2011 B.I.A.H End-of-the-Year Awards, Part-I

It's now time to say goodbye to 2011. The New Year is just around the corner, and 2012 will provide another year's-worth of college basketball excitment. But before we do that, we must take a look back at what made 2011 so special.

After all, 2011 was a tremendous year. We saw Jimmer Fredette conquer North America. We saw Kemba Walker win 14 straight tournament games and earn three tournament MVPs (Maui Invitational, Big East Tournament, NCAA Tournament). We saw Virginia Commonwealth become a giant-killer and saw Butler reach a second-consecutive National Championship game. 2011 even ushered the return of Hoosier Hysteria, thanks to a 3-point buzzer-beater to defeat Kentucky. 2011 had amazing games, epic finishes, exciting dunks, and a heavy dose of classic Gus Johnson calls.

But 2011 wasn't just about the on-court performances. The basketball media had a good year too. We read insightful articles, tear-jerking stories, and thought-provoking commentary. Topics were constantly debated and discussed, and the media kept us up-to-date on all the breaking news and notes from the world of college hoops.
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Welcome to the #NCAABar

We had some fun last night.

John Infante of the By Law Blog started the hashtag #ncaabar, I joined in on the fun and pretty the next two hours of my life were consumed with it. We even got it trending in the United States at one point.

What choice did we have than to go and pick through some of the best tweets?

Come by and have a drink at the #ncaabar with me. I got the first round:

@juiceb0x34 #ncaabar where they don't pay the help

@ballinisahabit "The Kelvin Sampson" When you blow your chance with a girl by calling her too many times the day after you get her number

@abrahams_son "The Bobby Gonzalez"-When you get kicked out of the bar for behaving like an ass, then try to steal the dart board.

@ballinisahabit "The Kenpom" When you use facial symmetry software on your iPhone to prove that a girl is, in fact, really hot

@audacityofhoops "The Rick Barnes" Always landing the hottest dates but losing them after having no plan for the night (oh, I needed a reservation?)

@cheepicus Tempo Free Stats - Telling people you're a stud even though you rarely score.

@casualhoya 'The Syracuse', an orange drink served each November thru December in New York State and New York State only.

@ecoastbias No one knows how the 'Stephen Curry' is still dancing after all those shots. His wingmen are quiet but effective

@jmverlin The Bill Raftery--take any drink, add onions

@andyglockner "The Billy Packer": The bar oldtimer who bitches anytime someone other than the bar's 20 regulars comes in and stays.

@tylerdawgden "Vacated win" - the really hot person you thought was going home with you, but just wanted a ride.

@doublegfor3 'brad stevens' the guy who's good looking enough to get any girl n the #ncaabar but stays true to his high school sweetheart

@ballinisahabit "The Vanderbilt" Hitting on a girl all night before blowing it at closing time by forgetting what her name is

@kpelton "Negative recruiting": When a guy goes to the bathroom, you tell the girl he's been talking to he gets around.

@ballinisahabit "The bubble" The girls swarming around the bouncer that may not be hot enough to get in without waiting in line

@juiceb0x34 "butler" is the white boy at the #ncaabar who can dance

@ballinisahabit "The Renardo Sidney" The guy you never want to go out with because he always starts fights with his friends at the #ncaabar

@johnezekowitz "The Michigan State" Spitting your best game at the end of the night, right before closing time.

@juiceb0x34 "Bruce pearl" the guy who tell ur girl what happend at the #ncaabar

@juiceb0x34 #ncaabar where they don't pay the help

@scottiek3 "The Boeheim" At first you vouch for your buddy to get him in the #NCAAbar then he acts a fool and you feel like a dumbass for reppin him

@tmbtx The "Aaron Craft" - really bad Karaoke singer

@jonlustig Virginia Tech: Your pal who just never ends up making it to the dance floor at the #NCAAbar

@danielJMartin_ "The Bobby Knight" Shot fake.

@covello5 "The Chris Webber" - ordering another drink when you have no money left

@ballinisahabit "The Butler" The ugly guy that always pulls dimes because of his personality

@ecoastbias The 'DePaul': that one drink too many

@mburrill The "Gus Johnson" - the friend that keeps you at the #ncaabar til the end...and gets you a drink after last call

@btcoop71 "The Jeff Goodman" When one guy is at a great bar with lots of hot girls, yet bitches about his seat at the bar

@mikeboch "The MAC" Where the girls aren't that hot, but you're guaranteed to score.

@ballinisahabit "The John Calipari" Blacking out, because everyone remembers what happened, but its been vacated from your memory

@dandorrington the "Ed Hightower- announcing to the bar your drinking prowess after slamming a smirnoff ice.

@ecoastbias The 'Pittsburgh': talks a big game, always too drunk to function when the bar gets crowded.

