2010 ncaa tournament – Rush The Court

Prepare Yourselves, Duke Fans

jstevrtc — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:47:32 +0000

This should make for some interesting in-game chants next season for opponents of the Duke Blue Devils, especially if Butler, Michigan State, or West Virginia is the opponent.

Of the squads taking part in the Final Four in Indianapolis this past March, three of them — Butler, Michigan State, and West Virginia — achieved Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores good enough to put them in the top 10% of all men’s college basketball teams, and therefore earn themselves an NCAA Public Recognition Award. Yes, you read that right. The only Final Four team not earning the award [...]

Selected Thoughts From Final Four Weekend

rtmsf — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:21:13 +0000

You know how this works… here are some random thoughts bouncing around our head as we come out of a pretty damn good Final Four in Indianapolis.

Welcome to Indy!

Coach K is the Current Dean of Coaches. But let’s get one thing put to rest right away. He’s not John Wooden. For all you presentists out there convinced that the era we’re currently in is tougher than any other previous one, get your head out of your sphincter. Make all the excuses you want, but Wooden beat all comers west AND east, year after year [...]

RTC Mea Culpa: K Shows His Brilliance Again as Duke Wins #4

rtmsf — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:35:20 +0000

If 70,000 people can act in unison as a single living organism, that moment was when Butler’s Gordon Hayward put his shot into the air from fifty feet last night. The crowd, roaring its approval after Duke center Brian Zoubek intentionally missed his second free throw attempt with 3.6 seconds remaining, took a collective breath. All eyes bored through the orange ball as it sailed in the direction of the opposite goal, and when it approached the intended target, there wasn’t a soul in the house who believed that it would actually miss its mark.

Butler University on Championship Game Day

jstevrtc — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:08:02 +0000

We had a chance to tool around the Butler campus today and check out the spirit of the place a few hours before the national championship game. We think we saw, oh, maybe two people who weren’t sporting their Butler gear, and it looked like they were lost. In addition to the throngs of students (if a school of a little over 4,000 students can have “throngs”) riding that wave of anticipation until game time, there was an impressive number of hoop lovers walking over to an open Hinkle Fieldhouse to have a look. We [...]

RTC Championship Game Tidbits

rtmsf — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:45:24 +0000

Each day this week during the Final Four we’re asking some of our top correspondents to put together a collection of notes and interesting tidbits about each region. If you know of something that we should include in tomorrow’s submission, hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Duke (Patrick Sellars)

A huge part of Duke’s NCAA tournament run can be attributed to center Brian Zoubek. Zoubek is finally playing to his potential and he provides mismatches in the post for Coach K to work with. According to The New York Times Singler vs. Hayward is the matchup to [...]

Sights and Sounds from Final Four Saturday in Indy

rtmsf — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:22:25 +0000

RTC is in Indianapolis this weekend, and except for an odd occurrence involving BiaH and an amputee stripper (we kid, we kid…), things here have gone swimmingly. One of the best things about Final Four Saturday is that the games don’t start until a little after 6 pm local time, so all the fans congregate downtown in a disorganized yet ebullient manner to eat, drink and rabble-rouse throughout the afternoon. Downtown Indianapolis is perfectly suited for this type of event because there are literally dozens of restaurants and bars within easy walking distance of Lucas [...]

National Championship Game Analysis

jstevrtc — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:12:49 +0000

RTC has attempted to break down the NCAA Tournament and Final Four games using our best analytical efforts to understand these teams, the matchups and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Our hope is that you’ll let us know in the comments where you agree, disagree or otherwise think we’ve lost our collective minds. Here are our thoughts on the national title game. Whomever you’re rooting for, we hope you enjoy it.

9:07 PM — #1 Duke vs #5 Butler

The six months since practices started have passed like a dream. As fans of college basketball, we [...]

RTC Final Four Tidbits: 04.02.10

rtmsf — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:00:25 +0000

Michigan State (Tom Hager)

Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who was an assistant at Michigan State when MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo was also an assistant, insists that Izzo is a football coach who happens to coach basketball. The statement should come as no surprise given the Spartans’ reputation for toughness [...]

