In this week’s RTC Podblast, we tackle Championship Fortnight with a detailed look at a number of the Other 26 league tournaments around the country. As always, Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114) is our host, but we also bring in the RTC O26 correspondent, I. Renko (@irenkohoops), to help dissect some of the more notable tourneys tipping off this week and next. The schedule of topics is below if you feel like jumping around. Later this week we’ll do our traditional podcast, and next week we’ll absolutely be breaking down each of the power conference tournaments with our cast of microsite correspondents around the country.

• 0:00-4:23 – Gonzaga the Best O26 Team, But Not the Best Team in the Country
• 4:23-6:03 – MW and A-10 Are Elite Conferences
• 6:03-11:07 – St. Louis and New Mexico Battle for Next Best O26 Team
• 11:07-14:55 – Other 26 Teams Looking Good for At-Large Bids
• 14:55-17:24 – The Curious Case of Louisiana Tech
• 17:24-20:37 – Teams That Can Make Noise… If They Get In
• 20:37-23:14 – MW and A-10 are the Tourneys to Watch
• 23:14-26:13 – Other Leagues to Keep an Eye On
• 26:13-29:20 – Dream Conference Tournament Match-ups
• 29:20-30:43 – Conference Primed for Classic March Moment/Wrap

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.

Before I go to bed, I always, always, always put my phone on silent. I don’t want to come out of my slumber for any reason, so part of my nightly routine is to flip that switch on my phone before flipping the light off and hitting the hay. Inexplicably, that critical step to setting my phone to silent was missed the other night, and around one in the morning, my phone started buzzing.

https://twitter.com/BobbyBancroft/status/308805192328048640

And kept buzzing.

https://twitter.com/TroyMachir/status/308805349845118976

Then buzzed some more.

https://twitter.com/RobDauster/status/308805700279230464

I’ll be sure to never make that mistake again, especially in March, when old Syracuse tape seems to always be rolling as late night programming.

Victor Oladipo Blowing Our Minds

The Internet has run out of real words to describe Victor Oladipo’s hops. This, coming after he shocked the heck out of Ohio State’s Shannon Scott in transition Tuesday night. Oladipo took off from two steps within the free throw line, put his head level with the hoop and covered what looked like 100 square feet in the matter of a second for the clean swat.

https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/309145175312175104

https://twitter.com/natekotisso/status/309145183377838080

https://twitter.com/ESPNDanaOneil/status/309145195872661504

https://twitter.com/eamonnbrennan/status/309145214965149696

https://twitter.com/ShitHoosiersSay/status/309145177447079936

Ben Howland Plays Beer Pong

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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.

Before I go to bed, I always, always, always put my phone on silent. I don’t want to come out of my slumber for any reason, so part of my nightly routine is to flip that switch on my phone before flipping the light off and hitting the hay. Inexplicably, that critical step to setting my phone to silent was missed the other night, and around one in the morning, my phone started buzzing.

@nickfasulosbn I found Billy Edelin.He’s on ESPN Classic right now.

— Bobby Bancroft (@BobbyBancroft) March 5, 2013

And kept buzzing.

Hahahahahaha RT @bobbybancroft @nickfasulosbn I found Billy Edelin. He’s on ESPN Classic right now.

— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) March 5, 2013

Then buzzed some more.

Lololol RT @bobbybancroft: @nickfasulosbn I found Billy Edelin.He’s on ESPN Classic right now.

— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) March 5, 2013

I’ll be sure to never make that mistake again, especially in March, when old Syracuse tape seems to always be rolling as late night programming.

Victor Oladipo Blowing Our Minds

The Internet has run out of real words to describe Victor Oladipo’s hops. This, coming after he shocked the heck out of Ohio State’s Shannon Scott in transition Tuesday night. Oladipo took off from two steps within the free throw line, put his head level with the hoop and covered what looked like 100 square feet in the matter of a second for the clean swat.

Ohmygoladipo.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 6, 2013

OH-LAH-DEE-PUH

— Nate Kotisso (@natekotisso) March 6, 2013

How does Victor Oladipo do that?

— Dana O’Neil (@ESPNDanaOneil) March 6, 2013

VICTOR OH MY GAWWWW

— Eamonn Brennan (@eamonnbrennan) March 6, 2013

Oladipo say no no no.

