shawn taggart – Rush The Court

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 [...]

06.08.09 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:34:31 +0000

Another week has started, and we’re within one week of the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline, so let’s see who’s returning…

LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell will return to Baton Rouge for his senior season (smart move). Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds is leaning toward a return to the Main Line for his senior year (also a smart move). Arizona’s Nic Wise will also return for his senior season (a wise move, indeed). Miami (FL)’s Dwayne Collins has wisened up and will also be back for his senior season (yep, these guys are getting it). Memphis players continue to jump ship, with Shawn Taggart now deciding to forgo [...]

04.13.09 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:45:07 +0000

Wow, this place clears out as soon as the season ends, doesn’t it? Let’s talk more early entries…

Tweeting Away. Hasheem Thabeet still hasn’t made up his mind about returning for his senior year, but is there really any question? The certain lottery pick is just trying to play people with his coy references to coming back to UConn on his Twitter account. Well, that’s one way to do it. Ole Miss’ second-leading returning scorer, David Huertas, packed up his stuff and is headed back to PR to play professionally there. Memphis’ Shawn Taggart – also taking a dip. Someone’s staying! UNC’s Ed Davis will [...]

04.09.09 Fast Breaks

rtmsf — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:57:57 +0000

Would the word flood be an appropriate representation?

Early Entry Fatigue. LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell will test the waters, but he won’t sign with an agent. Ditto for Memphis’ Shawn Taggart. And Miami (FL)’s Dwayne Collins has the same idea. UCLA’s Jrue Holiday is a bit of a surprise given how he struggled at the end of the season, but he too will take a dip. Curry Watch. One player who has yet to throw his hat in the ring is Davidson’s Stephen Curry. Will he be back to make a run at Pete Maravich’s all-time scoring record next season? Nice raise. [...]

Conference USA Wrapup & Tourney Preview

rtmsf — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:31:08 +0000

Memphis passed its last regular season road test and now only has a few games to go to return to the “promised land” that they’ve never really left.

While the Tigers’ dominance over the rest of CUSA is nearly unparalleled in the history of modern college basketball, it doesn’t mean that every other team is chopped liver. Basically anything can happen in a tournament setting and the Tigers have endured a few close calls this year.

So here are the teams as they are seeded and some pertinent info:

#1: Memphis Tigers

However there were a few games and storylines worth talking about in this rather uneventful week:

Hurricane Alert? It’s an absolute mystery to me as to what’s happened to the Tulsa basketball team. They looked great in a 67-56 win over Texas A&M and have completely disappeared since. First [...]

ATB: Is Michigan Back?

rtmsf — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:44:44 +0000

Game of the Night. Michigan 55, UCLA 52. Remember our stat from last week about Ben Howland’s UCLA teams going 1-2 on the eastern seaboard in his five seasons there? After tonight’s semifinal matchup with Michigan, make that 1-3. It’s true that his teams don’t seem to play well back east, but there’s more to it than that. One of the few coherent things that Vitale said during tonight’s game was that we all had rated UCLA based on Ben Howland and his ridiculous freshman class rather than the current experience and skills of players he is actually putting [...]

2008-09 Conference Primers: #8 – Conference USA

rtmsf — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:51:13 +0000

Predicted Order of Finish:

Memphis (34-1, 16-0) UAB (26-9, 12-4) Tulsa (22-13, 11-5) UTEP (21-12, 10-6) Houston (20-13, 9-7) Southern Miss (19-15, 9-7) Marshall (18-15, 8-8) UCF (17-16, 8-8) Tulane (14-18, 6-10) SMU (13-20, 5-11) ECU (11-21, 4-12) Rice (9-23, 2-14)

WYN2K. The story of Conference USA basketball the last few seasons has been the absolute dominance of Memphis. This year should be no different as the Tigers return a great combination of veteran talent and blue chip freshmen. To put it in perspective, they have not lost a Conference USA game since an 80-74 loss at UAB on February 2nd, 2006. Despite the recent Tiger dominance, the arrival of quality [...]