September is an interesting time for college basketball junkies. The news cycle is glacially slow, and unless two huge stories break on the same day (See: Notre Dame & Jim Calhoun on 9/17), hoops-related content is usually hard to find. But “GOOD NEWS EVERYONE": Today’s Morning Mix provides four fantastic opinionated pieces that touch on hot-button college hoops issues.
- Your Must-Read-of-the-Day (#ReadoftheDay) comes via Tom Farrey of ESPN.com, who explains in roughly 2,000 words why NCAA administrators are discussing the possibility of removing the term “Student-Athlete” from the lexicon of collegiate athletics. It’s an interesting topic, and a fantastic article
- Your Must-Read-of-the-Day No.2 (#ReadoftheDay) discusses a similar-yet-different topic: Why is over-signing an accepted practice in college basketball? I’ve always wondered 1) Why this continually happens and 2) Why we allow this to continually happen
- Must-Read-of-the-Day No.3 (#ReadoftheDay) comes via our very own Rob Dauster who tackles the rising number of eligibility issues and the rulings being made by the NCAA. I don’t usually promote his work. But when I do, I make sure it’s worth your time.
- Bill Pennington of the New York Times is responsible for Must-Read-of-the-Day No.4 (#ReadoftheDay). Over 150 Harvard students got busted for cheating. With the such strict Ivy League academic requirements, just how much is a successful athletics program worth?
In other college hoops-related news:
- Apparently, a fake Twitter account was made under the guise of Andrew Wiggins, the top HS player in the class of 2013 and is being used to promote a questionably operated (See: Bootleg) custom sock company. Naturally, people are freaking out.
- For the second straight season, the Bradley Braves will host a non-conference game at their on-campus gym in Peoria, IL. And for the second straight year, the demand for tickets has been overwhelming
- Karaoke videos have kinda become a running gag for the Marquette Golden Eagles the past few years. Here is the latest crop of music videos from Buzz Williams’ bunch. Yes, it is incredibly bad. But it’s also incredible hilarious
- Anybody else kinda interested in watching the Big West play out this season? How will Hawaii fare? Can Long Beach State retain their stranglehold? I don’t have those answers. But I do have a link to a breakdown of the top-10 Big West potential impact players
- This is focused primarily towards football, but is entertaining nonetheless: Remembering the Big East when Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College were members
- Jeff Borzello drops some knowledge on a handful of point guards who need to be team-catalysts in order for their programs to rank among the elite
Remember, if you find an article that is worthy of being in The Morning Mix, be sure to use the #ReadoftheDay hashtag on Twitter.
Troy Machir is the managing editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @TroyMachir.