Category: NCAAB

Ryan Ruocco delivered the funniest call of a thrilling Caitlin Clark 3-pointer during LSU vs. Iowa

Ryan Ruocco absolutely nailed this call.

ESPN broadcaster Ryan Ruocco drew arguably the best game of the women’s NCAA tournament so far, as LSU and Iowa finally faced off in the 2024 Elite Eight for a rematch of last year’s national title game.

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark brought her unreal ability to hit 3-pointers from seemingly anywhere on her side of the court with her on Monday night, as she got the third quarter started off right with a stellar 3-point shot from near the logo.

Ruocco had plenty of Clark 3-point shots to call during the game, and he found a hysterical way to ring this one in. Since this game is being played in Albany, New York, Ruocco yelled “From Schenectady!” after Clark banked the 3-pointer.

Ruocco did as well with the broadcast call here as Clark did with the basket, as the viewers at home had to appreciate the creativity from the ESPN broadcaster to make this Clark thrilling 3-pointer take even more life.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Auburn legend Charles Barkley begrudgingly cheered ‘Roll Tide!’ after Alabama made its first men’s Final Four

Look away, Auburn fans.

If there’s anything an Auburn fan never wants to say, it’s the main slogan for Alabama.

Well, Auburn men’s basketball legend and sports broadcaster Charles Barkley had to metaphorically hold his nose as he gave credit to the Crimson Tide after the team punched its first-ever ticket to men’s Final Four.

Alabama’s 89-82 Elite Eight victory over Clemson on Saturday night was a historic one for the program, especially sweet for the rivalry after Auburn won the 2024 SEC title and got bounced earlier in the NCAA tournament.

Well, Barkley begrudgingly let out a “Roll Tide!” cheer to commend Alabama for its incredible accomplishment, surely to the delight of Crimson Tide fans everywhere.

While Auburn fans might want to zap this video from their memories as fast as possible, Barkley was a good sport for ever so briefly letting Bama have its flowers.

We’ll see how Alabama stacks up against UConn during that Final Four battle next weekend, and if Barkley has to keep praising Alabama’s excellence on the court… or can finally rejoice with all Auburn fans in it being eliminated from the tournament.

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Who is Mark Sears? Meet Alabama’s electric Elite Eight hero

Meet Mark Sears, Alabama’s electric Elite Eight hero.

When Alabama needed a spark in its Elite Eight game against Clemson on Saturday night, it found one in senior guard Mark Sears.

Sears played a huge role in helping Alabama men’s basketball reach its first Final Four in school history after its 89-82 Elite Eight victory over the Tigers.

The Muscle Shoals, Alabama, native played started his career with the Ohio University Bobcats in 2020 and played two seasons there. He then joined the Crimson Tide in 2022 and turned into a key member of its starting lineup.

Why Mark Sears’ mom Lameka mimes shooting free throws with Alabama guard

He’s now one of Alabama’s 2024 March Madness heroes for its first Final Four run. During the team’s Sweet 16 victory over North Carolina, Sears set Alabama’s single-season record for points scored by a player.

While playing Clemson, Sears nailed a staggering seven 3-point shots when his team needed them the most.

One of those came from a mid-court logo in the second half that wowed everyone in attendance for Saturday’s game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. 

He even hit a massive 3-pointer in the game’s final stretch to help the Crimson Tide inch further away from the Tigers for the victory. He scored 23 points in total during the win.

As the Crimson Tide try to keep this hot streak alive against UConn next weekend, the team will need more stellar play from Sears beyond the arc.

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Dan Hurley shared a heartwarming moment with his son after UConn’s Elite Eight victory

For the Hurleys, March Madness is a family affair.

UConn men’s basketball punched its ticket for the 2024 Final Four on Saturday in a lopsided victory over Illinois in the Elite Eight.

The Huskies are trying to win a second-straight national title under coach Dan Hurley, and making it to the Final Four of the men’s NCAA tournament is just one step closer to the ultimate goal.

Hurley’s son Andrew is a walk-on senior guard for the Huskies, so father and son get to make a second championship push together in this year’s tournament.

