12/28/2025 Like any impulsive and slightly bored nineteen-year-old male, I decided to chop off nearly all my hair and get a buzz cut this week. Yes, it looks as bad as you might think. Fortunately, as previously established in this column, I am still 6’4 and absolutely jacked, so it’s not the end of the world. If I were hypothetically 5’8 and 3/4ths and arguably malnourished, I might look like a “rebellious fifth-grader” as my friends have so kindly called me.  Some might ass

12/28/2025 This time of year is always full of “year in review” articles and lists. I learned that one of the big fads of 2025 was the “75 Hard Challenge.” Since I am usually the last to catch on to new fads (I continue to be in my animal print fashion phase, I’m still indulging in the Mediterranean diet, and I just recently stopped using the phrase “talk to the hand”), I was glad my daughter was home from college to educate me on this new wellness program. It didn’t take lon

12/22/2025 Notre Dame had only one game this week on Sunday night at home vs. Bellarmine. It was their last game before the holidays and they don’t play again for more than a week. If you bet Notre Dame and gave the points (55.5 lol), you won! Behind Hannah Hidalgo’s second career triple double, the Irish eked out a 74 point win over the Knights. Hidalgo had 30 points, 13 steals, and 10 assists and played only 22 minutes due to the blowout. Bellarmine starter, Kayce Hyman, pl

12/19/2025 Tom Izzo just became the highest paid coach in the Big10. Maybe he can now afford clothes that don't say Michigan State. 12/16/2025 According to ESPN, Michigan has launched a query into its athletic department. Step 1: Ponder what constitutes a query. 12/13/2025 Univ of Utah said it formed a partnership with a private equity firm because it would’ve been bad marketing to say it formed a partnership with the devil. 12/9/2025 On Sunday, Gonzaga’s Mark Few became the

12/22/2025 Everyone loves getting a good gift. I mean, that is really the point of Christmas, after all. But I’d argue that giving a good gift is even better. Because giving a good gift just has a certain sense of satisfaction. One year, I got my vegetarian parents an Outback Steakhouse gift card, and I still chuckle about it to this day. The same feeling is found in giving genuinely meaningful gifts, or so I’ve heard.  That satisfaction leads to genuinely passionate gift giv

12/22/2025 In League With Creighton Week 7: The "Almost Arrested in Omaha" Edition It was 3:00 AM on Saturday, and my eyeballs were pinned to the top of my forehead. I’d been staring at the ceiling since ten. I hadn’t slept in days. I couldn’t stop thinking about the Creighton-Xavier game from a few nights earlier. Who was this Creighton team? How had a pusillanimous collection of finesse players, seemingly stuck in neutral for over a month, suddenly become a well-oiled offen

12/22/2025 Reed Arena or a Track Meet? Aggies Run Past East Texas A&M COLLEGE STATION, Texas  — If you walked into Reed Arena on Sunday afternoon expecting a basketball game, you might have been confused to find a track meet where one team was allowed to use a hoop. Rashaun Agee  decided the first five minutes were his personal layup line, scoring the Aggies' first eight points while the  East Texas A&M Lions  were seemingly still trying to find parking. Agee finished with a

12/22/2025 On Sunday afternoon in South Bend, IN in their only game of the week, Notre Dame wrapped up non-conference play by losing to 13 point underdog, Purdue Fort Wayne, 72-69. The Irish loss was their first home defeat of the year and their first ever against the Mastodons. It also stopped a couple of winning streaks - four overall and two (apparently) when forward Carson Towt wears a headband.  I don’t know why I know that last stat. But I do know it is the last time I

12/21/2025 The ‘Cats have begun to right the ship over the last two weeks with a couple of much needed, convincing victories. After dispatching the vaunted juggernaut from Durham, North Carolina, the Eagles of North Carolina Central University on December 9 th , the Wildcats followed up with a 2 nd half blitzkrieg at Rupp of the Indiana Hoosiers, outscoring IU 40-19 during a second half explosion, cruising to a 12 point victory, despite trailing by 7 at the half. Yet another

12/22/2025 The Kennesaw State Report Week 6:  Rampage in Rocket City Huntsville, Alabama is an odd place.  It’s the rare American city where the military and aerospace industries employ more than half of the population.  It’s also a city where more than half of the registered voters believe the moon landing was faked.  You will regularly encounter people who are simultaneously flat-earthers and also build technology that has sent people in tin cans into outer space. Huntsvill

12/21/2025 After a week off, TCU decided to sleep through the first half of the day much like me this holiday break, going down 7 to Incarnate Word. They turned it around and got to the line 25 times to sneak past the Cardinals despite an abysmal 19% clip from three. This moved Incarnate Word to 5-6 and 0-5 on the road to make them the 2nd worst Cardinals in sports. Sorry Arizona football fans.    TCU cleaned up the rest of their easy week with blowout wins over Oral Roberts

12/21/2025 Double header action from Hilton Coliseum on Sunday. First game more appealing with the women defeating Kansas 79-76 with Audi going for 41, I don't care if its Solitaire, which is impossible, beating Kansas at anything is good for humanity. The only condition acceptable to root for the Hawkeyes is if the opponent is Kansas. The men complete the second half of the double header coming in at 11-0 and ranked #4 . Big 12 play is still two weeks away and Iowa State loo

12/22/2025 A short weekend on hand for the Atlantic-10, as we inch our way closer to the inevitable destruction of conference play. All bets will be off; no one will be safe and everything we thought we knew about these teams is thrown into disarray. But, for now, we have come to the end of this weekend’s action.  Is it too early to say that La Salle’s ship has likely sunk? Can’t say for sure. But their recent streak isn’t helping matters. The Explorers suffered another loss,