@dalydoseofhoops The "Jay Wright" - Always the best dressed at the #ncaabar

@cheebicus Advanced stats: convincing yourself that ALMOST picking up a girl is nearly the same thing

@ftballnbrckts The Diaper Dandy - The girl you just KNOW got in with a fake ID

And, of course, the winner, from @andyglockner "The Trizzle" -- the guy who's jealous of the bartender who pulls better talent than he does
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Twitter memes are awesome: PSU Riot Edition

The following post has almost nothing to do with college basketball. However, there was no college hoops on last night, and we are kinda-sorta addicted to Twitter.

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the past four days, you know what is going on at Penn State. Last night, students rallied together and rioted down Old Main. Not too long after the riots began, a hilarious twitter meme took off. One that, if you have 5-10 minutes to spare, you may enjoy catching up on. After the jump, a list of what other school's would do if they were forced to riot.

(NOTE: Listen, the actions at the forefront of this controversy are down-right disgusting. But we aren't here to discuss or debate that. We just want to shed light on a hilarious twitter trend that consumed our Tuesday night)

@ballinisahabit - Louisville's riot would be over in 15 seconds

@ballinisahabit - Coach Cal would lead a "rioter's first" riot only to see the riot vacated due to using ineligible chanting

@JamesonFleming - A Bobby Gonzalez lead riot would raid Nordstroms for their satchels

@JamesonFleming - Reggie Bush would steal a bunch of stuff during his riot, promise to give it back and then hold onto it

@SenatorGiggity - USC had to vacate it's riots from last year

@TomahawkNation - Iowa would riot... FOR AMERICA

@Marmon4270 - Nebraska would get jealous of Texas's riot and move to another block.

@PJASchultz - Syracuse fans would only riot inside

@Mengus22 - Without Gerry McNamara, Syracuse wouldn't have had ten f*****g riots. Not ten

@Mengus22 - Illinois rioters would go for two

@Mengus22 - Ole Miss has the hottest rioters

@Mengus22 - Texas A&M's riot would be really good...for a half

@Mengus22 - Baylor's riot would sue Texas A&M's riot

@Mengus22 - Boston College would sell tickets to its riot on Groupon

@MartinRickman - BC's riot wouldn't get any coverage in the Boston area anyway.

@MartinRickman - Not even a clearance sale at J Crew could save UVA from rioting

@MartinRickman - Miami's riot was a lot more impressive when there were still strippers and bounties involved

@RaphielleJ - Major outlets would declare Florida State and Miami's riots "back" every year...only to watch it fall apart after two blocks

@RaphielleJ - Texas would televise their riot on a special network...that almost no one owned

@FakeGimel - Hawaii will travel anywhere to riot and be respected.

@FakeGimel - Everybody would be ultra impressed w/ Boise State's riot at first, then discount it a few months later

@Kristaj19 - Boise State's riot wouldn't impress the computers

@Patherrants - Toledo would petition for Syracuse to vacate their riot

@Adam_1224 - Cincinnati's riot would only be to show they can riot like Ohio State, UK and Louisville

@Ncaabbguy - Best riot in the country undoubtedly would be basically any Ivy league school. Preferably Harvard, or Yale

@Joelabarker - Bruce Pearl would deny the riot took place at his house.

@Riles23 - Purdue's riot would end in torn ACLs

@CJDyal - Houston Nutt would invite way more people to the riot than they have room for, them tell some of them to go home

@KilroyFSU - UAB would have rioted, but Alabama's board of trustees wouldn't sign off on the proposal.

@TommyCat1225 - Oregon would pay a Texas rioting service to handle their riot.

@NunesMagician - A Georgetown riot would require Syracuse rioters to show up in order to look bigger

@NunesMagician - A UConn riot would take place in Best Buy and all the laptops would go missing

@MorseCode206 - Northwestern's riot would just steal everything from Nebraska's riot

@HLS_PootND - Notre Dame riots just discuss how the riots from the glory days were so much better

@HLS_PootND - Randy Edsall left UConn's riot stating that Maryland was truly his Dream Riot

@BCfremeau - Notre Dame is monitoring the super riot landscape but prefers to riot independently

@stb3rry - Rutgers would claim Occupy Wall Street is part of their riot.

@McshaneM - Jim Tressel knew about Ohio State's riot months ago

@Coach_Kerri - The Mizzou riot would be scheduled, then reconsidered, rescheduled, and reconsidered again

@tarheelfanblog - I am not sure how NC State is supposed to get quality rioters with UNC and Duke close by

@GeorgeK10 - USF's president is blocking UCF's riot

@900_Irving - Kansas' riot would look dominant before abruptly ending way too early in embarrassing fashion

@Frogkaytee - SMU would have to buy its riot

@JPGuerette - Seton Hall would have rioters, but no one would have a damn clue who they are

@FeatheStache - East carolina wouldn't get invited to riot

@BIAHTroyMachir - DePaul's riot would be #DePaulful

@CharlieToft - he BYU riot would begin, spend 2 years in Belize, and then pick up where it left off

@USFVoodoo5 - The Mountain West would step in so Boise State could not wear blue uniforms to their home riots.

