Friday, February 29, 2008

Bob Knight joins ESPN - who will he fight with first?

The Genera, Robert Montgomery Knight has joined the ranks of ESPN as an in-studio college hoops TV analyst! His first appearance will be on March 12, 2008, Mark your calendars! Knight will stay on-board throughout Championship Week, which you can also watch online at ESPN360, and also through the exciting NCAA tournament.

The dynamics will be interesting, Knight already teased confrontations as he said he'd enjoy working only with those people he likes. It is no secret that the ESPN "Old Guard", Vitale, Digger and Jay Bilas are drinking the Bob Knight Kool Aid, so he will probably be matched up with those.

On the other hand, some of the not-so-entrenched Old Guard ESPN'ers are not drinking the Knight Kool Aid. Skip Bayless may be so scared of Knight after all he has said, that he may decide to stay at the ESPN theme park at Disney until Knight finishes his stint at ESPN ;-)

So the big question is, who will Knight fight off in the ESPN Cafeteria? Will it be Skip Bayless or Doug Gottleib? :-)

UCLA at Arizona State

Who won this game? The clock did! That's right, 15 (game) minutes into the game, and both teams scored under 15 points! Oh boy! This is the Sad Ten! ASU was able to hold off UCLA, but a blown breakaway dunk ruined any chances the Sun Devils had to stay in the game. From that point onwards it was pretty much UCLA nursing the lead and the game was ZZZZzzZZZzz and over!

There was another sequence with back to back blown dunks on both ends. In fact super-athletic UCLA wing Westbrook missed at least two dunks during this game.

Not that it matters since UCLA got a comfy win. But it was also interesting that former UCLA great and FSN So Cal hoops analyst Donny Mac (Don Maclean) admitted that UCLA gets away with fouls on defense. This is really sad since the zebras are letting them get away with this type of dirty play.

Which is why Ben Howland will be ran out of town faster than you may think once he stops winning :) But will he stop winning? Not as long as he can get away with this "tough" multiple-fouls-per-possession defense :)

USC at Arizona

Revenge is served cold and on ESPN! USC was able to "take back" their home loss against Arizona, in front of an ESPN audience, a rarity for Pac-10 games.

And once again the Arizona Wildcats ruined it for ESPN. As you may recall, earlier in the year, Arizona visited UCLA for the primetime Gameday Saturday spotlight game. And how did Arizona reward ESPN for this? They did not show up. They got 0wn3d, manhandled, ruined, B-ruined!

This time however, they woke up later in the game, and made it interesting enough for some people to stick around as they threatened to make a comeback, but USC was able to hold on and get yet another road win, something that will work in their favor when the NCAA selection committee picks teams and picks seeds and match-ups for the teams.

The other good news for the Condoms was the return of Hackett. Th return of the do-it-all glue guy is big news for USC as they transform from a bubble team into a team that could win games in the NCAA tourney with Daniel Hackett healthy and in the rotation.

On the other hand, Arizoan did not get back their missing piece, Nic "Hoops" Wise. And Nic Wise is the difference between an NCAA team and a bubble team for Arizona. Can Wise return early enough and can Arizona win a game or two with Wise in the line-up, so as not to find itself on the wrong side of the bubble? Arizona had a couple of close calls the last couple of years, but there is no Silver Fox this time around. Getting the benefit of the doubt this year may not be as easy for the Wildcats! But having the #1 SOS and strong showings at Allen Fieldhouse and at Calipari Forum will be in the plus column.

In closing, I have to repeat: What have they done with my Pac-10? It is looking more and more like Big-10! Meanwhile, ACC is going more run and gun, with Pope K implementing a variation of the Phoenix Suns offense, Wake Forest running faster than fast, and Clemson and such.

Wow Billy Packer did a game on CSTV!

This is quite interesting! The one and only Billy Packer, the premier CBS basketball analyst and caller of all the Final Four games of the last 43,000 years just did a game on CSTV! Not only that, but it was not an ACC game, not even a BCS game! It was a ... *gasp* Conference USA game!

But don't be too surprised, it was a Memphis Tigers home game. That's right, Billy Packer called the Tulsa at Memphis game on CSTV on Wednesday February 27, 2008.

And his play-by-play guy was someone young enough to be his grand-son, CSTV's Carter Blackburn.

Did they ran out of ACC games for Billy Packer to do and he had to get his mid-week hands dirty with non-ACC games? :-)

Outside the Lines: Stacy Johnson-Klein and Fresno State

Today's OTL, Outside the Lines, looks at the legal situation at Fresno State with the women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, her on-court success, and firing and legal issues. This will be the centerpiece story titled "Firing Line". It will air at a special time, at 3:30pm eastern (12:30pm pacific) on ESPN2, not ESPN. ESPN will have exhibition softball. Yes, it's almost softball season again? What???

A video intro at the Outside the Lines video page.

Here is a quick intro to the episode, courtesy of the OTL email alert. To sign up for the email alerts, check the OTL page.

After turning around the Fresno State basketball program, Stacy Johnson-Klein lost her job. Johnson-Klein felt the women's basketball program was being treated unfairly during her three-year reign and now she feels her willingness to speak up cost her the job and ruined her career.

Notre Dame at Louisville

Flashes of Pitino magic ten years after his back to back NCAA Finals? The Pitino RedBirds scored 32 points in the first nine minutes of the game! That's more than NBA teams score in a 48-minute game! But of course that didn't last for the rest of the game. But barring any injuries, this Louisville team looks like a Final Four candidate. They have a little bit of everything, a point-center in David Padgett, a space-eater in Caracter, an athletic forward in Earl Clark, a do-it-all T-Will, and such. Guards and free throws are their achilles heel, but with T-Will and Padgett able to organize the team on offense, it's not as big of a deal.

Meanwhile the Domers fell behind but were able to make a comeback towards the end of the game and gave the home team a headache! Meanwhile "Gody" is getting bigger and bigger, this time he scored 40 points with his first three career three pointers! "Gody" is a star baby! With a capital A! It's unbelievable!

The good news for Notre Dame fans is that this time around they are going to the NCAA tourney, they don't have to worry about just being left out, or losing half a dozen games in the last possession. They are in! Digger will be singing in March! And given their make-up, they could make it to the Sweet 16, but of course they could also lose in the first round.

Not to be a Debbie Downer to fans out there, but half of the NCAA tourney teams lose in the first round :)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

SportsCenterU finds itself on ESPN2!

Caught between the silliness and stubborness, ESPN is finding that it has to put more and more EPSNU content on ESPN2, because ESPNU has limited availability. And it's really sad because the people working at ESPNU are producing a lot of excellent content, like the "Inside the Polls" and "SportsCenterU".

So starting tonight, SportsCenterU, a version of Sportscenter for ESPNU, will be shown periodically on ESPN2, usually after college hoops games. Look for it tonight at 830pm pacific after the conclusion of West Virginia vs DePaul and the ensuing College Gamenight.

And speaking of TV, be sure to check the preview to the CIAA (division 2) conference tournament tomorrow (Thursday) at 930am pacific (1230pm eastern) on ESPN Classic. The tourney itself tips off later on Thursday. That's right, conference championships are upon us already! Hello March Madness!

For more TV listings be sure to check our February 2008 an March 2008 college hoops tv listings.

Week #16 of the Blog Poll Top 25 has been published!

We already live-blogged our blog poll vote, where we forgot to put a team at #25, and we shifted one up and added Kent State at #25. Now the votes our tallied, and our Blog Poll Commissioner at March to Madness has published week #16 of the blog poll top 25!

You can see all the votes, and how each blogger voted in this Google spreadsheet. Who did the Bloggers vote as #1? Which three teams received #1 votes? Who was the last in and last out? Are there two WCC teams in the Top 25? Is Indiana still in the poll?

So many questions, time for answers. Check them out!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Greg Oden on Jim Rome is Burning (Wednesday February 27, 2008)

Jim Rome will be hosting Greg Oden on his Wednesday show, on ESPN and repeating on ESPN2, on Wednesday February 27, 2008. We do not know if Oden will be in-studio, or more likely appearing via satellite.

Greg Oden is of course the NBA rookie and would-have-been NCAA sophomore with The Ohio State Buckeyes. Be sure to catch the latest episode of Jim Rome and get some "karma".

Kelvin Sampson Tarnished Image feature on Outside the Lines today

We just wrote about Kelvin Sampson and apparently so it ESPN's Outside the Lines! This will air at 3pm eastern (12pm pacific) today on ESPN. The Sampson feature will be "The Centerpiece" story.

More details on the OTL page. Here is how the OTL reminder email describes today's episode, in OTL's own words:

After admitting to recruiting violations while at Oklahoma, Kelvin Sampson promised to "do things right" at Indiana's Midnight Madness in 2006. Now less than two years later, Kelvin Sampson has been accused of committing five major violations during his tenure in Bloomington. Last week, Sampson agreed to resign from his post as the Indiana University basketball coach and accept a buyout. Sampson's departure brings forth a great deal of uncertainty for the program. George Smith examines the damage to Indiana University's image in light of the Sampson controversy.

Keep on texting Kelvin Sampson!

If the cellphone industry ever needed a poster boy to showcase how addictive text messaging is, they should hire Kelvin Sampson and start a national marketing campaign! "I lost my multi-million dollar job because I couldn't stop texting!"

And to add insult to injury, and to add to the "dumb jocks" stereotype of athletes and coaches, Kelvin Sampson was texting all of his former players after their first game without him. Even the bench player Brandon McGee received a text that said something like "keep looking good on the bench" - in positive way we assume.

Texting your former players doesn't sound too bizarre, unless you just got fired from your high-profile job because you got caught texting players in violation of NCAA rules, despite being caught and punished for it the previous year.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Live-Blogging the Week #16 Blog Poll Top 25 NHT Vote

We are "live-blogging" our vote and *gasp* thinking process for the BlogPoll Top 25 before we submit it. So without further delays, let's jump in!

While the mechanical process moves Tennessee to #1, the logic (if there's every such a thing with this field of top tier teams) glaringly points to Texas. They beat three of the top eight teams, one on the road, one at a neutral court by a blowout, and at home in-conference.

Compared to that, Tennessee beat #1 Memphis, an in-state rival at FedEx, and won at Xavier, but they were blown out by Texas. Texas won the head to head game, granted it was a long time ago, and has beaten three of the top eight teams. How can they not be the #1?

By the way, we look up all the RPI numbers at our favorite RPI site, Ken Pom RPI.

Tennessee grabs the #2 spot, and the UNC Tarheels by elimination grab the #3 spot. Memphis goes to the #4 spot, although you can easily make a case for them to be at #3 or even #2.

Next up, UCLA grabs the #5 spot, Kansas at #6 (a rematch of the Elite 8 game?), and evil Dookies Empire at #7, despite their two recent losses.

The #8 spot is wide open, we'll give it to the best available team, the Xavier Mouseketeers. The next best thing is Louisville, when you filter out the injuries and such. Rounding up the top 10 is the team they blew out in last year's NCAA tourney, the Stanford Trees.