After Saturday’s Elite Eight win, the Hurleys shared a really sweet moment with each other on the court as they embraced in a big hug in their celebratory hats.

It’s always neat when somebody gets to play for their dad in any sport, much less one as big as college basketball.

It’s a family affair for the Hurleys, and we’ll see if more celebrating will be in order for this father-son duo as the tournament continues.

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UConn absolutely wrecked Illinois with a dominant 30-0 run in the Elite Eight

BREAKING: UConn is good at basketball.

The UConn men’s basketball team found itself on the ropes against Illinois on Saturday late in the first half, tied at 23 with less than two minutes to go to the break of this 2024 Elite Eight battle.

However, you can’t keep a good Husky down. After a slow start, UConn rattled off a staggering 30-0 run to counter the Illinois push, grabbing a whopping 53-23 lead about seven minutes into the second half.

It’s the longest scoring run for the program since 1990 and a great reminder of why nobody (and we mean nobody) wants to play the reigning men’s NCAA tournament champions in March Madness.

The team is a buzzsaw that can explode at will, and it’s easy to see why they’ve got a great chance to repeat as champions.

College basketball fans were in awe of UConn’s dominant run, as outscoring an opponent 30-0 for a stretch of basketball is pretty darn impressive.

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This NFL Films-themed cut of Caitlin Clark’s Sweet 16 passing highlights is awesome

Caitlin Clark passing highlights: NFL Films-style!

Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark had an expectedly impressive performance in her team’s Sweet 16 game against Colorado on Saturday.

Outside of her 29-point performance, Clark also impressed with her passing to create scoring opportunities for her Hawkeye teammates.

To commemorate this incredible passing performance from the Iowa standout, Twitter (X) user “@HeavensFX” spliced together a highlight reel in the style of NFL Films with a very perfect voice-over that reminds you of one of the NFL broadcasts.

Clark is one of the best basketball players on the planet because of abilities like this, and it’s fun to watch a highlight reel with a really unique twist to it.

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Why Angel Reese seemingly cursed at the UCLA bench after fouling out of LSU’s Sweet 16 win

Angel Reese seemingly had a sharp message for UCLA after she fouled out of LSU’s Sweet 16 win.

After she fouled out of LSU’s Sweet 16 win over UCLA on Saturday, Tigers forward Angel Reese gave the Bruins bench an earful as she exited the game.

While Reese’s late exit didn’t have much of an impact on the actual outcome of the game, her seemingly fiery message to UCLA’s side of the floor caught attention from those watching.

The video below shows Reese relaying her thoughts toward the UCLA bench, seemingly saying that something, perhaps the call that removed her from the game, was “weak [expletive] [expletive].”

We’re not sure exactly what sparked Reese’s frustration, but it was seemingly enough to warrant this type of response.

Some NSFW language to follow. 

Daily Bruin reporter Gavin Carlson noted that UCLA coach Cori Close actually wanted the technical called on Reese, which video corroborates.

During the post-game handshake, you can see video of Reese appearing to tell someone in the line on UCLA’s side to watch their mouth as they walked by.

Later, Carlson reported on Reese’s perspective. According to the LSU forward, it was a UCLA coach who provoked Reese to seemingly curse in the bench’s direction.

SBLive Sports reporter Ryan Isley said he saw Kim Mulkey asking folks in the UCLA line what Reese said as she left the court.

While Reese and LSU will be advancing to the Elite Eight and UCLA will be headed home, it seems like a real rivalry might be brewing between these two women’s basketball powerhouses.

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How Kim Mulkey reacted to The Washington Post’s in-depth profile ahead of LSU’s Sweet 16 game

Kim Mulkey has commented on The Washington Post feature story about her career.

Right after The Washington Post dropped its feature story Saturday on LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, she questioned the timing of its release.

Before the profile was published, Mulkey to call it a “hit piece” during a press conference last weekend and to threaten a lawsuit against the paper if it published anything she thought was untrue. The feature story by Washington Post reporter Kent Babb skewed more toward a thorough portrait of a great but complicated coach, rather than an explosive bombshell report. But Mulkey still seemed defensive about when asked about it.