@SenatorGiggity - ESPN picks who get's to riot & who doesn't

@MikeVorkunov - Penn State riot > Tebow

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College Basketball's Social Media Must-Follow Datatbase

Here we are, the start of the 2011-2012 season a mere hours away. In the Age of Internet we live in, trying to keep up with the pulse of your favorite sport is impossible without aggregated lists, formula calculators, and status updates.

That's why B.I.A.H has put together a list -- a database, a compendium even -- of all the blogs, sites, writers, reporters, analysts and columnists that deserve to have their thoughts, words and opinions read.

You do not want to tackle the college hoops world in 2011-2012 without this comprehensive media database. So what follows is Vol. II of B.I.A.H's World Famous Social Media Must-Follow List. If you are a fan of college hoops, this is a must-have tool to help you navigate the collegiate hardwood terrain.

(Note: We did our best to include as many blogs, sites and people as possible. But we need your help. If we missed somebody or left out a blog PLEASE let us know. If there is somebody that needs to be recognized, hook us up.

If one of the links is dead or if somebody updated their Twitter Handle, holler at us. There are countless members of the college hoops community, and we want to recognize the efforts of all of them, but we will need your help in order to do so.

Email us at ContactBIAH@gmail.com or hit us up on twitter at: @TroyMachir or @RobDauster)

All you need to know if after the jump


We aren't the only ones who have put together Twitter lists on the college basketball media. Check out the others we have found:

Run The Floor: 80 Twitter Accounts Every College Hoops Fan Should Follow
Beyond the Bets: Ultimate College Basketball Beat Writer Twitter List
Summit Madness: Summit League Social Media List

B.I.A.H 2011-2012 College Basketball Social Media Must-Follow List


National Writers/Analysts
- Greg Anthony - CBS - @greganthony50
- Nicole Auerbach - USA Today - @NicoleAuerbach
- Jeff Borzello - CBS Sports - @jeffborzello
- Seth Davis - Sports Illustrated - @SethDavisHoops
- Mike DeCourcy - The Sporting News - @tsnMike
- Gregg Doyel - CBS Sports - @GreggDoyelCBS
- Andy Glockner - Sports Illustrated - @AndyGlockner
- Jeff Goodman - CBS Sports - @GoodmanCBS
- Jeff Eisenberg - Yahoo Sports' The Dagger - @JeffEisenberg
- Ryan Fagan - Sporting News - @Ryan_Fagan
- Pat Forde - Yahoo - @YahooForde
- Brett McMurphy - CBS Sports - @McMurphyCBS
- Mike Miller - NBC Sports' College Basketball Talk - @MikeMillerNBC
- Matt Norlander - College Hoops Journal, CBS Eye on College Basketball - @MattNorlander
- Gary Parrish - CBS Sports - @GaryParrishCBS
- Jon Rothstein - @JohnRothstein
- Pete Thamel - New York Times - @PeteThamelNYT
- Dick Weiss - New York Daily News - @NYDNDickWeiss
- Dan Wetzel - Yahoo Sports - @DanWetzel
- Luke Winn - Sports Illustrated - @LukeWinn
- Dan Wolken - The Daily - @DanWolken
- Adam Zagoria - Zagsblog.com, sNY.TV - @AdamZagoria



The Worldwide Leader
- Stephen Bardo - ESPN - @stephenbardo
- Jay Bilas - ESPN Jay Bilas Blog - @JayBilas
- Eamonn Brennan - ESPN College Hoops Nation - @EamonnBrennan
- Jimmy Dykes - ESPN - @jimmyd_espn
- Fran Fraschilla - ESPN Experts Blog - @FranFraschilla
- Doug Gottlieb - ESPN Experts Blog - @Douggottlieb, @GottliebShow
- Mike Humes - ESPN - @MikesHumesESPN
- Andy Katz - ESPN - @ESPNAndyKatz
- Jason King - ESPN - @jasonkingespn
- Diamond Leung - ESPN College Hoops Nation - @Diamond83
- Joe Lunardi - ESPN Bracketology, Lunardi Blog - @ESPNLunardi
- Myron Medcalf - ESPN - @MedcalfbyESPN
- Dana O'Neil - ESPN - @dgoneil1
- Robbi Pickeral - UNC Blog - @bylinerp
- Dick Vitale - ESPN Vitale - @DickieV
- Jay Williams - ESPN Experts Blog - @RealJayWilliams
- ESPN Hoops Rumors - @CBBRumorCentral
- Conference Voices Blog
- HoopSpeakU - @HoopSpeakU