Next up, Drake and Butler, the two new mid-major darlings du jour - and they have earned this spot with their play. Only one of the two could win the game they played on Bracket Buster Saturday, so Butler is not penalized for the loss.

Georgetown is not doing as well as they were supposed to, which is why they are outside the top 10. Is the #13 too generous for them? Well, maybe yes, maybe no...

The feisty Painters and Boilermakers grab the #14 spot, and we are lost at who to put at #15. Wisconsin will be at #17 - because we don't think they are a sweet 16 team. As simple as that. They have shown they can beat teams that are not as good as they are, but I don't think this team can beat a top tier team. The whole ceiling thing. But at least we are putting them in the top 20 now, so Badget fans don't be too disappointed :)

UConn feels like a Sweet 16 team, and the numbers don't lie. They beat eight RPI Top 100 teams in a row, and this includes four RPI Top 20 teams! That's before they beat South Florida, DePaul and lost to Nova. Hey, nobody's perfect!

So who's at #18? Well, we don't know yet, but we do know who is not in the top 25: Pac-10 teams! That's right, they are no more Pac-10 teams in our top 25. Why? USC: No Hackett, Arizona: No Nic Wise, Washington State: Ceiling (see Wisconsin above) and nine top 201+ wins. Providing we can find enough teams ahead of them. Otherwise they'll slide back in :) Also out of the top 25 is Indiana as this is a different team without The CellPhone Lover at the helm.

So we as again, who is at #18? Marquette? Notre Dame? Vandy? Michigan State? Mid-majors? Okay, Vandy grabs #18 by induction. How about #19? Let's give that to Izzo, and then feed the two aforementioned Big East teams. If Notre Dame had stronger wins away from their home court, I would have moved them higher.

How about Davidson? That's another team with the C-word. Ceiling! Despite the solid program ran by McKillop, they've never beaten a top 25 team!

Well, who is it then? We can't find enough teams to put in! So what to do, what to do? Let's put some of the teams we excluded three paragraphs above back in! Let's give Indiana and Washington State the benefit of the doubt and give them #22 and #23.

Two spots to go! Clemson you ask? Please point me to a solid win they had in the ACC... Waiting... Waiting... NONE!

Tempted to put Wake Forest at #25 to thank them for beating Duke, but they probably need a couple more wins before that. And to see how they respond to the loss at
UNC. But thank you Wake Forest for beating the sniveling Dookies!

Back to #24 and #25. Who can it be now? Who? Who? Who?

We'll follow the suggestion of Gopher Nation and put Miami at #24. Thank you Miami for beating the Dookies!.

So one spot left, #25... Let's give the mid-majors some love, since it's all spaghetti out there! Well, picking a mid-major out of all of them out there is no easy task either! There's the ones who won high profile Bracket Buster road games, like Creighton and Kent State, there's the venerable Davidson we mentioned above, the no-love South Alabama, St. Mary's and GoneZaga are no chopped meat either.

And how about Maryland? Kentucky? Arkansas? And how about Cornell, undefeated in the Ivy? Okay, that's a stretch... *Gasp* We even have to consider Pitt!

Okay, we have to pick something...

Don't want to stay up all night deliberating... We are so desperate we are even considering Southern Illinois with a #10 SOS, despite their dozen losses!

How about the leader of the Church League?

How about Robert Morris? They are 13-3 on road/neutral games. Syraucse doesn't play that many in three years :)

Well, we've found the #25, despite their loss a couple of hours ago, Anger Management Issues Billy Walker and B-EZ get the #25 spot...

And we are DONE!

Joe Lunardi gets confused about who won Duke at UNC this year?

Joe Lunardi made his usual Monday appearance on ESPN News "The Hot List" between 12pm to 3pm (pacific), but there was something strange. He seemed to be under the impression that UNC beat Duke this year. Not sure if he was confused, or the host got him confused, or his was drinking whatever Martelli is brewing at the bowels of the Hawk Talk studios ;-)

Because Duke and UNC have two losses each, and Duke beat UNC at UNC. Unless of course he was working on the silent assumption that UNC will beat Duke in March 2008, but that's not exactly an assumption one can make for such a game!

Texas at Kansas State

This was a nicely played game, with some excitement and stars and such. Despite Ron Franklin trying to put everyone to sleep with his monotone sinewave voice patterns, and Fran comparing body parts.

Did Rick Barnes dispel the rumors that he is not as good of an Xs and Os coach by throwing a box-and-one that put Beasley in an offensive straightjacket? We blog, you decide!

Texas showed how their crazy style of play can get them a win against just about any team, but can also cost them a loss against a lesser opponent. It goes with the territory!

Kansas State showed their growing pains. Both Billy Walker and Jacob Pullen have a lot of maturing to do, and first year head coach Frank Martin has to learn how to better be able to deal with such a situation. Not to take anything away from this brilliant first year season though. Billy Walker was 0 from 14 when the game was still on the line. Ouch!

And back to Texas, they will be my #1 when I submit my BlogPoll Top25 vote in a few minutes. Why? You have to wait for the post for the details :)

Atlantic-10 versus the BCS schools!

There has been a lot of talk about the Atlantic-10 recently, so we thought we'd give some hard numbers, on how the A-10 fared against the BCS schools. Numbers and stats at Ken Pom RPI.

A-10 against the BCS World
TeamWinsLossesScore
XavierAway: Auburn
Neutral: Indiana (blowout)
Home: Kansas State (blowout), Virginia (blowout), Cincy
Home: Tennessee
Away: Arizona State (blowout)
5-2
DaytonAway: Louisville
Home: Pitt (blowout)
None!2-0
RhodeAway: South Florida
Home: Syracuse, Providence
Away: Boston College3-1
UMassAway: Syracuse, Boston CollegeAway: Vandy2-1
St Joe's Hawk TalkPalestra: Villanova (blowout)
Home: Patterno State
Away: Syracuse2-1
Charlotte MoustachesAway: Clemson
Home: Wake Forest
Home: Maryland
Neutral: Georgia Tech
2-2
RichmondHome: Virginia TechHome: South Florida1-1
DuquesneNoneHome: Pitt
Away: West Virginia
0-2
St Louis MajerusNone!Away: Pitt, Boston College0-2
FordhamNone!Away: Georgetown, Missouri, Syracuase0-3
La SalleNone!Neutral: Ole Miss, DePaul
Away: Florida State
Big 5: Villanova
0-4
G. WashingtonNone!Home: Auburn
Away: UCLA, Virginia Tech, Alabama (all three blowouts)
0-4
TempleNone!Home: Duke
Neutral: Providence
Big 5: Villanova
Away: Tennessee, Florida
0-5
St BonaventureNoneNone0-0
Total17-28


So now what do y'all think of the Atlantic-14? Oops, Atlantic-10 :)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Tennessee at Memphis

#1 vs #2. Primetime! ESPN Gameday! Dick Vitale! Jay Bilas! Digger Phelps! Reece Davis! Hubert Davis! Erin Andrews! It was an all-star setup for an all-star battle of teams ranked #1 and #2. And the game did not disappoint.

As expected with games of such high intensity, it did not play out as expected, the players were too amped up for the game, and the game was all over the place, from running all over the place like kittens on caffeine, to a grinded out affair.

Ultimately, Derrick Rose was not enough, and the Bruce Pearl Energizer Bunnies out-did Memphis at just about every category.

Memphis exceeded its quota of three pointers made in the first ten minutes of the game, and that spelled doom for their offense, as they fell in love with the three, and were unable to go back to it when they really needed it.

This outcome could play well for both teams. Tennessee gets its first ever #1 ranking in men's basketball, and reaches new heights, and Memphis gets a much needed "reality check" after their close call at UAB.

This exposes Memphis as a candidate for another Elite 8 run, instead of Final Fours and national championships. Not because they lost the game, but how they lost the game. Are we starting to see a pattern? Remember how UCLA dissected the Tigers in the 2006 Elite 8?

Granted, this was just a single game, but perhaps those two teams should consider playing twice a year! Once in the pre-season and once in February! It's awesome baby with capital A!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Political Slogans for College Basketball Coaches

With the political season in full swing, it is time to give some college basketball coaches ...politically twisted slogans!

We start with "Change you can ...Wear", for Rick Pitino (see: ESPN Gameday game and the all-white suit).

How about "Change you can Cheat", for Kelvin Sampson's campaign? :)

"Change you can Eat" for Majerus, and "Change you can Drink" for Eddie Sutton!

"Change you can yell at" for Bob Knight, and "Change you can scowl at" for Gene Keady!

And how about "Change you can Defend" for Ben Howland, and "Change you can ruin" for Matt Doherty?

And two more before we totally ruin it, "Change you can Over-analyze" for Jay Bilas, and "Change you can Take a Sabbatical from" for Lute Olson ;-)

Oregon at UCLA

If it wasn't for the goofing around of Steve Lavin and Brett Musburger, the first half of this broadcast would have been unwatchable. Unwatchable with capital U! But instead we have Lavin and Musburger being Comedy Central, and Lavin revealing some more details about his exit from UCLA.

But back to the game, this was a typical UCLA comeback game, a slow start, and then grind, grind, grind, tie the game, take the lead, and never look back.

If Oregon was looking for a theme, "self inflicted wounds" would be a good one. Their Mighty Mouse had his good moments, but he also had his trademark disastrous, yes disastrous decisions on offense, leading to turnovers, steals and buckets for UCLA. The type of turnovers that really hurt. Ouch for Oregon!

This means that if Oregon wants NCAA Tourney play, they need to win all three remaining regular season, and get two wins in the Pac-10 tourney against other NCAA or bubble teams. Or perhaps win it all - depending on how all the other bubble teams do.

And yes, the new black Nike uniforms with the "Princess" sparkling letters were a horrible idea. How do they design these? Do they design them in Photoshop and hit print on the cotton printer? ;-)

Ironman: The 2008 Basketball Analyst Buzzword of the Year

You know each year, the basketball analysts start over-using particular terms or words. And this year is no exception. This year's buzzword: Ironman. Now just about every analyst feels almost contractually obligated to mention "ironman" at least once during a broadcast!

Are they all clones? :-) On a totally unrelated note, I will be launching the Ironman of the Year Awards, and start a weekly Ironman of the Week column ;-)

What other words did you notice getting overused by basketball analysts, commentators, play-by-play guys, announcers, sideline reports?

Digger Phelps goes crazy on ESPN's Gameday!

When discussing the Indiana situation on ESPN's Gameday on Saturday morning, Digger Phelps went crazy! That's right, he went crazy! The discussion was whether the players should take a game off to protest their coaches firing and such, and Digger went all neo-nazi, talking of benching players and kicking them off the team. Both Jay Bilas and Hubert Davis were vehemently protesting this Rosie O'Phelps outburst.

Of course we all knew that Digger was a ...theatrical diva ;-)

Friday, February 22, 2008

Kelvin Sampson has 750,000 reasons not to sing the Hoosier Blues

Happy Trails IU coach Kelvin Sampson! It was nice having you, the cell phone companies love the bills you ran during your tenure there and at Oklahoma ;-)

The final (perhaps) news in the Kelvin Sampson saga can be found at CSTV which includes the resolution and a statement from Kelvin Sampson as well. Also discussed at deadspin, and Tee Off, Sports Yenta, and such. And unsportsmanlike comment too!