Reacting to it in an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Mulkey questioned why the story was published Saturday not long before LSU’s Sweet 16 game against LSU. For timeliness, it’s common in journalism to publish big features around major events related to the subject of the story.

“Are you really surprised by the timing of it?” Mulkey asked Rowe. “I can tell you I haven’t read it; [I] don’t know that I will read it. I’ll leave that up to my attorneys.” 

We’re not sure if Mulkey will ever comment on the feature story, as she will likely continue to point to her legal team for an answer.

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Duke star Jared McCain explained why he paints his nails in his latest TikTok during March Madness

Duke’s Jared McCain doesn’t care if his painted nails offend you.

Duke Blue Devils freshman guard Jared McCain is easily one of the biggest stars of the March Madness tournament so far.

McCain, a former McDonald’s All-American and Mr. California Basketball, was a consensus five-star recruit coming out of high school before eventually committing to play for Duke.

He has had a solid season in college but especially stood out during the early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The impressive guard had 30 points in a win against James Madison during the Round of 32.

Not only was it a stellar showing but he looked good doing it, too. Some fans have noticed that like Caleb Williams, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, McCain keeps freshly manicured nails on his fingers.

@jaredmccain24

Y’all have been asking. @Sally Hansen is the GOAT 🐐! There’s no better nail polish in the game 💅💅 #SallyHansenPartner

♬ original sound – Jaredmccain24

RELATED: Caleb Williams has the perfect response to the dumb, offensive talk about his pink phone and nails

When he is not on the court, McCain also keeps an active TikTok profile.

For his latest video, he recently explained why he likes to paint his nails.

“Just do some self-care time. I think everyone should do self-care for themselves. For me, it’s nail painting. I’m sorry if that offends any of you guys.”

The video was a paid partnership with Sally Hansen as part of an NIL.

He continued, adding more context to why he likes the look so much:

“There’s really no crazy reason to it. It helps me not bite my nails. I went to a salon one time and I decided to pick out a color and I thought it looked nice and I know a lot of people disagree. A lot of people don’t like it. I’m just going to be myself and do what I think looks nice. One of the reason why I kept painting my nails is I had a game after I painted my nails and I ended up playing really well. I’m not crazy superstitious but I thought it looked nice and I thought it helped me play better and so far it’s worked so I’m just going to keep doing it.”

We recently projected McCain as a lottery pick in the latest edition of our 2024 NBA Mock Draft.

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A classy Cormac Ryan stood up for teammate RJ Davis after a brutal Sweet 16 loss for North Carolina

UNC’s Cormac Ryan showed outstanding maturity following March Madness.

Despite a devastating loss, North Carolina Tar Heels senior Cormac Ryan showed outstanding maturity following the Sweet 16.

Although they were a No. 1 regional seed in the West, the Tar Heels were eliminated by Alabama in March Madness on Thursday night in Los Angeles. North Carolina lost, 89-87, in a close match against the Crimson Tide.

Following the game, UNC’s RJ Davis was asked about his performance on the court. Davis had 16 points but struggled with his efficiency, shooting 4-of-20 from the field and 0-for-9 on his 3-pointers.

Ryan noticed that Davis was having a difficult time answering the question, so he helped him out. It showed an incredible amount of thoughtfulness.

Here is what Ryan told reporters:

“I gotta chime in here. You guys can write whatever you want about tonight’s game. You can talk about RJ. You can talk about the stats. You can talk about whatever. But we would not be in this position today without RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. Carolina wouldn’t be in this position today without these two guys and so say what you want. There’s just not a true fiber in your being that could actually believe that anything that happened tonight could be the result of something RJ did wrong because RJ’s done something incredible for this team. He’s done stuff that’s never been done before. He’s one of the greatest Tar Heels of all time. For anybody to come and say anything negative about RJ is unacceptable.”

Those are incredibly strong words from Ryan and likely meant a lot to Davis.

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