By Paul M. Banks Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

MILWAUKEE- Orlando “Tubby” Smith is entering his second NCAA Tournament (and third year) as the leader of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Despite reaching the second round on 14 prior occasions during his career, he has to win a tourney game with the Gophs. Is [...]

After hearing for weeks that the Fighting Illini only had to win one more game against a quality opponent to seal their NCAA tournament berth, it’s become a habit of mine to wonder how each successive game impacts their ability to move off the proverbial bubble.  Well surely their convincing 76-66 win over the Stony [...]

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,
INDIANAPOLIS- Big Ten player of the year, and likely national player of the year Evan Turner has become quite the polarizing figure this weekend. The Ohio State swing-man made magical memories for OSU fans on his way to becoming Big Ten tournament [...]

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,
This year’s NCAA tournament will see Arizona, North Carolina, UCLA and Indiana missing from the dance card. Those four tradition rich programs have produced 22 National Championships and 144 tournament appearances. So what are the benchmarks, the numbers, the standards of entry [...]

A couple of weeks ago I comprised a comprehensive list of the greatest college backcourts of the 21st century. In response, I experienced a number of healthy attacks as well as some reluctant support. But most so, the list sparked an ongoing and spectacularly fun debate. The issue of most contention: my overemphasized formula that [...]

No buy-in?  An offer of an NQTC T-shirt as a prize that I may or may not follow-through on?  You know what those things mean, don’t you?  They mean that its time for our annual NQTC tourney challenge bracket.  The winner will get an NQTC t-shirt (I swear I’ll hook it up this time, and [...]

The f$%&ing selection committee can’t seem to get anything right.  Those idiots in their ivory tower stare at computers all damn weekend for one weekend a year and then make horrible decisions.  Florida?  Really?  Florida?  And Utah State?  How do they justify putting Minnesota in over Illinois, when Illinois finished better in the Big Ten?
Okay [...]

By Paul M. Banks Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net
INDIANAPOLIS- Ohio State’s Evan Turner is likely going to sweep the national college basketball player of the year awards. He truly is royally smooth on the court. On Friday, in the Big Ten quarterfinals, his 40-foot buzzer beater to eliminate Michigan was the lead national story in [...]

By Paul M. Banks, President of The Sports Bank.net
Regarding college basketball in the state of Illinois, it is the worst of times. And it’s again the worst of times. We may get zero teams in the NCAA tournament. And it’s all over from the Wisconsin border to the edge of the state that neighbors Kentucky. [...]

By Paul M. Banks, President of The Sports Bank.net
DePaul needs a splash hire to revive their dormant program; and ESPN’s Steve Lavin could be it. The Blue Demons need someone to come in and convince local talent to stay home and start something, and I’m not convinced SIU’s Chris Lowery or Jazz Assistant (and former [...]

By Paul M. Banks, President of The Sports Bank.net
When Michigan State meets #3 Purdue on Sunday, it’ll have huge influence on who wins the Big Ten regular season title. But beyond that…who will eventually take Purdue’s #1 seed in the NCAA tourney now?
The Purdue Boilermakers are 12-3 in the Big Ten, a half-game ahead of [...]

By Paul M. Banks, President of The Sports Bank.net
1. Purdue (24-3, 12-3)
Ten in a row! Give them that #1 seed. Boilers are on a mission to duplicate Michigan St.’s feat from last season- reach a Final Four held in your home state. Getting there is DEPENDENT on the health of Robbie Hummel. And the fact [...]

All of us should know by now that guards win games in March. Crunch time demands superb guard play whether it be through late game pressing, perimeter defense, three point field goals, controlling tempo, extending the coach, etc… It doesn’t matter if your best player is Greg Oden, because to win 4+ games in [...]

Within five minutes of turning on the Illinois game, I knew it was a more enjoyable game to watch than the bulls game.  This turned out to be true – and could be true of the entire season for both teams.  The Illini have bounced back from a couple of ugly losses to Utah and [...]

It only took us 11 years, but the Big Ten has finally broken through in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.  Finally a reprieve from articles and posts about how the Big Ten is so overrated after 6-to-5 losses in the Challenge, despite consistently impressive post-season performances.  Let the ubridled hype commence! 
Alright maybe not, but it still [...]