Rush The Court

Looking for that last piece to complete your winter wardrobe?  Maybe you should try a sweater or at least something with long sleeves.  But, if you need something to wear UNDER that, look no further.  It is with immense pride that we introduce to you… the official RUSH THE COURT t-shirt.  It’s got our name on it, a cool slogan, and a shoeprint design on the back along with the site’s URL.  That’s pretty much the only ways in which it’s different than every other shirt you own.  Oh, and it’s freaking awesome.  You can order yours at our CafePress showcase here (priced between $11-$24).

Suffice to say, we’ve got just about every school color combination there is.  We don’t do custom orders, but tell us if you want a color combo we don’t offer and if there’s enough demand, we’ll see what we can do.  ALSO, because we’ve been inspired by the recent generosity of various basketball programs who have raised aid money for earthquake relief in Haiti, AND by the Mark Titus blog Club Trillion, we’re donating all profits we make to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

But there’s more to this.  Even though your coolness factor and college hoops insider status will take off faster than a  Jeremy Hazell jumper as you wear your RTC T-shirt, we’re not just doing this so we can use you people as walking billboards for us (though we do appreciate it).  We’re going to have a little contest along with our T-shirt promotion.  We want to see these things in action.  And when we say that we want to SEE them… we’re quite serious.

Here’s the deal — send us a photo of yourself wearing the RTC t-shirt , and we’ll enter you into a lottery for one of  two prizes:

• First Prize – Two (2) Tickets to a 2010 NCAA First/Second Round Venue of Your Choice
• Second Prize — $50 Visa Gift Card

The number of chances you actually GET in the drawing is determined by the situation in which you are wearing your RTC shirt.  Our committee of judges will review each photo as it’s received, assigning it a point value which will correspond to the number of chances you get in the drawing.  For example: a photo of a person wearing an RTC shirt  generates one chance.  You take it from there.  We’ll assign points based on how creative you get, where you are, what you’re doing, who you’re with, etc.  Also, if one of our correspondents or editors sees you anywhere while wearing the shirt (at the supermarket, at the gym, at a game, etc.), you’ll be given an extra ten entries (the correspondent/editor must approach you — do not make a spectacle of yourself).  We’ll occasionally post our favorite photos on the site.

Send the photos to RTCShirtPhotos@gmail.com.  The drawings will occur on the Monday AFTER Selection Sunday and we’ll announce the results here after we’ve notified the winners.  The photos must be sent from the email address from which you want to be contacted if you win one of the prizes or if we need to get in touch with you.  Don’t worry… we’re not going to put you on any mailing lists or anything.

One prize per person.  No obscene or illegal material, please.  Photos of that nature will be discarded without consideration.  Contest ends at 12 midnight the MORNING of Selection Sunday.  Photos submitted after then will not be considered for the drawings.

So grab a shirt or five, and start racking up points.  Most importantly, enjoy the rest of the season.  We’ll be looking for you!

(RTC dudes and their relatives aren’t eligible to win.  We promise.)

Colonial - Ryan Restivo of SienaSaintsBlog  (READ MORE)

William & Mary is on a Roll. The Tribe have won ten straight, a new school record, and won 48-47 at Hofstra on a Kendrix Brown three point play to continue their historic season.  William & Mary is 2-0 in the CAA for the first time since 1997-98.  The Tribe have not started this well since 1948-49 when they started 14-2.  More impressively, the Tribe never gave up the lead at Maryland after the 4:44 mark in the first half in a convincing 83-77 win in College Park.  After dropping their first two games to Connecticut by nine and Harvard in triple-overtime, the Tribe have racked up impressive statement wins over Richmond, Wake Forest and Maryland.  According to Kenpom.com, their Offensive efficiency is tops in the nation (124.2).

Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review  (READ MORE)

Northern Iowa mowing down the Valley — Those that don’t consider Northern Iowa the class of the Valley need to have their head examined (including myself, before now).  The Panthers are on an 11-game winning streak after following a tough road win against Creighton in Omaha with victories against Evansville and Missouri State to race out to a 3-0 conference record in the first week.

SEC – Paul Jordan of Wildcat Blue Blog  (READ MORE)

The big story in the SEC this week was the arrest and indefinite suspension of four Tennessee basketball players — Tyler Smith, Melvin Goins, Cameron Tatum and Brian Williams.  The group was arrested on a myriad of drug and weapon charges.  Some of the charges were felonies, and given the recent problems with UT’s football program, it is hard to imagine any scenario in which the players may step back on the court this season.

