concussions can have an additive effect over time, that blood sugar levels have to be monitored no matter if it’s during study hall or a time out during an overtime. It’s even more amazing when players play with or through medical issues that 18-22 year-olds, quite frankly, shouldn’t have to deal with, espeically those involving the ticker. After nearly dying twice this past summer from cardiac issues, do you think Seton Hall’s Herb Pope won’t enjoy every snowflake this winter or every fruitcake he gets as a Christmas present, let alone the chance to continue playing basketball?

We Say Bravo That Boyd Is Back For the Blackbirds (Photo: LIU)

In that spirit, check out this AP story from the Wall Street Journal today about the return of Long Island University’s Julian Boyd, who has returned to the court this season after taking a year off. After a freshman campaign that earned him the honor of being named the Northeast Conference’s Rookie of the Year after the 2008-09 season, Boyd began to experience symptoms resembling kidney failure. Tests revealed that he had a congenital (meaning it often occurs while you’re in the womb, no matter the cause) heart condition called noncompaction cardiomyopathy, a disorder in which the muscle in your heart stays soft and spongy during its development, causing it to enlarge and not beat as efficiently as it should.

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