Jordan Classic 2008: The Rosters have been revealed!

The rosters for the 2008 Jordan Classic, one of the premiere post-season high school showcase all-star games has been revealed, and an number of high profile 2008 recruits will participate including Tyreke Evans who just played on ESPN2, Greg Monroe, Samardo Samuels, JRue Holiday (the next Do-It-All-Paul?), Delvon Roe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Brandon Jennings, and many more.

More details at Recruiting Wars and the Jordan Brand Classic site.

Logo Orange 100x27

Thursday, February 21, 2008

2007-2008 College Hoops TV Guide March 2008

Welcome to our March 2008 college hoops TV listings! We also have the:
* 2008 March Madness TV listings
* February 2008 college hoops TV listings
* January 2008 college hoops TV listings
* December 2007 college hoops TV listings
* November 2007 college hoops TV listings.
* All times mentioned here are Pacific Time


Saturday March 1, 2008

  • 730am, repeat: ucla at arizona state, fcs
  • 9am, Duke at NC State, CBS Sports. Go Pack! Go Pack!
  • 9am, Pitt at Syracuse, ESPN
  • 9am, Wright State at Valpo, ESPN2
  • 9am, 730pm, 5am, Mount Olive at Barton, CSTV
  • 11am, Georgetown at Marquette, CBS Sports
  • 11am, Texas A&M at Oklahoma, ESPN
  • 11am, Wichita State at Drake, ESPN2
  • 1230pm, NC State at Boston College, ABC Sports
  • 1pm, Texas at Texas Tech, or Mississippi State @ Florida, CBS Sports
  • 1pm, Ohio State at Minnesota, ESPN
  • 1pm, Washington State at Stanford, FSN, FCS
  • 1pm, 930pm, Memphis at Southern Miss, CSTV
  • 3pm, Iowa State at Colorado, ESPN Classic
  • 3pm, 1am, Pac-10 game, FSN, FCS
  • 4pm, George Washington at Xavier, CSNET
  • 4pm, 3am, W. Ky at FAU, FCS
  • 5pm, CIAA Tourney Final, ESPN Classic
  • 5pm, 830pm, St Marys at Gonzaga, FSN, FCS (Wowie!)
  • 530pm, Idaho State at NAU, FCS
  • 6pm, 12am, KANSAS STATE at KANSAS, ESPN
  • 7pm, 1130pm, Santa Clara at Portland, CSNET
  • 830pm, Cal State Northridge at UC Irvine, FCS


    Logo Orange 100x27


    Sunday March 2, 2008
  • 7am, 11am, repeat: memphis at southern miss, cstv
  • 9am, Kentucky at Tennesse, CBS Sports
  • 11am, Indiana at Michigan State, CBS Sports
  • 1pm, UCLA at Arizona, CBS Sports
  • 330pm, repeat: scu at portland, csnet
  • 430pm, Clemson at Maryland, FSN, FCS
  • 830pm, Oregon at Oregon State, FSN, FCS


    Monday March 3, 2008
  • 4pm, Pitt at West Virginia, ESPN
  • 6pm, Texas Tech at Kansas, ESPN
  • 7pm, St Mary's at Portland, CSNET
  • 830pm, Santa Clara at Gonzaga, ESPN2
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1989 Duke vs Michigan, ESPN Classic


    Tuesday March 4, 2008
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1998 Illinois at Michigan State, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 1993 Florida State vs North Carolina, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, repeat: Georgetown at Marquette, CSTV (repeat of CBS game) - 2008 instant classic!
  • 2pm, repeat: Villanova at Louisville, CSTV (repeat of CBS game)
  • 4pm, Purdue at Ohio State, ESPN (bubble win for the Buckeyes?)
  • 4pm, Miami Ohio at Kent State, ESPN2
  • 5pm, Florida State at North Carolina, ESPN Full Court (what???)
  • 6pm, Arkansas at Ole Miss, ESPN
  • 6pm, 10pm, 3am, UNLV at New Mexico, CSTV
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1990 LMU at LaSalle, ESPN Classic


    Wedn March 5, 2008
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 2001 Duke at Virginia, ESPN Classic [DUKE LOSS!]
  • 3pm, repeat: Baylor at Texas A&M, ESPN Classic. Seven thousand overtimes!
  • 4pm, Duke at Virginia, ESPN
  • 4pm, Syracuse at Seton Hall, ESPN2. Battle for NIT seeding ;-)
  • 6pm, Texas A&M at Baylor, ESPN2


    Thur March 6, 2008
  • 4pm, UConn at Providence, ESPN
  • 4pm, Clemson at Georgia Tech, ESPN2
  • 6pm, Xavier at St Joe, ESPN
  • 6pm, Michigan State at Illinois, ESPN2
  • 6pm, Arizona at Oregon State, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, STANFORD at UCLA. FSN, FCS


    Fri March 7, 2008
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1996 duke vs NORTH CAROLINA, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSiC: 2002 duke at NORTH CAROLINA, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1995 NORTH CAROLINA at duke, ESPN Classic


    Get College Basketball Tickets at StubHub!


    Sat March 8, 2008
  • 8am, Gameday, ESPN
  • 830am, Big South Final: UNC Asheville vs Winthrop, ESPN2
  • 9am, Louisville at Georgetown, CBS
  • 10am, 630pm, 1130pm, 430am, UAB at Memphis, CSTV
  • 11am, Stanford at USC, CBS
  • 1230pm, ABC games: California at UCLA or Missoura at Oklahoma, or Ga Tech at BC, ABC
  • 1pm, Kansas at Texas A&M, CBS
  • 1pm, Marquette at Syracuase, ESPN
  • 1pm, Utah at UNLV, Versus
  • 1pm, Temple at LaSalle, CSNET
  • 2pm, Ohio Valley Conference tournament final, ESPN2
  • 230pm, Arizona State at Oregon State, FSN, FCS
  • 3pm, Auburn at Alabama, ESPN Classic (in-state rivarly, deciding CBI bid?)
  • 4pm, Atlantic Sun conference tournament final, ESPN2
  • 430pm, Washington at Washington State, FSN, FCS
  • 5pm, Gameday, ESPN
  • 6pm, 12am, NORTH CAROLINA at duke, ESPN
  • 7pm, Nevada at Fresno State, CSNET
  • 730pm, Arizona at Oregon, FSN, FCS, bubble must win for both!
  • 9pm, Midnight Madness, ESPN


    Sun March 8, 2008
  • 9am, Florida at Kentucky, CBS
  • 9am, America East semifinal, FCS, FSN
  • 11am, MVC Tourney final, CBS, first one to 40 wins!
  • 11am, Indiana at Penn State, ESPN
  • 1130am, America East semifinal, FCS, FSN
  • 1pm, Purdue at Michigan, CBS
  • 1pm, Oklahoma State at Texas, ESPN
  • 1pm, NEC tourney semifinal, FCS, FSN
  • 4pm, 7am, repeat: nevada at fresno state, csnet
  • 430pm, 5am, Maryland at Virginia, Potomac bubble!, FSN, FCS
  • 630pm, West Coast Conference semifinal: Gonzaga vs somebody, ESPN2
  • 830pm, West Coast Conference semifinal: St Marys vs somebody, ESPN2
  • 830pm, NEC semifinal, FCS
  • 11pm, Sunshine state final, FCS, FSN


    Monday March 10
  • 8am, repeat: nevada at fresno state, csnet
  • 10am, NEC semifinal, FCS
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 2002 Big East Conf Tourney quarterfinal: UConn vs Nova, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2001 WCC Final: GoneZaga vs St Mary's, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, CAA tourney final, ESPN
  • 4pm, MAAC tourney final, ESPN2
  • 5pm, repeat: NEC semi, FCS
  • 5pm, repeat: florida at kentucky, cstv (not a typo, CSTV)
  • 6pm, West Coast Final, ESPN
  • 6pm, Southern conference final, ESPN2
  • 7pm, 10pm, and multiple repeats later on, REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel: C. Vivian Stringer, and Bruce Pearl, HBO
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1989 Oregon State at Cal, ESPN Classic




    *** If you find these comprehensive TV listings helpful, you can encourage us to continue with them by making your Amazon.com purchases through our blog. ***





    Tuesday March 11
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1996 Georgetown vs UConn, Big East final, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, repeat: louisville at georgetown, cstv
  • 4pm, Summit final, ESPN
  • 530pm, Big Sky semifinal #1: NAU vs somebody, FSN, FCS
  • 6pm, Horizon final, ESPN
  • 6pm, Sunbelt final, ESPN2
  • 8pm, NEC semi, FCS
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1998 Alaska final: Cincy vs Duke, ESPN Classic


    Wedn March 12 - things starting to GO CRAZY!
  • 9am, Big East Round #1, game 1, ESPN
  • 11am, Big East game 2, ESPN
  • 4pm, Big East game #3, ESPN
  • 4pm, Big Sky final, ESPN2
  • 6pm, Big East game #4, ESPN
  • 6pm, 430am, Pac 10 Round #1: Washington vs California, FSN, FCS
  • 830pm, 630am, Pac 10 Round #1: Arizona vs Oregon State, FSN, FCS


    Thur March 13
  • 9am, Big East Quarter #1, ESPN
  • 930am, Big 12 First round, ESPN2
  • 11am, Big East Quarter #2, ESPN
  • 1130am, Big 10 Round #1 game #2, ESPN2
  • 12pm, Pac 10 Quarter #1, FSN, FCS
  • 130pm, Big 10 Round #1 game #3, ESPN2
  • 230pm, Pac 10 Quarter #2, FSN, FCS
  • 4pm, Big East Quarter #3, ESPN
  • 4pm, ACC first round, ESPN2
  • 4pm, 1030pm, CUSA quarter #3, CSTV
  • 6pm, Big East Quarter #4, ESPN
  • 6pm, 1230am, 8am, Pac 10 Quarter #3, FSN, FCS
  • 6pm, 1230am, 3am, Mountain West Quarter #3, CSTV
  • 630pm, Big 12 first round, ESPN2
  • 830pm, 6am, Pac 10 Quarter #4, FSN, FCS
  • 830pm, 5am, Mountain West Quarter #4, CSTV


    Fri March 14
  • 9am, Big Ten Quarter #1, ESPN
  • 9am, ACC Quarter #1, ESPN2
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1966 NCAA Championship: Kentucky vs. Texas Western, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, Big Ten Quarter #2, ESPN
  • 11am, ACC Quarter #2, ESPN2
  • 130pm, CUSA semi #1, CSTV
  • 145pm, Patriot final, ESPN2
  • 4pm, Big East Semi #1, ESPN
  • 4pm, ACC Quarter #3, ESPN2
  • 4pm, 3am, CUSA semi #2, CSTV
  • 6pm, Big East Semi #2, ESPN
  • 6pm, ACC Quarter #4, ESPN2
  • 6pm, 12am, Pac10 Semi #1, FSN, FCS
  • 630pm, Mountain West Semi #1, CSTV
  • 830pm, Pac10 Semi #2, FSN, FCS
  • 9pm, Mountain West Semi #2, CSTV