ACC - Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

After splitting the top spot last week with rival UNC, the Blue Devils sit atop this week’s rankings all by themselves. No, it wasn’t the win over Long Beach State or the 59-point demolition of Penn. Duke pretty much dismantled highly regarded Clemson Sunday night, posting a 21-point win that was never even remotely that close.  Jon Scheyer is scoring more than enough for Duke, and Kyle Singler and the Devils’ frontcourt proved it could handle a seasoned big man like Trevor Booker. An impressive win, to say the very least.

Big Ten – Jason Prziborowski  (READ MORE)

Big 10 Madness has begun – Conference play started this past week in the Big Ten, and they didn’t disappoint. Indiana loses Maurice Creek, their top scorer and player, and then they upset Michigan at home. Michigan, not to be outdone, gets revenge for what their football team couldn’t do against OSU. Wisconsin, not wanting to miss out, blows out both OSU and PSU. Surprisingly, only Michigan and Minnesota have at least a win and a loss. Everyone else either hasn’t lost, or hasn’t won.

Atlantic 10 – Joe Dzuback of Villanova by the Numbers (READ MORE)

St. Louis’ pair, Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell, along with Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, epitomize the notion of the “Go-to” guy — they combine lots of minutes (well maybe not so much for Mitchell…) with high usage (possessions and shot taking) and efficiency (ORtgs greater than their team). These guys consume a lot of possessions, but they make their teams better in the process.  (…)

Big East – Rob Dauster of Ballin is a Habit (READ MORE)

Born Ready wasn’t quite born ready, but 11 games into the season, its pretty clear that Stephenson is going to be a player in this league. Stephenson has averaged 12.5 ppg and 2.4 apg, but more than the numbers he has put up, it has been what he hasn’t done that has been most important – this kid is not a distraction. Yes, he does have his outbursts (his reaction at the end of the Gonzaga game and his yapping at Chris Mack in the Xavier game come to mind), but what 19 year old doesn’t? Cincy has struggled a bit early in the season as they haven’t quite lived up to some of the lofty expectations, but none of that has been Lance’s fault. He makes smart plays, he makes unselfish plays, and, most importantly, he simply makes plays.  (…)

Pac-10 – Ryan ZumMallen of LBPostSports (READ MORE)

Boy, that was a rough non-conference season, huh? Everybody and their mom jumped on the Pac-10 for underachieving, and there is certainly some merit to that. The teams that were expected to compete for Top 10 spots sometimes looked like they shouldn’t be ranked at all. As a whole, the conference won very few quality games and for the most part waltzed through laughably easy opponents. Then, of course, there were the downright embarrassing losses that began to pile up one after another.  (…)

Big 12 – Patrick Sellars  (READ MORE)

Derrick Roland. I feel terrible for this kid who broke his leg against Washington ending a season in which the Aggies were probably headed for the NCAA Tournament. Now the Aggies are left without their star player and they’re in trouble of missing the Tournament if they can’t find someone to pick up the slack left by Roland.  (…)

Mountain West – Andrew Murawa  (READ MORE)

Hobson takes home his third NOTW award from this space with his performance against Texas Tech detailed above.  He has been simply amazing at times this year, an incredibly versatile force who can grab a strong rebound at one end of the floor, weave his way up court and either find an open Lobo for an easy finish, complete the play himself with either a gliding finger-roll or a pull-up three or settle back in to run the half court offense.  If you haven’t had a chance to see Hobson yet this season, look him up when you get a chance, as all but one Lobo game the rest of the season will be televised somewhere, mostly on The MTN.  (…)

WAC – Sam Wasson of bleedCrimson.net and Travis Mason-Bushman of Vandal Nation (READ MORE)

The WAC begins conference play this weekend and the league has made a switch to a Saturday/Monday schedule from a Thursday/Saturday schedule in years past.  The breakout non-conference season for the WAC never materialized. The good news is the league finished 73-43 in non-conference play.  The bad news is the league was 0-7 against BCS teams, 7-9 against the West Coast Conference, 5-7 against the Big West and just 4-12 against the Mountain West, the league the WAC most likes to compare itself to due to the fact that MWC is made up of former WAC teams.  (…)

WCC – Michael Vernetti  (READ MORE)

Although several WCC teams have games remaining before conference play begins next Friday (Jan. 8), a few general observations appear to be safe. First, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga have erased any doubts about their continued stranglehold on the top two positions. Gonzaga could finish its pre-conference schedule at 11-3 or 10-4 depending on its game on the road against Illinois on Jan. 2, but the Zags have made it perfectly clear they are up to the challenge of competing for a 10^th straight WCC Championship.  (…)

Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review (READ MORE)

Surprises at the top — A year ago, you would not have seen Missouri State and Wichita State at the top of the conference with Creighton and Bradley towards the bottom.  But this is how the crazy Valley non-conference season has gone so far.  The Valley is an impressive 80-32 (.714) in non-conference play with some nice wins against top level conferences that have been missing over the past few seasons.

