NCAA Basketball 09 has been kept under wraps by EA Sports for quite a while now. For most titles at the very least some basic information would be known three months out from release. Sooner rather than later the first details are going to break which will likely include the cover athlete.
Like last year there are two players that stand out from the crowd. With the 09 titles it was Kevin Durant (March Madness) and Greg Oden (College Hoops) that were no-brainers. But the history of the college basketball games has not always been to select the top drafted players for the cover. It seems likely to happen this year though as EA doesnt have a competitor seeking a cover deal of their own.
Derek Rose was drafted #1 by the Chicago Bulls and would probably have the edge over #2 pick of the Miami Heat Michael Beasley. Really though it is a toss-up. Both are marketable players with bright futures on teams in strong media markets. Rose though did get more exposure by leading Memphis to the National Championship game last year.
The possibility of a surprise cover also cant be discounted. Having no competition opens up the potential to do something unique with it such as pushing a feature or concept (think Desmond Howard on NCAA Football 06).
So who do you think and/or want to be on the cover of NCAA Basketball 09? Vote in the poll below and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

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Similar posts: ncaa basketball

NCAA Basketball 09 has been kept under wraps by EA Sports for quite a while now. For most titles at the very least some basic information would be known three months out from release. Sooner rather than later the first details are going to break which will likely include the cover athlete.
Like last year there are two players that stand out from the crowd. With the 09 titles it was Kevin Durant (March Madness) and Greg Oden (College Hoops) that were no-brainers. But the history of the college basketball games has not always been to select the top drafted players for the cover. It seems likely to happen this year though as EA doesnt have a competitor seeking a cover deal of their own.
Derek Rose was drafted #1 by the Chicago Bulls and would probably have the edge over #2 pick of the Miami Heat Michael Beasley. Really though it is a toss-up. Both are marketable players with bright futures on teams in strong media markets. Rose though did get more exposure by leading Memphis to the National Championship game last year.
The possibility of a surprise cover also cant be discounted. Having no competition opens up the potential to do something unique with it such as pushing a feature or concept (think Desmond Howard on NCAA Football 06).
So who do you think and/or want to be on the cover of NCAA Basketball 09? Vote in the poll below and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

On Wednesday Tennessee insured that their football and basketball programs would have a strong figure at the head coaching position at least through 2014.  That is the year they signed both football coach Phillip Fulmer and basketball coach Bruce Pearl until.
Fulmers deal includes an average salary of around $3 million with incentives for winning National and SEC Championships.  If he wins an SEC Championship he will recieve a $350,000 raise.  If he wins a National Championship he will recieve an $850,000 raise.  The deal also includes a yearly $100,000 raise for every year he remains head coach of the Volunteers.  Other incentives on the deal include a $350,000 BCS Bowl bonus, a $1,000,000 bonus for reaching his 20th year with the school, and added years on the contract for every 8 win season he produces.
Bruce Pearls contract was upgraded making his average salary $2.3 Million.  The deal includes a $250,000 bonus for retaining the position, and a straight up $1.5 million bonus.  In order to protect themselves from NBA teams, Tennessee also added a buyout clause.  If Pearl were to leave the team within the next five years he would owe $2.5 million, which would decrease each year to an end total of $1 million.
Tennessee looked to secure their basketball and football programs with these deals.  With Phillip Fulmers impressive .766 winning percentage and Bruce Pearls ability to bring the Tennessee Basketball Program to the national forefront, it indeed looks like they have secured a bright future through 2014.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

I haven't played organized athletics in quite a while. Don't get me wrong, I'll still get together with friends to play basketball, football, or baseball once in a while, but the last team I belonged to was in high school. I remember playing football back then, and every Friday before a game we would basically have a walk-through of Saturday's game-plan.

At the end of every Friday practice, before the team would "break it down" our coach would give us a little speech about that week's game. When he came to the end of this weekly speech, he would always tell us the same thing.

"Boys, no sex tonight."

Now what in the hell kind of thing is that to tell a 16-year old kid who is going to a party that night? Why the hell am I going to the party if I'm not allowed to have sex? Still, it's an axiom that has existed in sports for quite a while. In the movie Rocky, Rocky's trainer Mickey tells him not to have sex with ADRIAN(!!!) before his fight because "women weaken legs."