    Sat March 15
  • 830am, CUSA final, CBS
  • 9am, America East final, ESPN2
  • 1030am, ACC semi #1, ESPN
  • 1040am, Big Ten semi #1, CBS
  • 11am, Big 12 Semi #1, ESPN2
  • 1230pm, ACC semi #2, ESPN
  • 1250pm, Big Ten semi #1, CBS
  • 1pm, Big 12 Semi #2, ESPN2
  • 3pm, Pac-10 Final, CBS
  • 3pm, Atlantic 10 final, ESPN
  • 4pm, MAC final, ESPN2
  • 4pm, Mountain West final, Versus
  • 5pm, MEAC final, ESPN Classic
  • 6pm, 12am, Big East final, ESPN
  • 6pm, WAC final, ESPN2
  • 8pm, Big West final, ESPN2
  • 9pm, Midnight Madness, ESPN


    Sun March 16
  • 6am, Repeat: Game of the Week, perhaps Virginia Tech vs North Carolina?, ESPN Classic
  • 9am, Organizing the Madness, ESPN Classic: What goes behind the scenes during the selection process. Or something like that
  • 9am, Gameday, ESPN
  • 9am, Road to the Final Four, CBS
  • 10am, Not Sure what, CBS
  • 10am, ACC final, ESPN
  • 10am, MEAC final, ESPN2
  • 1230pm, Big 12 final, ESPN
  • 1230pm, Big 10 final, CBS
  • 130pm, Previewing the madness, CSTV
  • 2pm, Bracketology, ESPN
  • 3pm, SELECTION SHOW, CBS
  • 3pm, Sportscenter coverage, ESPN
  • 4pm, Bracketology (2 hours), ESPN
  • 4pm, CSTV's version of Bracketology, CSTV
  • 6pm, Black Magic, Part #1, (2 hours), ESPN


  • more listings coming soon!




    Netflix, Inc.

  • 2007-2008 College Hoops TV Guide February 2008

    Welcome to our February 2008 college hoops TV listings! We also have the:
    * March 2008 college basketball TV listings
    * January 2008 college hoops TV listings
    * December 2007 college hoops TV listings
    * November 2007 college hoops TV listings.
    * All times mentioned here are Pacific Time


    Get College Basketball Tickets at StubHub!


    Friday February 1, 2008

  • 1am, 3am, repeat: arizona state at ucla, fcs
  • 1am, 3am, 10am, 3am, repeat: temple at fordham, CSTV
  • 5am, 1130am, repeat: arizona at usc, fcs
  • 5am, CLASSIC: 1999 UConn at St Johns, CSTV
  • 7am, repeat: portland at gonzaga, fcs
  • 9am, repeat: washington state at arizona, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 2002, Marquette at Cincy, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 2002, Big East Tourney Final: Pitt vs UConn, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1993, Arizona at UCLA, ESPN Classic
  • 230pm, CLASSIC: 1982 St johns at Syracuse, CSTV
  • 9pm, repeat: army at lafayette, cstv
  • 11pm, repeat: memphis at houston, cstv
  • 1am, CLASSIC: 1983, Michigan vs Michigan State, CSTV


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    Sat February 2, 2008
  • 9am, Syracuse at Nova, ESPN
  • 9am, Maryland at Georgia Tech, ESPN2
  • 10am, Pitt at UConn OR Kentucky at Georgia, CBS
  • 11am, OK State at TX Tech, ESPN
  • 11am, Rider at Siena, ESPN2
  • 12pm, Stanford at Washington State, FSN, FCS
  • 1230pm, Game on ABC, ABC
  • 1pm, So Alabama at La Monroe, ESPN2
  • 2pm, Cal Poly SLO at UC Riverside, FCS
  • 3pm, DePaul at Notre Dame, ESPN Classic (live game)
  • 3pm, 930pm, Cal at Washington, FSN, FCS
  • 3pm, UTSA at TxAM-CC, FCS
  • 4pm, Gonzaga at SCU, CSNET
  • 5pm, Denver at Western Ky, FCS
  • 5pm, Gameday, ESPN
  • 6pm, ARIZONA at UCLA, ESPN
  • 6pm, 1am, 4am, SMU at Tulsa, CSTV
  • 7pm, Portland at St. Mary's, CSNET
  • 730pm, 5am, Arizona State at USC, FCS, FSN
  • Late: Midnight Madness, ESPN


    Relive your favorite 2007 NCAA Tournament games
  • Every 2007 NCAA College Basketball game is on DVD!, produced by NCAA On-Demand.


    Sun February 3, 2008 - SuperBowl Sunday - the soccer championship game :)
  • 6am, Game of the Week repeat, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, 1am, North Carolina at Florida State, FSN, FCS
  • 4pm, Nevada at Utah State, CSNET
  • 4pm, repeat: arizona state at usc, fcs
  • 6pm, 7pm, repeat: gonzaga at scu, fcs, csnet
  • 9pm, repeat: portland at st mary's, csnet
  • 11pm, repeat: stanford at washington state, fcs
  • 11pm, repeat: smu at tulsa, cstv
  • 1am, Cal Poly SLO at UC Riverside, FCS


    Mon February 4, 2008
  • 5am, 12pm, 3am, repeat: arizona state at usc, fcs
  • 7am, repeat: arizona state at ucla, fcs
  • 7am, repeat: smu at tulsa, cstv
  • 930am, repeat: north carolina at florida state, fcs
  • 10am, repeat: cal poly at uc riverside, fcs
  • 12pm, repeat: cal at washington, fsn
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2005 Duke at Wake Forest, ESPN Classic. Skip Prosser!!!
  • 2pm, repeat: portland at stmary's, csnet
  • 2pm, repeat; stanford at washington state, fcs
  • 4pm, Louisville at Marquette, ESPN
  • 5pm, 8pm, 1am, Big 5: Nova vs St Joe's, CSTV
  • 6pm, Missouri at Kansas, ESPN
  • 6pm, 5am, repeat: gonzaga at scu, csnet, fcs
  • 7pm, San Diego at Pepperdine, FCS
  • 8pm, Gonzaga at St Mary's, ESPN2
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1984 St Johns at Georgetown, ESPN Classic
  • 330am, denver at w.ky, fcs




    *** If you find these comprehensive TV listings helpful, you can encourage us to continue with them by making your Amazon.com purchases through our blog. ***





    Tue February 5, 2008 - Super Tuesday, vote early and often!
  • 7am, repeat: portland at gonzaga, fcs
  • 8am, 4pm, repeat: north carolina at florida state, fcs
  • 9am, 6pm, repeat: nova vs st joe (big 5), cstv
  • 1130am, CLASSIC: 1991 Kansas vs North Carolina, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, repeat: san diego at pepperdine, fcs
  • 130pm, CLASSIC: 2001 Arkansas at South Carolina, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, Michigan at Ohio State, ESPN
  • 6pm, Florida at Tennessee, ESPN
  • 6pm, Butler at Valpo, ESPN2
  • 11pm, repeat: arizona state at usc, fcs
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1994 Kentucky at LSU, ESPN Classic
  • 12am, repeat: ark lr at w.ky, fcs
  • 1am, repeat: cal poly at ucr, fcs
  • 3am, repeat: gonzaga at scu, fcs


    Wedn February 6, 2008
  • 630am, repeat: arizona state at usc, fcs
  • 830am, repeat: cal poly at ucr, fcs
  • 1030am, repeat: San Diego at Pepperdine, FCS
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1981 UNC at Clemson, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2003 Notre Dame at Syracuse, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, UConn at Syracuse, ESPN
  • 4pm, Texas at Oklahoma, ESPN2
  • 6pm, DUKE at NORTH CAROLINA, ESPN
  • 1030pm, repeat: denver at w.ky, fcs
  • 3am, repeat: portland at gonzaga, fcs
  • 5am, repeat: gonzata at scu, fcs


    Thur February 7, 2008
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1984 Duke vs North Carolina, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1998 UConn vs Washington, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, West Virginia at Pitt, ESPN
  • 4pm, Clemson at Virgina, ESPN2
  • 530pm, 11pm, Portland State at NAU, FCS
  • 6pm, Indiana at Illinois, ESPN
  • 6pm, Xavier at St Louis, ESPN2. Majerus returns to ESPN as a coach!
  • 730pm, UCLA at Washington State, FSN, FCS
  • ???, 1am, USC at Washington, FSN, FCS



    Fri February 8, 2008
  • 5am, repeat: gonzaga at scu, fcs
  • 9am, 730pm, repeat: usc at washington, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1992 NCAA Final: UNC vs Georgetown, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, 930pm, repeat: ucla at washington state, fcs
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 1999 NCAA Final UConn vs Duke, ESPN Classic. Go UConn! Beat those Dookies!
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 2003 NCAA Final: Kansas vs Syracuse, ESPN Classic. Go Jayhawks! Hit those free throws!


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    Sat February 9, 2008
  • 7am, repeat: san diego at pepperdine, fcs
  • 8am, Gameday, ESPN
  • 9am, Marquette at Notre Dame, ESPN. First one to 100 wins?
  • 9am, Holy Family at Philadelphia, CSTV
  • 10am, BC at Duke, CBS. Go Boston College go!
  • 11am, Iowa at Minnesota, ESPN
  • 11am, Southern at Grambling State, ESPN2
  • 11am, 730pm, 3am, East Carolina at Marshall, CSTV
  • 1230pm, ABC regional game (USC at Washington State, or Virginia at Wake or Texas at Iowa State), ABC
  • 1pm, Georgia Tech at UConn, ESPN. Hey, this is not a rerun of the 2004 NCAA final!
  • 1pm, Hampton at Delaware State, ESPN2
  • 1pm, Georgia State at Hofstra, FCS
  • 1pm, 930pm, 5am, Central Florida at Memphis, CSTV
  • 3pm, Oklahoma State at Kansas State, ESPN
  • 3pm, Road to March Madness, 30 minute show with Bonnie Bernstein, Tom Brennan and guests, ABC
  • 3pm, Hawaii at Nevada, ESPN2
  • 3pm, Utah at Air Force, CSTV
  • 3pm, Cincy at Rutgers, ESPN Classic (live game)
  • 3pm, Mt St Marys at Monmouth, FCS
  • 4pm, Oregon at Calfironia, CSNET
  • 5pm, Oregon State at Stanford, FSN, FCS
  • 5pm, 1am, Pepperdine at Gonzaga, FSN, FCS
  • 5pm, Gameday, ESPN
  • 6pm, 12am, GEORGETOWN at LOUISVILLE, ESPN
  • 830pm, repeat: ucla at washington state, fcs
  • 9pm, Midnight Madness, ESPN