SEC – Paul Jordan of Wildcat Blue Blog (READ MORE)

Finally!   College basketball is back in the SEC after a couple of weeks of finals (and the holidays) and it is back with a vengeance with two bitter in-state rivalries for both Kentucky and Tennessee.  Aside from that, Baylor does a curious double dip in the SEC and most of the good action is actually televised this week.

Big Ten – Jason Pzirobowski  (READ MORE)

I don’t know if you looked at the new AP top 25 poll, but if you have, you may have done a double take when you saw Northwestern at number 25. It’s for real, for the team that has never made the NCAA Tournament, they are well on their way.  Now five Big Ten teams are in the top 25: #4 Purdue, #11 Michigan State, #13 Ohio State, #23 Wisconsin and #25 Northwestern.

ACC - Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

What’s the deal with UNC-Greensboro? I understand that the poor Spartans have a short trip to almost every ACC school, and can fatten their athletic wallet with games in ACC gyms. But they’ve gotta grow tired of this, right? Greensboro plays 13 non-league games this season, and six of them come against ACC foes. The Spartans have already lost to Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest  by a combined score of 319-235, and still have to face N.C. State and Maryland this week. To add to their misery, the Spartans have also been thumped by Richmond (26 points), Akron (24 points) and East Carolina (21 points). I’d love to hear that recruiting pitch…

We hope everyone had a great holiday – over the weekend, we had a few check-ins, so here goes…

Atlantic 10 – Joe Dzuback  (READ MORE)

A10 coaches have no illusions that the conference’s reputation (however good among the non-BCS conferences) will carry a bubble team into the field of 65.  While few subscribe to former Temple head coach John Chaney’s “Anyone, Anywhere” philosophy, everyone recognizes the virtue of playing invitational tournaments and having a healthy dose of road games on the resume.  Most of their OOC resume-building games may come from traditional rivalries and invitational fields, but the road games, at worst, help their squads prepare for the hostile crowds they will face when playing conference opponents.  How did the conference members do this OOC season?  (…)

Mountain West - Andrew Murawa  (READ MORE)

For the most part, it was just a really ugly week for the MWC. Aside from BYU’s win in the Vegas Classic and UNLV’s success in the first couple rounds of the Diamond Head Classic (and really, despite their names, neither of the fields at those tournaments deserved the “Classic” label), there was carnage all around. New Mexico survived an upset bid by Creighton, only to slip up at Oral Roberts for their first loss of the year. Utah lost to Illinois State and Pepperdine (yes, Pepperdine, a team who improved their record to 4-10 with that win over Utah).  Air Force fell to Northern Arizona.  TCU got drilled by Houston.  San Diego State looked lost against Arizona State.  Colorodo State couldn’t take advantage of a weakened UCLA team. And, Wyoming fell apart in the second half at Northern Iowa, and in the process the MWC lost the inaugural MWC/MVC Challenge (although, given the results, perhaps they ought to switch the conference billings in the title) 5-4.  (…)

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s one of our favorite holidays around here at RTC, and however you choose to celebrate, please do so safely and with the spirit of peace and generosity in your heart.   Even to your biggest rival.*  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your friends at Rush the Court!

(* there are notable exceptions)

Here are today’s excerpts from the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC… enjoy!

Big Ten – Jason Prziborowski  (READ MORE)

Northwestern is the best basketball nerd school in the nation. Two great things about last weekend’s Stanford game for the Wildcats. First, they beat probably the only school that can compete with them on the hardwood and in the classroom. The second is that John Shurna is back. He had a 22/8 game against Stanford, so I hope I don’t jinx him. Stanford actually shot better from the field and from 3-pt territory, but the Wildcats dominated from the free throw line. Northwestern is going to have to find a bench though, as five points from the reserves isn’t going to cut it in the Big Ten.  (…)

Big 12 – Patrick Sellars  (READ MORE)

Missouri to the Big Ten? – PTI was talking about the potential move last week, and apparently Missouri wants to join the other midwestern BCS conference. The move makes sense geographically, and the Big Ten has been looking for a twelfth member for a few years. The likely scenario is that Missouri would move to the Big Ten,  and then the Big 12 would pick up TCU to compensate. Obviously this is all speculation, but it would be quite interesting if the move went through.  (…)

