So it’s been in the news for a while, but ever slow on the uptake, we here at Big East Hoops hadn’t seen it until just recently.

It turns out that former ‘Cuse sharp-shooter Jason Cipolla has been dating Soprano’s star Lorraine Bracco for over, like, 5 years now. Cipolla was a behind-the-scenes driver for the show; Bracco was on screen, playing the mob-boss’s psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Psychoanalyze this, though: Bracco is 52 compared to Cipolla’s 31.

Cradle robber or Sugar Momma? (not that the two are mutually exclusive)

We congratulate Jason. Though he couldn’t make the NBA, he chose the next best thing…the AARP.

Kidding, of course. Best to both. Love the show.

Categories: BlogWatch, Mister D, NewsWatch, Nostalgia, Syracuse
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Some of us were packing his bags for him while others saw things more reasonably. It looks like Scottie’s back for another year as discussed on Let’sGoNova. Apparently one of the implications of Reynolds staying might be transfers. There’s just not enough minutes to go around.

The Wildcats are simply too talented and young to not see improvement from this year to next. They also appear to be “underachievers” after losing their share of close games and playing one of the tougher schedules in America. With Reynolds back, they’ve got to be a favorite next year.

For Scottie personally, time will tell if his decision pays off. Perhaps he’s already gotten a strong indication that he was bound for the second round at best.

Categories: BlogWatch, Dan'l B, Villanova
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Jared Dudley from Boston College weighs in on the matter:

“I think it’s basically the best of both worlds – you’re playing two great conferences. But if I had to do it all over again, I would love to play in the A.C.C. UConn and Syracuse are both good teams, but when you say North Carolina and Duke it’s different – star power, Tobacco Road and everything and Coach K. This is definitely a dream come true, growing up and watching the A.C.C. I just dreamed about playing in this conference. No disrespect to the Big East, it’s just different here.”

Hey Jared — no disrespect to you, but you suck. You’re also ugly.

By the way, did you get the memo about the Big East having more NBA all-stars than any other conference?

Categories: BlogWatch, donald
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The first Thursday of the NCAAs is a wonderful day. Four basketball games at once, four time slots…making for 16 fantastic games of College Basketball. One of my fondest memories of my youth is getting lucky one year and having a snow day the very first day of the NCAAs. There’s absolutely no better feeling as a kid than getting a snow day — you wake up, groggily listen to the radio and hope that your school gets announced. And when it does, you shut off that alarm and go back to sleep for those precious hours of sleep. On that lucky day, I slept until noon, turned on the tube, and watched five hours of basketball. Now that I’m working, I try to work from home the very first day of the tourney. It’s not quite the same as a snow day, but it’s still awesome.

A few interesting links that I’ve read over the past few days:

• ESPN Page 2 Guide to the NCAA Tournament: It’s a long, amusing read. Besides giving some props to Ken Pomeroy’s offensive and defensive efficiency ratings, they also bring light to my question from a few posts ago: What’s up with Syracuse’s uniforms? It turns out Nike is bringing out a new set of uniforms just for the NCAAs. Nike’s outfitting Syracuse, Ohio State, Florida, and Arizona in the “tight shirt, baggy shorts” uniform, which they chose to name Nike System of Dress. What’s amusing is that if you go to the site, they show players from each team in the new outfits. One of the players doesn’t belong, because he’s the only one without a shirt on. That player? Yes, he’s on Syracuse. Of course, that’s the only team that didn’t make the NCAAs either. Highly amusing.
• Princeton Basketball News: This is an excellent college basketball blog with in depth coverage of Princeton basketball. What’s touching is that they also cover prodigal son John Thompson III and Georgetown basketball. I highly recommend the post on the Big East Tournament which sums up what’s fun about being at MSG. Also see the youtube video that shows JT3 cutting down the net after the Hoya victory last week.
• Meet Central Connecticut State: From the NYTimes Bracket blog — apparently Greg Oden doesn’t know how the NCAA Tournament works: “The coach had to explain to Oden that the teams play the first round on Thursday and the second round on Saturday. “Then he asked if the game was in the same place.”” I haven’t been impressed with Oden, and now I’ll be rooting against him — how could you possibly not know how the NCAAs work? Honestly, I’ve never seen him passionate about playing basketball this year.
• Penn’s Stephen Danley Hijacks The Bracket: I’ll make it short — Penn baller (and Rhodes scholar finalist) Danley writes about what it’s like to play basketball in the Ivy League. His blog post borders on the pretentious. An excerpt about Penn’s interactions with the media:
  

  It didn’t end there. Just this week someone asked our star point guard, Ibrahim Jaaber, what going to the tournament for a third consecutive season meant to him. ”The marinara sauce on my spaghetti,” he told them. Calling it the frosting on the cake just won’t cut it at Penn.

  Hey Danley — you know what won’t cut it in the real world? Acting like a douchebag. Hilarity ensues in the comments, as the otherwise sedate audience (read: Upper East side investment bankers and management consultants) banter about the merits/demerits of Danley’s post. I love it.

• Name of the Year blog: Found from Bill Simmons’s article yesterday is this gem: a tournament of the greatest names people actually have. My favorites? Yourhighness Morgan, Phyre Quickly Burns, and Conceptualization Gibbs.

Peace out and have a great Thursday. I know I will.

Categories: BlogWatch, donald, NewsWatch
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We just can’t figure out Pittsburgh. They’re playing well and they have talent. So why have they been “underperforming” and losing these games that they can win? Big Willie thinks its their free throw shooting. I think it’s their inability to react within games (leaving Butch open possession after possession even after he had hit shots) and their weak rebounding (pitthoopsblog agrees as well).

But maybe the real problem is we’re overestimating Pittsburgh. Panther Rants has a great post today about just this:

Is there a major problem with Pitt basketball this year, and if so, what is it? The defense and rebounding aren’t as good as past years, but when you compare it to other top years, it’s not nearly as bad as people think. … The point is, Pitt looked better on defense and rebounding in past years because they played a lot less competition. … Is playing better competition exposing the Pitt program?

Pitt was overrated this season because people saw alot of good players and assumed they would just get better. But the players were already at the limit of what they could do. Pitt players are always at their own limit. That’s what makes the program so successful, despite not having the talent that others do. When people see a sophomore at an elite program score 10 ppg, they assume as a junior they will score 15 ppg. And usually they are right. But that doesn’t happen at Pitt. Their ceilings aren’t as high, and just as important, because of the kind of character they have, they reach their ceilings early.

So maybe the problem is our expectations. Perhaps. But when I see Pittsburgh play, I get a different feeling. I think they’re damn good and have enough talent — both LeVance Fields and Ronald Ramon have tons of game. Last year, Fields went nuts at the Big East Tournament.  As for Ramon…he shot more than 50% (32-63) from three last year. How can you not capitalize on that talent more? Again, my gut is that everything’s there. We’re not overrating them. They’ve just lost two tough games on the road. Nothing’s wrong with them. I stick with Big Willie’s prediction: they’ll be the highest rated Big East team at the end of the season.

Categories: BlogWatch, Commentary, donald, Pittsburgh
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