Five Factors That Will Lose You the Title

rtmsf — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:58:24 +0000

We’ve spent most of the week reading and writing about the various ways that one of Michigan State, Butler, Duke or West Virginia will end up winning the national title and cutting the nets down on Monday night. Duke is the favorite, but bookmakers give all four teams a reasonable shot to win it. But often it doesn’t come down to the elevation of greatness in these situations, but instead the avoidance of weakness. Simply playing your average game is sometimes enough to advance if you avoid a bugaboo that has plagued your team in its losses this year. For example, if you [...]

Final Four Game Analysis

rtmsf — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:31:36 +0000

RTC will break down the Final Four games using our best analytical efforts to understand these teams, the matchups and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Our hope is that you’ll let us know in the comments where you agree, disagree or otherwise think we’ve lost our collective minds. Here are Saturday evening’s national semifinals…aka…THE FINAL FOUR!

6:07 pm – #5 Michigan State vs. #5 Butler The winner of this game will have a built-in motivational mechanism, since this game is popularly considered the “Who will lose to West Virginia or Duke on Monday?” game. Best be careful, [...]

NCAA Basketball 2010: The BCS Version

nvr1983 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:41:27 +0000

With all the talk about the coming 96-team tournament, many in the sports media have forgotten that there is already another ridiculous major college sport championship in place: the BCS. We took you through this process in a post last year, but it’s worth going over again as the blogosphere is ablaze with opinions on changing our beloved NCAA Tournament.

Here are the basic ground rules:

We are following the BCS Football guidelines as closely as possible. Obviously there are some differences. A college basketball team is expected to win more than 9 games (we kept [...]

RTC Final Four Tidbits: 04.01.10

THager — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:40:00 +0000

Each day this week during the regional rounds of the NCAA Tournament we’re asking some of our top correspondents to put together a collection of notes and interesting tidbits about each region. If you know of something that we should include in tomorrow’s submission, hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Michigan State (Tom Hager)

ESPN’s Jemele Hill has never been one to shy away from controversy, but she caused quite a stir when she said that head coach Tom Izzo was the best coach in the history of the state. According to guard Korie Lucious, although the Spartans are anticipating a hostile [...]

Final Four Team-By-Team Previews: Duke

zhayes9 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:13 +0000

Rush the Court’s Zach Hayes will deliver a breakdown of each Final Four team every day this week. Here are the Butler, West Virginia and Michigan State previews. The final installment discusses the Duke Blue Devils in their quest to return to college basketball glory.

NCAA title for Scheyer in his senior season?

Crucial Tourney Moment(s): Nolan Smith delivered the best game of his Duke career at the most opportune time. Facing a two point deficit late in the second half against an ultra-talented Baylor team playing in their home state, it was a Lance Thomas [...]

Report: Duke’s Kyle Singler Ineligible For Final Four

rtmsf — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:44:43 +0000

Anti-Dookies rejoiced today as a long-hoped-for NCAA intervention dropped on the Duke program when the NCAA, in an emergency injunction, declared star forward Kyle Singler ineligible to play in the Final Four this weekend. As a result of illegal benefits he took while playing in a summer league in the Research Triangle Park area last year, his collegiate career is now over. We’re still piecing together the details, but reports from both parties (the NCAA and Duke) seem conclusive in the fact that Singler will not play. Here’s the statement from Duke’s media relations representative:

Obviously, we’re very disappointed as to [...]

Why the Bulldogs Will Win It All…

rtmsf — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:34:36 +0000

We asked writers from each of the four Final Four schools to provide us with a persuasive article on why their team will win it all this coming weekend. Steven Peek of The Butler Collegian tells us that Butler isn’t satisfied with merely making the Final Four — they’re going all the way.

Many basketball programs use past national championships as an argument for why they are contenders in future seasons. So would it be fair to say that Butler has a chance to win the 2010 NCAA Championship because they won the national titles in the [...]