SEC – Paul Jordan of  Wildcat Blue Blog (READ MORE)

Kentucky set a new standard in college basketball as they became the first program to win 2,000 wins in an 88-44 romp over Drexel.  John Calipari is more than exceeding expectations with a 12-0 record and a #3 ranking in both polls.  UK appears to be gelling right now and are clearly setting the standard in the SEC. Unfortunately, the UK game was about the only highlight in the SEC this week as both Florida and Tennessee suffered head scratching losses.  The two Mississippi schools are starting to rise and play very well and the SEC is turning into a five or six team race.  (…)

We’re back from a busy weekend and heading into a really light week, but that doesn’t mean our correspondents are taking a break!

ACC – Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

UNDER THE BIG TOP:  Much has already been written about the UNC-Texas shootout/circus at The-House-That-Jerry-Built.  The 103-90 Texas win proved that Roy Williams’ Tar Heels still have plenty to do on the defensive end, as UNC gave up 100 points in regulation for the first time in Williams’ tenure there.  Does this mean that UNC is not good enough to reach the Final Four?  Absolutely not.  If there’s any team that needs time to find its identity, it’s this one, considering all the new faces.  I may have bumped UNC out of the top spot this week (and I may think Roy Williams is a crybaby), but I still expect the Heels to rise back to the top of the ACC (notice how I’m already backing off my crazy Maryland prediction from earlier in the year). (…)

Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall of White & Blue Review (READ MORE)

MVC-MWC Challenge winding down—The Valley continues to lead the challenge against the Mountain West Conference 4-3 heading into the final weekend of games.  Illinois State went on the road to defeat Utah and Creighton had a chance to close out the conference’s victory but lost a huge lead on New Mexico and left Albuquerque with a loss.  Now it is up to Drake and Northern Iowa this coming weekend to close out the first year of a several year agreement for each conference to play one another.  In the coming years all of the Challenge games will be played in a one-week time period instead of throughout the non-conference season.  (…)

As you know, the Fridays consist of our mid-major check-ins, so here’s what we have this week…

Horizon League – John Templon of Chicago College Basketball (READ MORE)

Very busy Saturday: Saturday, December 19 is one of the busiest days of the season for the Horizon League as eight of the 10 teams will be in action.  The only teams not playing are Valparaiso and Loyola.  Big games include Xavier at Butler, West Virginia at Cleveland State, and Youngstown State at Green Bay in a conference tilt.  (…)

Summit League -Eli Linton  (READ MORE)

With the midway point of the season approaching, this conference is Oakland’s to lose now that ORU is on the injured reserve.  Keep an eye on IUPUI, as they may make Oakland work for a championship.  Everyone else is playing for fourth.  (…)

WAC – Sam Wasson of bleedCrimson.net and Travis Mason-Bushman of Vandal Nation (READ MORE)

Louisiana Tech continues to lead the league after posting a pair of victories.  Utah State notched a pair of victories while Idaho narrowly escaped NAIA opponent Eastern Oregon.  Hawai’i picked up a victory over visiting Chicago State to break over the .500 mark.  In all, eight of the nine teams now stand at .500 or better with the lone outcast residing in Las Cruces, N.M.  The league now sports a 48-35 record as the teams head down the final stretch towards conference play.  (…)

Ivy League – Dave Zeitlin  (READ MORE)

There hasn’t been much action on the floor recently as the Ivy League geniuses are in the middle of final exams — but there was one huge move off the floor when Penn fired head coach Glen Miller after an 0-7 start.  The firing has generated rare attention to the league from the national media, and most of it has been negative.  Believe me, I understand why people are saying that the Ivy League should hold itself to higher standards.  But after following the team closely for the last few years, I must say that I firmly believe Penn made the right decision.  (…)

MAAC – Ray Floriani  (READ MORE)

Early on in league play things are shaping up as expected but it is very early. The one mark that stands out is Iona at 0-2. The Gaels, off their win against Albany, are 5-2 out of conference with wins over Creighton ( in the Old Spice) and at Providence on their resume. They played both MAAC games at home but dropped meetings with St. Peter’s and Siena.  (…)

Southern Conference – Justin Glover  (READ MORE)