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    Sun February 10, 2008
  • 7am, 5am, repeat: utah at air force, cstv
  • 9am, 6pm, Rhode at Fordham, CSNET
  • 9am, 1am, repeat: ucf at memphis, cstv
  • 10am, Indiana at Ohio State, CBS
  • 1130am, 730pm, 1am, Arizona State at Arizona, FSN, FCS
  • 130pm, 530pm, 930pm, UCLA at Washington, FSN, FCS
  • 330pm, 9pm, 5am, Clemson at North Carolina, FSN, FCS
  • 4pm, repeat: oregon at cal, csnet


    Mon February 11, 2008
  • 9am, 9pm, 5am, repeat: arizona state at arizona, fcs
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1985 NCAA Final: Georgetown vs Villanova, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1999 UConn at St Johns, CSTV
  • 2pm, repeat: oregon at cal, csnet
  • 3pm, repeat: pepperdine at gonzaga, fcs
  • 4pm, Villanova at Georgetown, ESPN
  • 5pm, LMU at Gonzaga, FSN, FCS
  • 6pm, Kansas at Texas, ESPN
  • 7pm, repeat: ucla at washington, fcs
  • 8pm, St Marys at Santa Clara, ESPN2
  • 10pm, repeat: wagner at quinnipiac pollsters, fcs
  • 11pm, 3am, repeat: uc irvine at ucsb, fcs
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1990 Duke vs Georgia Tech, ESPN Classic
  • 1am, repeat: portland state at nau, fcs
  • 3am, repeat: clemson at unc, fcs


    Tue February 12, 2008
  • 10am, 1am, repeat, ucla at washington, fcs
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1998 Kentucky at Vandy, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, repeat: uci at ucsb, fcs
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1984 Virginia at UNC, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, 1am, CLASSIC: 1985 St Johns at Georgetown, CSTV
  • 4pm, Michigan State at Purdue, ESPN
  • 5pm, North Carolina at Virginia, ESPN2
  • 5pm, repeat: wagner at quinnipiac pollsters, fcs
  • 6pm, Kentucky at Vandy, ESPN
  • 7pm, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 7pm, 11pm, 5am, Air Force at UNLV, CSTV
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1992 Syracuse at St Johns, ESPN Classic


    Wedn February 13, 2008
  • 530am, repeat: uci at ucsb, fcs
  • 730am, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1995 Maryland at Duke, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, repeat: af at unlv, cstv
  • 1130am, repeat: portland state at nau, fcs
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2001 Duke at Maryland, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1996 Cincy at Arizona, CSTV
  • 130pm, repeat: wagner at quinnipiac, fcs
  • 4pm, Maryland at Duke, ESPN
  • 4pm, St Johns at Cincy, ESPN2
  • 5pm, Troy at W.Ky, FCS
  • 6pm, Kansas State at Texas Tech, ESPN2
  • 6pm, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 6pm, 10pm, 4am, Houston at Memphis, CSTV
  • 930pm, repeat: clemson at unc, fcs
  • 11pm, repeat: ucla at washington, fcs


    Thur February 14, 2008
  • 630am, repeat: ucla at washington, fcs
  • 830am, 5am, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 1030am, repeat: uci at ucsb, fcs
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1987 Clemson at Georgia Tech, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, 10pm, 3am, repeat: houston at memphis, CSTV
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1994 Cal at Arizona, ESPN Classic
  • 230pm, 12am, CLASSIC: 1999 Duke vs St Johns, CSTV
  • 4pm, NC State at Boston College, ESPN
  • 4pm, Rutgers at West Virginia, ESPN2 - uh?
  • 530pm, 3am, Cal at Arizona, CSNET, FCS
  • 6pm, Michigan at Iowa, ESPN - sucks to be contractually obligated to carry these!
  • 6pm, Fordham at UMass, ESPN2
  • 7pm, Sacred Heart at Wagner, FCS
  • 730pm, Stanford at Arizona State, FSN, FCS
  • 1am, Washington State at Oregon State, FSN, FCS


    Fri February 15, 2008
  • 7am, repeat: uci at ucsb, fcs
  • 9am, 12pm, Stanford at Arizona State, FCS
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1991 Arizona at Stanford, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 2000 Indiana at Michigan State, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, 1am, CLASSIC: 1986 Cincy vs Louisville, CSTV
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1985 Georgetown at Syracuse, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, repeat: cal at arizona, csnet
  • 6pm, Pitt at Marquette, ESPN
  • 6pm, Nevada at Boise State, CSNET
  • 830pm, Colgate (not the toothpaste) at Lafayette, FCS


    Sat February 16, 2008
  • 7am, CLASSIC: 1995 Syracuse at Georgetown, ESPN Classic
  • 730am, repeat: washington state at oregon, fcs
  • 9am, Georgetown at Syracuse, ESPN
  • 930am, repeat: cal at arizona, fcs
  • 10am, Virginia Tech at North Carolina, CBS
  • 11am, Louisville at Providence, ESPN
  • 11am, Navy at Lafayette, CSTV
  • 11am, 7pm, Robert Morris at St Francis NY, FCS
  • 1230pm, ABC Game: Stanford at Arizona or Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, ABC Sports
  • 1pm, Arkansas at Mississippi State, ESPN
  • 1pm, San Diego State at Utah, Versus
  • 3pm, Texas at Baylor, ESPN
  • 3pm, Holy Cross at Bucknell, ESPN2. Kansas not included
  • 3pm, 1030pm, 3am, California at Arizona State, CSNET, FSN, FCS
  • 3pm, Yale at Penn, ESPN Classic (live game)
  • 5pm, ODU at VCU, ESPN2
  • 5pm, Villanova at St Johns, ESPN Classic
  • 5pm, Pacific at CSN, FSN, FCS
  • 5pm, Gameday, ESPN
  • 6pm, Michigan State at Indiana, ESPN
  • 6pm, Washington State at Oregon, FSN, FCS
  • 6pm, 10pm, UNLV at BYU, CSTV
  • 8pm, 1am, Santa Clara at Pepperdine, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, 12am, 3am, St Mary's at LMU, CSTV
  • 11pm, Washington at Oregon State, FCS
  • 12am, repeat: 2007 slam dunk and 3-point contest from Atlanta, ESPN
  • 5am, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs


    Sun February 17, 2008
  • 7am, repeat: pacific at CSN, fcs
  • 10am, Ohio State at Michigan, CBS
  • 11am, 9pm, 5am, St Louis at UMass, CSTV
  • 1pm, CSS at Montana State, CNSET
  • 330pm, repeat: scu at pepperdine, fcs
  • 430pm, 5am, Duke at Wake Forest, FSN, FCS
  • 7pm, 1am, USC AT UCLA, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, repeat: cal at arizona state, csnet


    Mon February 18, 2008
  • 8am, CSS at Montana State, CNSET
  • 9am, 5pm, repeat: ucla at usc, fcs
  • 930am, repeat: troy at w.ky, fcs
  • 11am, repeat: 2007 slam dunk and 3-point contest from Atlanta, ESPN2
  • 11am, CLASSIC: 1987 Georgetown at Providence, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, 5am, repeat: paci at csf, fcs
  • 11am, 10pm, repeat: st louis at umass, cstv
  • 1pm, Georgetown at Providence, ESPN2
  • 1pm, TBA, ESPN Classic (live game)
  • 2pm, repeat: cal at asu, csnet
  • 230pm, CLASSIC: 1985 preseason NIT semi: Kansas vs Louisville, CSTV
  • 4pm, Syracuse at Louisville, ESPN
  • 6pm, Texas A&M at Texas, ESPN
  • 6pm, repeat: duke at wake forest, fcs
  • 7pm, 1am, St Mary's at Pepperdine, FSN, FCS
  • 7pm, Portland at USF, CSNET
  • 8pm, Gonzaga at San Diego, ESPN2
  • 11pm, 3am, repeat: cal at arizona, fcs
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1974 NCAA Semifinal: NC State vs UCLA, ESPN Classic
  • 530am, repeat: sacred heart at wagner, fcs


    Tue February 19, 2008
  • 7am, 7pm, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 7am, repeat: unlv at byu, cstv
  • 9am, repeat: scu at pepperdine, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1999 Kentucky at Georgia, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 1997 Purdue at Indiana, ESPN Classic
  • 3pm, repeat: st marys at pepperdine, fcs
  • 330pm, 130am, CLASSIC: 1991 LSU vs Ole Miss, CSTV
  • 4pm, Purdue at Indiana, ESPN
  • 4pm, UNC-Greensboro at Davidson, ESPN2
  • 6pm, 1am, repeat: ucla at usc, fcs
  • 6pm, Georgia at Kentucky, ESPN
  • 1030pm, repeat: sacred heart at wagner, fcs
  • 12am, CLASSIC: 1993 NCAA Elite 8: Michigan vs UCLA, ESPN Classic


    Logo Orange 100x27


    Wedn February 20, 2008
  • 6am, repeat: cal at arizona, fcs
  • 8am, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1987 North Carolina vs NC State (ACC Final), ESPN Classic
  • 10am, 5am, repeat: st marys at pepperdine, fcs
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1999 UConn at St Johns, CSTV
  • 230pm, repeat: ucla at usc, fcs
  • 4pm, North Carolina at NC State, ESPN
  • 4pm, Marquette at St Johns, ESPN2
  • 430pm, repeat: paci at csf, fcs
  • 5pm, 730pm, 3am, Memphis at Tulane, CSTV
  • 6pm, Kansas State at Nebraska, ESPN2
  • 830pm, repeat: duke at wake, fcs
  • 11pm, repeat: clemson at unc, fcs
  • 3am, repeat: cal at az, fcs


    Thur February 21, 2008
  • 7am, repeat: lmu at zags, fcs
  • 10am, 930pm, repeat: memphis at tulane, cstv
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2002 Oregon at USC, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1982 St Johns vs Syracuse, CSTV
  • 4pm, Pitt at Notre Dame, ESPN
  • 4pm, Umass at Rhode, ESPN2
  • 530pm, Cal State Sacto at NAU, FCS
  • 6pm, High School Game: American Christian vs St Anthony's, ESPN
  • 6pm, Michigan at Minnesota, ESPN2
  • 6pm, Arizona State at Washington State, FSN, FCS
  • 730pm, Oregon State at UCLA, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, Oregon at USC, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, Arizona at Washington, FSN, FCS
  • 1030pm, repeat: iupui at oakland, fcs


    Fri February 22, 2008
  • 7am, 930pm, repeat: oregon state at ucla, fcs
  • 9am, 1130pm, repeat: oregon at usc, fcs
  • 10am, 1999 CLASSIC: Oklahoma State at Kansas, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, 1989 CLASSIC: NCAA Semifinal: Michigan vs Illinois, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, 2002 CLASSIC: Oklahoma at Texas, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, Davidson at Winthrop, ESPN2
  • 530pm, repeat: st. marys at pepperdine, fcs
  • 7pm, repeat: south alabama at w.ky, fcs
  • 730pm, repeat: pacific at cal state fullerton, fcs
  • 1am, repeat: memphis at tulane, cstv


