college basketball

Many have tried to tell the story of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. No one did it better than Connecticut forward Jeff Adrien after Huskies blew out Chattanooga by 56 points and Texas A&M by 26.

Many have tried to tell the story of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. No one did it better than Connecticut forward Jeff Adrien after Huskies blew out Chattanooga by 56 points and Texas A&M by 26.

For all the credit coaches get for their teams' postseason success, the simple fact is, the teams with the most talent usually advance the furthest in the NCAA Tournament.
The 24 teams in the past 12 national-championship games produced 61 players who are now in the NBA, and 36 of them are starters.

For all the credit coaches get for their teams' postseason success, the simple fact is, the teams with the most talent usually advance the furthest in the NCAA Tournament.
The 24 teams in the past 12 national-championship games produced 61 players who are now in the NBA, and 36 of them are starters.

Once a year, in the middle of March, a favorite topic for sports columnists (well, at least one of them) is to rip the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Because the identities of the committee members remain obscure to the public, it's easy to take the group to task without making the attack personal. This is a guiltless pleasure, with the emphasis on the pleasure.

Syracuse finds itself in a tempting transition. Once slumping, the Orange have moved from scrambling just to get into the NCAA Tournament to scheming to win it.
From hot to staying hot.
"We might as well try to win the whole thing," Syracuse forward Paul Harris told reporters in Miami, where the Orange dumped Stephen F. Austin and Arizona State.

It remains to be seen whether the University of Memphis will have the best team at the NCAA West Regional this week in Glendale, Ariz. But when it comes to playing -- literally and figuratively -- on the big stage of the Sweet 16, the Tigers are miles ahead of the competition.

Since a gritty little program from Eastern Washington emerged from the obscurity of the West Coast Conference a decade ago and started smacking around bigger programs from better conferences, we've been waiting for a matchup like this.

It might have been a minute but it seemed like forever that Pitt's Naismith Player of the Year Award finalist DeJuan Blair was on the hard floor Sunday, clutching his left knee after Oklahoma State's Byron Eaton barreled into Blair's leg shoulder-first.

Early lessons from the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament:

NORTH CAROLINA NEEDED EARLY TEST
If North Carolina wins the national basketball championship, Roy Williams should send LSU a thank-you card.
UNC got exactly what it needed from LSU in Saturday's NCAA Tournament second-round win -- a push.