Watching the hottest team in the SoCon live gives you a different perspective on how good this team really can be. Two days later they defeated Louisville on the road and ran their win streak to nine straight games thanks to 23 points from Mike Williams.  In the college insider mid-major top 25 rankings the Catamounts are currently ranked 8th and are receiving votes in the national Top 25 poll. Keep a close eye on this team as they head on the road to play Clemson before Christmas.  (…)

Here are Thursday’s Check-Ins.  A definite west coast flava today…

Big East – Rob Dauster of Ballin is a Habit (READ MORE)

So, as any reasonable blogger would do, I’ll compare.  Last year on December 16th, the Big East was 116-28 as a league. This year? 119-29. That’s a one game difference in the loss column.  Crazy, right?  Now take into account the disastrous weekend the league just had, and it is pretty obvious that as of last Friday, the Big East was well beyond where they were at this same point last season, and last season the conference was considered one of the best ever. (…)

Mountain West – Andrew Murawa  (READ MORE)

There will be an uptick in the number of games played over the next week, as finals wrap up and schools get a chance to stretch out a bit, and a couple more early-season tournaments will play out, as BYU takes part in the Vegas Classic and UNLV plays in the Diamond Head Classic.  But the subtext over the next couple of weeks will be preparation for conference play which looms on the not-too-distant horizon.  (…)

Pac-10 – Ryan ZumMallen of LBPostSports.com (READ MORE)

[The Pac-10 is] a conference of classes, with Washington and California clearly the best teams (despite recent trouble), then a clear three-team middle class and a dreadful five-team bottom class.  Most teams have scheduled cake opponents to build some confidence before heading into the Pac-10 schedule, but that may not be enough to fool voters into handing out at-large bids come March. [...]

WCC – Michael Vernetti  (READ MORE)

Although the overall conference landscape didn’t change much within the week, a mystery team has emerged in the form of Loyola Marymount. After stumbling through some early-season highs and lows, including a 67-59 win over cross-town rival USC on Nov. 21 that followed a deflating 84-78 home loss to UC Irvine, the Lions pulled off a stunning 87-85 upset over Notre Dame on Dec. 12 behind a Jared DuBois 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining. To say the Fighting Irish don’t often lose at home to non-Big East teams is a bit of an understatement – the last time it happened was four years and 41 victories ago.  (…)

Here are Wednesday’s Check-ins excerpted in case you missed them listed above.

Atlantic 10 – Joe Dzuback (MORE HERE)

Common Opponent Analysis: Providence.  Both Rhode Island and George Washington hosted the Providence Friars within a 4 day period. How did the Rams and Colonials match up against a common opponent under similar circumstances? Rhode Island won a 3-point decision (86-83), while George Washington lost by a whopping 27 points (110-83). As the table shows, both teams played about 78 possessions (lower than they usually play — Pomeroy shows about 80 possessions per game), and have work to do on their respective defenses. And both teams are close on offense, garnering over 1.0 points per possession while converting their own field goal attempts in the low-mid 40s (eFG% — 44.0% for the Rams and 43.2% for the Colonials). Providence, a perimeter-oriented team under Coach Keno Davis, allowed both A10 opponents to rebound a high percentage of their own misses (47.1% and 51.1% to URI and GWU respectively), but The Rams’ frontcourt experience showed in their defensive rebounding numbers, holding the Friars to less than 30% of their misses (29.7%), even as GWU yielded 34% of the defensive rebounds, more typical of D1 basketball teams. The Friars took over twice as many 3s against George Washington as they did against Rhode Island, suggesting the Rams did a better job of defending the perimeter than the Colonials. Providence converted their 3s at a 55.2% clip, largely the reason for the Colonials’ disappointing 64.6% eFG% on defense. The Rams forced turnovers, somewhat unexpected against a perimeter-oriented team like PC, while the Colonials put the Friars on the line about once for every two field goal attempts, again unusual for a perimeter-oriented team. Conclusion: Rhode Island looks like they may be close to ready for conference play, while George Washington may need more work.  (…)

Big 12 - Patrick Sellars (MORE HERE)

As we said in this post yesterday, we’re handling our conference check-ins a little differently now.  We’ll be posting them on a daily schedule, as usual, but they won’t be posted in full on the main page.  Rather, you’ll need to check the little box above to see what the latest conference check-ins are.  To jog the memory, we’ll also be posting daily excerpts of the previous day’s check-ins, at least for a while to get everyone used to the change. 