— ShitHoosiersSay (@ShitHoosiersSay) March 6, 2013

Ben Howland Plays Beer Pong

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We dropped the Circle of March from 310 teams to 303 on Tuesday, as the Big South and Horizon League Tournaments both got under way with seven games between them. The list of yesterday’s eliminated teams is underneath the CoM, but suffice it to say that you are unlikely to miss any of them. Today we’ll have five more league tourneys get under way — the Atlantic Sun, the NEC, the OVC, the Patriot League, and the WCC — which means a good number of logos will drop off the Circle in the next 24 hours. Check back Thursday to see how it looks!

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.05.13)

*Note that with the exception of the Ivy League, which has no postseason tournament, we will remove non-qualifiers for their conference tournaments at the end of the conference’s regular season.

• Radford
• UNC-Asheville
• Presbyterian
• Coastal Carolina
• Loyola (IL)
• Cleveland State
• Wisconsin-Milwaukee

March Madness is here, and as we put this post together on Tuesday afternoon, the first trickle of conference tournament action has already started with the Big South Tournament getting under way in Conway, South Carolina. Over the next 36 days, we’ll celebrate postseason basketball with our annual visual tribute from 300+ teams down to one, the Circle of March. Assuming our math is spot on, there are 310 Division I teams still “alive” for the NCAA title this season — 37 have already been eliminated for a variety of reasons (ineligibility, failure to qualify for or no conference tournament, not in an auto-bid league, independent, etc.). Those teams are listed below the Circle. The rest of the contenders will slowly be whittled away on a daily basis until we’re left with 68 on Selection Sunday and of course just one team standing tall on the morning of April 9.

To make this year’s CoM a bit more entertaining, we’ve built the logos of all 310 teams into a number of spatially-similar groupings within the Circle. For example, in the area approaching 11 o’clock below, there are a number of images that prominently use birds as their school’s logo. See how many of these groupings you can determine (note: make sure to click on the image for a larger view) — the first dozen folks who tweet at us (@rushthecourt) or e-mail us (rushthecourt@yahoo.com) with 12 or more distinct groupings will receive a free RTC t-shirt. For the person who identifies the most distinct logo groupings, we’ll have a grand prize.

Welcome to March Madness…

How Many Distinct Groupings of Logos Are in the Circle of March?

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.04.13)

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Welcome back to this week’s RTC Podblast, hosted by Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114). The calendar has turned to March, so it’s time get serious about things. In this week’s podblast, the guys take a look back at the week that was, breaking down upsets involving Indiana, Michigan, Florida and Arizona, and discussing just how well Georgetown and Otto Porter are playing at this point in the season. As always, feel free to jump around using the handy outline below. We’ll be back next week to talk about all the weekend’s action and look forward to the start of conference tournaments!

• 0:00-5:11 – What Indianas Lastest Loss at #1 Means for Them and Minnesota
• 5:11-9:00 – Michigan Gives Kansas company in the Embarrassing Loss Category
• 9:00-10:05 – Florida and Arizona Don’t Help Themselves Either
• 10:05-11:50 – Georgetown Needs 2 OTs to Avoid Being The Lastest Disappointment
• 11:50-13:07 – Arizona @ UCLA – First Preview of the Weekend
• 13:07-17:55 – College Basketball Announcing Dream Teams
• 17:55-19:15 – Two Monster Match-ups in the Big East
• 19:15-19:56 – Butler and VCU Battle for Top A-10 Newcomer
• 19:56-20:50 – Duke Looks to Avenge Miami Loss
• 20:50-23:00 – Michigan-Michigan State/Wrap

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

The NCAA investigation into Saint Mary’s recruiting that has been hanging over the college’s head for the past year came to a head Friday with the imposition of some strong, although probably not fatal, penalties. Most importantly, the Gaels will lose two scholarships for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, head coach Randy Bennett must serve a five-game suspension next season and may not recruit off-campus during next season, the Gaels are prohibited from multi-team tournaments until 2015-16 and on-campus skill instruction is prohibited for the next two years. The college was also placed on four years’ probation. The Gaels’ scheduled appearance in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii next December is not affected as it had been scheduled before the penalties were announced.

