Several generations of players owe thanks to Spencer Haywood for his courage to take on the NBA and pave the way for them to become multimillionaires earlier than they would have been entitled. But that courage has come with a price.
Basketball
It was a business decision Anthony Bennett was wise to make. But while announcing he is leaving UNLV for the NBA, he displayed how much it all meant on a personal level.
In the movie “Steel Magnolias,” which is based on a true story, Sally Field’s character M’lynn recalls the moment doctors pulled the plug on her comatose daughter Shelby. She stayed in the room as her daughter left the world, M’lynn tells her friends, but Shelby’s father couldn’t do it, nor could her husband. Too hard to watch.
SAN ANTONIO — Often the forgotten member of Miami’s “Big Three,” Chris Bosh stepped up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sitting out to get the Heat closer to securing home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.
Sometime during the second half, Mike Krzyzewski looked for help and found none. He might have reminisced that it was a lot easier coaching a crew of NBA All-Stars in the Olympics.
LOS ANGELES — Steve Alford was hired as UCLA basketball coach on Saturday, spurning New Mexico days after he agreed to a new 10-year deal with the Lobos for a chance to run what he called “the premier basketball program in the country.”
It ends so quickly. For all but one team, the NCAA Tournament each March is a cruel mixture of unrestrained joy and overwhelming sadness.
Odds to win the NCAA championship and proposition bets posted at the LVH sports book.
The Review-Journal’s Adam Hill, Kelly Stewart and Matt Youmans compete against handicappers Bruce Marshall and Ken Thomson in a contest covering two rounds of NCAA Tournament games.
There is no better drama this time of year than the NCAA Tournament, enough to warrant time on any big screen.
When I see this season’s Florida Gulf Coast basketball team, I see the Jacksonville basketball team of 1969-70. They even play in the same conference, something called the Atlantic Sun. Twenty bucks and the home edition of “Jeopardy!” if you can name all 10 members.
BALTIMORE — In need of some good news, the UNLV basketball program received a boost Wednesday when top prospect Dwayne Morgan orally committed to play for the Rebels.
As I scanned the college basketball Twitterverse on Saturday night after No. 1-seeded Gonzaga’s early NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of hot-shooting No. 9 Wichita State, I was perplexed.
The guys from Dunk City had quite a celebration after putting on the show of the NCAA Tournament and sending fans around the nation to their iPads in search of Florida Gulf Coast University.
Finished products in the NBA Draft are like college basketball coaches who marry a Maxim swimsuit model, hold a percentage in a company that is sold for $100 million and lead a No. 15 seed into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
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