Since Mickey said it, the entire world believed it. I mean, you try looking into those eyes of his and not melting. It's impossible not to believe him. Well, unless you're a cold-hearted scientist or a doctor who refuses to believe things without actual proof.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

I haven't played organized athletics in quite a while. Don't get me wrong, I'll still get together with friends to play basketball, football, or baseball once in a while, but the last team I belonged to was in high school. I remember playing football back then, and every Friday before a game we would basically have a walk-through of Saturday's game-plan.

At the end of every Friday practice, before the team would "break it down" our coach would give us a little speech about that week's game. When he came to the end of this weekly speech, he would always tell us the same thing.

"Boys, no sex tonight."

Now what in the hell kind of thing is that to tell a 16-year old kid who is going to a party that night? Why the hell am I going to the party if I'm not allowed to have sex? Still, it's an axiom that has existed in sports for quite a while. In the movie Rocky, Rocky's trainer Mickey tells him not to have sex with ADRIAN(!!!) before his fight because "women weaken legs."

Since Mickey said it, the entire world believed it. I mean, you try looking into those eyes of his and not melting. It's impossible not to believe him. Well, unless you're a cold-hearted scientist or a doctor who refuses to believe things without actual proof.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

What Davidson and Stephen Curry accomplished in this year's NCAA Basketball tournament was amazing... but how does it stack up to the 2006 George Mason team that went to the final four?
There are many different methods of comparison, and I will only look into some of the main ones in this article. For starters, lets compare over-all record.
Season-ending record:
Davidson - 29-7 George Mason - 27-8
This is a very slight advantage to Davidson. Now I compare their successes prior to the NCAA tournament.
RPI - rating and rank:
Davidson - .5875, #35 George Mason - .5984, #26
This is a clear advantage to George Mason, which is surprising. Many people thought George Mason would not even make the 2006 NCAA tournament (they lost in their conference tournament), while Davidson was a lock to make the 2008 tournament. However, it is George Mason who had the higher RPI rating.
Conference Success:
Davidson - 20-0 in the Southern Conference (RPI #21)
George Mason - 15-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association (RPI #10)
There is no clear advantage here. Davidson went undefeated, but they did so in an easy conference. George Mason won a very difficult conference. The CAA had another team qualify for the tournament that year (UNC-Wilmington) and two other teams on the bubble (Hofstra and Old Dominion). It's only fair to give Davidson a slight edge here, but it's impossible to know how their success would have changed if they played in a more competitive conference.
Strength of Schedule Rank:
Davidson - #129 overall, #4 non-conference
George Mason - #89 overall, #32 non-conference
It is easy to see how much playing in the Southern Conference hurt Davidson's strength of schedule. Their non-conference schedule was one of the toughest in the country, but their overall schedule strength was still weak. George Mason had a relatively difficult over-all strength of schedule, even though they played in a non-major conference. The edge has to go to George Mason, although Davidson certainly gets an "A" for effort by scheduling such difficult teams.
Now I look at how these teams actually fared in the tournament.
Tournament Results:
Davidson -
1st Round: Gonzaga (7) - W 82-76
2nd Round: Georgetown (2) - W 74-70
3rd Round: Wisconsin (3) - W 73-56
Elite Eight: Kansas (1) - L 57-59
George Mason -
1st Round: Michigan State (6) - W 75-65
2nd Round: North Carolina (3) - W 65-60
3rd Round: Wichita State (7) - W 63-55
Elite Eight: Connecticut (1) - W 86-84 (OT)
Final Four: Florida (3) - L 58-73
There are actually several striking similarities in the runs of Davidson and George Mason, but also some key differences. They both ultimately lost to the eventual champions. Davidson gave eventual-champion Kansas a much closer game than George Mason gave to eventual-champion Florida. Mason was, however, Florida's third closest game of the tournament. Davidson was Kansas' second closest game, behind their overtime championship thriller against Memphis.
They both won their games in somewhat similar fashions; by using very strong second halves. Davidson outscored Gonzaga 46-35 in the second half, outscored Georgetown 47-32 in the second half, and outscored Wisconsin 37-20 in the second half. George Mason outscored Michigan State 42-35 in the second half, outscored UNC 45-33 in the second half, and outscored UConn 40-31 in the second half.
However, there is one enormous difference in the two teams... George Mason won one more game. And not just any game, they beat #1 seed and tournament-favorite UConn to qualify for the final four. They were the first mid-major team since UPenn and Indiana State in 1979 to make the final four. They also tied LSU's record, set in 1986, for highest seed to play in the final four.
While Davidson lost an extremely close game against Kansas with a shot to win the game at the buzzer, Mason recovered from squandering a lead at the end of the second half to beat UConn in overtime. Davidson likely would have had a better final four performance than Mason had (they lost a close game to UNC, who would have been their opponent, earlier in the season). But it was George Mason who rose to the occasion to defeat a #1 seed in the elite eight, while Davidson fell just short.
Another big difference, in my opinion, is that many fans and analysts expected a strong run from Davidson in the 2008 tournament. I'm not sure that anyone expected them to beat the quality of teams that they beat in the way that they did, but there were very few people that expected any tournament wins out of George Mason in 2006. Many thought they didn't even deserve to be in the tournament.
All in all, both teams were extremely well-talented and thrilled the entire country with their success. The team of better strength is debatable, and I would even say the edge might go to Davidson. The media certainly portrayed Davidson as the stronger team prior to the tournament, but as we saw with RPI rankings there was also indication that George Mason was better.
But in the end, George Mason's run went deeper into the tournament and was more unexpected, so the title of better underdog has to go undebatably to George Mason.