Beat Writers
- Percy Allen - Washington - Seattle Times - @PercyAllen
- Dom Amore - UConn - Hartford Courant - @amorecourant
- Nick Baumgardner - Western Kentucky - Bowling Green Daily News - @NickBaumgardner
- Bob Baptist - Ohio State - Columbus Dispatch - @BBaptistHoops
- Gary Bedore - Kansas - kusports.com - @garybedore
- Taylor Bern - UNLV - Las Vegas Sun - @TaylorBern
- Rick Bozich - Louisville - Courier-Journal, Rick Bozich Blog - @RickBozich
- Sean Brennan - NYC Metro Area - New York Daily News
- Kevin Brockway - Florida - Gainesville Sun - @KevinBrockway
- Andrew Carter - Duke/UNC - Raleigh News & Observer - @andrew_b_carter
- John Clay - Kentucky - Lexington Herald-Ledger, John Clay's Sidelines - @johnclayiv
- Eric Crawford - Louisville - Louisville Courier-Journal - @ericcrawford
- Brett Dawson - Kentucky - Cats Illustrated - @BDawsonRivals
- Jay Drew - BYU - Salt Lake Tribune - @drewjay
- Tarik El-Bashir - Georgetown - Washington Post - @TarikElBashir
- Mark Emmert - Northern Iowa - Des Moines Register - @MarkEmmert
- Tom Enlund - Marquette - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
- Patrick Finley - Arizona - Arizona Daily Star - @patrickfinley
- Brett Friedlander - ACC - Wilmington Star-News - @Starnewsacc
- J.P. Giglio - Tobacco Road/ACC - Raliegh News and Observer - @JPGiglio
- Jonathon Gold - UCLA - InsideSoCal - @thecoolsub
- Ryan Greene - UNLV - Las Vegas Sun - @RyanMGreene
- Teddy Greenstein - Nothwestern/Big Ten - Chicago Tribune - @teddygreenstein
- Mike Griffith - Tennessee - Knoxville News Sentinel - @MGrif32
- Jason Groves - New Mexico State - Las Cruces Sun-News
- Doug Haller - Arizona State - Arizona Republic - @DougHaller
- Brian Hamilton - Notre Dame - Chicago Tribune - @chitribhamilton
- Todd Hefferman - Southern Illinois - The Southern Illinoisian - @Todd_Hefferman
- Terry Hutchens - Indiana - Indianapolis Star - @IndyStar_Hutch
- Paul Klee - Illinois - IlliniHQ - @PKlee_IlliniHQ
- Brian Landman - Florida State - St. Petersburg Times - @BrianLandman
- Brad Locke - Mississippi State - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - @BradLocke
- Jeff Lockridge - Vanderbilt - The Tennessean
- Brandon Marcello - Mississippi State - Clarion Ledger - @bmarcello
- Jeffrey Martin - Houston - Houston Chronicle - @JMartinChron
- David Mayo - Michigan State - Grand Rapids Press - @David_Mayo
- J. Brady McCollough - Kansas - Kansas.com - @bradymccollough
- Brian McInnis - Hawaii - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - @Brian_McInnis
- Kevin McNamara - Providence Journal - @KevinMcNamara33
- Ed Miller - Old Dominion - The Virginian Pilot
- Brian Mull - UNC-Wilmington - Wilmington Star News - @BGMull
- Chris Murray - Nevada - Reno Gazette-Journal - @ChrisMurray
- Steve Pivovar - Creighton - Omaha World Herald - @PivOWH
- Brendan Prunty - Rutgers/Seton Hall - The Star Ledger - @brendanprunty
- Jeff Rabjohns - Indiana - Indiana Rivals - @JeffRabjohns
- Amelia Rayno - Minnesota - Star-Tribune - Gold In the Barn Blog - @AmeliaRayno
- Joe Rexrode - Michigan State - Lansing State Journal - @JoeRexrode
- Kellis Robinett - Kansas State - Kansas.com - @KellisRobinett
- Mike Rothstein - Michigan - AnnArbor.com - @mikerothstein
- Wes Rucker - Tennessee - Times Free Press - @WesRucker, @WesRucker247
- Shannon Russell - Xavier - Cincinnati.com - @slrussell
- Shannon Ryan - Illinois - Chicago Tribune - @sryantribune
- Lyndal Scranton - Missouri State - Springfield News Leader - @LScranton
- Mike Singelais - Albany/Siena - Times Union - @MarkSingelais
- Jason Smith - Memphis - Memphis Commercial Appeal - @TheCAJasonSmith
- Ben Standig - Washington DC - CSN Washington - @BenStandig
- Bret Strelow - Duke/UNC - Raleigh News & Observer - @bretstrelow
- Paul Suellentrop - Wichita State - The Wichita Eagle - @Paulsuellentrop
- Tom Timmermann - St. Louis - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - @TomTimm
- Jerry Tipton - Kentucky - Kentucky.com - @jerrytipton
- Stephen Tsai - Hawaii - Honolulu Star-Advertiser - @StephenTsai
- Larry Vaught - Kentucky - Danville Advocate Messanger - @Vaughtsviews
- Kyle Veazey - Memphis/Mississippi - Memphis Commercial Appeal - @kyleveazey
- Mike Vorkunov - Rutgers/Seton Hall - The Star-Ledger - @Mike_Vorkunov
- Steve Walentik - Missouri - Columbia Daily Tribune - @Steve_Walentik
- Greg Wallace - Clemson - Anderson Independant-Mail - @AimClemson
- Jeff Washburn - Purdue - Lafayette Journal & Courier - @JeffWashburnJC
- Mike Waters - Syracuse - Post-Standard - @PSbasketball
- Evan Woodbery - Auburn - AL.com - @auburnbeat
- David Woods - Butler - Indy Star - @Davidwoods007



