Around the Hardwood

Jimmer Fever!: Jimmer Fredette and BYU gave San Diego State their first loss last night and Jimmer fever is at an all-time high. Jimmer scored 43 points last night and that's his third 40-point in four games. So rightfully Jimmer is receiving hype. He's deserving of it. But is he deserving of player of the year hype?

The Big Lead makes his case for Jimmer as the player of the year over UConn's Kemba Walker and Ohio State's Jared Sullinger. You can't use the schedule as a topic against Jimmer because BYU has a tougher schedule than both UConn and Ohio State. So at this moment the player of the year should be Jimmer Fredette. It's his world and we're just living in it.

Oh yeah, Jimmer's brother is a rapper. When I think of BYU, I also think of rap music.



The NCAA Actually Gets It Right?: Kansas' Thomas Robinson endured a tragedy last week when his mother Lisa unexpectedly passed away. The NCAA, which hasn't done this in the past, actually granted waivers to allow the school pay for Lisa's funeral and pay for the expenses to fly the entire team to the Washington DC to attend the funeral. Amazing to think about, but the NCAA actually got this right. Now if only they wouldn't take their sweet time to make decisions on player's eligibility.


Harrison Barnes Is Earning His Reputation: Harrison Barnes arrived to UNC with much fanfare. UNC has struggled so Barnes has sort of become an afterthought until a couple of nights ago when he hit a game-winning three against Miami. Looking at the stats though, Harrison Barnes is actually quite clutch. Out of the 225 points Barnes has scored this year, 32 of those points have come in the last five minutes of the game. UNC will need Barnes to continue this type of scoring down the stretch of the season.

Michigan State's Rough Season Continues: Sparty has had a rough season. They almost lost coach Tom Izzo before the season started. Then Michigan State started the season with big expectations and have faltered to a 12-7 record and 4-3 in conference. I'm sure Michigan State will make some type of run in the tournament like they usually do, but for right now they stink. Things got worse for Sparty has they had kick off Korie Lucious from the team for "conduct detrimental to the program." Another hit for Sparty. At least Lucious and Sparty will always have this moment. (Sorry Kris and RJBO)