FRIDAY’S FREE-THROWS

AP via the New York Times on the Boston Celtics come from behind victory over the Orlando Magic…they were down 27 at one point.

The Morning Sun Sports on a few women basketball players suspended for an altercation.

Luke Winn of SI.com on the Butler Bulldogs and their current situation.

Aaron Beard a sportswriter for the AP via Boston.com on the ‘free-agency’ in college basketball.

Yahoo College Basketball on  Mark Montgomery, first year head at NIU with the dismissal of one of their players.

Quote of the Day: “As a player, remember that the bench is not a prison but an extension of the first group. Concentrate on the quality of your play when you do get into the game. If you play 20 minutes, play the best 20 you can possibly play.” -Stan Albeck

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THURSDAY’S OBSERVATIONS

Robert Weintraub of the New York Times on Murray State men’s basketball; the only undefeated D-1 school in the country.

They are 20-0, ranked 11th and in the midst of their 25th consecutive winning season, a streak that trails just Syracuse (41 entering this season) and Kansas (28). They have won 22 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles and been to the N.C.A.A. tournament 14 times.

They have not had the outsize tournament success of midmajor counterparts like Gonzaga, George Mason and Butler, but the Racers do have two upset victories, beating North Carolina State as a No. 14 seed in 1988 and Vanderbilt as a 13th seed in 2010.

Denny Schwarze of the Lansing State Journal on Tom Izzo who won his 400th game at Michigan State last night.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe says the Celtics owe it to Doc Rivers to shape up.

Rob Demovsky of the GreenBay Press Gazette on the men’s and women’s team at GB playing zone defense; they call it ‘the buzz’.

Here’s how the buzz works: Out of a 2-1-2 zone alignment, two players pressure the ball handler as soon as the ball crosses halfcourt. The idea is to take away passing lanes and force opponents to make risky passes to the wing — where another trap is employed — or lob passes which give the defensive players time to trap at another spot on the floor. At the same time, a player in the middle fronts the offensive player in the high post. If the ball does get to the high post, another trap is employed.

Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun on Lefty and his thoughts about Maryland naming their court after Gary Williams.

“It’s not fair to my players that they would put Gary Williams’ name on the court,” Driesell said Tuesday. “It’s a disservice to players such as Tom McMillen, John Lucas, Len Elmore, Brad Davis, Greg Manning, Adrian Branch and Steve Sheppard.”

Quote of the Day: “You need special guys to do these things and he’s a special guy.” -Tom Izzo on Draymond Green

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WEDNESDAY’S TRANSITION

The East Lansing Trojans boys basketball team won on the road last night 72-39. Our record on the season is 7-2, 4-2 in league play. Currently we are ranked 10th in the State of Michigan.

The New Zealand Herald on Mark Cuban and his thoughts on NBA players taking time to compete in the Olympics…he doesn’t like it.

In a 2008 blog posting, Cuban wondered: “Are we sure the Olympics is about patriotism and pride, or is it about commercialism? I’m certainly not against (General Electric, then-owner of US Olympic telecaster NBC) and the US Olympic Team making as much money as they possibly can on the game. More power to them. But let’s not lie to ourselves about what is going on.”

John Wilner of the Mercury News on Santa Clara’s leading scorer arrested over the weekend.

NBA.com on the OKC Thunder’s success.

“I think everybody comes in every single day ready to play,” forward Kevin Durant said. “And I think if we do that we can be a pretty good team. We’re just sticking to our concepts. Guys are not worried about who gets the points, who gets the rebound, who gets the assists, we’re just going out there and playing defense and having fun.”

Quote of the Day: “We’ve got to change our outlook on how we play. Sometimes when you have such a young team, players get a little confused I think when the word ‘development’ is used, that they are going to be able to develop with just playing. Development happens in the practice floor. You have to earn what you get out on the game floor.” -Randy Wittman, new head coach, Washington Wizards

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MONDAY’S MOP UP TIME

Brett Martel an AP sportswriter by way of Yahoo Sports on why Dirk is sitting out.

“He’s going to be busting his (behind) this week. We’re going to be on him hard,” Rick Carlisle added. “He’s got a lot of work to do and if things go like we think they’ll go, by the end of the week he’ll be back and ready to play.”

Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards Sunday afternoon 100-94. The C’s played without their starting point guard Rajon Rondo. The former Kentucky Wildcat missed his 2nd straight game due to a sprained wrist.  Paul Pierce led the way with 34 points and 10 assists.

Speaking of sitting out, the Miami Heat were 6-0 without D-Wade until they lost Sunday to the Milwaukee Bucks 91-82. LeBron James finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Bosh had 8 turnovers in the game.

Andy Glockner of SI.com gives us a rundown on UNLV and why they have been so successful this season.

Did you see where Milwaukee Bucks guard Stephen Jackson was suspended for missing the team bus to the morning shoot-around?

Paul Daugherty of The Cincinnati Enquirer on why college athletes SHOULD NOT get paid.

Where will Kevin Love end up playing?

My friend Carl asked me if Carmelo Anthony reminds me of Mark Aguirre?

CBS Sportsline.com has a few great sportswriters working for them. They cover the major sports very well. Matter of fact, Gregg Doyel is one of my favoriter writers. This morning I checked out their college basketball page and they list 6 possible players for Player-of-The-Year. The folks who are in charge of this poll make one major ommission; Draymond Green of Michigan State.

University of Delaware women’s basketball is 16-1 on the season and ranked 16th in the nation. They are led by Elena Delle Donne. The top female player in the country leads the nation in scoring at 28 PPG. In the Blue Hens victory over Drexel the other night Miss Delle Donne played all 40 minutes. The Blue Hens only loss this season came at Maryland 85-76.

Quote of the Day: “It’s interesting, when I throw them out (of practice), and (Sunday) morning I threw them out of walkthrough, or when I walk out of a timeout, they get mad. That insults them and they hate when I do that, it really pisses them off. So I did it on purpose to get their urgency up.” -Steve Masiello, Manhattan College head coach

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SUNDAY’S OUTSIDE SHOTS

Congratulations to Mike Brey and his Fighting Irish for their win over Syracuse last night. The Orange entered the night undefeated.

Rick Gano of the AP has the story from South Bend.

Aaron Beard, AP Basketball Writer via Yahoo Sports.com on Florida State’s win over Duke.

Cormac Gordon of SI-Live.com on the game I watched last night.  NEC powers LIU and Wagner squared off in Staten Island.  The Blackbirds have not lost a conference game since last January.

“Our experience playing in big games last year and winning the conference championship really helped us in the environment here tonight,” Blackbirds coach Jim Ferry said after his star forward Jamal Olasewere scored 10 of his 18 points in one four-minute second-half stretch to hand Wagner (15-4 overall, 6-2 NEC) its first defeat after eight straight victories.

LIU (14-6, 8-0) won its 21st consecutive conference game dating back to this date one year ago.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe on a possible shopping list for the Boston Celtics.

Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal on a Michigan State player talking trash to the Purdue coach during yesterday’s game? I saw this happen live on ESPN. Even broadcaster Dan Dakich had something to say about it.

“He doesn’t need to do that. He just needs to shut up and keep playing.” said Dakich.

There’s no reason for players to yell anything in front of the opposing coach. I had this happen to me earlier in the year. A player from an opposing team flexed his small biceps in front of me and my bench.  Bush-league if you want to know the truth.

John Marshall of the AP via Boston.com on the 2nd oldest head coach in D-1 basketball.

A career builder and fixer of sports programs, Brown is a grandfather with a positive, infectious attitude that makes the people around him feel better about themselves.

“He motivates people by encouraging them, that’s kind of his style,’’ Northern Arizona president John Haeger said. “He gets them to play well because they want to play well and . . . all the years he’s been at NAU, he’s always been close to the student-athletes and looks out for their welfare.’’

Anthony Smigiel of M-Live on a woman’s Junior College basketball game. The Lady Ballers can score too. KVCC beats Jackson CC 118-99.

Quote of the Day: “We’re not surprised by the way that we work. We work hard, man. Everybody on our team sacrifices a lot of things and dedicates themselves. Everybody knows their roles, and that makes us a good team.’’ -Derrick Rose

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