Bloggers
- A Daly Dose of Hoops - @DalyDoseofHoops
- Audacity of Hoops - @AudacityofHoops
- Ballin' is a Habit - @Ballinisahabit, @BIAHTroyMachir
- Basketball Predictions - @BPredict
- Basketball Prospectus - @JohnGasaway
- Basketball State - @BBstate
- Blogging The Bracket - @ChrisDobbertean
- Busting Brackets - @TheBlakeLovell
- College Basketball Talk - @TroyMachir, @MikeMillerNBC, @RobDauster, @DanielJMartin_, @BillyEdelinSBN
- CBS Sports College Basketball Blog - @EyeonCBB, @MattNorlander, @JamesonFleming, @JeffBorzello
- College Fantasy Basketball Insider - @CFHInsider, @PerryMissner
- College Basketball Talk - @cbballtalk
- College Chalktalk - @CChalkTalk - @RoadieRodecker
- College Hoops Journal - @CHJournal, @JohnEzekowitz, @JamesonFleming , @AsherFusco , @JeremySBN
- College Hoops Net - @RaphielleJ
- College Sports Madness
- Crashing the Dance - @CrashtheDance
- Every Month Should Be March - @EveryMonthMarch
- Hoopville - @Hoopville
- JTM Basketball Blog - @JTMBasketball
- Lost Letterman - @LostLetterman
- National Hoops Report - @JustinDYoung
- Roundball Direct - @RoundballDirect
- Rucker To Rupp - @CerasolisGhost
- Run The Floor - @RunTheFloor
- Rush the Court - @RushTheCourt - @ZTHayes09 - @FakeGimel - @AMurawa - @BJoyce_Hoops
- Searching for Billy Edelin - @BillyEdelinSBN - @DRyanBBall
- Storming the Floor - @stfhoops
- Swoosh Nation - @SwooshNation, @JJaques25, @Ian_Hanford, @JDHayden09, @NickTucciarelli
- The Arena Pulse - @TheArenaPulse
- The Big Lead - @TheBigLead, @JasonLisk
- The Bottom's Line College Basketball Report - @AndyBottoms
- The College Hardwood - @GaryMoore21156
- The Hoops Report - @theHoopsReport
- The Mid-Majority - @MidMajority
- The Mikan Drill - @TheMikanDrill



Recruiting
- Jeff Borzello - CBS Eye on College Basketball Recruiting - @JeffBorzello
- Eric Bossi - Rivals.com - @EBossHoops
- Evan Daniels - Scout.com Hoops - @EvanDanielscout
- Jerry Meyer - Rivals.com - @3starMeyer
- Dave Telep - ESPN Recruiting - @DaveTelep
- Coast 2 Coast recruiting - @C2CRecruiting - @NealNieves
- Hoopniks College Basketball Recruiting - @Hoopniks
- NBE Basketball Report - @NBEsports, @RonBailey19, @RFloriani, @RayMern
- Northstar Basketball - @NorthStarBBall
- Recruit Recon - @RecruitRecon - @NDKendrick_RR
- The Recruit Scoop - @TheRecruitScoop



Ratings/RPI/Bracketology
- The Bracket Board - @Bracketboard
- Bracketology101 - @Bracketology101
- Sports Reference: College Basketball
- The Tourney Bubble
- Chris Dobbertean - Blogging the Bracket - @Dobber_BtB_SBN
- John Ezekowitz - Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective - @JohnEzekowitz
- Dan Hanner - YetAnotherBasketballBlog- @DanHanner
- Jerry Palm - CollegeRPI.com - @jppalm
- Ken Pomeroy - KenPom Ratings, KenPom Blog - @KenPomeroy



NBA Draft
- Draft Express - @DraftExpress
- NBADraftnet - @NBAdraftnet
- NBADraftBlog - @NBADraftBlog
- Swish Scout - @SwishScout