Similar posts: ncaa basketball

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Sylmar High forward Tyler Honeycutt is so inundated with calls from college coaches these days that his high school coach has instructed him to let each one go to voicemail before deciding whether to return it.
Among the coaches calling most often lately are UCLA assistants Scott Garson and Scott Duncan.
Honeycutt said UCLA began showing serious interest about a month ago, calling twice a week and watching him closely at its elite camp earlier this month. If the Bruins offer a scholarship after the July evaluation period, the 6-foot-7 senior-to-be said he'd seriously consider them, though he stopped short of saying he'd accept on the spot.
"I don't want to rush into anything, but I'd definitely be interested," Honeycutt said. "I like the tradition. A lot of players from there have gone on to the NBA which is something I'm trying to do."
An under-the-radar player prior to joining the heralded Pump N Run club team this year, Honeycutt has emerged as one of the state's most coveted prospects as more scouts have gotten the chance to see his game. Arizona State, USC and Washington have each offered scholarships, while Kansas, Arizona and Gonzaga are also recruiting him.
The attention is a little overwhelming for Honeycutt, who said every time his phone rings it's a different area code. When legendary Arizona coach Lute Olson called last week, Honeycutt asked high school coach Bort Escoto afterward, "Who's Lute Olson?"
"He's a typical high school kid," Escoto said. "He doesn't have any sense of history, but he's learning."
Honeycutt is a versatile prospect who makes up for his narrow frame with his long arms, deft ball skills and superb outside shot. His strong performance at the two-day UCLA elite camp elicited praise from the Bruin coaches.
"They told me after the camp they like how I improved, how I competed and how I took criticism," Honeycutt said. "I'm working hard every day, so I'm glad people are taking notice.

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ncaa basketball

I guess my question is plain and simple for all of you to answer: "What is a good record for the Tar Heels this season". With twelve games on the schedule, is being bowl eligible enough? Or is being close to the top of the division enough? Or is it winning the division or busting the goal? I have to say that looking at the first four games of the season it could be a very big trap for the Heels. Yes, McNeese State, a Division IAA team, shouldn't be a problem, but the other three games, Rutgers on the road, Virginia Tech at home and Miami (FL) on the road, could all be very hard games and I wouldn't be surprised if the team loses all three of the games.

Rutgers, even without their starting running back Ray Rice having gone to the NFL, is still going to be a competetive team. Virginia Tech is always a tough team, and even if UNC played a tight game against them in Blacksburgh, losing 17 to 10, I still think that the Hokies will be just a bit stronger on offense than the Heels will be on defense. And the third game of the series is Miami (FL), a team that Carolina beat last year at Kenan Stadium, and you have to believe that this is going to be a revenge game for the Hurricanes. So, I have to say that in this small stretch of the season we are going to see who is a true fan and who is going to be a bandwagon fan.

