ESPN Search

With the exception of the late-starting Ivy League (which will have its first full slate of games next week), action in traditional one-bid conferences is under way all across the country. Everything looked so easy to predict just a month ago, as s...

Blog | Conversation | January 16, 2009

IUPUI coach Ron Hunter started a nationwide movement last year when he coached a game in his bare feet for charity. A year later, Hunter will go shoeless again. This time, he'll have hundreds joining him.

Belmont, the 15-seed that nearly knocked off Duke last March, has been plagued by more near-misses in its quest for a fourth straight NCAA bid.

During the 2006-07 season, Butler and Southern Illinois figured prominently in the national polls all season, and each ended up taking a trip to the Sweet 16. Many were flummoxed as to how either could have succeeded. Butler was tragically undersiz...

Blog | Conversation | January 07, 2009

It's off the traditional college hoops path, but Utah State has enjoyed considerable success in the past decade by employing its unique style.

With the last games of nonconference play winding down this week and next, teams are preparing to settle back into the comfortable rhythms of their leagues. Schools will welcome familiar opponents and rivals, and road trips will be planned around the...

Blog | Conversation | December 31, 2008

For many of the smaller conferences in Division I, the season hasn't truly begun yet. Sure, all the teams have played 10 games in non-league play, but none will have any impact whatsoever on league-title aspirations or the double-digit seed that goe...

Blog | Conversation | December 24, 2008

Where do the mid-majors stand as we near the end of nonconference play? How did they get to this point? Kyle Whelliston checks in with a report.

At this time of year, most college sports fans are focused on the football bowl picture. Therefore, hoops news has to be of the big, bold and shocking variety in order to make an impact. Anything short of VMI beating Kentucky, UMass squeaking by nati...

Blog | Conversation | December 18, 2008

It's been a mainstay in college basketball for some time: A small school hits the road to play a big-time team and receives a beatdown -- and a hefty paycheck for their efforts, writes Kyle Whelliston.

Power conferences collect NCAA bids like kids collect Webkinz dolls, but mid-major leagues are defined by a single digit: the number of teams they send to the Big Dance. Regardless of how the participants actually do in the tournament, the number fol...

Blog | Conversation | December 10, 2008

VMI's run-and-gun offense has produced plenty of points the past few years, but not many wins. So far this season, the Keydets have shown they're no point-producing gimmick -- as a win at Kentucky illustrates, writes Kyle Whelliston.

David Holston is 5-foot-8, 160 pounds and a virtual unknown. But his name is getting out there -- via his national second-best 27.7 points average, right behind Davidson's Stephen Curry -- as he lays the foundation for Chicago State's future success, writes Kyle Whelliston.

Last season's Dayton Flyers were December's children (and not necessarily everybody's). A team with eight underclassmen made a lot of noise during the holiday season in 2007, knocking off Big East schools Louisville (Dec. 8) and Pitt (Dec. 29) and ma...

Blog | Conversation | December 02, 2008

The heady days of 2005 and 2006 seem so long ago for Bucknell, when the Bison went from Cinderella darling to mid-major powerhouse. After a dismal season last year, Bucknell is trying to regroup, rebuild and rediscover that winning feeling, writes Kyle Whelliston.

Normally, the students at Penn and Drexel would be in class (or asleep), but this morning they were treated to a in-city rivalry where Drexel earned some much-needed bragging rights from their Philly rivals, writes Kyle Whelliston.