It's never easy when you lose the Conference Player of the Year to graduation. It becomes especially hard when the other senior you lose is also a First Team, All-League player, helping form one of the nation's deadly duos.That's what coach Buzz Williams of Marquette had to deal with last March when both Jae Crowder and Darius Johnson-Odom's collegiate careers came to a close. For most teams, it takes three consistent scorers, with ...

The season officially came to a close for the Miami Hurricanes after Saturday's thrilling 52-45 victory over the Duke Blue Devils.Miami finished the season at 7-5 and 5-3 in the ACC. The Hurricanes would be playing in the ACC Championship game this Saturday, but the ACC will not allow a team who self-imposes a bowl ban—which the Hurricanes did—play in the championship game.Georgia Tech will be Miami's replacement in the title game against Florida State.Overall, ...

The Tennessee Volunteers will begin the most difficult portion of their non-conference schedule Friday night, when they face the Georgetown Hoyas on the road. The game begins a two-week stretch during which the Vols will play Georgetown, Virginia and Wichita State.Each team Tennessee will face is a well-coached, fundamentally sound team, and the Volunteers will have to bring their best game in order to emerge victorious. While Jarnell Stokes' talent and athleticism will be crucial, ...

Georgia quarterback, Aaron Murray is a decent NFL prospect right now. If he can lead the Bulldogs to a win over No. 2 Alabama in the SEC championship, his draft stock will rise.He's only a junior, and at 6'1", some scouts may have questions about his ability to perform in the NFL. Alabama's defense is one of the closest comparisons to the athletes Murray would see on the next level.Shining against them would make a ...

Always a sore spot among fans, the most asinine part of the NCAA's bowl system is not the lack of playoff or even the BCS rankings themselves—it's automatic qualifying procedures.It seems that every January deserving teams get left out in the cold because of deals (all money-related) that guarantee a lesser conference automatic qualifying status. While it's commendable in theory to give these young men a chance at BCS glory, it nullifies the point of the system, ...

College football is better when Notre Dame is in the national title conversation. It's been nearly two decades since the Fighting Irish finished in the Top Five, but they are finally back. By knocking off rival USC last weekend, the Irish earned a trip to the BCS National Championship Game, where they are expected to take on the winner of the SEC title game. Alabama and Georgia will battle for that crown on Saturday afternoon.Regardless ...

The Pac-12 Championship Game features two teams that know each other well after playing just one week before.In the last game of the regular season, Stanford defeated UCLA 35-17 in Pasadena. With the win, the Cardinal earned the right to host the conference title game at Stanford Stadium, where the team is undefeated this season. UCLA will try to prove that the last game was a fluke, but things will not be easy with a bid to ...

Bowl season is upon us and predictions are running wild across the country as to who will end up in which bowl game. Week 14’s conference championship games have a big say in what teams will fit into which BCS bowl games. Who’s it going to be? Can the Kent State Golden Flashes withstand the Northern Illinois Huskies and sneak into the Top 16 of the BCS standings to earn an automatic bid? Can the ...

Mike Krzyzewski and his Duke squad started the year ranked No. 8 in the AP poll. There was definitely talent on the roster with Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee returning, but there were also plenty of question marks surrounding a team that lost to Lehigh in its first game of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils, along with everyone else, were looking up at Indiana when those initial rankings were released. The Hoosiers seemed to ...

For anyone that thought John Calipari's statements about this team's potential growing pains were just "coach speak," evidence to the contrary was experienced tonight in South Bend. The Wildcats were outplayed on both ends of the court, making Notre Dame look like a legitimate NCAA tournament team while casting quite a bit of doubt about this young team's ability to play (and win) away from Rupp Arena. The GoodJulius Mays often found himself as the sole ...