College Basketball

One of the more dramatic recruiting sagas in the 2012 class came to an end Friday afternoon when five-star point guard Rodney Purvis of Upper Room Christian Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) committed to North Carolina State during a short announcement ceremony. 

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound point guard is ranked No. 14 overall in the MaxPreps Class of 2012 Top 100. After re-classifying from the 2013 class prior to the 2010-11 season, Purvis averaged 25.4 points per to earn Junior All-American honors. He played on the summer circuit with the Chris Paul-sponsored CP3 All-Stars.

Purvis' recruitment has been a bit of a wild ride. There was a commitment and subsequent de-commitment from Louisville. Missouri seemed like a likely destination for a time after assistant Tim Fuller left Rick Pitino and the Cardinals for Frank Haith and the Tigers.

Powerhouse programs like Duke and Kentucky were reported to be in the picture but never seemed to apply the full-court pressure. Baylor, Connecticut, Memphis, Missouri, North Carolina Central and Virginia Commonwealth were also involved.

Purvis is the second five-star guard to play at a Raleigh school in recent years. John Wall played at Word of God Christian Academy from 2007-09 before signing with Kentucky and becoming the top overall draft pick for the Washington Wizards.

North Carolina State has a commitment from another Top 100 point guard, four-starTyler Lewis of Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).

 

Category: NCAAB

First Half

During the first half of the Florida Butler game the Gators were dominant on the boards and getting good shot inside the paint. The full court press by the Gators was so effective it helped them get a double digit lead.


Second Half

The first half was Florida's but clearly the second half was Butler's. Butler brought energy and showed that they are the masters in crunch time. The Gators had a shot and the end of regulation to win  it but Erving Walker failed to complete the task missing a three pointer.

Overtime

Overtime went back and forth between the two teams but at the end of the day it was Butler with a three point win. Butler once again is heading to the Final Four.

Category: NCAAB

Throughout this article you will see why these elite eight teams are so successful and how they can make it to the national championship game.

                                                                              Florida
The Gators throughout the NCAA bracket so far have been dominant. They've been hitting the glass, taking good shots, and moving the ball around swiftly and carefully. Also sophmore Kenny Boynton has been lights out for the Gators and has given excellent leadership to this team. These are big reasons why the Gators have made it this far into the tournament.


Kenny Boynton

The next opponent for the Florida Gators is Butler who has upset Pittsburgh. Florida needs to bring the intensity to this one if they truly want to win a title this year.

                                                                                                        Kentucky
The Wildcats have had a overall good run here through the tourney. they started off almost getting upset by Princeton(Brandon Kinight only had 2 points) but they now shown they can compete in this due to the fact that they upsetted Ohio State.

The key to wiining for the wildcats is their sensational freshman players must get involved in the game. Brandon Knight, Terence Jones and Doron Lamb (3 freshman superstars) combined for less than 25 points against Priceton.  



Brandon     Terrence   Doron
Kinight       Jones       Lamb

                                                                                                         Kansas
The Kansas Jayhwaks have had no scare so far to losing in the bracket but because of less quality competition, they might fall down the first time they see some. The Jayhawks are a very good jumpshooting team. I believe if they continue this they might have a shot winning it all.

Also the Morris twins need to continue their effort especially towards rebounding and hustling. Kansas has alot of offensive talent but what they need to have is players making the type of hustle plays that don't show up on the score sheet.

Marcus      Markieff
Morris       Moris

                                                                              North Carolina
The Heels are one of all time college basketball teams. Mainly because at one time they contained Michael Jordan. Here they are AGAIN making a deep run into this bracket now. They are a very consistent team.

North Carolina has a good outside shooting type team but they also aren't afraid to put the ball down and drive towards the basket. They have a tough Kentucky Wildcats team they have to verse next who has all the confidence and energy in the world due to upsetting the #1 seed in the whole NCAA tournament. UNC has to come at them with hype and power to win this one. One last key for the Heels is they must keep up their ability to create good shots by smart passes and getting assists which is led by Kendall Marshall averaging 6.2 assists per game.

Kendall Marshall

                                                                                              Butler
The Butler bulldogs have been well known around the whole NCAA league since last year when they made their run to the National Championship but fell to Duke in the final seconds.

An interesting stat for the Bulldogs is their last 5 games (even going back their last two games last year) have been decided in the final minutes or the final seconds. They are used to all the pressure they can possibly face and that strength is a big assest to have in this competition.



                                                                                Conneticut
Another Elite Eight team is UConn. This team is led by Kemba Walker who has been spoken about so much since his unbelievable performance in decision week. If he keeps up his fantastic performance they should have no proble defeating Arizona to get to the Final Four in Houston.

Kemba Walker
                                                                                 VCU
VCU, a team almost the whole basketball nation didn't know is coming out of its shell. There was a lot of speculation about if this team
should even be playing in the tournament. Well those critics have gone silent. VCU I believe has the most energy rigth now due to the fact that they have gone this far coming out of the first round. They've beat Georgetown, Purdue, and now Florida State. How far can they go?


                                                                                Arizona
Arizona is probably the least spoken about out of all the teams left. That doesn't mean their the worst. They defeated Texas and Duke which is very impressive. They want to prove that they are capable of winning it all just like everybody, but they are first going to need to beat Kemba Walker and his team. I think they can win if Derrick Williams shows up and does over and beyond his normal game.

Derrick Wiliams

Category: NCAAB

The score is 23-19 and BYU has the ball he goes up for a shot and he makes it, but while in the air the ref calls an offensive foul. They counted the points, but also gave free throws to Wofford. So Wofford to the line 23-21 and made both free throws. Shouldn't the offensive foul negate the basket?

Here is the play-by-play:

5:49                              BYU              Offensive foul on James Anderson
5:49                              BYU              Offensive Foul turnover on James Anderson
5:49          23-21           BYU               Noah Hartsock made Jump Shot
5:49          24-21           WOFF            Noah Dahlman made 1st of 2 Free Throws
5:49          25-21           WOFF            Noah Dahlman made 2nd of 2 Free Throws








Category: NCAAB

The defense needs to step up in these games or the Panthers will have an early exit from the Big Tourney.  They only caused UConn to turn the ball over 6 times.  Need to increase the steals and forced turnovers and they'll be ready for the big dance.

The great highlight to take from this is Ashton Gibbs was on FIRE. 

27 points
10 of 13 from the field
6 of 7 from 3 point land

NICE....Very Nice....

Category: NCAAB