    Sat February 23, 2008 - Bracket Buster Saturday!
  • 8am, Gameday, ESPN
  • 8am, VCU at Akron, ESPN2
  • 9am, UConn at Villanova, ESPN
  • 9am, repeat: oregon state at ucla, fcs
  • 9am, 10pm, Henderson State at Harding, CSTV
  • 10am, George Mason at Ohio, ESPN2
  • 11am, Arkansas at Kentucky or Army at Navy, CBS Sports
  • 11am, 12am, Lehigh at Lafayette, CSTV
  • 12pm, Creighton at Oral Roberts, ESPN2
  • 1230pm, ABC game, ABC Sports
  • 1pm, Kansas at Oklahoma State or St Johns at Duke, CBS Sports
  • 1pm, Norfolk State at South Carolina State, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, Pepperdine at LMU, CSTV
  • 2pm, Drake at Butler, ESPN2
  • 3pm, Arizona State at Washington, FSN, FCS
  • 3pm, Miami Ohio at Valpo, ESPN Classic
  • 4pm, St Louis at Charlotte, CSNET
  • 5pm, 1am, Oregon State at USC, FSN, FCS
  • 5pm, Gameday, ESPN
  • 530pm, Lane at Stillman, CSTV
  • 6pm, 12am, TENNESSEE at MEMPHIS, ESPN. BIG GAME! #1 vs #2!
  • 7pm, 3am, Arizona at Washington State, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, BYU at San Diego State, CSTV
  • 9pm, Kent State at St Mary's, ESPN2
  • 9pm, Midnight Madness, ESPN


    Sun February 24, 2008
  • 6am, repeat: Pepperdine at LMU, CSTV
  • 7am, repeat: arizona state at washington, fcs
  • 11am, Syracuse at Notre Dame, or Alabama at Auburn, CBS Sports
  • 11am, 11pm, 5am, Xavier at Dayton, CSTV
  • 1pm, Wisconsin at Ohio State, CBS Sports
  • 130pm, 1am, NC State at Virginia, FSN, FCS
  • 3pm, 7am, repeat: lane at stillman, cstv
  • 330pm, 8pm, Wake Forest at North Carolina, FSN, FCS
  • 330pm, repeat: st marys at pepperdine, fcs
  • 6pm, California at Stanford, FSN, FCS
  • 11pm, repeat: arizona at washington state, FCS


    Mon February 25, 2008
  • 11am, CLASSIC 1985 Indiana State vs Ohio State, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, repeat: arizona state at washington, fcs
  • 11am, repeat: lane at stillman, cstv
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1993 Georgia at Florida, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, repeat: Alabama at Auburn, CSTV
  • 3pm, 1am, repeat: Oregon State at USC, fcs
  • 3pm, repeat: Navy at Army, CSTV
  • 4pm, Marquette at Villanova, ESPN
  • 5pm, repeat: oregon state at UCLA, fcs
  • 6pm, TEXAS at KANSAS STATE, ESPN
  • 7pm, 1am, San Fran at Santa Clara, CSNET
  • 7pm, repeat: ucla at usc, fcs
  • 7pm, repeat: arkansas at kentucky, cstv
  • 8pm, Gonzaga at Portland, ESPN2
  • 12am, CLASSIC 1985: UNC at Duke, ESPN Classic
  • 1am, repeat: Albany at Binghamton, FCS
  • 5am, repeat: St Francis NY at Long Island, FCS


    Tue February 26, 2008
  • 7am, repeat: cal state sacto at nau, fcs
  • 7am, repeat: lane at stillman, cstv
  • 9am, repeat: oregon state at usc, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC 2003 Florida at Georgia, ESPN Classic
  • 11am, 3am, repeat: nc state at virginia, fcs
  • 11am, 5am, repeat: cal at stanford, fcs
  • 11am, repeat: alabama at auburn, cstv
  • 1130am, CLASSIC: 2002 Boston College at Virginia Tech, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 1991 Indiana at Ohio State, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, repeat: Arkansas at Kentucky, CSTv
  • 3pm, repeat: oregon state at ucla, fcs
  • 4pm, Ohio State at Indiana, ESPN
  • 4pm, Southern Illinois at Bradley, ESPN2
  • 6pm, Tennessee at Vandy, ESPN
  • 7pm, 1am, 5am, San Diego State at UNLV, CSTV
  • 1am, repeat: arizona at washington state, fcs


    Wedn February 27, 2008
  • 7am, 11am, repeat: oregon state at usc, fcs
  • 11am, CLASSIC 1987 Georgetown at St Johns, ESPN Classic
  • 1pm, repeat: san diego state at unlv, cstv
  • 4pm, Kansas at Iowa State, ESPN
  • 430pm, 1030pm, W.Ky at Florida Intl, FCS
  • 430pm, Lamar at Texas A&M CC, FCS
  • 5pm, 830pm, 3am, Tulsa at Memphis, CSTV
  • 6pm, Georgia Tech at Duke, ESPN
  • 6pm, West Virginia at DePaul, ESPN2
  • 730pm, repeat: cal at stanford, fcs
  • 11pm, repeat: arizona at washington state, fcs


    Thur February 28, 2008 - POST SEASON BEGINS TODAY!
  • 530am, 3am, repeat: oregon state at usc, fcs
  • 730am, repeat: oregon state at ucla, fcs
  • 930am, College Basketball: Inside the Game, ESPN Classic
  • 930am, repeat: cal at stanford, fcs
  • 10am, CIAA Quarterfinal #1, ESPN Classic
  • 10am, repeat: tulsa at memphis, cstv
  • 1pm, CLASSIC: 2002 Wisconsin at Michigan State, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, 5am, repeat: syracuse at notre dame, cstv
  • 4pm, Notre Dame at Louisville, ESPN
  • 4pm, St Louis at St Joseph's, ESPN2
  • 4pm, CIAA Quarterfinal #2, ESPN Classic
  • 530pm, repeat: weber state at nau, fcs
  • 6pm, USC at ARIZONA, ESPN - Yes ESPN does Pac-10!
  • 6pm, Michigan State at Wisconsin, ESPN2
  • 6pm, CIAA Quarterfinal #3, ESPN Classic
  • 730pm, UCLA at Arizona State, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, 1am, Washington State at Cal, FSN, FCS
  • 8pm, CIAA Quarterfinal #4, ESPN Classic
  • 5am, repeat: arizona at washington state, fcs


    Fri February 29, 2008
  • 7am, 12pm, repeat: ucla at arizona state, fcs
  • 9am, 12am, repeat: washington state at cal, fcs
  • 10am, CLASSIC: 1990 Syracuse at Pitt, ESPN Classic
  • 12pm, CLASSIC: 1993 Texas at Texas Tech, ESPN Classic
  • 2pm, CLASSIC: 1994 NCAA 2nd round: Boston College at North Carolina, ESPN Classic
  • 6pm, College Basketball: Inside the Game, ESPN Classic
  • 630pm, CIAA Tournament, semifinal, ESPN Classic
  • 8pm, repeat: w.ky at florida intl, fcs
  • 830pm, CIAA Tournament, semifinal, ESPN Classic


    MARCH 2008
    March 2008 college basketball TV listings continue here.



    High School Basketball TV Schedule


    The ESPN family of networks will bring us 15 high school hoops games this season. Details in this printer-friendly edition of ESPN High School.


    Don't miss a game with TiVo!



    Direct from the Source
  • FSN and Fox College Sports tv listings.
  • Big Ten Network tv listings.
  • CBS Sports, the whole season until Selection Sunday 2008 which is Sunday, March 16, 2007. Billy (anti-Vitale but with a Coke habit) Packer and Jim Nantz continue to be the lead duo of announcers.
  • ESPN TV, and ESPN Program Guide.
  • CSTV.
  • TiVo.
  • Comcast.

  • North Carolina at North Carolina State

    The in-state rivalry game never materialized as UNC managed to grab the lead and never look back. Granted it wasn't a cakewalk at first, but the Lawson-less UNC team also played with an injured Neon Deon Thompson, but did not miss a beat. The more Lawson stays out, the better it is for Q (Quinton Thomas). Imagine how good things will be for UNC when Lawson comes back. In fact Ole Roy may even be tempted to play them together for a few minutes.

    NC State is finally getting back some of their injured players, but their lack of an ACC-caliber point guard is killing a team that has a number of serviceable and versatile forwards. The chemistry issues seem to be there, not necessarily personnel-wise, but skills and style of play wise.

    What did we learn from this game? NC State will be lucky to make it to the new 3rd tier post-season tourney, while UNC is certainly a Sweet 16 team, a likely Elite 8 team, and has good chances of making to the Final Four, and it could also cut down the nets in April 2008.

    Has Kelvin Sampson been fired already?

    Has the embattled Kelvin Sampson been fired by the basketball-crazy Hoosiers even though he has their best on-court team they've had in years?

    A number of stories are pointing in that direction, including the AOL Fanhouse and Fox Sports. The stories are accumulated and summarized in the following two Ball Hype posts: here and here.

    Ouch! So who will be the temporary coaches? Will one of the assistants take over for the next few hours, and then an Indiana guy with experience brought in to finish the season? Someone like Dan Dakich, or perhaps Bob Knight, or any other "mercinary" coach with strong Indiana ties? How about Isiah Thomas? :)

    Syracuse at Louisville

    If you love zone defense, this was the game for you! Both teams spent a lot of time zoned out, tried to de-rail the opponents offense. The rosters were a stark contrast, Syracuse on a tight 7-man rotation, while Pitino probably having the deepest roster since he took over the Louisville RedBirds.

    Ultimately the depth and the home court decided the game, along with the critically acclaimed point-center who goes by the name of David Padgett. What could kill Louisville in the post-season is their guards. Andre McGee is a backup type, and Sosa is quite unpredictable. Jerry Smith is the most reliable guard, while the only predictable thing from their back-court is the level of energy and enthusiasm Preston Knowles brings to the co(ur)t (Pitino-speak).

    Meanwhile Syracuse, now with an improved schedule, has shown that they are not to be counted out, and they won't back down or take no as an answer. And they have the players to do so. From the two Flynnstones (Flynn and Greene), the built-like-a-tank Do-It-All-Paul, and the other four that fill in the blanks. I'm not sure whether they are in and out right now, but barring a collapse, I would be surprised if Syracuse was not included in the field of 65 in March!

    Thank you Miami, thank you!

    Thank you Miami Hurricanes! Thank you Frank Haith! Thank you state of Florida for delivering yet another Duke loss! Thank you Miami fans, alumni, players, alumni, professors, janitors, athletic department employees, boosters, and everyone affiliated with the great University of Miami!

    Why am I so excited about Miami? Because they BEAT DUKE! last night!

    To celebrate this win, be sure to get some Miami Hurricanes gear:

    Wednesday, February 20, 2008

    UCLA at USC

    Who won the battle for Los Angeles? Defense won! That's right, basketball did not win, defense won. And UCLA ended up with a +1 in the win column. This game was supposed to be a premier game, with two of the top freshmen in OJ Mayo and Kevin "Beached Whale" Love. Instead it was an exercise in how to ruin a game with defense. The first one to 50 won.