Yesterday, we had check-ins from the Big Ten and the SEC…

Big Ten - Jason Prziborowski (READ MORE)

Was Butler a fluke or is Ohio State on the verge of dropping out of the top 25?  Butler is definitely on the way back up, but I am questioning whether OSU has enough in its tank to make up the difference. William Buford, who is averaging 12/4 on the year, stepped up for 20/7 for the Buckeyes. David Lighty, who is 12/5 on the year, went for 16/7 against the bulldogs. OSU is averaging 85.4 points per game this season, and scored just 66 against Butler. That’s about the gap of one Evan Turner.  (…)

SEC – Paul Jordan (READ MORE)

It was a very slow week in the SEC as three teams did not see any action at all.  Kentucky and Mississippi State represented the SEC well in the SEC/Big East Invitational while Florida and Georgia lost their matchups.  Both Mississippi teams have been coming on strong and supplying some firepower to the West; Tennessee has only one setback and they should challenge UK all season.  The big story for the rest of the year will be the race to 2000 wins between UK and North Carolina.  Kentucky has pretty much assured themselves of being the first team to break the 2000-win plateau as they currently have 1998 wins to 1992 for UNC.  (…)

You may have noticed that our daily conference check-ins of nearly every D1 conference have oddly disappeared from view on our front page in the last 24 hours.  Or maybe you haven’t.  Regardless, this is not a mistake.  As part of the re-design that we’re trying so very hard to finish, we’re streamlining the site to make it easier for everyone to navigate.  So you’ve probably noticed a couple of new additions to the top of the site.  Let’s briefly cover how you can find the latest Conference Check-Ins that we know so many of you rely on with your morning espresso and croissants.  First, the schedule:

With the caveat that there are often other mitigating factors both with our correspondents and ourselves in terms of getting these up on time, here’s the ideal schedule. 

• Mondays – ACC, MVC, Big 12
• Tuesdays – Big 10, SEC
• Wednesdays – Big East, Atlantic 10
• Thursdays – Pac-10, WAC, Mountain West, WCC
• Mid-Major Fridays (every other week) – Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, SoCon, Summit, America East, Big West, MAC
• Mid-Major Fridays (every other week) – Horizon, NEC, Atlantic Sun, OVC, Patriot, Big South, Big Sky, Sun Belt

Next, the Navigation Bar at the top.  Pretty self-explanatory.  Each of the conferences we have regular check-ins for are alphabetically represented on this list.  So if you want to read the last six check-ins for the Big East (from most recent to oldest), this bar is where you’d do it. 

Next, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the four little boxes hanging out just above the top post.  The second box from the left contains the most recent twelve conference check-ins that we have posted.  So, for example, as of this morning, our most recent check-ins were our weekly looks at the Missouri Valley and the ACC, both of which were posted yesterday.  Prior to that was the Pac-10 over the weekend, and before that was a bunch from last Friday’s mid-major conference check-in day.  This is where you’ll want to come each day that your favorite conference is posted.

The final thing we’re going to try to do is provide one post each day that will excerpt that day’s check-ins so that you don’t forget that we’re doing these things.  We’ll see how this goes and reserve the right to change this around if necessary.  But for now, here are the excerpted versions of Monday’s ACC and MVC updates…

ACC - Steve Moore  (READ MORE)

RAMBLING RANT OF THE WEEK: The only news to come out of North Carolina’s rout of Presbyterian was this little tale from the uber-sensitive-snotty-coach file. In short, a Presbyterian fan (I know, I laughed too) shouted “Deon, you’re gonna miss it!” to Deon Thompson as he was shooting a free throw. Roy Williams was so upset that he had security escort the fan out of the building. I mean, are you kidding me Roy? Have you listened to what fans say at Duke games, or what your own fans say? Considering the score, this guy ­was probably being sarcastic, or at least just showing some pride for his school. Laugh if you want, or pass back an autographed Gatorade cup as a joke. But you’re gonna have him kicked out? This is the same guy who ripped his own fans for not coming to one of his cupcake-fests earlier this year. Grow up, Roy. You have a great team, a great fanbase, and more money and job security than you ever dreamed of. Act like a professional who has actually been to a college basketball game once in your life.  (…)

Missouri Valley - Patrick Marshall  (READ MORE)

Missouri St. wins two more games.  The Bears are continuing to win, much to the chagrin of my pre-season rankings. I thought they would have at least 3 losses by now. Home court advantage was probably a help to their early success, but they also have two wins on the road and are in the middle of a three-game road trip. It would be pretty amazing if they finish the non-conference season undefeated by getting road wins at St. Louis and Arkansas, both very winnable games. (…)

Now that we’re into the practice portion of the season and games begin in three short weeks, RTC needs to complement our extensive network of conference correspondents with some folks in different regions of the country who would like to become RTC Regional Correspondents.

