If there were any decent synonyms for madness that began with an "N," television execs might already have devised a title for college basketball's late-November bracket business. Alas, the hoop world is stuck with a few weak options: Sometimes the multitude of Classics, Invitationals and Tip-Offs are called "Preseason Tournaments," which is incorrect, since they're part of the regular season; others call them "Early-Season Tournaments," which is still boring; and the NCAA's official term form them, "Multi-Team Events," is the most boring of all.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- There's nothing subtle about a Purdue basketball practice. The players wear shorts with the words "PLAY HARD" stitched across the rear. A clock hanging above the tunnel that leads off the court of Mackey Arena sits above a sign that reads, "Time to Play Hard." I watched Purdue go through a grueling for three hours Monday -- much longer than most teams practice this time of year. The workout was a blur of collisions, bumps and elbows.
On Thursday, I sent in my ballot for the Naismith Award's preseason watch list. It runs 50 players deep, sets the table for the national player of the year race, and tends to generate two things: fluffy press releases from athletic departments and debate from fans over how/why (insert deserving player's name here) was snubbed. I'm on the Board of Selectors for the award, and while there are no official rules for the voting, my guiding principle is simply, "Don't leave the eventual Naismith winner off of your preseason watch list." Because that would be embarrassing.
The latest subject in SI.com's hoops Q&A series is Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, who's currently playing for the U.S. World University Games team in Belgrade, Serbia. As a sophomore last season, Hummel averaged 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds while battling a nagging lower- back injury, and the Boilermakers finished 27-10 and lost to UConn in the Sweet 16. I caught up with Hummel during the World University Games trials in Colorado Springs, and the following is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Cyber criminals are setting snares that move at the speed of news.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- USA Basketball announced the final rosters for its U-19 World Championship and World University Games teams on Thursday, after conducting concurrent trials over the previous two days.
We may all know -- or at least we think we know -- what the ultimate outcome will be: UConn hoisting the trophy. But whether or not Connecticut clinches another undefeated season and national championship, the women's NCAA tournament has been well worth watching this year.
It's one thing to bag three of an NCAA tournament's top four seeds. But in that alone there's no proof, only promise. And the Big East, touted as the college game's preeminent league since November, is keeping its promises. And then some.
PHOENIX -- If Connecticut had what Huskies coach Jim Calhoun called a "normal center," Purdue might have had a chance of knocking off the top-seed in the West Regional on Thursday at University of Phoenix Stadium.
For Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, the first weekend of the NCAA tournament started with a trip to the hospital, where he was treated for dehydration. The second week started with a nationally televised news conference, where he tried to defend his program against alleged recruiting violations.
If there were any decent synonyms for madness that began with an "N," television execs might already have devised a title for college basketball's late-November bracket business. Alas, the hoop world is stuck with a few weak options: Sometimes the multitude of Classics, Invitationals and Tip-Offs are called "Preseason Tournaments," which is incorrect, since they're part of the regular season; others call them "Early-Season Tournaments," which is still boring; and the NCAA's official term form them, "Multi-Team Events," is the most boring of all.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- There's nothing subtle about a Purdue basketball practice. The players wear shorts with the words "PLAY HARD" stitched across the rear. A clock hanging above the tunnel that leads off the court of Mackey Arena sits above a sign that reads, "Time to Play Hard." I watched Purdue go through a grueling for three hours Monday -- much longer than most teams practice this time of year. The workout was a blur of collisions, bumps and elbows.
On Thursday, I sent in my ballot for the Naismith Award's preseason watch list. It runs 50 players deep, sets the table for the national player of the year race, and tends to generate two things: fluffy press releases from athletic departments and debate from fans over how/why (insert deserving player's name here) was snubbed. I'm on the Board of Selectors for the award, and while there are no official rules for the voting, my guiding principle is simply, "Don't leave the eventual Naismith winner off of your preseason watch list." Because that would be embarrassing.
The latest subject in SI.com's hoops Q&A series is Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, who's currently playing for the U.S. World University Games team in Belgrade, Serbia. As a sophomore last season, Hummel averaged 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds while battling a nagging lower- back injury, and the Boilermakers finished 27-10 and lost to UConn in the Sweet 16. I caught up with Hummel during the World University Games trials in Colorado Springs, and the following is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Cyber criminals are setting snares that move at the speed of news.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- USA Basketball announced the final rosters for its U-19 World Championship and World University Games teams on Thursday, after conducting concurrent trials over the previous two days.
