While the Clippers languish near the bottom of the Pacific Division (thanks for bringing the suckitude Sacramento), at least now they have a stud player they can build a team around, the prodigiously talented Blake Griffin. Then again, this is the Clippers we’re talking about—not like that will ever happen. Still, dude is a friggin’ beast—a stunning combination of power and finesse, and one player who is in desperate need of a nickname. “White Thunder” anyone? Last night Griffin had [...] The Last Angry Fan
• Good take from Ryan Fagan, who warns everyone to not get too high or low on Carolina/Kentucky. {Sporting News}
• Watch this Matt Howard interview. It’s subtle, but I appreciate how thoughtful his responses are and how he steers clear of a lot of clichés. {CBB Nation Blog}
• Purdue will have to endure another injury. {SB Nation}
• Jimmer Fredette returns home to play in a game against Vermont in Albany Wednesday. A feature on how he became a “winner.” {Times Union}
• Spiders did a good job not letting an inferior team get a win yesterday. {The Arizona Republic}
• Some tempo-free analysis from Duke-Butler, plus, the author of the post inserts a photo of himself with the Butler cheerleaders. Too funny. {Villanova by the Numbers}
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Nothing on the national tube tonight.
This Shay Shine sure can show a brother how to get posterized.
And here’s Memphis’ Joe Jackson elevating with alacrity.
• Give it time, Mike. I think many will know all too well just how legit the Aztecs are. {Sporting News}
• Two guesses, who do you think Michigan State picked to have speak at its graduation ceremonies in December? {Michigan State University}
• Bruce Pearl’s wife has actually compared her husband to the one and only Jesus. The parallels are so obvious, I’m surprise no one else picked on this earlier. {No Guts No Glory}
Butler guard Ronald Nored is helped off the court after being injured during the opening minutes against Siena on Nov. 23. (AP/Tim Roske)
• Statistically, the Big Ten should be winning its Challenge with the ACC. {KenPom}
• “Harrison Barnes is the next Carmelo Anthony.” Uh, no. {Dime}
• Butler may not have Ronald Nored against Duke. Without him, Bulldogs don’t stand the little chance that exists as it is. {Goodman}
• The Big East definitely needs a new logo. How about this one? {Storming the Floor}
• Glad Derrick N ix is back with the Spartans. I think he’s a key player. {Lansing State Journal}
• What is the best college to attend if you’re a college basketball fan? {Facebook}
• Here’s Scotty Hopson and Jordan McRae surprising a professor. I love her response after Hopson tells the class the vid’s going to be on Facebook. {Facebook}
• Kemba Walker got an ovation. From teammates. As he boarded the team’s bus after the UConn championship win over Kentucky last Wednesday in Maui. {Hoop Thoughts}
• Not always for hoops links, here’s Roger Ebert on the late, great Leslie Nielsen. {Chicago Sun-Times}
• I really wanted to do a post on this last week, but newspaper work and traveling to MSG tied me down. Still, in case you missed it: college game postponed because the school didn’t hire officials. High comedy. Cue the Benny Hill theme music. {Tennessee Tech Athletics}
President Barack Obama shows daughters Malia and Sasha how to seat-shimmy at the Oregon State-Howard game Saturday. (Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
• Bryce Jones has been the surprise help for USC this season. He’ll likely be key in getting the Trojans to the NCAAs … next season. {Los Angeles Times}
• Stanford’s Jeremy Green collapsed after the Cardinal’s win over DePaul at the 76 Classic Sunday. Stanford officials said Green was doing OK shortly thereafter. {AP}
• John Gasser getting an opportunity he never expected to have at Wisconsin. {CBSSports.com}
• Obama watched two terrible teams play basketball a few days ago. The in-laws were the cause of the unwanted visit, naturally. {AP}
• Many colleges don’t want high schools using their logos. And if so: pay up. {New York Times}
• Which team has already equaled its win total from a season ago? There aren’t too many options for you to guess. {LoHud.com}
• You wonder when Michigan’s going to truly be back, truly be a team with a future in Sweet 16s, Elite Eights and Final Fours. A snapshot of the letdown at Atlantic City. {AnnArbor.com}
• The Flyers managed just 34 points against Cincinnati over the weekend. Wha? Huh? {Dayton Daily News}
• Rob Dauster’s take on Villanova’s loss: It’s all about Corey Fisher, and he can’t be scoring three points and disappearing in games. {BIAH}
Here’s Brady Morningstar lucking into a 3-pointer that was intended to be an alley-oop.
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On the tube today and tonight …
All times Eastern
»Virginia @ No. 15 Minnesota; 7 (ESPN2).
Finally, another piece of treasure from last week that got lost in the shuffle her at CHJ. It’s a pair of lovable UConn fans giving all their support for Kemba Walker, who is one more huge performance away from getting a statue outside of Gampel Pavilion.