Conferences and Regions
- College Coaches Twitter Database - College Chalktalk Coaches Twitter Database
- Blue Ribbon - Blue Ribbon Yearbook - @BlueRibbonSport - @CDortch
- America East - Unranked AE - @UnrankedAE
- America East - One Bid Wonders
- Atlantic Coast Conference - SCACCHoops.com - @SCACCHoops
- Atlantic Coast Conference - ACCSports.com - @ACCSports
- Atlantic Coast Conference - ACC Mania - @ACCmania
- Atlantic Coast Conference - The Rathskellar - @RathskellarFT
- Atlantic-10 - Heard This Blog - @HeardThisBlog
- Atlantic-10 - Pickin' Splinters - @PickinSplinters
- Big-12 - Big12Hoops.com - @MizzouHoops
- Big East - Big East Hoops
- Big East - Big East Coast Bias - @becb_sbn
- Big East - Six Overtimes - @SixOvertimes
- Big Sky Conference - Big Sky Basketball - @BigSkyBball
- Big Ten - Big Ten Geeks
- Big Ten - BT Powerhouse - @BTPowerhouse
- Big XII - The Big XII Basketball Blog
- Big-XII - Big 12 Hoops - @BigXIIHoops
- Chicago - Chicago College Basketball - @ChicolBball
- Colonial Athletic Conference - CAA Hoops - @CAAHoops
- Colonial Athletic Conference - The CAA Zone - @CAAZone
- Division-III - D3 Hoops - @D3Hoops
- DC/Maryland/VA - D1scourse - @d1scourse
- Horizon League - On The Horizon
- Horizon League - Horizon League Hoops - @HLHoops
- Horizon League - The Horizon League - @BillPotter_HL - @HorizonLeague
- Ivy League - The 14-game Tournament
- Kansas City - Kitchen KC - @CurtisKitchen
- Kentucky - AllKYhoops - @Awireman
- Mid-American Conference - Hustle Belt - @Hustlebelt
- Mid-American Conference - MACnation
- Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference - Keepin' Track of the MAAC
- Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference - Pickin' Splinters - @PickinSplinters
- Mountain West Confernce - Mountain West Connection - @JeremyMauss
- New York City - Big Apple Buckets - @NYbuckets
- Ohio Valley Conference - OVC Ball - @OVCBall
- Pac-12 Conference - Pac Hoops - @PacHoopsab
- Pac-12 Conference - Pacific Takes - @PacificTakes
- Patriot League - Hoop Time - @HoopTime
- Philadephia - Philahoops.com - @Philahoops
- Summit League - Summit Madness - @SummitMadness
- Sun Belt Conference - Sun Belt Basketball - @dspewak
- Tobacco Road - Blue Vs. Blue - @BluevsBlue
- Tobacco Road - Tobacco Road Blues - @TobaccoRdBlues
- The Garden State - NJ Hoops Haven - @NJHoopsHaven
- The West - The Upset Blog - @TheUpsetBlog
- Western Athletic Conference - Parsing The WAC



Team-Specific Blogs
(Note: Let us know if we are missing any team-specific blogs. More is better)
- Alabama - Bamahoops Basketball Blog
- Alabama - Roll 'Bama Roll - @RollBamaRoll
- Alabama - The Daily Bama Blog - @DailyBamaBlog
- American - The Lumpkin Patch
- Arizona - Arizona Desert Swarm - @AZdesertswarm
- Arizona - Point Guard U - @UofAPointGuardU
- Arizona State - House of Sparky - @HouseofSparky
- Arkansas - Arkansas Expats - @ArkansasExpats
- Arkansas - Born Hog Wild - @BornHogWild
- Arkansas Little Rock - Burn the Horse - @BurnTheHorse
- Auburn - Track 'Em Tigers - @trackemtigers
- Auburn - Tigerland
- Baylor - Our Daily Bears - @OurDailyBears
- Baylor - Bear Crawl - @BearCrawlBaylor
- Boise State - The Daily Bronco - @DailyBronco
- Boston - Terrier Hoops - @Terriers_Hoops
- Boston - Full Court Press
- Boston - BU Hoops Blog
- Boston College - Boston College Sports Blog - @BCeaglesblog
- Boston College - BC Interruption - @BCinterruption
- Buffalo - Bull Run - @UBBullRun
- Butler - Victory Firelight - @ButlerVictory
- Butler - Bark of Hinkle - @BarkofHinkle
- BYU - Vanquish the Foe - @VanquishTheFoe
- California - California Golden Blogs
- California - Roll On You Bears - @RollBears
- Charleston - King Kresse
- Charlotte - The Gold Mine - @DavidScott14
- Charlotte - Green Tinted Glasses - @GTGblog
- Chattanooga - Mocs Mania!
- Cincinnati - Down the Drive - @DownTheDrive
- Cincinnati - Bearcats Blog - @Bearcatsblog
- Citadel - The Sports Arsenal - @SandlapperSpike
- Clemson - Shaking the Southland
- Clemson - Clemsonhoops.net (Formerly "The OPP") - @theOPblog
- Cleveland State - Let's Go Vikes
- Colorado - The Ralphie Report - @RalphieReport
- Colorado - AllBuffs.com - @AllBuffs
- Cornell - Cornell Basketball Blog - @Cornell_BB_Blog
- Creighton - White and Blue Review - @whitebluereview, @wildjays
- Creighton - BlueJay Cafe - @BluejayCafe
- Dayton - The Blackburn Review - @blackburnreview
- DePaul - Blue Demon Nation - @bluedemonnation
- DePaul - Blue Demons Lair - @BlueDemonsLair
- Duke - Devilicious - @DeviliciousFT
- Duke - DukeBlog - @Dukeblogger
- Duke - Duke Blue Planet - @Dukeblueplanet
- Duke - DukeHoopBlog - @DukeHoopBlog
- Duke - Duke Report - @DukeReport
- Duke - Duke Basketball Report
- Eastern Washington - Eagle Eye Hoops - @EWUEagleEye
- Florida - Alligator Army - @AlligatorArmy
- Florida State - Tomahawk Nation
- George Mason - The Mason Bench - @TheMasonBench
- George Mason - George Mason Basketball Blog - @GMUHoops
- George Washington - Colonial Hoops
- Georgetown - Casual Hoya - @CasualHoya
- Georgetown - Hoya Prospectus
- Georgetown - Hoya Hoops
- Georgia - Dawg Sports
- Georgia Tech - From The Rumble Seat
- Gonzaga - The Slipper Still Fits - @Slipperstillfits
- Hawaii - Warriors Insider - @WarriorInsider
- Idaho - Vandal Nation - @VandalNation
- Illinois - Hail to the Orange - @HailToTheOrange
- Illinois - Illinois Loyalty - @illinoisloyalty
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Nolan Smith, twitter, and how building a brand helped build a charity

