College Basketball | Larry Brown Sports

Deonte Burton posterized Ryan Watkins with dunk of the year (Video)

March 6, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Nevada guard Deonte Burton threw down a dunk on Wednesday that everyone will still be talking about this summer. The 6-foot-1 senior showed off incredible strength and leaping ability when he went right at Boise State’s Ryan Watkins, a 6-foot-9 forward, and posterized the crap out of him.

Watkins tried to challenge the shot but ended up fouling Burton, who basically went through him and finished with a tomahawk jam. Burton looked like Blake Griffin out there.

Burton, who is averaging close to 20 points per game, doesn’t get many opportunities to showcase his talents while playing for a school like Nevada. That monster slam will certainly catch the eye of an NBA scout or two.

Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: Deonte Burton, monster dunks

Ted Valentine on Mick Cronin confrontation: ‘I was totally wrong’

March 3, 2014 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

The confrontation between referee Ted Valentine and Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin on Saturday was pretty nasty. Both guys got in each others’ faces during the second half of Cincinnati’s game with UConn, yet somehow Cronin did not receive a technical. That’s because Valentine realizes he was an equal aggressor in the situation. In fact, Valentine admitted to Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis that he was “totally wrong” for his conduct.

“I was just totally wrong. I was out of place by walking into his space,” Valentine told Davis by phone on Sunday. “It was just one of those situations where I got caught up in the moment. I was out of bounds because I walked into his domain. That’s why I didn’t give him a technical because I knew I was wrong, and two wrongs don’t make a right. If it had been 15, 16 years ago, I never would have caught myself like that.”

I suppose the good news is Valentine admitted his mistake and that he was wrong. That was big of him, and for that reason it probably was fair that he didn’t give Cronin a tech. But that incident was pretty ugly. Any time a ref steps to a coach and a coach has to be restrained by his players it’s pretty bad.

Cincinnati wound up losing the game 51-45.

Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: Mick Cronin, Ted Valentine

Tony Bennett compares Virginia crowd to Taylor Swift concert

March 2, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Virginia dominated Syracuse on Saturday to win its first ACC championship in 33 years. The Cavaliers cruised their way to a 75-56 victory with the help of an enthusiastic crowd that was deafening at times. How loud were the fans? Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said he felt like he was at a Taylor Swift concert.

“That crowd defensively, it was special how intense it was in there and the passion you got from it,” Bennett said, via CSNWashington.com. “The last time I heard it that loud I was at the Taylor Swift concert.”

Bennett said he attended a Taylor Swift concert at John Paul Jones Arena before and was envious of the crowd noise.

“I sat there and there’s, you know, 14,000 teenage girls screaming and i remember sitting there like, ‘I wonder if we can get it like this for a game,’” he said. “And I’ll tell you something it either rivaled it or surpassed it. Sorry, Taylor. It was that good.”

Imagine trying to play basketball in front of this?

No wonder Syracuse got waxed.

Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: Tony Bennett, Virginia Basketball

John Calipari ejected from Kentucky-South Carolina game (Video)

March 1, 2014 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

John Calipari has seemed frustrated with his Kentucky team all season, so it was pretty fitting that he ended up ejected from the team’s game against South Carolina on Saturday.

Calipari may have been upset that no foul was called when Alex Poythress attempted a baseline leaner with just under 11 minutes left and his Wildcats trailing by 12. He could have also been upset that no foul was called when Julius Randle had the ball stolen from him after Poythress’ airball. Cal stepped out to around the 3-point line to confront the referee, and he was immediately given a technical foul and ejected.

The way that disaster was going for Kentucky, it was probably just as well to have him watch the ending from the locker room instead of the bench.

Filed Under: College Basketball, Featured Stories Tagged With: John Calipari

Mick Cronin flips out on referee, somehow avoids technical (Video)

March 1, 2014 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin went berserk on a referee during the second half of the Bearcats’ game against UConn Saturday, yet he somehow was not called for a technical foul.

There was a scrum under the basket for a loose ball following a missed free throw by the Bearcats, and Cronin thought the Huskies knocked it out of bounds. When possession was awarded to UConn, Cronin raced over to confront official Ted Valentine and just lost it.

He had to be restrained by his players because he and Valentine were face-to-face. He could be seen saying “that’s bulls— and you know it” to Valentine at one point.

Cronin even pushed his own assistant in the chest because he didn’t want to be restrained. It was pretty wild.

Video via GIFD Sports

Filed Under: College Basketball, Viral Greatness Tagged With: Mick Cronin

David Wear sinks unreal buzzer-beater on great pass from twin brother (Video)

February 27, 2014 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

The ending to the UCLA-Oregon game on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion was just off the hook exciting.

UCLA came back from six and seven point deficits in the final minute to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Bruins were down 65-58 in the final minute but Bryce Alford made two free throws to turn it into a 5-point game. Alford then made a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left to improbably turn it into a 2-point game. UCLA then fouled twice and Oregon made all four of their free throws to go up by six with 24 seconds left, which seemed like it should have sealed the game. But Zach LaVine made a layup and Alford hit ANOTHER 3-pointer to make it a 69-68 Oregon lead.

Oregon gave UCLA another great shot at winning the game when Johnathan Lloyd stepped out of bounds with five seconds left to turn the ball over. UCLA missed a 3-pointer and fouled to put Oregon’s Joseph Young on the line. Young made both his free throws instead of missing the second one, allowing UCLA the opportunity to take the ball out from under the basket.

Travis Wear heaved a pass to his brother David, who buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 71 and send it to overtime. Here’s a close look at the pass:

GIF via @cjzero

Filed Under: College Basketball Tagged With: David Wear, Travis Wear

New Mexico State-Utah Valley fight after game, fans involved (Video)

February 27, 2014 By Larry Brown 3 Comments

New Mexico State lost 66-61 to Utah Valley in Orem on Thursday, and a few Aggies players got into a brawl with the Wolverines and some of their fans after the game.

According to what a Utah Valley sports information director told Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg (and what video shows), the brawl started when New Mexico State’s K.C. Ross-Miller threw a ball at Utah Valley’s Holton Hunsaker at the end of the game. That coupled with Utah Valley fans rushing the court led to a few Aggies players getting into it with the fans.