COLLEGE ROUNDUP

With only one week to go until Selection Sunday, each college basketball game takes on a huge meaning. Last week was choc full of meaningful results, especially on and around the proverbial NCAA tournament bubble. Here, then, is a look back at the final week of the regular season. Things are only going to get more maddening from here on out.

Game of the week: Belmont 70, Murray State 68 (overtime). March is indeed the cruelest month. Murray State held a seven-point lead with around three minutes to go in regulation in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, but it frittered that away and let the game get into overtime. (more…)

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COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Now we’re getting down to business. Or should I say, bid-ness. With March officially underway, the one thing that every team is hoping for is a bid to the NCAA tournament. Even though nothing was decided last week, every day produced several games with major bubble (or number one seed) implications. Who says the regular season doesn’t matter in college hoops? Nobody who’s watching, that’s for sure. Here’s the latest on who did what, who’s up and who’s down so far in the most glorious month of the year. (more…)

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BARKLEY’S BACKBOARD BLOG

Friday, March 1st, 2013

SHOOTERS YOU’RE LIKELY TO SEE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT, NUMBERS 1-5
By: TheKingsburyFactor.com

TheKingsburyFactor.com is your preeminent source for Joycean musings on college 3-point shooters, and once was cast as a backup dancer in a Jodeci video, before the director realized it wasn’t a person. Follow us on Twitter at @KingsburyFactor.

Oh hello, friends. If you’ve been sitting there refreshing this page all week, wondering when we were going to drop the top five best shooters you’re likely to see this March in the NCAA tournament, well that seems a bit overzealous; you should know these things come out on Thursdays. But now it is said Thursday, so all that refreshing has paid off! To wit:

5. MARSHALL HENDERSON, (Ole Miss, 6-foot-2, Junior)

111-of-302 3-pointers, 37% 3pt, 4.0 made 3-pointers per game

What You Need To Know: Oh, friends — glorious, glorious friends. If you don’t know Marshall Henderson, you are missing out on your chance to see the most entertaining, mercurial, frustrating, incomprehensible player to ever walk around a court talking to himself while throwing ice at his own fans and wrecking locker rooms using fists and chairs and teammates’ hair products. Marshall is the leading scorer in the SEC at 19.7 ppg. He’s inefficient, he takes a ton of shots, and he goes through stretches where it appears he literally has lost his mind and thinks he’s in a one-man, off-Broadway play titled “Who Are YOU Calling Crazy?” (more…)

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BARKLEY’S BACKBOARD BLOG

Monday, February 25th, 2013

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

It’s hard to believe the season has already reached the last week of February. This past week was not as eventful as many we have experienced this season, but the main plot lines are settling into place in advance of the NCAA tournament. Here are the notables and noteworthies from the college basketball week that was:

Game of the week: Indiana 72, Michigan State 68. If there was any doubt that the Hoosiers are the best team in the country, they erased it by completing a sweep of the Spartans. The game was most memorable for the acrobatics of Hoosiers junior guard Victor Oladipo, who had 19 points, nine rebounds and five steals. (more…)

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BARKLEY’S BACKBOARD BLOG

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

SHOOTERS YOU’RE LIKELY TO SEE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT, NUMBERS 6-10
By: TheKingsburyFactor.com

TheKingsburyFactor.com is your preeminent source for Joycean musings on college three-point shooters, and once was cast as a backup dancer in a Jodeci video, before the director realized it wasn’t a person. Follow us on Twitter at @KingsburyFactor.

Hey, it’s us again. You may remember us from such blogs as last week’s blog. As the NCAA tournament grows ever closer, and Gus Johnson gets his vocal cord shiatsu more regularly, we’re still thinking about who will be the best shooters in the dance. Here’s Nos. 6-10. But backwards, to build suspense.

10. JEFF ELORRIAGA (Boise State, 6-foot-2, Junior)

60-of-137 3-pointers, 44% 3-point FG, 2.9 made 3-pointers per game

What You Need To Know: Averaging a cool 10 ppg, Jeff is from Portland, so you know he loves Maple Bacon Bars from Voodoo Doughnut. He also played QB in high school, and even though we’ve been writing about him all year over at KF, we have zero idea how to pronounce his name. Elorriaga, not Jeff. Jeff’s easy.

Game of the Year: 10-of-16 from deep for 30 points against Corban University, which is not terribly good at basketball. (more…)

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BARKLEY’S BACKBOARD BLOG

Monday, February 18th, 2013

Markel Starks by The Navy-Marine Corps Classic aboard USS Bataan

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

We’re getting to the point of the season where every day there are several games that have major NCAA tournament implications. That could come with respect to the number one seeds, or with the all-important bubble. Who got popped, and who got squeezed? Let’s follow the bouncing ball and see.

Game of the week: Maryland 83, Duke 81. With the Terrapins moving to the Big Ten in two years, this was potentially the final game between these two arch rivals in College Park. What a way to go out. The Terrapins got a time-capsule performance from 7-1 sophomore center Alex Len. Not only did Len toss in a team-high 19 points (to go along with nine rebounds), but he singlehandedly shut down Mason Plumlee, Duke’s senior center who was previously considered a favorite for national player of the year. Maryland committed a whopping 26 turnovers, largely because coach Mark Turgeon had suspended his starting point guard, Pe’shon Howard, for violating team rules. If Maryland can avoid overcelebrating this win, it has a real chance to make the NCAA tournament. (more…)

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