12/22/2025 So, there was a 6 team tournament near my house. Henrico Sports Complex in Glen Allen,  VA. The Spiders didn't disappoint. They knocked off a feisty Alabama A & M 72-58. I'm sure the Bama team was more focused on what city had the best BBQ. On Sunday, the big bad Big 10 Penn St Lady Lions showed up and again the Spiders won 70 -54. PSU had the height, but couldn't keep up with the speed and fast paced offense of a mid major. Time for conference play.  12/18/2025 As

12/19/2025 The UNC Greensboro Report Week 7:  First Semester Final Exam Edition Since the first semester of school is officially in the books and conference play is about to kick off, it seemed a good time to give Spartan Nation a first semester final exam.  The test will cover what we have seen and what we expect to see from this whirling dervish of a basketball team.  You may submit your answers to me at  kspillett14@yahoo.com  if you want feedback or are just feeling lonel

12/19/2025 The start of the season has been a little bit surprising considering that eight of the thirteen players on Penn State are first year freshman.    After defeating four "internet schools" along with other schools that are somewhat known in non-conference play and finishing 8-1, they opened Big Ten play with an embarrassing loss to Indiana. However, Mike Rhoades and his Nittany Lion squad responded with a very close game against #9 nationally ranked Michigan State, fa

12/19/2025 Non-conference play has been a roller coaster journey to say the least. After winning six of nine games, they lose by 40 to third ranked South Carolina. When playing a team with that high of a caliber, what do you expect to happen?    Kiyomi McMiller and Gracie Merkle have been carrying the Lady Lions through a solid start to the season.    This weekend, the Lady Lions will play two games. They play VCU on Saturday, and Richmond on Sunday. After that, they enter Bi

12/14/2025 I had a bye week last week when I took a trip to visit our nation's capital. So this week is a double feature of Friars basketball, which is probably more than double what anyone wants to read, but here we go.  Providence had an undefeated week last week (don't expect the words "undefeated" and "Providence" to appear too often here), knocking off Farleigh Dickinson and U.R.I.  I didn't know Farleigh even had a team, and mostly thought it was that fake school in Ani

12/14/2025 The Lady Bonnies have stolen another game on the road.  Good thing they were in Erie, Pennsylvania playing Mercyhurst.  Those NYS troopers might have to put their donuts down and do something.  Bonnies beat Mercyhurst 60-57.  The Lady Lakers at 0-9 decided they wanted to play and kept the game close.  The Lady Bonnies defense came to play hard and kept the Lakers scoreless until the 1:27 mark in the third quarter.  The Lakers last shot bounced off the rim and the L

12/7/2025 Good Week for Duke Duke began the week with a hard fought, 1-point win over defending national champion Florida, 67-66.  Cameron Boozer continued his strong play, scoring 29 points to lead Duke.  Patrick Ngongba also turned in a strong performance, scoring 11 points along with 5 boards, 5 assists and 5 blocks – an impressive all-around game.  Although Duke did a good job of limiting Florida big-man Alex Condon, Duke could not stop Florida’s Thomas Hough, who scored

11/30/2025 There’s something amiss in Dayton’s kitchen. Head Coach Anthony Grant earned his Michelin Star in 2020 with a top-5 Flyer team. Now, it looks like he can’t turn on a stove.  Despite a good Thanksgiving feast, Flyer fans are left with a bad taste in their mouths.  “Not a good coach,” and “didn’t have to be so painful,” were phrases that appeared on my texts this week as Dayton routinely built leads and lost them. Against Marquette November 19, the Flyers gave up a 1

11/9/2025 11/30/2025 The Big East felt it got snubbed by the tourney committee last year. So this year they entered with 3 teams in the top 25 and two in the top 5.  5 weeks later, it looks like the committee has the last laugh, as the conference is not getting it done. One team dropped completely out and St John's has gone from 5 down to 14.  The only team holding its own is UConn, which is fitting, since that was the message the league sent to the tournament selection commi

11/30/2025 I am still feeling pretty good about what I have seen so far this year from the Bonnies. And - I have actually been able to SEE them! Living outside Phoenix, Arizona it is somewhat of a rare occurrence to have a St. Bonaventure game available to watch, but that has been the case for three of the last four games. I am highly recommending Fubo these days. The Fort Myers Tip Off tournament put the Bonnies up against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Both teams were undefe

11/28/2025 After a 5-0 start, the Orangemen lost their way in Vegas. They managed to go 0-3 against teams from the former Big 8 (is it now 10, 12, 14, 16, or more?). They lost by ever larger margins as the tournament went along. Tuesday brings Tennessee and a chance for redemption--or another double-digit defeat. 10/31/2025 Syracuse basketball tips off on Nov. 3 against the mighty Binghamton University Bearcats (what the Hell's a Bearcat?) to open a new season. Hope springs e

11/15/2025 The Catamounts continued their winning ways this week by defeating Brown University. Overcoming the Ivy League school was difficult. UVM took a Princeton Review course to prepare for the SAT, tried their hand at the ACT, hired a writing coach to help them craft their college essay, and applied early decision. 11/11/2025 The Catamounts kicked off the regular season with victories over Western New England and Plattsburgh State. Thus far, Vermont has won 100% of their

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Latest Reasons 1.  Paige Bueckers is pretty good...105 points in three games.  2.  UConn has way cooler names than UCLA.  Although there...

Latest Reasons Walter Clayton. That's the reason—most clutch player in the tournament and the second coming of Steph Curry.  Todd Golden...

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5. I just came up with the really good catchphrase, “FGseeyou later”. The team has to win so they can use that on all of their opponents...