dejuan blair – Rush The Court

Big East M5: 02.12.13 Edition

Dan Lyons — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:45:55 +0000

Syracuse and UConn seem to be moving in very different directions as basketball programs on a number of levels. Syracuse is looking for another top-10 finish to the season and a high seed in the Big Dance. UConn, on the other hand, is ineligible for all postseason play. Syracuse is moving on to the ACC, leaving behind the shell of the once-great Big East. UConn was left at the altar, wondering what its next move will be. And this week, like ships passing in the night, Syracuse gained back dynamic sixth-man James Southerland, while UConn will likely be without big man Enosch Wolf [...]

Big East Summer Capsules: Pittsburgh Panthers

mlemaire — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:48:47 +0000

While most relish the onset of Summer, college basketball junkies do not. Most of the news surrounding the sport is recruiting rumors and commitments or injuries and transfer news. In order to help keep folks up-to-date on what their teams are doing during the summer, we put together these summer capsules for each team in the conference. Next up is Pittsburgh.

1. Not to be outdone, this season will be Pittsburgh’s last hurrah in the Big East too.

After Syracuse announced it had come to terms with the Big East on a departure date, you knew it wouldn’t take long for Pittsburgh [...]

Behind the Numbers: Rebound, Rebound, Rebound

KCarpenter — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:01:45 +0000

Kellen Carpenter is an RTC contributor.

One of my favorite features about watching basketball on television is when the cameras try to take you inside the locker room at halftime or inside the huddle during timeouts. This inside peek theoretically should be endlessly fascinating and unceasingly cool. I initially hoped to watch the coach draw up the next play, talk about strategic weaknesses he’d noticed, and generally be smart and insightful about the game. Of course, anyone who has ever seen a single one of these “inside peeks” knows that my hopes are routinely dashed. Inevitably, because [...]

The RTC Interview Series: One on One with Dave Telep

rtmsf — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:03:07 +0000

Rush The Court is back with another edition of One on One: An Interview Series, which we will bring you periodically throughout the year. If you have any specific interview requests or want us to interview you, shoot us an email at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Scouting high school basketball players is a task that probably ranks just above weather prediction and winning trifectas at the track in terms of its certainty, but there are several folks out there who are among the best in the profession. Dave Telep, former National Recruiting Director for Scout.com and current Senior Basketball Recruiting Analyst for [...]

Checking in on… the Big East

jstevrtc — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:56:30 +0000

Rob Dauster of Ballin Is a Habit is the RTC correspondent for the Big East Conference.

Let me paint you a picture.

Pitt is loaded. They have the Big East player in the post, an all-conference 20 PPG scorer on the wing, and a senior leader at the point running the show. They have depth, balance, quality role players, and one of the most unappreciated coaches in the game.

That was last season.

This season its a different story.

DeJuan Blair is gone. Sam Young is gone. Levance Fields is gone.

Before the season started, the consensus seemed to be [...]

Where 2009-10 Happens: Reason #19 Why We Love College Basketball

zhayes9 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:51:24 +0000

Shamelessly cribbing from the very clever NBA catch phrase, we here at RTC will present to you the Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball as we gear up toward the start of the season a little over a month from now. We’ll be bringing you players to watch for this season and moments to remember from last season, courtesy of the series of dump trucks, wires and effluvia known as YouTube.

#19- Where Old Rivalries Die Hard Happens

Summer Bracketology: 07.23.09

zhayes9 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:26:40 +0000

Did you all miss Bracketology as much as I did? While the intense days of February and March seem like eons away, here’s a dose of bracket madness to keep you college basketball diehards happy in the heart of Summer 2009. Some brief notes regarding the bracket:

– The preseason #1 seeds are (in order) Kansas, Kentucky, Texas and Michigan State. As the number one overall seed, Kansas plays the closest to home in St. Louis, Kentucky is placed in Houston as higher priority over Texas, and so on. The only #2 seed that was considered for [...]

06.28.09 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:08:11 +0000

Let’s get caught up after a glorious weekend…

Elliot Williams to Memphis. Nothing surprising here, as we reported last week that Elliot Williams was leaving Duke to move closer to home to attend to his mother’s illness. The only school that made reasonable sense was his hometown University of Memphis, and Gary Parrish reported yesterday that Williams will indeed become a Tiger. If Williams can get the NCAA to approve his hardship waiver so that he can play next season, he should walk right into a starting position at the PG spot for Josh Pastner’s squad. While we’re on the subject [...]

