We’re about a week into the season for college hoops, we’ve already had a dramatic last-second win and, after last night, a scare for the consensus No. 1 team. Memphis took No. 1 Kansas the distance last night, just coming up short in a dramatic 57-55 loss. I mean, I guess it was dramatic. For November, anyway.
Memphis (1-1) closed within three on Doneal Mack’s 3-pointer with a minute left, then cut the lead to 56-55 on Elliot Williams’ long 3 with 17 seconds left. Sherron Collins hit 1 of 2 free throws at the other end to give Memphis a final chance, but Williams’ contested 3-pointer clanged off the back iron.
Williams thought the shot was in. The Jayhawks held their breath until it caromed away. –Y! Sports.
Kansas’ 21 turnovers kept Memphis in the game, and the close game keeps a left-for-dead team abandoned by John Calipari for Kentucky. First-year Memphis coach Josh Pastner can hope to see his team in the Top 25 next week. And then maybe eat a nice breakfast. Because that’s important. More NCAA Scores.
The football and basketball teams at KU like to fight apparently, as the second altercation between the two teams in as many days has brought former players on both sides to comment that fisticuffs between the two prominent programs is nothing new.
“It’s always been a feud between basketball and football players,” said a recently graduated former KU football player who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s been an ongoing thing.”
A recently departed former KU basketball player had the same experience.
“It’s about who’s more popular on campus with the girls and stuff like that,” said the player, who also requested anonymity. “It’s escalated really bad now, but it’s always been there.” via.
It’s a refreshing change to see athletes from the revenue sports trying to rape each other. Like my high school gym teacher always said, if you can’t keep it in your pants, keep it in your athletic department. Actually, my gym teacher never said that. He just played with himself and scolded us if we ever kicked the volleyball. Nice guy.
Earlier this week, former Kansas stars Darrell Arthur and Mario “Super Nintendo” Chalmers were kicked out of the NBA’s rookie camp and fined $20,000 apiece. The details:
Security at the resort near New York where the event took place found Arthur and Chalmers in a room with two women, and the scent of marijuana was detected. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found, but having guests in the room violated NBA policy, and the two rookies were sent home.
Arthur and Chalmers apologized but denied using marijuana. Next year they’ll have to again attend the symposium, which addresses the challenges of making the transition to pro ball.
I think now would be a good time for everyone to freak out and have a hugely overblown reaction to this photo (full size thumbnailed below) of Chalmers with new Heat rookie teammate Michael Beasley in which Chalmers is holding what appears to be a small blunt, which — if my sources are correct — is a kind of “marihuana cigarette.”
I, for one, am shocked and outraged. It’s always been my understanding that professional athletes, particularly NBA athletes, would never put illegal drugs into the temples that are their bodies. Especially not something as addictive and damaging as marijuana. Somebody call the police! Stop these monsters before they hurt our children!
Kansas football coach Mark Mangino has been the (ahem) butt of lighthearted t-shirts in Lawrence that broadcast such slogans as "Our Coach Beat Anorexia" and "Our Coach Is Phat." But at least one Jayhawk doesn't like his spheroid of a coach denigrated in such a fashion.
"I guess everyone has a different sense of humor," said KU linebacker Mike Rivera… "Some things are funny to some people. But sometime[s] you have to think about what other people feel."
Whoa whoa whoa. Fat people have feelings? I just figured all that blubber served as a protective buffer from the world. Okay, okay, I'm sorry, fatties of the world. How can I make it up to you? Slice of deep-fried cake?
[Deadspin]
I'm not quite sure why "One Shining Moment" is such a big fucking deal every year. There are certainly worse songs on the planet, but that's only because those songs are memorably shitty. This one's just blandly saccharine, like a half-assed animated Disney musical. I guess a song and a highlight reel is a nice way to cap off the tournament, but to have some kind of emotional connection to it is just kind of sad. It's the sports equivalent of jerking off to "A Whole New World" in Aladdin.
Baylor? I don't even know 'er! — 168
As some of you may have noticed, we have a tie in the #1 position. And because Baylor and forklifter were in different groups, their tiebreaker isn't shown. Ummm… I'm not sure what to do about that, exactly. It's still first thing in the morning, and I haven't had enough coffee to make decisions. But we'll figure something out.
Also, for the non-ironic completed bracket with the lowest point total, the winner of a big stack of sports books is the aptly named stupidbracket.
TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Email withleather@gmail.com with your name and address from the Yahoo account you signed up with. The winner(s) will get some kind of iTunes card (total TBD due to the tie and how we work that out), everyone else on that bulleted list gets a subscription to their choice of Penthouse or Playboy. People who ask for something else other than what we're giving them for free (Can I get Redbook instead?) will lose the right to their prize.