    OJ Mayo had double figures, but in turnovers! Tim "Pink" Floyd insisted on playing five players, and not even giving the rest of the players a sniff (until he got in foul trouble in the first half and needed fouls at the end of the second half). Even though USC played one game this week, the grinding nature of the game wore out the five USC players.

    Meanwhile UCLA showed once again why their defense is so good. They foul multiple times per possession. And don't forget the way they screen on offense. Even UCLA great Marques Johnson confessed that the Bruins are "very aggressive" when setting screens and the zebras are not going to call most of them.

    Arggg! What have all these slugfest coaches done with my Pac-10? :(


    PS> Big props to Marques Johnson for calling the ACC game that preceded the Pac-10 game, the "JV game". Woohoo :-)

    PS2> Our thanks to Wake Forest, their players, their fans, their alumni, and everyone associated with Wake Forest for their wonderful victory over the Dirty Dookies. Keep it coming Wake Forest! They win our Duke Slayer Award of 2008!

    Tuesday, February 19, 2008

    Washington State at Oregon

    We are slightly behind as you can see :) But here we go: The battle of the contrasting style of plays, episode #23405. The run and gun Oregon Ducks hosted the Vulcans of Washington State! The game started faster than we anticipated, but sluggishness took over the second half where it took the Cougars a few centuries to go from 41 to over 42.

    Despite all that, Washington State showed once again they are very capable of beating teams outside the Sweet 16. The Nike Ducks are one of the crazy teams of the year, like Texas and Xavier, that can beat almost any team on a good day, and lose to any team on a bad day. And this was not a good day for Oregon.

    However, the clock is ticking for Oregon, and with the crunch in the middle of the Pac-10, an NCAA bid will be hard to come by. Unlike the many pundits who dream of 7 or 8 bids for the Pac-10, we would like to point out that the Pac-10 will get 6 bids, unless a team that is not supposed to get an at-large bid makes a run to the tourney final beating a couple of NCAA teams along the way.

    Why would we say that? We are a west-coast-bias blog after all. Because unlike conference with unbalanced schedules, where at-large teams can keep on wining over non-tourney teams, Pac-10 plays a true round robin, which means there are not enough wins for seven at-large teams. The only "guaranteed" win is Oregon State. Nothing else is guaranteed. And you don't have to be a math major to realize that there's only 9 wins per week in the conference. That's all! Not enough room for seven at-large bids!

    But the Pac-10 tourney could save the day for teams like Cal 420, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon, Wise-less Arizona and Hacketless-USC, especially if they don't finish strong.

    Sunday, February 17, 2008

    Bonnie Bernstein talks trash about the Atlantic-10

    Not sure if it was her idea or if Bonnie Bernstein was reading from what others wrote, but during ABC's "Race to the Final Four" she called the Atlantic-10 a "fringe conference". A fringe conference? Come on Bonnie! How clueless are you? Or whoever wrote that sentence. A fringe conference? Idiots!!!

    This was in ABC's "Race to the Final Four" that aired on Saturday February 16, 2008. Neither Tom Brennan nor Pat Forde stepped in to save the day. They let it slide! This should be available at ABC.com and it will also repeat on ESPN next Monday. This is really sad.

    Atlantic-10 fans, you know what to do! This is a slap in the face in a year that the A-10 is having a very solid game!

    Charles Barkley "fake christians" starts a fire on CNN's Late Edition

    Former Auburn great and NBA superstar and basketball analyst Charles Barkley shocked Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition when he called the religious conservatives "fake christians" because of their hypocrisy and such. I assume he won't be invited to the 700 Club ;-) Shocked not because it's not true, but because he said it out loud. Wolf of course is used to politicians who avoid saying anything that might cost them half a vote.

    Barkley also revealed that he is planning to run for governator of Alabama in 2014. He just bought a house there in 2007 to start his seven year residency requirement. According to him.

    The NBA All-star game tips off tonight at 8pm eastern on TNT. Was this just a gimmick to generate more buzz for the all-star game? CNN and TNT are owned by the same company :)

    Saturday, February 16, 2008

    Indiana Basketball was back (until Kelvin muddied the waters)

    First it was the state of Tennessee that was experiencing a great college hoops renaissance, and everywhere in the top 10 you looked, you saw a team from Ten-nessee, with Memphis, Tennessee and Vandy being ranked very high.

    After that we saw the return of the state of Indiana to national prominence once again, first up with *gasp* Butler having a solid preseason and solid fundamental on-court performance, then Indiana with super frosh Eric Gordon was piling up the wins, and then the youth-movement at Purdue starting to pile up game experience and wins, and Purdue rose to prominence at a national level.

    And while the Hoosier state was in a state of bliss of the revitalization of their hoops programs, Kelvin "500 calls" Sampson came in to muddy the waters. While his "cheating" [allegedly] will not likely affect this season, it will marr and scar the Hoosier Hoops Renaissance.

    Don't look now but Purdue won their last ten games folks. Butler is a headache for anyone they play, and Indiana is anyone's guess. They could get blown out in the first round, or they could make a run to the Elite 8. Who knows...

    PS> Oh yes, did we forget about Notre Dame or are we picking on Digger Phelps? Not that Digger is reading this blog :) Yes, Notre Dame is also having a solid season, adding to the Indiana revival!

    Friday, February 15, 2008

    Indiana University presser today at 3pm eastern to address Kelvin Sampson situation

    Seven thousand years of Bob Knight: Zero violations. Seven hundred days of Kelvin Sampson: Seven thousand violations! Okay, I'm exaggerating, but if there was ever a case to bring up the poster boy of untreated anger management, this may be it.

    At 3pm eastern today, Indiana University will address the Kelvin "500 calls cheater" Sampson alleged violations. ESPN's Outside the Lines will address this at 3pm eastern today on ESPN. Also be sure to check ESPN News as they may be carrying the press conference event live.

    For more on Outside the Lines, be sure to check the OTL main page.

    On a totally unrelated note, season 2 of Robin Hood is coming to BBC America in April 2008 ;-)

    Thursday, February 14, 2008

    North Carolina at Virginia

    No Lawson, no final four I'm afraid for UNC. But the good news is that Ty Lawson should be back before the March Madness tourney tips off.

    Virginia looked a mess for quite a while, but they re-discovered their mojo and made the game respectable before losing to the Lawson-less TarHeels.

    The tweek in the Carolana oafense was Ty Hansbro shooting mid-range jumpers. This was an interesting experiment, not sure if it was by design, or it organically developed during the game, but this could make things more interesting assuming Ty Hansbro is able to consistently hit those jumpers.

    It was also interesting to see Ole Roy try to tighten up his rotations to seven players, before foul troubles got Graves in the game. And now you wonder why Roy Williams thought Wes Miller was crucial to the team. At the time, a number of people laughed it up, but Carolina could have surely used a Wes Miller right about now with Lawson and Fraser out due to injury.

    What can we say about Virginia? Dave Leiteo had a solid season last year, but what happened this year? He should be safe, but if he picks up the paper and reads that 22 months after the Final Four John Brady was ejected from LSU... Ouch!

    Wednesday, February 13, 2008

    Kansas at Texas

    This was a big game for the Big 12, and with the added boost of Big Monday coverage on ESPN. Sadly this game is only played once during each regular season, because of the way the Big 12 is structured.

    The game did not disappoint. The run and gun Rick Barnes crazies managed to eek out a big home win in front of a home court, facing a deeper and more talented Self-less squad.

    Texas, like Xavier and Oregon, are teams of the crazy variety, they have a wide range of play, and because of that, they have higher highs, and lower lows. On the other end of the spectrum we have teams like Wisconsin and Washington State which are operating on a much narrower band and have a higher lows, but also lower highs. And a lower ceiling too.

    Kansas is so talented, yet there seems to be something off about this team. Not sure what it is. This is not the same feel as UNC, but with UNC we also get feeling they are missing something (and I'm talking when they had Ty Lawson and Bo Fraser in the line-up way back then).

    Jayhawks fans may not like this, but Bill Self may have issues! Granted it's not easy to have post-season success, but he had at least two Final Four capable teams in his four years, yet he only delivered two Elite 8 and two first-round exits to Bucknell and Bradley.

    Meanwhile other teams, with less talent, have been able to get back to back final fours, or make it to the final four. As we mentioned earlier in the year, Bill Self may be the next Tubby Smith.

    Will the Bob Knight Insiders stage a coup and re-install him at IU?

    With Kelvin Sampson's cheating/recruiting troubles continuing, will we go full circle at Indiana?

    This may sound like fantasy, but let's follow this patterns:

    If Sampson does indeed get in hot water when the NCAA spanish inquisition is completed in the post-season, Indiana may have to fire him, since there were some of that in his contract.

    If he does indeed get fired for recruiting violations, the people who hired him, the university administrators will be in trouble for the hire. They may be fired too.

    This would create an opening for the Bob Knight sympathizers for their power play, to get rid of the Myles Brand crowd, and install their own people. Once the Knight people take over IU, then the ground will be fertile for the return of the crazy man at the place where he once belonged.

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008

    Arizona State at Arizona

    On paper, this looked bleak for Arizona State. They had lost 23 of the last 24 games to the Lute Olson Meercats before the start of this season. Arizona was coming off a woodshed beating at Pauley and in theory they should have been primed to punish the next opponent.

    And that's how it started, with a 22-6 lead, with Jerryd Bayless hitting just about everything he threw up. At that point, Herb "Mensa" Sendek took a couple of strategic time outs and was able to inspire his team to tighten up the defense and stay patient on offense.

    With Bayless the only Zona player able to score, and Jordan Hill reverting to the quick two first half fouls "strategy", Budinger (who looked like he belonged to a beach volleyball team last night) and J-Mac were unable to provide some offense. The value of Nic "Hoops" Wise was evident in game #1 since his season-ending (?) surgery. With the Michigan kid transferring back to Michigan, Arizona was a bit thin on the back-court.

    The game was played like a Big Ten game, except without the intensity, which is a bit strange, since this is supposed to be a hated and heated rivarly ;-)

    The box score looked like an AAU game, with Bayless and Pendergraph (not to be confused with GoneZaga's Pendergraft) both getting career highs above the high 30s.

    With Arizona players not named Bayless unable to score, and unable to defend Sendek's half court offense, ASU slowly but steadily got back in the game, and then took the reigns, and finished off with a much needed victory.

    This is even more important for Sendek in the eyes of Sun Devils fans, as the ASU won only 1 out of the previous 24 games against Arizona. Sendek has managed to sweep Arizona twice this season.

    Arizona fans will point out that in game #1 Bayless DNP, and in this game, Nic Wise DNP due to injuries. But Arizona State fans will point out that ASU was playing with super-frosh James Harden as a shadow of his regular self due to a bad case of the flu. But Harden was able to play and make enough plays to allow his teammates to win the game.

    Another item that will cheer ASU fans was the determination and energy of Pendergraph on both sides of the floor. If he plays like that every game, and Harden plays to his usual self when he recovers from the flu, the team could make an NCAA run!

