Tom Crean’s excellent adventure as Indiana University basketball coach took a really weird turn in April, when Eli Holman, a 6-foot-9 sophomore-to-be, came to the office to tell the coach he was transferring. During the meeting, Holman became so agitated that Crean, fearing Holman might be “a danger to himself and others,” called the campus […]

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SAN ANTONIO – So here we were, standing in front of the Hyatt, waiting for an ESPN car to pick up my friend, Robert Montgomery Knight, the noted college basketball analyst, and his entourage, which included his wife Karen and yours truly.
The fans materialized immediately, bringing balls and papers to be signed. A couple only […]

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I used to think that post-season conference basketball tournaments were established purely so that greedy college presidents and athletics directors could gouge even more money out of the fans and TV networks. I thought that conference tournaments cheapened the regular season and put unreasonable demands on those athletes who also took their academics seriously.
But I’ve […]

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Whatever the issue, university presidents seem perfectly willing to make exemptions for their sports programs. They tolerate, even encourage, a double standard that, if examined, leaves them open to criticism and disdain from faculty members and others who still cling to the quaint notion that universities exist mainly to educate, not to sponsor winning teams.
At […]

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Although he shied away from the tag of being a “pioneer,” that’s what McAnulty was. His friends crossed racial, social, and economic lines. After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Bill conceded that he hoped African-American lawyers who aspired to be judges “will understand that the door is open and they are able, like any other judge or lawyer, to enter.”

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At the college level, despite the relentless attempts attempts to professionalize football and mens’ basketball, it still should be as much about teaching life lessons and emphasizing academics as about winning football games.

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Over the past few days, I’ve checked with my favorite Kentucky Derby handicappers — a motley crew of trainers, writers, fans, waitresses, priests, and derelicts — to see who they like in Saturday’s 133rd Kentucky Derby. I expected to get the usual wide variety of names. This year, however, almost everybody is saying that Street Sense is the one to beat.

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We seem to have dismissed as laughable the quaint notion that the main business of our universities is education, not sports.

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The way I see it, only five teams have a legitimate chance to win the national championship: North Carolina, Florida, Georgetown, Ohio State, and Texas. I’m throwing out Kansas because of its history of choking in the NCAAs and Memphis because of its weak schedule.

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I’m picking the Cards to upset A&M in Lexington and Memphis in San Antonio to make the South Regional final against Ohio State, where the Card party will abruptly end.

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