During tourney-time, I played with some stats on how efficient teams were on offense and defense. In order to best evaluate this, one should look at how well a team does per possession, as opposed to per game or per minute. For instance Billy Tubbs’ Lamar team averaged 79.1 points per game last season, good […]

Hoops season is over, but there are all sorts of things for one to occupy the offseason with. Right now it’s coaching changes and early entries. Today, I’ll focus on the coaching changes of note, which are less notable than last year. St. John’s (Mike Jarvis out, ??? in) It’s hard to say what the […]

I don’t know exactly how much depth helps a team. But the way things shook out on Semi-final Saturday, having something more than warm bodies on the bench can be the difference between winning and losing. Georgia Tech is headed to the final game after having survived two previous games without any production from its […]

Unfortunately I am in a time crunch this week and unable to do much of a detailed investigation into the games in San Antonio. So a few scattershot thoughts on the upcoming finale to the season… Duke vs. UConn – Emeka Okafor is clearly the most dominant defensive player in college basketball. But Shelden Williams […]

Since 1974, every tournament has featured at least 2 overtime games. Thus far in the ’04 edition there has only been one. It was Dayton/DePaul in the first round – and as OT games go, it wasn’t very entertaining. Oklahoma State/St. Joe’s, Kansas/Georgia Tech, and Duke/UConn in the Final Four all present possibilities for bonus […]

I recently heard this from a sportswriter at a major newspaper (on a show featuring “competitive sports banter”) with regards to St. Joe’s chances of making it to San Antonio… They could only beat the 5th place team in the Big 12 [Texas Tech] by 5 points. Most folks believe that the winner of the […]

Check this space on Thursday for stuff on the St. Joe’s/Wake Forest game with some tidbits you won’t find anywhere else.

After 4 days of wall-to-wall basketball, the field has been whittled to 16. The first round was as dull as it has ever been. There weren’t any memorable moments. But the second round made it up for with upsets galore and a few games that came down to the final possession. The 1981 and 2000 […]

Sunday’s game of the day is Mississippi State/Xavier. This is a rematch of a December 13th game in Starkville. MSU won that one 82-70, and Xavier guard Romain Sato, who leads the Muskies in scoring and rebounding, had one of his worst games of the year – 7 points & 7 boards. December 13th is […]

Saint Joe’s beats Texas Tech, and wins the battle of the boards to boot. Next up is Billy Packer’s alma mater, Wake Forest. Now how sweet would that win be? Wake provides a more athletic frontline than Texas Tech, but overall is a guard-dominated team. They have been struggling of late also. Should the Hawks […]