China brawl blessing in disguise for Hoyas

Georgetown head coach John Thompson III wanted his program to experience another country and culture while testing their might against some professional talent when he took his Hoyas for a preseason tour of China.

“It’s going to be a huge, huge cultural change for us, but I think as a team we’re all looking forward to seeing something new,” guard Jason Clark told the Washington Post before the team left for the 10-day trip. “Everybody wants to go to China because it’s something different. The basketball is going to be fun too, getting to play against different people. Here you play against Americans most of the time. Now you get to go over and see how other people play.”

Coach Thompson and Georgetown got a lot more than they bargained for. By now, most sports fans have heard about the violent brawl that erupted when the Hoyas faced pro team, the Bayi Rockets, in Beijing Thursday. Check out the video below to get an idea of all the chaos, haymakers, and chair throwing that went down:


It appears as if the Hoyas and Rockets have smoothed over their animosity, with Bayi players meeting Georgetown at the airport and exchanging souvenirs before the Hoyas left for Shanghai. And don’t expect another brawl when these teams play again Sunday  - although we'll all be keeping an eye on it.

While this incident is a black eye for what was supposed to be a goodwill trip to promote “sports diplomacy” between the United States and China, it’s the ultimate ... [More]

Congrats Ohio State! The No. 1 team in the nation

Congrats Ohio State – the nation’s No. 1 college basketball program.

At least, that’s how Northern Arizona head coach Mike Adras feels. Adras was the only coach not to vote for Connecticut in the final Top 25 Coaches Poll, despite the Huskies running through the NCAA tournament to win the program’s third national title.

"They asked me to vote for the No. 1 team based on the body of work of the entire season," Adras told ESPN. "I'm not trying to take anything away from Connecticut ... they deserve to be the champions. I just (voted) based on the entire, overall season."

Perhaps Adras is on to something. UConn did finish with a 9-9 conference record in the Big East and caught fire in the postseason, putting together 11 straights wins through the Big East and NCAA tournament.

Ohio State, on the other hand, finished with a 16-2 record in the Big Ten and lost only three games all season – one on which was versus Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

The Buckeyes, who were the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, got the shit end of the stick when it came to regional draws. They were placed in the East regional along with giants like Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina.

"I meant no disrespect to anybody," Adras told reporters. "To be honest with you, I thought others would have voted the same way."

Measuring OSU to UConn, based on a season’s worth of data and analysis, and most smart NCAA followers would say the Buckeyes would win a hea... [More]

Four people who have a better bracket than you

It’s been a mad, mad March, leaving plenty of college basketball fans to question why the hell they bother following a season’s worth of NCAA action.

Even the most hardcore hoop heads have watched their brackets burn while Kaylee, the perky intern, leads the office pool because: She has a grandma in Arizona, her boyfriend drives a Ram, her neighbor had “the cutest” bulldog growing up, and she watched the Wizard of Oz (for the 1,000th time) just before Selection Sunday and thought that was the universe’s way of telling her to pick Kansas to win it all.

While she’ll probably spend her winnings, including the $10 bucks you confidently threw into the hat, on a new bag, bus tickets and some drinks for her and her equally-bubbly friends (skanks) at the bar this weekend (and not even watch the games), you can take some consolation that you’re not alone in the wasteland of broken brackets.

There are a lot of us out there that thought we had a good grasp on the madness, only to watch it explode like Chris Brown in a dressing room. All the while, witnessing people, who have never heard of the Morris brothers (no they aren’t a pair of video game plumbers), pull near-perfect brackets out of their ass like they ate Gary Parrish, Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi the night before.

Here are four people who have a better bracket than you:

Your Mom

If you’re like me, March Madness is a family event. And each year, we all put our best brackets forward with a... [More]