November in Review: The Coolest Things in College Basketball

Today you're in for a treat. We're going to take a quick break from the analysis of basketball programs to take a look at some of the coolest things going on in the world of college basketball online. It's a sample of what I hope you find to be inspiring stuff.

Here we go.

Want to get revved for the season? Watch Kentucky Freshman John Wall hit the game winner against Miami here.

I dig this time of year so much because this is when we start to see the impact an offseason has on players and squads. Butler is poised to be one of this year’s Mid Majors that busts onto the college basketball scene. And I loved this read (click here) about their efforts in the weight room. The team averages a bench of 282 pounds.

“Butler players made conditioning an offseason priority, returning to the Hinkle Fieldhouse weight room voluntarily, day after day… As Ronald Nored watched NCAA Tournament games, including Butler's season-ending first-round loss to LSU, he noticed surviving teams kept getting bigger and bigger. LSU "was huge" he said, and made some plays down the stretch on sheer size and strength.”

So... the players are changing. But what's changing the most is how we follow the game.

CBS Sports.com College Network launched a series of iPhone and iPod Touch Applications for the top NCAA programs. (link here.)

The scale is pretty scary: 7 are out now (I have Mizzou’s - picture below or download from here), another 20 are to be available soon.


Who’s in? Alabama, USC, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Those first seven schools were selected because they are among the top college brands, they feature streaming audio of their football games and their site traffic is among the highest in the CBS group. For $4.99 each, you can get video and audio content from the schools’ official Web sites, each of which are managed by CBS, as well.

John Ore, CBS’s senior director of product management adds, “The vision is to create a mobile experience for the fan with the best content from the official Web site,” Ore said. “It’s the best of the mobile-friendly content from the site. So if a fan can’t be at the game or by the computer, he can still listen to the game on his iPhone.”

Where could this go? I’m not sure, but CBS manages about 70% of the BCS conference programs’ sites. Meaning this could be BIG.

Arizona State launched Sparky Grams, a simple but powerful website where you can pull in your friends' Facebook names and pictures plus music to drive excitement around their next game. (Across both basketball and football). Link here.

Speaking of music, Syracuse Assistant Coach Rob Murphy put together a freestyle rap song titled “Shut it Down,” that has become a rallying cry to the style of play the Orange dictate. Here’s a sample of the track:

“KJo can go, Rick Jack'll attack, Triche on the move, Wes supersmooth. Andy from deep, AO's a beast, Young Mook is real, (can't make it out), to the hoop Scoop!”

Read about it here.

The song can be downloaded off of iTunes – here’s a page you can get to it from.

If you haven't seen it, you really need to check this out. Ohio State's Mark Titus Blogs from "the end of the bench", showing a crazy level of insight and personality - and giving us an authentic look at the Buckeyes squad. Link here.



Take a read here at how coverage of Women’s Hoops is changing. In this year’s Alaska Shootout, we had Seniors from Cincinnati and Western Carolina blogging during the tourney. And coaches from both schools are on Twitter. And through it all is a very personal feel. Crazy. Link here.

This might very well be one of the most powerful sites out there. Basketball State breaks down every NCAA Tournament Bracket (over the past 70 years), and let you dive into stats of every team and conference. Link here.

On the gaming side, EA Sports launched their NCAA Basketball 10 game. I haven't played it yet (but my Christmas break feels like the time I'm going to dive into it.) What am I the most excited about? A couple things: First, they are offering full CBS integration into the game, which means all of the graphics, the music, and the Gus Johnson – Bill Rafteryannouncing crew. But it also means they will have an NCAA Tournament Selection Showinside the Game. Killer!

The other thing I’m excited to check out is this will be the first year a College Basketball game is powered by dynamic updates. Which means if your squad is playing well in real life, they also will be a strong squad in the videogame. (Or vice versa). Gone are the days when pre-season rankings dictate a whole season of gaming! Yeah, there’s issues with the game but the key is that things are getting a big step closer to real life this season.

Here’s a full review of the game. (Link here, and click below to watch the High Def trailer.)

NCAA Basketball 10 will also feature the Toughest Places to Play feature – making it literally harder to play in some arenas versus in other arenas. Pretty sick video, click here.

Duke's Jon Scheyer talks about playing college hoops video games as himself and Duke. “It was funny, though, in the video game tournament, my sophomore year, I wasn't starting, so they had me coming off the bench. And all my teammates are watching me, and I subbed Gerald (Henderson) out for me—I had to do that (laughs).” Click here.

Come back tomorrow, where I'll take you through the best things to hit the world of online basketball marketing at the NBA level in November!

Andy