Sunday, December 10, 2006

Some light reading

Checked out some basketball stories from around the country this weekend …

First, some newsworthy items. Then, some longer features.

In case you missed it on the bottom of the screen (which, by the way, has been scientifically proven to make us dumber), Lincoln University, a small Division III college in Pennsylvania, put 201 points on the board earlier in the week.

The backlash has been interesting. Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille is caught in a quandary.

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Can’t get enough of this site. At one point in the not-so-distant past, mid-majors were only first-round fodder in the NCAA Tournament. Now, writers dissect each program.

NJIT, a new addition to the Division I ranks, is trying to turn around its fortune in only a little time. The mid-majority has more on the Jersey school.

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Now, some longer features.

A few months ago, we used this space to weigh the success of George Mason from last year’s Final Four run. Head coach Jim Larranaga seems to be a pretty smart and enthusiastic guy, but it seems as though everyone has latched on to the school. Enrollment numbers are up. So is exposure.

Even though George Mason has struggled a bit in the early season, hope still remains.

It stems from Larranaga.

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It appears as though Wichita State has already emerged as this year’s sleeper from the Midwest. One of the reasons is head coach Mark Turgeon.

The Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski offers a profile of Turgeon and how his players view the coach.

Interesting approach to coaching and a good read on how Turgeon figured “it” out.

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The decline of the center is not so much about skill. It may be about perception.

The Washington Post’s Mike Wise weighs in on the topic and the evolution of Yao. Even though this tackles an NBA issue, it’s still a worthwhile read.

It seems as though Yao, and the center position, is not Americanized but globalized. This is why.

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Finally, dissecting business deals is a time-consuming task but it may take a few years for the ESPN-Big East television contract to have an impact on the average viewer.

The language is sometimes tough to digest but it will change the way you see the game.

Give it time (the read and the deal) to resonate.

Sometimes, to get to the effect (tomorrow’s story), the cause must be examined.