If you’re someone who keeps a sharp eye and ear about the college basketball goings-on in your area – nothing really gets past you – then shoot us an email and tell us a little bit about yourself.  Ideally, you’d have experience working in print or online media and can write a sentence or two without your head exploding, but that’s not an absolute requirement if you pay close attention to hoops in your area and understand the kinds of things we’re looking for.  Here are the preferred criteria:

• You pay very close attention to college basketball in your region.
• You are technically savvy.
• You have some experience in print/online media.
• You can write in plain English.
• You’re dependable, reliable and responsive (quick turnaround on emails).
• You’re willing to be paid in milksteak (boiled over raw) and jelly beans.

If you think any or all of those criteria sound like you, send us an email at rushthecourt@yahoo.com for more information.

Note: if you’re an exceptional writer, we’re also still seeking a conference correspondent for the Big 12 Conference.

RTC is growing and we’re in dire need of an intern who has a love for college hoops and a keen sense of how to aggregate and analyze news from various RSS feeds.  We can’t pay you any actual funds, but if you’re in college, we may be able to work with your school to provide credit for the few hours a week you’d be giving us.   If you’re looking to move into blogging and/or writing, working at RTC could boost your career prospects, and if things work out on the initial tasks, there is also a possibility of writing assignments going forward. 

Send a one-paragraph description of yourself to rushthecourt@yahoo.com and why your skills and talents would make for a good fit at RTC.  Please refer specifically to how you keep up with sports news (particularly college basketball news) and how you would analytically distinguish between hundreds of daily stories to isolate key issues and trends in the news. 

And if you look at all similar to this prospective intern, please send a photo. 

Hello again, everybody, and welcome to our new home, rushthecourt.net!

This was a long overdue move, but thanks to the encouragement of several of our correspondents, the fine folks at Fantasy Sports Ventures and affiliates, as well as technical assistance from The Blog Doctor, we consider ourselves to be all growed up and ready to take on the interwebs sans our security blanket known as wordpress.com.

That is, until you guys crash the site when we put up another ridiculous Ugly Floors post.

Shirt/Tie or Pants? You Choose.

Seriously, though, we like to think of ourselves as a legitimate source of college hoops analysis and commentary, so we figured it was time to start acting like one.  So we’re suiting up (ok, maybe not a suit/tie combo, but we’ll consider a dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar) and we’re ready to move into the extended adolescence of this joint.

And if you can find the old site, you can find this one, because, well, you should have been re-directed here.  Go ahead, try it.

Not much else has changed other than the fact we’re now affiliated with FSV, who will provide RTC an opportunity to network within their vast cache of sites and blogs to improve our daily content around here for you, the readers.   Take a look at some of the names on their affiliate list and you’ll see why this was an easy decision for us.

So whether this is your first time to RTC or you’re a long-time reader, we welcome you to our new home like Greg Paulus defending in the paint – with open arms and nary a hint of resistance.

As you know if you read this blog, we take pride in providing our readers with the most comprehensive coverage of all 31 Division I conferences available in the so-called alt-media.  But given our pitiful pay scale, sometimes perfectly good correspondents lose interest in providing their usual excellent coverage, and we need to find some new reliable bloggers/writers who are willing to step in and take over for certain leagues.  This is especially important as we move into conference season and start thinking about bubbles and brackets over the next ten weeks until Selection Sunday.  So please, if you have any interest in becoming an RTC correspondent for one or more of the below conferences, or if you know of someone who would, please drop us a comment below or send us an email.

Conferences Needing Correspondents

• Atlantic Sun
• Southern
  
• Southland
• SEC

Email us at rushthecourtATyahooDOTcom if you think you can help…

We at Rush the Court are pleased and honored to introduce you to our stable of world-class hoopologists, who will be serving you up tasty weekly servings of creamy nougat involving each of the 31 Division I conferences.  Each of our correspondents endured a vetting and due diligence process that would make Sarah Palin blush, and as a result, we’re here to offer you some of the most knowledgeable minds in the blogosphere for each of these conferences.  You’ve met each of these writers before with our 2008-09 Season Primers, but you’ll be seeing them a lot more often beginning this weekend, so let’s get comfortable with their names and schedules for the rest of the season.

Sundays through Thursdays will be high-major days at RTC. The thirteen leagues that typically send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament will be covered by our correspondents during the bulk of the week.  Each league will have a new post on its scheduled day throughout the season.  Let’s meet them.