We may all know -- or at least we think we know -- what the ultimate outcome will be: UConn hoisting the trophy. But whether or not Connecticut clinches another undefeated season and national championship, the women's NCAA tournament has been well worth watching this year.
It's one thing to bag three of an NCAA tournament's top four seeds. But in that alone there's no proof, only promise. And the Big East, touted as the college game's preeminent league since November, is keeping its promises. And then some.
PHOENIX -- If Connecticut had what Huskies coach Jim Calhoun called a "normal center," Purdue might have had a chance of knocking off the top-seed in the West Regional on Thursday at University of Phoenix Stadium.
For Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, the first weekend of the NCAA tournament started with a trip to the hospital, where he was treated for dehydration. The second week started with a nationally televised news conference, where he tried to defend his program against alleged recruiting violations.
He is a senior without a ring, the most desperate of NCAA tournament players, driven one last time to punctuate his career with a net draped around his neck and confetti in the air. Four and a half years have passed since A.J. Price's life was interrupted. One day he was greatness in waiting; the next he was fighting for survival. As a freshman at Connecticut in the fall of 2004, he became gravely ill from a congenital abnormality in the blood vessels of his brain. He spent his 18th birthday in the intensive care unit of a Hartford hospital, disconnected from basketball in the most terrifying manner.
If Dr. Jack Kevorkian was overseeing Bubble Watch this season, he'd quickly go out of business. Nobody wants to die.
If you needed an illustration of the Butterfly Effect as it pertains to college hoops, look no further than Saturday in the ACC. The second halves of games at Duke and Clemson may end up changing a lot about the eventual NCAA tournament bracket.
DETROIT, Mich. -- I hit the road this week hoping to check out two great games in the flesh. What I got instead were two stinkers: Duke took apart Purdue with surgical precision on Tuesday night in West Lafayette, Ind., and North Carolina overwhelmed Michigan State by 35 points the following night in Detroit. The second game took place at Ford Field, site of the 2009 Final Four, and based on what happened this week, if both of those teams ended up back there in four months it should surprise no one.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Each time the drill began, four Purdue players spread across the bottom of the lane with locked hands, as if they were readying for a game of Red Rover. Any resemblance to playground games vanished, though, when an assistant coach threw the ball out to the perimeter. This part of Tuesday's practice was called "No-Man's Land," and the locked-handed crew would release and close out hard on their defensive assignments, beginning brief sessions of 4-on-4 that were a competitive extension of the classic shell drill.
Is it Daniel-Bradford-McCoy? Or is it McCoy-Daniel-Bradford? Or is it some other combination? Since the start of the season, separating these three quarterbacks has been a hair-splitting exercise. But finally, after six weeks of lighting up vastly inferior foes, The Watch's top three quarterbacks will face each other in a mini round robin the next two weeks. Sam Bradford and No. 1 Oklahoma meet Colt McCoy and No. 5 Texas on Saturday in Dallas. The following week, McCoy and the Longhorns host current leader Chase Daniel and Missouri in Austin. These two games could have more impact on the chase for the stiff armed statuette than any others, and the survivor from this quasi Big 12 football tournament may very well be your winner in New York on Dec. 13.
A Purdue University panel has found two instances of misconduct by a researcher who claims he produced nuclear fusion in tabletop experiments
While the quintessential pairing of ripe tomatoes and lettuce is certainly enjoyable, a good salad can be so much more. Adding fruits, nuts, and other well-chosen ingredients offers a welcome change. More importantly, incorporating a few more nutritious ingredients is an easy way to serve a more healthful dish.
WASHINGTON D.C. -- It's been a long time since Purdue was a fixture on the national scene. Nearly a decade, actually. Back then, the coach with America's most recognizable comb-over, Gene Keady, was still roaming the sideline, his teams synonymous with floor-burners like Brian Cardinal and Brad Miller.
Underrated: Oklahoma. Most prognosticators have already written off the Sooners after a soul-crushing, three-game losing streak. Not me. I like that the players will have had 12 days to stew over the program's worst defeat in years, a first-round loss to Missouri in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament. What's changed? "Fresh air. Clear heads. Deep breaths," says Oklahoma coach Sheri Coale. "A chance to look at what we are and what we've done, what we're capable of and what the possibilities are -- and what's missing and how to find it and how to put it back together." Remember, this is a team that beat No. 2-seeded Texas A&M by 12 points last month, and lost to Tennessee by three in November. They still have the nation's most dominant offensive player (Courtney Paris) and a coach who has won big in the postseason.
