It would be unreasonable to offer a total defense of Harrison Barnes, who has become the target of criticism, disappointment and derision in the wake of his Carolina career's poor finish.The sports world thrives on fickleness, and for teams and athletes to assemble large swells of bandwagon supporters during the good times, they have to endure the reflexive abandonment in the bad.Our memory of Barnes ultimately will ...

Cuonzo Martin and the Tennessee Vols drew high praise around the SEC for their unexpected success in 2012, but the team’s potential is now drawing national attention.  In his initial prediction for the preseason top 25, ESPN’s Andy Katz ranked the Vols 24th, ahead of tournament teams Marquette, Missouri, UNLV, New Mexico, and Florida State.  "Cuonzo Martin had the Volunteers on the cusp of an NCAA tournament berth in the final two weeks of the ...

Many sports fans have now grown tired and moved past the talk of the Kentucky Wildcats and their recently won NCAA Championship. However, if I know my Big Blue Nation like I think I do, none of us will ever tire of this conversation.I don't anticipate that my happiness will plateau or that, when the words "National Champions" cross my lips, I will stop feeling a certain thrill throughout my being. This year will echo for ...

The departure of Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Tyler Zeller, and Kendall Marshall to this summer's NBA draft leaves Carolina entering its third distinct rebuilding season under Roy Williams.Though the 2012 squad will not leave Chapel Hill with a national championship, it has in common with its 2005 and 2009 predecessors that nearly all of the key players will leave a team that had been building steadily toward success for three ...

Today it was revealed that the University of Connecticut's last-ditch effort for the men's basketball team to play in the postseason for the 2012-13 season met deaf ears.Thanks to prior academic performance, the Huskies will be watching next year's Big East and NCAA tournaments from their dorm rooms. From personal experience, the dorm rooms are not in the least bit comfy, either.As my headline alluded to, there is an easy solution to this problem should ...

North Carolina basketball fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief—James Michael McAdoo will be back at Chapel Hill for at least another season. After taking time to consider the NBA Draft,  McAdoo announced on Thursday his plans to return.The fear of North Carolina being completely gutted for a season is finally gone.According to Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina, McAdoo had this to say in a statement released to the school: "I've had several discussions about ...

While the Tennessee Volunteers have yet to earn the title "Quarterback U," there have been some terrific signal-callers in the Big Orange's history.No two quarterbacks have been the same, and though there may be a prototype for all Vol quarterbacks (I think you know who I'm talking about), each of these ten men have truly given their all for Tennessee.When you look at the annals of Tennessee football, there is a relatively low number of ...

And so it begins. On a very cold, wet day the 2012 Oregon Ducks football team came together for the first time. After joking that it was "the worst practice ever" Coach Chip Kelly expanded in an interview broadcast on oregonlive.com that it was really good. Kelly said that Michael Clay, John Boyett and Carson York showed good leadership to the new guys. Kelly added in response to a question from the media that "Arik ...

In the midst of spring practice, the Cincinnati Bearcats football coaching staff is also actively on the recruiting trail and just picked up a three-star quarterback from Massilon, Ohio.Kyle Kempt is the latest verbal commitment Butch Jones and his coaching staff have received and while he cannot sign his official letter of intent until February, it is nice to get an early commitment for the 2013 class.Kempt chose Cincinnati over a group that included West ...

College football fans around the country know the importance of recruiting.  A school can have the best coaching staff in the sport, but without a talented roster to work with, only so much can be accomplished.That is why coaches spend tremendous amounts of time each year searching for prospects to help their programs achieve the high expectations that are commonly seen around the nation.Ohio State has had a slow yet methodical approach to recruiting in ...