Tag: Connecticut basketball

UCLA men’s and women’s hoops both in AP Top 25 rankings

The UCLA men and women are balling.

The UCLA men’s and women’s basketball teams have gotten off to a hot start in the 2024-2025 season.

The UCLA women’s basketball team is the nation’s top-ranked team, with a perfect 11-0 record, while the men’s team ranks No. 18, with a 10-1 record.

In a post on X by Fox College Hoops, the Bruins are one of nine NCAA programs with AP Top 25 men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Joining college basketball powerhouses Connecticut, Duke, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, and Kentucky on the list, the Bruins are seeing success with both programs.

After a 2023-2024 season where both programs fell short of their early-season aspirations, things are looking up in Westwood. Despite moving to the Big Ten from the Pac-12, the men’s and women’s teams are competing at a high level.

Though the season is only just getting started, if the men’s and women’s teams continue to play this way, they both enjoy long runs in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments in March.

The latest 2024 NBA mock draft from Fox Sports has Donovan Clingan to the Rockets at No. 3

Is this the big man of the future in Houston?

Now that we know the order of the 2024 NBA Draft, we can better predict where players like UConn’s Donovan Clingan will play next season.

After winning back to back NCAA men’s basketball national championships, the big man is one of the most intriguing prospects in this class. He is likely one of the first players who will hear his name called in Brooklyn at Barclays Center next month.

He measured just short of 7-foot-2 in socks with a wingspan nearly 7-foot-7 at the 2024 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. Both ranked as the top among all participants except for just Purdue’s Zach Edey, who Clingan defeated in the NCAA title game.

RELATED: A consensus shows how experts are projecting all of the top prospects

Although he is potentially a candidate at No. 1 overall to the Hawks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the big man ranked at No. 5 overall in our first consensus mock draft after the lottery.

While that is fairly high for Clingan, he could go even higher. FOX’s John Fanta project the big man at No. 3 overall to the Rockets in his latest mock draft.

This would project Clingan as the big man of the future, alongside forward Alperen Sengun, for Houston. He would provide a solid young option for the Rockets, who recently acquired veteran Steven Adams.

RELATED: Full projections for the Hawks and the first round after the lottery

Our latest mock here at For The Win has Clingan potentially falling a bit and landing with the Grizzlies, though there are a wide range of outcomes for the UConn star on draft night.

Either way, though, Clingan is a promising big man with major upside on the defensive end of the floor.

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Charles Barkley wore a big, goofy cowboy hat during UConn-SDSU pregame coverage

Charles Barkley wore a big, goofy cowboy hat ahead of the men’s NCAA tournament championship.

Charles Barkley sported quite the hat while discussing Monday night’s 2023 men’s NCAA tournament championship.

With the anticipated clash between Connecticut and San Diego State taking place in Houston, Texas, Barkley wore a big, red cowboy hat while co-hosting the CBS pregame show.

“You’ve got a 10-gallon hat with a 20-gallon head,” Barkley’s longtime co-host Kenny Smith joked during the segment.

Barkley has never shied away from his sillier side, and this national championship headwear certainly honored the grand spirit of the Lone Star State. Plus, it was just downright hilarious.

You know, we all win with big, goofy cowboy hats!

Big hats are always funny, and they’ve recently been popularized with professional athletes.

Barkley has taken the big hat trend and added the Texas spin to it, and you can bet that big, goofy cowboy hat sales will soar now with this kind of national exposure!

Well, maybe not, but if you’ve got the confidence to pull one of those off, you certainly deserve a tip of the cap.

Miami’s Nijel Pack broke a sneaker and sparked a Final Four catastrophe on the bench

Shoegate became a reality for Miami’s Nijel Pack during the Final Four.

Miami sophomore guard Nijel Pack ran into quite a conundrum during Saturday night’s 2023 men’s NCAA tournament Final Four bout with Connecticut.

During the game’s second half, Pack’s shoe fell apart, and the team wasn’t able to locate him a replacement pair fast enough to quickly get him back out on the court.

The first pair the team found him didn’t fit, so Pack had to chill on the bench until someone on Miami’s staff could locate him the proper pair.

As you can probably guess, having one of your star players lose their shoes in the middle of a Final Four game is not ideal!

Thankfully for Pack and Miami, someone on the team’s staff hustled to make sure he eventually got the right fit.

Pack wound up getting a new pair of shoes and returned to the game. While it seems absolutely bizarre for a college basketball player in such a major moment to not have a backup pair of shoes to wear, we guess stranger things have happened.

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At the very least, any sort of comeback would’ve had quite the narrative segue if Pack played a major role.

Men’s NCAA tournament history repeats with two mid-majors, UConn set for Final Four in Houston

Two mid-majors playing in the Final Four in Houston. UConn also competing for a title. Is this 2023 or 2011??

One of the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament Final Four matchups is set in stone, and it’s the round’s first battle of non-major conferences since 2011.

No. 9 Florida Atlantic and No. 5 San Diego State are now set to square off in the Final Four of this year’s tournament. They’ll join Butler and VCU as the only other two mid-major teams to ever battle in March Madness’ last weekend.

Funny enough, that Butler/VCU matchup in 2011 was in Houston, Texas, and the winner of that game went on to face Connecticut.

Twelve years later, we’ve got a Final Four in Houston with two mid-major teams squaring off on one side of the bracket and Connecticut playing on the other side.

History might fully repeat itself in the most fascinating way if UConn wins the whole thing. It already is repeating itself with a few key parts.

We’ll see who else will join FAU, SDSU and UConn in the 2023 Final Four once we know the outcome of Texas/Miami.

UConn played Kentucky in its 2011 Final Four game, and the Huskies will get to play a Power Five team in Texas or Miami.

History really does repeat itself.

How to watch UConn vs Memphis: Date, time, odds

Here’s how you can watch the AAC showdown between the Connecticut Huskies vs. Memphis Tigers on TV and CBB live stream

The road the Final Four has officially started. The Connecticut Huskies travel to the Memphis Tigers in an AAC showdown, live on CBS All Access.

Memphis will be looking to get back onto the AP Poll after dropping back-to-back losses to Tulsa and Southern Methodist and falling out of the college basketball rankings. They seem to be back on track after beating Central Florida 59-57 on Wednesday.

UConn has yet to find their way on the AP Polls this season but has played their fair share of ranked teams, sadly going 1-4 in those games. The Huskies are fresh off a 78-63 win over Temple that ended a four-game losing streak (three against ranked teams) and will be looking to start another winning streak.

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How to watch UConn vs Memphis:

UConn Huskies (11-9) vs. Memphis Tigers (15-5)

Saturday, Feb. 1, 1:00 p.m. ET

FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN

CBB streams:

Live stream: CBS

NCAA basketball odds:

Memphis is 5.5-point favorites over UConn, according to BetMGM. The over/under is set at 134.5 points.

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