Diet-friendly sugar substitutes may not be so slimming after all. A new study in lab animals furthers the theory that zero-cal sweeteners throw your body out of whack and plump you up
I love reading bracket projections as much as the next hoops geek, but even the folks who do them would concede that it is still very early. With so much basketball left, we're a good three weeks from being able to see what will be revealed on Selection Sunday.
SI.com's Bill Trocchi analyzes the matchup.
It was a great weekend for a number of top NFL prospects at running back as several turned in great performances and elevated their draft stock. On the other hand a few cornerbacks and offensive tackles watched their draft grade slide.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue's campus store sold some 4,000 glow-in-the-dark "Boiler Blackout" T-shirts in anticipation of Saturday night's clash with Ohio State. But under the lights of Ross-Ade Stadium, it was scarlet and gray that dominated the game and the record 65,497 in attendance.
Following the mother of all Upset Saturdays (and Fridays), I put more time and energy into this week's rankings than any I've ever compiled. I tinkered and revised and scrutinized and re-revised until I could barely see straight, all in an effort to produce something that will likely go up in smoke again as soon as this weekend. But that's OK -- if polls were a perfect science, there would never be any upsets, now would there?
Remember that episode of Entourage last year when Vince, Ari and the gang nervously waited out an L.A. blackout desperate to hear the opening-day box office numbers for Aquaman? Well, that's kind of how I feel this week (though I do not anticipate crashing any high school parties).
Corn prices have taken a tumble over the last month, but that doesn't mean that the cost of milk, beef and other food products will drop as quickly as they rose.
Why a record fine against has the left the families affected by the drug unsatisfied.
A computer simulation of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, posted on the Web site YouTube by Purdue University researchers, shows how hijacked planes crashed through the twin towers, stripping fireproofing materials from the steel columns and eventually leading to their collapse.
Those glamorous intersectional matchups that made the Big Ten's non-conference games so appealing last season have disappeared from this year's schedules.
The maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, agreed Thursday to a $600 million penalty as part of a plea deal with the Justice Department on a felony charge of misleading and defrauding physicians and consumers, the government said.
The cow is a model power generator: Each day it expels enough methane to run your home furnace for 24 hours. At Purdue University, a team of nearly two dozen researchers has built a portable device that mimics this natural metabolic process to create electricity.
It probably won't mean much to Purdue at this moment, and it won't lessen the sting of being knocked out of the NCAA tournament by defending national champion Florida, but the Gators players and coach were full of compliments for the Boilermakers on Sunday.
NEW ORLEANS -- In many ways, Purdue resembles a mid-major team.
Durect is developing an abuse-resistant form of the addictive painkiller OxyContin that has a good shot at being a blockbuster, but it faces a minefield of potential patent battles.
The first few games of conference play have already produced several close calls for contenders. There's the near win by Washington against Arizona State and Ohio State's nail-biter with Penn State.
When the CEO of a small San Diego publishing company started receiving threatening e-mails from an anonymous address, he had a pretty good idea that someone in the company's IT department was involved. The CEO called his lawyers, who in turn called Peter Garza, a computer forensics expert and founder of EvidentData, an investigative firm in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
When the CEO of a small San Diego publishing company started receiving threatening e-mails from an anonymous address, he had a pretty good idea that someone in the company's IT department was invol...
Coal miners used to bring canaries underground as an early warning system, because the song birds dropped dead from poison gas before it sickened humans.
This spring a well-known short-seller launched a campaign against what he claimed was a dastardly new kind of stock hype: Companies trying to make their stock prices bigger by falsely claiming to b...
This muscular vitamaniac is Nick Skouras, 40, a Seattle personal trainer who consumes $19,130 worth of supplements a year. That is enough money to feed a family of four for more than two years, acc...
Believe it or not, over the past decade when the economy was growing and unemployment was relatively low, Americans declared bankruptcy at a rate four times greater than during the Depression. Pers...
Only about a third of consumers shop around for favorable credit deals, according to a recent study by Purdue University's Credit Research Center. Shoppers tend to be college graduates who have ann...
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