Sundays Beginning 11.23.08

• Missouri Valley - Patrick Marshall (Bluejay Basketball)
• Conference USA - Allen R
• Colonial – Ryan Kish (George Mason Basketball)

Mondays Beginning 11.24.08

• ACC - Zach Smith (Old Gold & Blog and DeaconsIllustrated)
• Big 12 - Patrick Marshall (Bluejay Basketball)

Tuesdays Beginning 11.25.08

• Big Ten – Josh & Mike (Big Ten Geeks)
• SEC - Kurt (SEC Hoops: The Good, The Bad, The Dirty)

Wednesdays Beginning 11.26.08

• Big East – Rob Dauster (Ballin is a Habit)
• Atlantic 10 - College Chalk Talk

Thursdays Beginning 11.27.08

• Pac-10 - RTC
• WAC – Kevin McCarthy (Parsing The WAC) and Sam Wasson (bleedCrimson.net)
• West Coast - Michael Chin
• Mountain West - Jordan Freemeyer

Fridays will be mid-major day at RTC.  There are eighteen D1 leagues that we qualify as typical one-bid leagues (the ‘mid-majors’).  These correspondents will report on their leagues every two weeks, resulting in an alternate-Friday schedule for each league, half of the group each week.  Let’s meet these bloggers as well.

Every Other Friday Beginning 11.21.08

• SWAC - JC  (HBCUSportsBlog)
• Horizon - Damon Lewis (Horizon League Network)
• Ivy - David Zeitlin
• Big West - Ryan ZumMallen (LBPOSTSports)
• MAAC - Ray Floriani (College Chalk Talk)
• MAC - Greg Miller (WPSD Local 6)
• Southern - Andrew Baker (Mid Major Review)
• Summitt - Ryan Pravato (collegefastbreak.com)
• Sun Belt - Rick Henderson (The Owl’s Nest)

Every other Friday Beginning 11.28.08

• MEAC - JC  (HBCUSportsBlog)
• Northeast - Ray Floriani (College Chalk Talk)
• Atlantic Sun - Andrew Baker (Mid Major Review)
• Patriot -  Marty Leon
• Ohio Valley - Ron Harris
• Southland  - RTC
• Big South - Mark Bryant  (Big South SHOUT)
• Big Sky - Jordan Freemeyer
• America East - Corey Johns

Ok, so we’ve gotten some really good responses the past few weeks from our initial outreach for correspondents from each of the 31 conferences.  We’re still a solid month out from Midnight Madness, though, and we have multiple tasty slots still available.  So come on people, help us take America back as an RTC correspondent! 

Here is a list of the conferences still available.  Hit us up at rushthecourtATyahooDOTcom if you’re interested (and we understand if nobody in America wants to write about the Big 10 – really, we do).

• America East
• Big South
• Big 10
• Big West
• Conference USA
• Horizon
• Ivy
• MAC
• MEAC
• Mountain West
• OVC
• Patriot
• Southland
• Summit
• Sun Belt
• SWAC
• WCC

Become an RTC correspondent – we’ll pay you in timely, well-intentioned platitudes!

Ed. Note – this is a sticky.  The new posts are immediately below this one.

Wanted: great writers or bloggers who are intimately knowledgeable with the hoops ins and outs of a conference of their choice.

                            Even Dick is On Board With RTC

Yes, we at RTC are looking to expand our breadth and reach.  With the season fast approaching (only 58 days until Midnight Madness), we are looking to broaden our exposure for the 2008-09 season by facilitating a mutually beneficial relationship with a conference correspondent from each of the 31 D1 leagues (we’d even consider an Independent correspondent if one exists…). 

If you already have a conference blog, great!  We’ll cross-post content that you may have already been doing anyway (in some capacity).  If you’re simply an interested writer looking to create a name for yourself as an expert in a conference, also great!  We’re interested in everyone. 

Depending on the conference the correspondent is covering, we envision a maximum of 2 posts/week that will summarize for our readers what they may have missed while they were keeping an eye on the team(s) or conference(s) they like best.  For the little guys, this is an opportunity to sell the readership of a national blog of the merits of your league and the teams/players to watch throughout the season.  For the money leagues, this is a chance to focus on details that only conference fans are knowledgeable about (i.e., rumors about playing time, local rivalry trash-talk, etc.). 

If you know of someone who would make a great conference correspondent, send us his name/blog/contact info. at rushthecourtATyahooDOTcom or leave the information in the comment section below.  If you are someone with those characteristics, do likewise.

We look forward to hearing from you.   

Update (9/11/08) :  the revised list of needed conferences is here.