Nolan Smith's story is one that has been told over and over again.

Derek Smith, Nolan's father, was a great basketball player three decades ago. He won a national title in 1980 with Louisville, cutting down the nets in the same city that Nolan did thirty years later with Duke. But when Nolan was eight, his father tragically passed away at the age of 34 on a cruise with his family.

The younger Smith persevered. With the aid of a strong support system -- his family and father's teammates and friends -- Nolan persevered. Using a tattoo of his father on his right arm as motivation, Nolan managed to work his way from backing up Greg Paulus to becoming the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, ending up in Portland with the Trail Blazers.

But perhaps his greatest achievement will be his charity, the Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation.


"Our foundation is for kids who lost a parent -- mother, father, guardian, any person who has been taking care of them their whole life," Smith said in a phone interview Monday night. "Its something that we can relate to, my sister and I. Its something that is very close to our hearts and its the reason why we started the foundation. We're very, very, very passionate about it, about changing kids lives who lost someone."

"We're going to be doing camps, dinners, all different things to just bring these kids together and let them get out their emotions. Let them see that there are other kids like them. And through myself and my sister, let them see that even without that loved one, you can still be successful and do positive things in your life."

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For quite possibly the first time since Renardo Sidney joined his program, I'm going to complement Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury.

In February of last season, Stansbury banned his his team from using twitter and suspended forward Ravern Johnson for a game after an outburst from Johnson on twitter. Following a loss in which he scored just 10 points in 40 minutes, Johnson referred to former teammates Twany Beckham and Elgin Bailey when he tweeted "Starting to see why people transfer you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me (sic)." Sidney retweeted what Johnson said, and it wasn't long before the blogosphere picked up on it and Johnson's tweets were all over every college hoops site on the internet.

Stansbury allowed his players back on twitter once the season ended, but that decision appears to have come back to bite him. Freshman guard DJ Gardner was kicked off the team after a string of profanity-laced tweets criticizing the Mississippi State coaching staff, in large part due to the fact that Gardner was upset for getting redshirted.

Stansbury, however, made the absolute correct decision in allowing his team back on twitter.

It wasn't the easy decision, mind you. If you are a coach of a college program, banning twitter is the simplest solution to what amounts to a complex problem. For a coach, the benefit received from allowing a group of college aged kids access to social media platforms is far outweighed by the risks involved. Whether its the Mississippi State players ripping their coaches, Scoop Jardine tweeting about basketball groupies, Tyshawn Taylor's facebook rant after fighting with the Kansas football team or Tyree Graham scooping the Rutgers Sports Information Department on his torn acl, its always going to be a point of concern for coaches when their players -- who are just as emotional and dramatic as you were in college -- have the ability to communicate with the world.

Living in the information age makes one slip-up -- one ill-advised moment of honesty, one tweet that was supposed to be a direct message, one frustrated tweet about playing time or number of shots or team success -- a topic on SportsCenter and a link on the front page of Yahoo!

Its so simple for a coaching staff to cut that issue off at the source, to restrict social media access for their players.

But banning an entire team because of the immaturity of a few is a mistake.


Following college athletes on twitter is fairly pointless. Generally speaking, they are tweeting about working out or playing ball, they are communicating with friends -- which is kind of what twitter was originally intended for -- and they are responding to fans, be it trash talk with rivals or retweets for their supporters. Every once in a while, to help support the notion that they truly are student-athletes, you'll see a tweet about a class that a player is enrolled in.