The next two games will be played in Chapel Hill. The first one against Connecticut and the second one against Notre Dame. For all intents and purposes, if coach Davis wants to get his team to a bowl game he has to get two W's against the Huskies and the Irish, and whether we want to believe it or not, that isn't going to be the easiest thing to do. Follow those two games with a road trip to Virginia and another home game against Boston College and you know that a 1-1 record in this part of the schedule could be ok. If we now add up the the first eight games, the record for the Heels could be either 3-5 or 4-4. That one game difference is probably the difference of whether this team is going to make it to a bowl game or not.

The last part of the season is Georgia Tech at home and Maryland on the road. Here too, a win and a loss could easily be what happens. And then against the two rivals of the Heels (N.C. State and Duke) they'll finish out the season, and both should be wins. If that were to happen, that could make Carolina bowl eligible with a 6-6 or 7-5 record.

Now, having said all of that, I once again ask: "What if the team stumbles?" Then what? What if they show up at the end of the season with a 5-7 record? Or a 4-8 one? Would that make the season a total loss? Or would you be willing to let it go due to growing pains? Will it be coach Davis getting the worst of it if the team falters or will people want a change at quarterback, replacing T.J. Yates with Mike Paulus? I am one of those people that thinks three years should be the minimum for a coach to implement their game, but when you have a top notch one, does that learning curve get smaller?

Last year the Heels lost eight games. Six were by less than a touchdown. Four of them were on the road. Could all this mean that with some luck last year a 6-6 record could have been attainable? I say maybe. But the key is now, can the Heels get that 6-6 record? I am tentative in saying that they will as there are three games that Carolina is going to play that scare me. The `Canes want revenge against the Heels, the Fighting Irish's head coach Charlie Weiss wants to prove he can bring Notre Dame back to the top of the hill and finally Jeff Jagodzinski and Boston College wants to show that they are a real team even without Matt Ryan.

I know that head coach Butch Davis is the right person for the job at Chapel Hill. I know that, given the proper time, the program is going to get to the top of the conference. But what I don't know is how long coach Davis will get in the era of "what have you done for me lately". I truly do believe that the team will be better than last year and that, in my opinion, means that if they were to re-play last year's season UNC would have gone bowling in 2007. But we are talking about the `08 season and that means that they have to do it all over again and win those games.

In the end, I'm not sure where the team will land, but I would say it's going to be a 3 game swing, between 4-8 and 7-5. With the former being a bit too low for most of the fan base and with the latter being good enough to go bowling. What most will probably not realize is that the team is always the same whether they go 4-8 or 7-5, it is just how the ball will bounce and how much experience they have acquired in one year.

Read more...

The rumors of an upcoming price drop for the Xbox 360 have grown from leaks to flood today, as shortly on the heels of the reveal of Gamestop Promo material hyping the new price point, a Microsoft email to GameStop and Blockbuster has hit the net that blows the story wide open. According to the email, Microsoft aims to make room for the $299 Xbox 360 Premium (20-GB) in the product family by launching a new 60-GB Pro model this month (July).

No price is given for the new 60-GB hardware package, but for those feeling squeezed by their current 360's smaller HDD, Microsoft will offer some decent HDD upgrade options. In "late October / early November," the company will launch the "Xbox 360 60-GB LIVE Starter Pack," a $99.99 bundle that will include a 60-GB HDD, 3-months of Xbox Live, a wired headset, and an Ethernet cable. Also noted in the Microsoft email are plans to drop the price of the 120-GB Xbox 360 HDD to $149.99 in September.

It seems apparent that Microsoft will officially announce the news at its upcoming E3 keynote next week. We're just hoping they'll have something left to surprise us with after such porous secret-keeping so far.

Read more...

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Find low priced SimpleTech SP UF35 500 SimpleDrive 500 GB USB2.0 FireWire Portable Hard Drive on eBay.

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Many pages in this Fox Television Stations, Inc. web site feature links to other sites, some of which are operated by companies unrelated to Fox Television Stations, Inc. Fox Television Stations, Inc. has no control over the content or availability of any linked site.
TM and (c) 2008 Fox Television Stations, Inc., and its related entities. All rights reserved.

