With the NBA draft only a few months away, there won't be many more opportunities for prospects such as Scoop Jardine to impress pro scouts, which makes this weekend's action at the Portsmouth Invitational quite important.Let's look at three players who need strong performances throughout the final two days of the tournament in order to help their draft stock. Scoop JardineThe Syracuse star is averaging 9.8 points and 4.8 assists in the Portsmouth Invitational thus far, ...

It's been three long, but sweet months for Alabama fans since the Crimson Tide earned the 14th national championship in school history by defeating LSU, 21-0, in the BCS National Championship Game.  In a state where college football is a 365-day affair, the wait for football will come to a temporary halt when the Crimson Tide hold their annual A-Day spring game this weekend.   Nick Saban will unleash a fresh batch of former prep stars ...

Kirk Ferentz has become one of the most beloved coaches in the history of the University of Iowa football program. However, a couple of disappointing seasons have begun to sour the tremendous fan support for the man who led the Hawkeyes to a 2010 Orange Bowl victory. Would a third straight mediocre season turn up the heat under Ferentz's coaching seat?It's easy to fall into the somewhat recent trend in college football of putting coaches ...

With 15 returning starters from a team that finished 11-2 and ranked fifth in the nation in 2011, this season was supposed to be the year that Arkansas finally broke through in the notoriously tough SEC West.   After all, the only teams to defeat the Hogs last season were division foes Alabama and LSU—the two teams that squared off in New Orleans for the national championship—and both the Crimson Tide and the Tigers will visit ...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard by now that Arkansas fired head coach Bobby Petrino following Petrino's motorcycle wreck and subsequent cover-up to the Arkansas athletic department.It's not the worst timing in the world, but it's close.So who's going to replace Petrino?One of the names that is surely going to be at or near the top of every Hog fan's wishlist is current Arkansas State head coach Gus Malzhan.Let's pump the ...

Believe it or not, the Crimson Tide can improve on many aspects of the 2011 season. Even with the loss of juniors to the draft and seniors to graduation, there are improvements that can be reasonably expected.Though the biggest similarity from 2011 to 2012 is the team's name, there is no reason to believe that the Tide will repeat the three-loss 2010 debacle, either.In fact, according to a lot of players (and Nick Saban), there ...

After Bobby Petrino was fired as Arkansas' head football coach on Tuesday, he released a statement, via ArkansasSports360.com.Petrino, married with four children, was fired after concealing an affair he had with 25-year-old Jessica Dorrell, who he hired as student-athlete development coordinator last month.Part of Petrino's statement read, via ArkansasSports360.com:The simplest response I have is: I’m sorry. These two words seem very inadequate. But that is my heart. All I have been able to think ...

Michigan gave itself an insurance policy in case Trey Burke goes pro by signing Spike Albrecht out of Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts. This news was confirmed by ESPN's Adam Finkelstein on Friday.Albrecht is coming off a strong senior season at NMH in which he led the Hoggers to the NEPSAC Class AAA Championship, defeating national powerhouse Brewster (NH) in the semi-finals before knocking off St. Thomas More (CT) in the final. Albrecht scored 23 ...

Trey Zeigler chose Central Michigan over perennial powerhouses like Duke, Michigan State, UCLA and Arizona for one simple reason: he wanted to play for his father. After the Chippewas fired Ernie Zeigler back on March 14, it became a forgone conclusion that Trey would be gone as well.Late Saturday, Zeigler confirmed via his twitter account that he would be taking his talents to the Steel City to play for Jamie Dixon and Pittsburgh. Zeigler had a strong ...

There's no doubt that Shabazz Muhammad is one of the top high school basketball players in the country.While the UCLA Bruins are known to highly covet the small, 6'6" forward, signing him may not be the best thing for the Bruins.After a year of turmoil in which Sports Illustrated published a story on all the things going wrong within the Bruins' program, things have to change, and change quickly.First, Muhammad is likely a one-and-done player, ...