    Saturday, February 09, 2008

    Tom Brennan and Doug Gottleib not afraid to talk Bob Knight

    Unlike the "old school" Bob Knight appeasers at ESPN, the dynamic duo of Tom Brennan and Doug "Big Mouth" Gottleib were not afraid to say it like it is when they were discussing the Bob Knight "resignation" at Texas Tech. Both of them pointed out that Knight quit on his team, and threw cold water in the faces of his four trusty seniors.

    Brennan pointed out his anger management issues, while Gottlieb pointed out the hypocrisy of Knight's double standard for himself and everyone else around him.

    This could be even more interesting if Knight is hired by ESPN as a basketball analyst! Imagine the scene in the cafeteria when he faces Brennan or Gottleib ;-) Another Chris Everett moment? :)

    Games to watch on Saturday February 9, 2008

    We have some great games on TV today! First up, a shootout is promised as the wounded Marquette Eagles are visiting the Fighting Digger Phelps's at South Bender. This game on ESPN.

    On CBS, the Dookies are hosting Boston College, and we hope that Al Skinner and BC slugfest it out and beat the Dookies!

    On ABC, there's a Pac-10, Big 12 and ACC games, the most interesting being USC visiting the now desperate Washington State Cougars. Wazoo should win this game as USC is not a top 16 team.

    At 1pm pacific, we have a rematch and a budding rivarly, as two hot teams square off, Georgia Tech without Jarret Jack and "take the women and children out of the lane" Ishm Mohammed, and UConn without Gordon and Okafor. But this promises to be a hot game for ESPN, as Georgia Tech is now able to play better on the road, not just at the Bobby Cremins (Alexander).

    At 3pm pacific, ABC features their new program, Road to March Madness with Tom Brennan, Bonnie "I don't give a shit about Carolina" Bernsttein, and guest coaches. Last week they had super-abrasive Matt Doherty of SMU. Is he fired yet? :)

    Also at 3pm pacific, Michael Beasley hosts Oklahoma State. We predict a 30/20 game from the Beastly Boy.

    At 5pm pacific, Gameday preps us for the big game at 6pm pacific, Georgetown at Louisville which hopes to be a really good game! Rick Pitino gave away his game plan already on his coaches show, which aired on CSTV nationally.

    And at 4pm pacific, a game of desperation for the Nike Ducks, they have to beat California, otherwise they have to win the Pac-10 conference tournament game. Cal is on the up-tick and they have to win to maintain their momentum and build up a case for an at large bid.

    For more listings, be sure to check our February 2008 college hoops tv listings.

    Friday, February 08, 2008

    UCLA at Washington State

    Friel the Heat, and Friel the Love! As I had suspected all along, Washington State has a ceiling. They are unable to beat a Sweet 16 (or better) team. Their initial softer schedule gave them an impressive record, and combined with the toughness of the Pac 10, they began climbing up the polls and rankings.

    But when they started facing top 20 caliber teams, the wins were nowhere to be found. Washington State may be #1 in being able to get the max out of their talent and skills level, but that's their ceiling.

    Just like Wisconsin, they may have the best record against the Bottom 300 teams in the NCAAs, but in order to win championships or have success in the NCAA tourney, you need to be able to beat the Top 32 teams in the country.

    Unless something changes, Wazoo is heading towards a first round exit. Aron Bayness continues to not be a factor, which perhaps is linked to all that.

    UCLA, with its patented multiple-foul-per-possession defense, and despite missing one of its wrestlers defenders, was able, partially thanks to the zebras, to take and maintain a lead with a small but safe margin.

    I was hoping UCLA would lose, but they didn't :-(

    John Brady fired at LSU - are we turning into the NBA?

    This is crazy! Another coach gets fired mid-season because the results on the court are not pretty. Unless of course there's more to the story that we are not aware of. And it's not like he didn't deliver. He got them to the Final Four in 2006. So why did LSU fire John Brady?

    A forum user at TigerU made the case to get him fired in January 2005 for continuing to under-perform. And that seems to be the reason he was fired according to FoxSports. Super-assistant Butch Pierre has taken over, and he may be the heir to the throne. The Fox Sports story mentions that Tim Floyd might be one interested entity, or if they want to go with a young rising star they may take a look at VCU's Dookie-slayer Anthony Grant.

    How about Bob Knight? Are they desperate enough?

    What are other blogs saying? Here is a sampling of the reactions, SEC Hoops TGTBTD, BamaHoops, Pelican State, Rocky Top Talk, Hog Blog, and many more.

    Thursday, February 07, 2008

    LIVE: Indiana at Illinois just went to second overtime

    Drop everything and turn on ESPN now! Indiana and Illinois have just starter their second overtime! Lots of drama in this game, narrated by Rece Davis, Jay Bilas and Pat Forde (yes, he is venturing into ESPN national games now). Currently 3 minutes left in OT #2 with the Hoosiers up by one point!

    Shaun Pruitt could have won the game at the end of overtime #1 but he missed two free throws!

    Oh my! Eric Gordon gets a 10-second backcourt violation with 24 seconds left, while something is thrown towards the friends and family of Eric Gordon in the stands. Oh my!!!

    Swoosh! Inside Nike on CNBC next Tuesday

    If you are into the shoe business and the business world or Nike, be sure to check out a brand new original CNBC production on Nike, premiering on Tuesday February 12, 2008, at 10pm eastern (7pm pacific), and repeating at three hours later. If you miss those airings, it will air a couple more times later in the week.

    The program description? An examination of Nike's success including how it makes and markets its products, commentary from superstar athletes like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Bron Bron (LeBron James). Also featured is retired founder Phil Knight.

    The documentary is one TV hour long, which means it's probably around 45 minutes or so without commercials.

    Arizona Blues: Nic Wise out four to six weeks

    When it rains it poors in Arizona, because it's probably a monsoon! After suffering a humiliating defeat at UCLA, the Arizona Meerkats received new bad news, their fire hydrant point guard Nic "Hoops" Wise will be sidelined for 4 to 6 weeks due to injury that requires surgery to fix it. The news is flashing at the bottom of the screen on the ESPN and ESPN2 ticker.

    Who is desperate enough to hire Bob Knight

    Our initial post was just minutes after the Bob Knight news. Now it is clear that Bob Knight is not retiring at all. He is simply ejecting from Texas Tech before he gets Myles Brand'ed again.

    It's rather clear now that his motives were to give Pat Knight a chance to be a head coach, without having to worry about the new university administration opening a nationwide coaching search. So Knight essentially is forcing their hand.

    This also allows Bob Knight more time to evaluate the current openings and the openings that may become available. It also signals universities that may be considering a coaching change to accelerate their process and take a look at Knight - if he is their type.

    Through various surrogates (read: almost all ESPN college basketball yes-men analysts) he had let it be known that he has "ten more years in him", which Vitale was shouting at the top of his recently repaired vocal cords over and over on ESPN.

    So who currently has an opening or might be desperate enough to take a shot (no put intended) at Bob Knight?

  • Oregon State: Jay John is already gone, the arms race in the Pac-10 is out of control, and OSU is probably the one place on the west coast that Knight can get away with his antics and outbursts.

  • Nebraska: Whiled Doc Sandler is the head coach and he comes from the Bill Self - Billy Gillispie tree of recruiting success, he hasn't exactly delivered yet, and let's face it, Nebraska would get a big boost with Knight. But would Knight want to face his own son on the court at least once a year? Well, why not? He kicked him in public after all :-)

  • San Francisco: If they were desperate enough to consider Gene Keady and Eddie Sutton, why not go after Knight? It would make for an entertaining marriage! Bob Knight and San Francisco!

  • Pepperdine: Only because they are currently coachless and the Paul Westphall and Vance "AASAA" Walberg experiments failed

  • St Johns: This may sound strange at first, but if you look further into the numbers, you will notice that Saint John's has a hard time filling up MSG. Infact MSG just barely gave them a three year extension, and if they don't turn it around, they'll have to play outdoors or in a high school game. What better way to fill up the arena, that get Bob Knight. This is indeed a major stretch, but circumstances make strange bedfellows! (or something like that)

  • LSU fired John Brady. Are they desperate enough to consider Bob Knight?

  • more to be added as desperation increases

  • Dick Vitale vs Billy Packer

    Billy Packer likes to drink Coke, but he doesn't seem to enjoy it that much. Or rather, he enjoys it, but in a serious manner, with a subtle satisfaction deep inside his angry soul ;-)

    Dick Vitale on the other hand likes to eat DiGiorno pizzas and jump over everyone and dunk. And after a hard day's work, he goes to Hooters to wind down and get his sleazy old man hands paws all over the cheerleaders waitressess.

    Wednesday, February 06, 2008

    Bill Self on Rome is Burning on Thursday

    Kansas and Bill Self fans all over the world, be sure to check out Jim Rome is Burning tomorrow on ESPN as Bill Self will be the guest. The show is expected to air at 430pm eastern (130pm pacific) on ESPN. Check local listings for more details and possible repeats. With all the stuff happening right now in the world of sports, it might get pre-empted. From the NBA blockbuster trades, to the soccer with helmets spygate, to the Major League Steroid saga, and the Bob Knight resign-retire-athon.

    Not sure if the coaches of Bucknell and Bradley will be invited with Bill Self ;-) Just kidding Kansas fans, didn't mean to rub it in! Or did I?

    Duke at North Carolina

    No Ty Lawson, no Bobby Frasor, no offense from Wayne Ellington and Danny Green, well what do you expect, no victory for the UNC Tar Heels.

    The first signs of a loss were observed at the second TV timeout, with the score tied, but game patterns so far were pointing towards Duke. And so right they were, the Dookies won, and they should have won by a lot more considering they had ten or so three pointers made more than the UNC Tar Heels (before the game was decided), and UNC had more turnovers than all the bakeries in NYC combined.

    Psycho T had a solid game as expected, as the Dookies did not have a space-eater to fight him off. He did miss a couple of free throws more than he usually does, and was close to a 30/20 game. But Psycho T could not do everything. And there was no one to really help him, other than Ginyard.

    The two Cali forwards came to UNC full of promise, but they are both under-performing. Deon Thompson started strong on offense, but then got in foul trouble and faded away. Meanwhile the more defensive minded Alex Stepheson was a turnover factory, which didn't help either.

    Speaking of Cali forwards, there were at least six players from California in this game, played on the other coast, with such notables as DeMarcus Nelson, David McClure and Taylor Queen of Duke, and Deon Thompson, Q Thomas, and Alex Stepheson of UNC.

    Duke won the game because of defense, three pointers, style of play, and such. Greg Paulass couldn't miss a three pointer, and just about every Dookie who played stayed within the game plan for the most part.

    But given the way the game developed, UNC was much closer in the game, given how badly they turned the ball over, and they couldn't hit the dessert from the Grand Canyon, and the Dookies were making everything outside.

    What would have happened had Ty Lawson played? Well, unless you have a way to check the result in the parallel universes we'll never know. But we will get at least one re-match in March when they square off in March on an ESPN Gameday Primetime game with Dookie Vitale.

    Speaking of which, he is sounding more and more like a bigger diva than Paris Hilton. Yes, he was back baby!!! No more quiet games! It's all about the Vitale Show baby!

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