News >>> ncaa basketball

What Davidson and Stephen Curry accomplished in this year's NCAA Basketball tournament was amazing... but how does it stack up to the 2006 George Mason team that went to the final four?
There are many different methods of comparison, and I will only look into some of the main ones in this article. For starters, lets compare over-all record.
Season-ending record:
Davidson - 29-7 George Mason - 27-8
This is a very slight advantage to Davidson. Now I compare their successes prior to the NCAA tournament.
RPI - rating and rank:
Davidson - .5875, #35 George Mason - .5984, #26
This is a clear advantage to George Mason, which is surprising. Many people thought George Mason would not even make the 2006 NCAA tournament (they lost in their conference tournament), while Davidson was a lock to make the 2008 tournament. However, it is George Mason who had the higher RPI rating.
Conference Success:
Davidson - 20-0 in the Southern Conference (RPI #21)
George Mason - 15-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association (RPI #10)
There is no clear advantage here. Davidson went undefeated, but they did so in an easy conference. George Mason won a very difficult conference. The CAA had another team qualify for the tournament that year (UNC-Wilmington) and two other teams on the bubble (Hofstra and Old Dominion). It's only fair to give Davidson a slight edge here, but it's impossible to know how their success would have changed if they played in a more competitive conference.
Strength of Schedule Rank:
Davidson - #129 overall, #4 non-conference
George Mason - #89 overall, #32 non-conference
It is easy to see how much playing in the Southern Conference hurt Davidson's strength of schedule. Their non-conference schedule was one of the toughest in the country, but their overall schedule strength was still weak. George Mason had a relatively difficult over-all strength of schedule, even though they played in a non-major conference. The edge has to go to George Mason, although Davidson certainly gets an "A" for effort by scheduling such difficult teams.
Now I look at how these teams actually fared in the tournament.
Tournament Results:
Davidson -
1st Round: Gonzaga (7) - W 82-76
2nd Round: Georgetown (2) - W 74-70
3rd Round: Wisconsin (3) - W 73-56
Elite Eight: Kansas (1) - L 57-59
George Mason -
1st Round: Michigan State (6) - W 75-65
2nd Round: North Carolina (3) - W 65-60
3rd Round: Wichita State (7) - W 63-55
Elite Eight: Connecticut (1) - W 86-84 (OT)
Final Four: Florida (3) - L 58-73
There are actually several striking similarities in the runs of Davidson and George Mason, but also some key differences. They both ultimately lost to the eventual champions. Davidson gave eventual-champion Kansas a much closer game than George Mason gave to eventual-champion Florida. Mason was, however, Florida's third closest game of the tournament. Davidson was Kansas' second closest game, behind their overtime championship thriller against Memphis.
They both won their games in somewhat similar fashions; by using very strong second halves. Davidson outscored Gonzaga 46-35 in the second half, outscored Georgetown 47-32 in the second half, and outscored Wisconsin 37-20 in the second half. George Mason outscored Michigan State 42-35 in the second half, outscored UNC 45-33 in the second half, and outscored UConn 40-31 in the second half.
However, there is one enormous difference in the two teams... George Mason won one more game. And not just any game, they beat #1 seed and tournament-favorite UConn to qualify for the final four. They were the first mid-major team since UPenn and Indiana State in 1979 to make the final four. They also tied LSU's record, set in 1986, for highest seed to play in the final four.
While Davidson lost an extremely close game against Kansas with a shot to win the game at the buzzer, Mason recovered from squandering a lead at the end of the second half to beat UConn in overtime. Davidson likely would have had a better final four performance than Mason had (they lost a close game to UNC, who would have been their opponent, earlier in the season). But it was George Mason who rose to the occasion to defeat a #1 seed in the elite eight, while Davidson fell just short.
Another big difference, in my opinion, is that many fans and analysts expected a strong run from Davidson in the 2008 tournament. I'm not sure that anyone expected them to beat the quality of teams that they beat in the way that they did, but there were very few people that expected any tournament wins out of George Mason in 2006. Many thought they didn't even deserve to be in the tournament.
All in all, both teams were extremely well-talented and thrilled the entire country with their success. The team of better strength is debatable, and I would even say the edge might go to Davidson. The media certainly portrayed Davidson as the stronger team prior to the tournament, but as we saw with RPI rankings there was also indication that George Mason was better.
But in the end, George Mason's run went deeper into the tournament and was more unexpected, so the title of better underdog has to go undebatably to George Mason.

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