Hoopraker

There is an unhealthy contingent of putative mavens who view college basketball through the myopic, exclusive lens of numbers. Several of these number ruminants have even “invented” their own proprietary statistical models which they claim to be the most accurate, the most predictive, the best reduction of the game and its teams and players to their essential value. Number of possessions, tempo, efficiency, pace, effective percentage, these are but a few of their buzzwords, their junctions of obsession. (more…)

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Rare indeed are November weekends where victories against Army, Idaho State, Radford and Brown portend anything more than a cheap win let alone the virtues of progress and hope. But in Iowa City, Ann Arbor and Minneapolis, the Big Ten Conference welcomed Todd Lickliter, John Beilein and Tubby Smith in victory, and in the process, a glimpse of light was shed on the effect these coaches will have on their respective Universities. (more…)

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Amidst the giddy anticipation of pre-season as coaches and players moved from the Vegas-lite of Midnight Madness into official practice, from intrasquad runs to the blowouts and mock upsets (Grand Valley State, Findlay) of exhibition games, from rusty jumpers, mistimed cuts, and bad passes to some early semblance of a groove; as fans and commentators peered into their crystal balls, each trying to divine the five months ahead and how their teams of choice will look from the mountaintop of mid-March, the NCAA quietly posted the results of a six year examination. (more…)

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With green leaves still clinging to the red maple trees outside my window, it’s hard to grasp November is here and the Big Ten Basketball season is upon us. In an off-season highlighted by the addition of three head coaches into the Big Ten brethren, the Conference now boasts the most accomplished set of collegiate coaches the Country. After last year’s attrition and with the influx of the Class of 2011, the Big Ten is a Conference of parity. Hoopraker salivates for the opening tips tomorrow night in Ann Arbor and Iowa City. (more…)

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hoop·rake
intr.v. hoop·raked, hoop·rak·ing, hoop·rakes

A hoopraker (n. hoop-rak-er) is a journalist, writer or filmmaker who investigates and exposes societal issues effecting college basketball, such as exemplary effort, player development, coaching incompetence, institutional malaise, child labor in fraternity houses, unsanitary conditions in collegiate dining halls, and fraudulent claims and hypocrisy related to similar matters. Generally, hoopraking tends to be targeted at the established basketball forces within the Big Ten Conference.

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By the end of the day on October 11, Bruce Weber, the nation’s winningest coach during his four years at Illinois, found his bandwagon had gone from roomy to full capacity. With the verbal commitments of class of 2008 Simeon (via Leo Catholic) forward Stan Simpson, and 2009 guards D.J. Richardson of Peoria Central, Sterling’s Joseph Bertrand, and Warren Township’s Brandon Paul, suddenly, in one twenty-four hour period, Weber was a good coach again, a coach worth supporting. (more…)

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