In the final weeks of preseason when most paid observers are sloughing out their banal, predictable top ten lists (UNC and UCLA are locks for San Antonio!) and bandwagon storylines (Eric Gordon is the new Kevin Durant!), there are some Big Ten stories that deserve more than the passing interest they’ve received thus far. (more…)

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When Steve Alford quit on Iowa last April, he bestowed upon Hawkeye fans the unanticipated gift of a coaching vacancy. Moving swiflty after an ill-conceived interlude with Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, Iowa AD Gary Bartha displayed his basketball acumen by hiring a coaches’ coach, Butler’s Todd Lickliter. Of the three Big Ten coaching hires in the Spring of 2007 (Minnesota’s Tubby Smith and Michigan’s John Beilein being the other two), Iowa’s Lickliter may turn out to be the best. (more…)

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Summer is when this rake forgoes his acid-tipped quill for three uninterrupted months of profuse sweating, baseball intolerance, and trips to Gotham mechanic-criminals who charge usurious rates to stare fecklessly at my car’s AC system. This summer was no different. But just because my cursor was idle doesn’t mean there weren’t a few topics de hoop that deserve a quick accounting. (more…)

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With a vast swath of the pundit class bleating the name of Eric Gordon and installing his one year affiliation Hoosiers as conference heavies, the stench emanating from the program continues unabated. With an inevitability that Hoopraker foresaw from the moment of his coronation by Rick Greenspan, Kelvin The Recidivist continues to shepherd the program towards the outlaw margins. (more…)

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