LATEST STORIES FROM HOOPRAKER
Live in Indianapolis: Taxi Driver and St. Elmo's Fire Edition
The Big Ten Tournament is in full swing and our first day in Indy was bookended by some petty theft from a taxi driver and a shank of cow saved from St. Elmo's fire and delivered, perfectly scarred and oozing, to our table adjoining Bruce Weber and his victorious Fighting Illini.
Post-Sampson Era Begins
The Indiana Northwestern game Saturday night was exciting with the outcome not decided until the final buzzer sounded. The Wildcats had a chance to pull off the upset of the year, but failed to take advantage of several opportunities in the closing minutes to secure their first victory...
Carmody’s Nine Lives
The beneficiary of the low expectation arroyo that is Northwestern basketball, it is increasingly clear that Carmody will be spared the abattoir and granted a ninth life next season. Will there be more timid mews or a long-awaited roar from Evanston?
Redemption Road
As Kelvin Sampson continues to use his cell phone to cling to the program and players that should’ve been his professional salvation but instead became the next victims of his incorrigibility and desperation, the Hoosiers and their current alumnus-in-chief have, in their short...
Loose Balls: February 26
No team in the Big Ten needed a win more than Ohio State (17-10, 8-6). Not Northwestern to redeem a portion of a season’s embarrassment; not Indiana to exorcise the bile of Kelvin Sampson’s opiate addiction to his mobile phone. Ohio State, one week removed from a loss at...
A Perfect Offense
Between weathered fences and barren fields, through a Winter of grey skies and a remarkable volume of snow, the Wisconsin Badgers (24-4, 14-2) have shined. In a season that finds them once again atop the Big Ten heap after securing their fifth consecutive victory with a 57-42 win over...
With Honors - All Big Ten
On the eve of the Big Ten Tournament, it's time to honor the individuals as graduating the Big Ten season with honors. Thanks for the inspired basketball gentleman
The Tweener That Roared - Penn State's Geary Claxton
One of the several pleasures of purist basketball fandom is watching players and teams who defy the easy categorizations of the meat market approach to the game and succeed, indeed flourish, where so many saw sure failure. Geary Claxton was one such player.
A Senior Year to Remember: DJ White
D.J. White is a throwback to those sepia-colored days of yore when players chose programs out of loyalty, stayed out of love for game and team, and by their junior and senior seasons evolved into formidable, championship-caliber leaders.
Devin Ebanks, Memphis & Article 9
Like hyenas lurking near the bounty of a lion, the Tigers are circling Bloomington. By all indications, Indiana recruit Devin Ebanks (Queens, NY/Thomas More (CT)) and one of the most highly regarded players in the country won’t wait for IU to name a new permanent coach and will...
Devin Ebanks, Memphis and Article 9
Indiana super recruit Devin Ebanks has yet to be formally released from his National Letter of Intent to play for IU. Such formalities are apparently but a minor detail to John Calipari's Memphis Tigers.
The Duke Mythology
The Duke mythology that has continued to shield Tommy Amaker's reputation and coaching career from Seton Hall to Michigan was dented further by allegations of questionable recruiting practices at his latest stop in Cambridge.
Waiting for Erin Andrews
Ordinarily a 28 point, 13 rebound, 6 assist game from your freshman point guard might garner some attention from big media types, but when your team plays in State College you take nothing for granted. While Penn State (14-14, 6-10) toils in relative obscurity, Talor Battle (Albany...
Can Bill Carmody Save His Job - His Nine Lives
The beneficiary of the low expectation arroyo that is Northwestern basketball, it is increasingly clear that Carmody will be spared the abattoir and granted a ninth life next season. Will there be more timid mews or a long-awaited roar from Evanston?
A Perfect Offense - Bo Ryan's Swing
In a season that finds them once again atop the Big Ten heap after securing their fifth consecutive victory with a 57-42 win over Michigan State (22-6, 10-5), the Wisconsn Badgers have demonstrated the efficiency and power of team basketball as well as what may be a perfect offense.
A Moment in Ann Arbor
Beneficiaries of an 80-70 victory over Ohio State, John Beilein’s Michigan Wolverines (8-17, 4-9) proudly possess a three game winning streak and have evolved, through a season of defeats, into the best eight win team in the Country. While Michigan’s 25 game record is indeed...
Dead Man Coaching
An august rivalry once dictated by two coaching mastodons is now steered by a rapidly rising acolyte in West Lafayette and a dead man coaching in Bloomington. As if the clash for Indiana bragging rights needed more amplitude, Tuesday’s game is a smorgasboard of both backstory...
Dimestore Gin
While the immediate future of Indiana basketball sits on a limestone precipice, for the second time in two weeks a game was played where the Hoosiers succumbed to the discipline and chemistry of Bo Ryan's Wisconsin Badgers. Despite possessing two NBA lottery picks, through 24 games...
The First Fundamental
Over a career in which he garnered six National Coach of the Year trophies, Gene Keady inculcated the value of basketball fundamentals, principle among them, how to make a good pass. In an 80-61 loss to Indiana, Michigan State furthered their trend of poor fundamentals with bad passes...
The Sky Is Falling…..Again
With the usual polarities afoot as to the dire health of the conference it is incumbent upon those observing from less distant vistas to provide either more nuanced concurrence or as is more often necessary, measured rebuttal. While spirited differences in opinion are part of the appeal...
Redemption Road - Where Does Indiana Go From Here
As Kelvin Sampson continues to use his cell phone to cling to the program and players that should've been his professional salvation but instead became the next victims of his incorrigibility and desperation, the Hoosiers and Dan Dakich, their current alumnus-in-chief have, in...
Loose Balls: February 26
No team in the Big Ten needed a win more than Ohio State (17-10, 8-6). Not Northwestern to redeem a portion of a season's embarrassment; not Indiana to exorcise the bile of Kelvin Sampson's opiate addiction to his mobile phone. Ohio State, one week removed from a loss at Michigan...
The Sky is Falling...Again
Looking at RPIs, won-loss records, individual games, and the ACC-Big Ten challenge in isolation is a trap that fails to account for the season as a five-month growing medium. The best coaches, of which the Big Ten has a deep roster, can take roster shake-ups, Wofford losses, and 36...
Loose Balls: November 16
Hoopraker tips its tattered Cincinnati Reds cap to Joe Nuxhall who passed away yesterday at the age of 79. Listening to Reds games called by Marty Brennaman and the ol’ lefthander rounding third and heading for home on the Big One, 700 WLW, defined many summer days for this Hoopraker...
A Moment in Ann Arbor
John Beilein's Michigan Wolverines (8-17, 4-9) proudly possess a three game winning streak and have evolved, through a season of defeats, into the best eight win team in the Country. For a basketball program that remarkably hasn't been to an NCAA Tournament since 1998, Beilein...
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