There are some truly terrific tweeters in the college basketball ranks, however, and they make being a fan of the program that much more fun.

Missouri senior Kim English is fairly well-known for his twitter prowess. Last summer, he made waves across the blogosphere when he translated the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling -- line by line and tweet by tweet -- into basketball terms. Just last week, English, who has been dribbling a tennis ball around campus to try and improve his handle, tweeted for students to try and steal the ball from him if they saw him.

Jared Sullinger, Ohio State's sophomore center and all-american, found a sign that a Minnesota student made to mock him funny. After failing to get the sign from the student after the game, Sullinger was able to connect with the kid over twitter. That sign is currently hanging in Sullinger's mother's house.

North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall has become the darling of the college hoops media in the last couple of days after tweeting out things like "Not a big fan of the expansion of the conferences in college sports. Feel like we're losing tradition." and "McDonalds tried to give me an extra BBQ sauce "on the house". I said no no, I wanna play this season."

Perhaps the best story of a college athlete on twitter comes from the Ivy League. Keith Wright is Harvard's center and currently the reigning Ivy Player of the Year. Throughout the season, he had been tweeting about a girl in his class that he had a crush on, the "section heroine". On the last day of classes, he live-tweeted the thought-process -- and nervousness -- of finally going up and asking her out. Unfortunately, she turned him down, but Wright survived. He's currently searching for "section heroine 2".

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Nolan Smith understands the pitfalls of social media. He knows the trouble that tweeting the wrong thing can get you into. Its something that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski ingrained in his team from day one.

"Coach K trusted us to carry ourselves the right way," Smith said. "And if I was a college coach, that would be the first thing [I'd talk to my team about]. On the first day of team meetings, its something that you have to address. If you have facebook and twitter, be smart. Don't let people take pictures of you out at a party and put them on facebook. The same thing with twitter, don't go saying dumb stuff at three or four in the morning. They warned us about little stuff like that, and that one warning on the first day was all we needed."

College coaches should treat twitter as a privilege, because there are benefits to having their players accessible to fans. It allows the people outside the team -- the kids that wait in line for hours just to sit in the student section for a guarantee game or the boosters whose donations allow the coaches to travel in private jets to recruiting events -- a chance to really get to know the players they are cheering for. When used correctly, it helps build the program's brand.

"Twitter is who you are," Smith said. "If you don't want people to see you saying certain things, then leave it off of twitter."

"For college players, if they're on twitter and they're handling themselves the right way, they make [their school] look good. They make some fans say 'Duke has some really cool players, they connect with their fans.'"

That privilege can be taken away. There is nothing wrong with suspending a player's twitter usage or forcing them to open a new page, one that is private and only for use with friends and personal acquaintances. Anonymity is not difficult on the internet.

For the coaches that truly care about developing the kids in the program as people -- and not simply as basketball players -- than teaching the opportunities involved with building their own brand on twitter is just as important as engraining the principles of help-side defense in their heads.

Smith may never again reach the level of fame that he had as a national champion and player of the year candidate at Duke.

That's not a knock on him, either. When you're a star for the Blue Devils, you are one of the most recognizable faces in all of basketball. You play every game on national television, you have highlights on Sportscenter every morning and every 30 point outburst is going to get you talked about on by every college hoops scribe, be it on twitter or in an article. Even if he does becoming a starting point guard in the NBA -- which is certainly possible, assuming the NBA eventually ratifies a new CBA -- he'll never receive as much attention and publicity as he did the past two seasons at Duke.

The fact that he was one of the great stories in college basketball the last two years only magnified that fact.

Smith capitalized on his stardom in the collegiate ranks. He's friendly, funny and intelligent, on twitter and in person, and isn't shy about satiating the throng of fans he gets requesting retweets because its their birthday or because they love Duke or because their dogs have the same name, even if it comes at the cost of a clogged timeline or two. Its part of the reason that, as of this writing, he had over 51,000 twitter followers and a verified account.

That twitter presence allowed him a venue for announcing his foundation. With a couple of keystrokes and a click of his mouse, Smith instantly alerted his 51,000 followers to his newly established charity. That number only grows with you consider how many of those 51,000 followers retweeted his announcement.

"I think so," Smith said when I asked if his twitter following helped him launch his charity. "Ever since I've been on twitter, its helped me build my brand."

The Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation is still in its infancy, and regardless of whether or not Nolan was on twitter, there is little doubt that the charity will be a successful one. But there is also little doubt that the exposure he received through social media at its launch will help to expedite that success.

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Twitter certainly is not for everyone.

As the saying goes, there are always a few bad apples that spoil the bunch. Whether its due to a lack of maturity on the player's part, a lack of understanding of the power of social media, or a lack of education on the downside of having a public profile, there are always going to be mistakes made on twitter.

Smith has some advice for college athletes that decide to get on twitter.

"Be smart. It shows the character and the class that you have, and if you don't have that, don't get on it. Twitter's not for you."
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