(Sorry this is late. I had to work.)“In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.”Ralph Waldo Emerson “If there’s a problem, yo I’ll solve it. Check out the hook while the DJ revolves it.”Vanilla Ice Northwest Arkansas is frozen tonight. The air itself is an icy, foggy mist. Light is refracting strangely, with distant streetlights sparkling and expanding in my vision. For some reason all my senses seem clean and sharp, I feel the cold and taste the air. I can see forever. Getting out of the car I hit a patch...

Can I get a smile, Leonard Hamilton? Florida State’s coach entered the year somewhat embattled and at least on the “warm seat” after last year’s season once again failed to live up to many fans’ expectations. He finds himself a bit more comfortable after a solid start to the year, but life could still be a bit better for the Seminoles. Hamilton’s young men seem to be a bubble team year after year, and 2008-09 is looking no different. Florida State (16-4, 3-2 ACC) owns an impressive record but has only notched a few wins over quality teams (California and Florida;...

(Note: You can also read this article here on Bleacher Report, including the many comments that accompany it.) I am sickened at what I witnessed yesterday in the match-up between the Houston Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats. When you view this clip (courtesy of YouTube and Rivals.com), I imagine you might feel the same. My stomach literally churns when I see it. In the second half of a game that Houston was dominating, the Cougars’ Aubrey Coleman was called for a charge after shoving Arizona’s Chase Budinger to the floor while dribbling past the half-court line. After...

(Note: You can also read this article and other NCAA basketball articles at Bleacher Report.) It is time to look at the next batch of conferences in this series that honors the true forces in NCAA basketball, the fruitcakes who like to play Jekyll and Hyde, and the frauds that have been exposed (or are in the process of being exposed) as overrated.  This edition examines the Big Ten, Big XII, CAA, and Conference USA. The analysis continues to move in alphabetical order to avoid any charges of bias. For complete definitions and a thorough look at the ACC, Atlantic 10,...

This is a somewhat painful article to write as a devoted UNC graduate living and working in Chapel Hill, but I feel it is the truth. The Atlantic Coast Conference is now 9-6 against the Big East this season, and no intraconference game was bigger than Duke’s relatively easy 76-67 victory over the Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday. When Duke obliterated then-No. 9 Xavier in December, I argued that Duke was the No. 2 team in the country, behind then-No. 1 North Carolina. After UNC’s struggles against Boston College and Wake Forest, I now believe that Duke can be named as the team...

After a little over two months of the college basketball season, there is now enough information, including a few conference matchups, to make some early judgments on where the teams stand vis-a-vis their preseason expectations. After looking at the major and many of the mid-major conferences, I have concluded that nearly every one of them has at least one “force,” one “fraud,” and one “fruitcake” (a team that would make Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde proud). The definitions are as follows: The Force: This is a team that much is or was expected of, and they are delivering on those expectations. They are not just winning now; they will continue...