Tough March News For Bennett Today (Photo credit: Jason O. Watson/US Presswire).

The Gaels’ troubles stemmed from the activities of a former assistant coach who was not named in the NCAA report but, according to sources close to the investigation, is Keith Moss. Moss was sanctioned by the NCAA for providing impermissible benefits to a potential recruit who was also not named, along with impermissible contact with two other foreign players. Some media sources had speculated that the infractions centered on Saint Mary’s years-long relationship with Australian players and that a former assistant coach from Australia, David Patrick, was the focus of the investigation. That is not the case, as Moss’ infractions dealt solely with athletes he recruited through former relationships in France.

Bennett’s culpability stemmed from the NCAA’s infamous “failure to monitor” dictum, as the body chastised Bennett for not reining in Moss’ activities even though some of them occurred after Moss left the college’s employ in 2009. Bennett was also criticized for not properly supervising on-campus skill instruction conducted at Saint Mary’s during the summers of 2010 and 2011.

Read the rest of this entry »

Believe it or not, we’re getting down to the end of the conference season already, and March is just around the corner. In this week’s RTC Podcast, hosted as always by Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114), the guys break down the big win from Georgetown over Syracuse and question what might be ailing the Orange, discuss the biggest conference dropoffs among some of the more-hyped teams at midseason (ahem, hey Minnesota; you too, Missouri.), and take a look forward at this week’s biggest games.

Check back on Friday of this week for our shorter RTC Podblast, which will run down some of the action from this week and look ahead to the weekend’s action. And don’t forget to add the RTC Podcast to your iTunes lineup so that you’ll automatically upload it on your listening device after each recording. Thanks!

We welcome any and all feedback on these podcasts including topics for future discussion or if you want to send us any questions for our “May Not Be From Actual Listeners” segment. Hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com or @rushthecourt on Twitter.

Welcome to this week’s RTC Podblast, hosted by Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114). In a week full of competitive and interesting games, the guys focus in on the three biggest of the slate — Michigan State-Indiana, Kansas-Oklahoma State, and Florida-Missouri, while looking ahead to a weekend of action slightly better than last. As always, the weekly outline is below, so feel free to jump around to the place that most suits your interest…

• 0:00-6:19 – Kansas in the Big 12 Driver Seat Yet Again
• 6:19-13:45 – Indiana Cements Itself as Top Team
• 13:45-15:33 – Florida Reminds Us Not to Trust Them
• 15:33-17:57 – Preview Big Weekend in the A-10
• 17:57-19:17 – Creighton and Saint Mary’s Headline Last BracketBusters
• 19:17-20:57 – Another Week Another Exciting MW Game
• 20:57-23:16 – End of a Big East Battle at the Carrier Dome/Wrap

We made it through one of the weaker weekends of action in college basketball this season, but the band is back together for another edition of the RTC Podcast. Hosted by Shane Connolly (@sconnolly114), the guys delve into what was the biggest surprise (?) of the weekend with Maryland shredding the Duke defense to the tune of 60% shooting while also turning the ball over on nearly every other possession. We also found time to discuss the situation with Mike Montgomery pushing his star guard, Allen Crabbe, and touched on other topics such as the “soft” bubble, Gonzaga as a top-five team, and Kentucky’s strategies with their remaining presumptive one-and-doners.

Check back on Friday of this week for our shorter RTC Podblast, which will run down some of the action from this week and look ahead to the weekend’s biggest games. And don’t forget to add the RTC Podcast to your iTunes lineup so that you’ll automatically upload it on your listening device after each recording. Thanks!

• 0:00-11:20 – Maryland Knocks Off Duke
• 11:20-16:25 – Mike Montgomery Pushes Allen Crabbe in the Chest and Cal to Victory
• 16:25-21:52 – Lessons Learned From the 2012 Mock Selection Committee
• 21:51-28:30 – Gonzaga Needs Glasses- They Fail the Eye Test
• 28:30-35:35 – Kentucky in a Post-Nerlens Noel World
• 35:35-47:25 – Weekday Games Preview and Wrap

We welcome any and all feedback on these podcasts including topics for future discussion or if you want to send us any questions for our “May Not Be From Actual Listeners” segment. Hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com or @rushthecourt on Twitter.