Welcome Team Narcissism: Class of 2009

rtmsf — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:54:10 +0000

Well, the 2009 NBA Draft has come and gone, and hundreds of players are waking up to the soul-crushing wreckage that inevitably follows. For thirty players last night, hummingbirds are carrying $100 bills around the hotel room, there’s a case of empty Cristal at the foot of the bed, and the debilitating headache you’re sporting today is a badge of honor – Welcome to the Show. For another thirty players, there’s a melancholy tease of ‘what could have been’ as you realize your dream is only marginally within reach – no guarantees from here on… you’re just a day-to-day wage-slave like the [...]

Boom/Bust Cycle

rtmsf — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:06:06 +0000

It’s a little less than an hour before tonight’s NBA Draft, and this should have probably been done days ago, but we wanted to use our undeniable RTC expertise when it comes to projecting college hoops talent to the pros so we can say “told ya so” when the one undervalued player we said would be a star pans out (while the other ten we said would be don’t, but let’s not quibble). We’ll use Andy Katz’s final mock draft from this morning, and we’re only going to evaluate college players (because we’ve seen them play for at least [...]

04.08.09 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:59:22 +0000

Lots more swirling around the basketball landscape today…

Fran McCaffery Staying at Siena. Well, one way to keep your coach from going to Xavier is to give him an eight-year extension… See Ya, Big Fella. Pitt’s DeJuan Blair is leaving the program for the NBA Draft and he will sign with an agent. Wake Rumors. We know about James Johnson, but the word is that Jeff Teague will test the waters but not Al-Farouq Aminu this year. Pac-10 Stars. USC’s Demar DeRozan will capitalize on his strong finish as he too heads to the draft; Arizona’s Jordan Hill will join him. [...]

Villanova and Pittsburgh put the madness back in March Madness

nvr1983 — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:44:17 +0000

After nearly 10 days of college basketball critics bemoaning the lack of excitement in this year’s edition of March Madness, two of the Big East’s best teams answered all of those critics by submitting an all-time classic. After one of the strangest 10 seconds you will ever see, Scottie Reynolds made an end-to-end run that might replace the Danny Ainge and Tyus Edney versions on NCAA Tournament highlight reels from now on as this was on a much bigger stage with a trip to the Final 4 on the line. Even with Reynolds miracle, Pittsburgh still had its [...]

Boom Goes the Dynamite: Regional Semifinals Day One

rtmsf — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:07:58 +0000

Hello everyone, it’s been a long four days since the last games ended on Sunday evening, but we’re back in earnest and ready for what should be a tremendous set of regional semifinals over the next two nights. Out of the top sixteen teams entering this Tournament, only two have been dismissed. The “upstarts” are Big 10 Tournament champion Purdue and a little school from the desert you might have heard from before, Arizona. We’ll be providing you with all the coverage as the weekend progresses… here’s tonight’s schedule:

7:07 pm. #5 Purdue vs. #1 Connecticut 7:27 pm. [...]

Notes from the East Region Open Practice

nvr1983 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:37:46 +0000

Because of the NCAA’s refusal to give us a media credential (or discuss the issue and our side of the case), we were forced to go to today’s open practice to get an up-close look at the teams. As an aside, if anybody has extra tickets for the games in Boston for the Sweet 16 or the Elite 8 (in case your team gets cheated by the refs), send me an e-mail at rushthecourt@gmail.com and I might be able to take them off your hands.

The guys who don't want me covering the game

The East Region: A Look Back, A Look Ahead (By Dave Zeitlin and Steve Moore)

A look back: Here are some of the bests and worsts of the first two rounds of the East Region – as well as some other haphazard notes …

Most impressive team remaining: Villanova. The Wildcats’ dismantling of UCLA was a sight to behold.

Shakiest team remaining: Pittsburgh. I sat next to a diehard Pitt fan at a sports bar Friday. I knew it was a bad sign when he turned to me disgusted midway through the second half and said, “Just root for [...]