Yo, bro code this.

Seriously.
​
Actually got no issue with anyone being a bit miffed by rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell essentially “selling out” his Lakers teammate Nick Young by filming a video in which the latter owns up to cheating on his fiancé Iggy Azalea.

​Somehow the video got public. Obviously, all fingers point toward Russell.

That’s fine, even deserved.

But all anger, aside from any by Azalea, geared at him, too?

That’s absurd.

Yeah, it was dumb to take the video and then allow it to leak out. Hell, it was idiotic to ask such personal details of someone, anyone, hell, even if they truly are “bros.”

But the real perp in this latest soap opera ain’t an immature, just-turn-20-year-old his first year out of the Ohio State University, it’s Young.

Not for nothing, but the dude got engaged, then stepped out, apparently, with multiple other girls – that alone blurs any “honor” or “silent shield of protection” due him. The fact Young was 30, and one of the, um, ladies in question was 19 at the time may erase either entirely.

Spare me the bro-code claptrap. How about Young “man up” and own up to Azalea … without things having to come to light through such sophomoric silliness?

That she had to learn about her man’s actions through social media – almost a year after they occurred – is the real crime, not that someone else took a video of him admitting to them and it got out.

Clearly, the combined brain mass of everyone involved with this deal is functioning about as well as the new “other LA” NBA team is on the court. Like, OK, sure, Russell probably stepped over a line by asking certain questions. But why did Young, regardless of whether or not he knew he was being recorded, answer any of them?

OK, Russell probably broke some level of trust here, meaning others around him legitimately may struggle with believing in him – even on the court. Umm, guys, you do realize Young broke an even higher level of trust, right?

No matter who it is, if they’re mad or upset at Russell, and they remain stuck in that spot, they’re misguided – especially if they cling to those feelings with a never-ending ode to the bro code.

Reality is, a real “bro” would have challenged Young, telling him what a piece of gutless, cheating piece of cheese he was, and demanding him to come clean if he ever hoped to start to regain any respect … and left it at that.

Who knows, maybe Young would get to celebrate yet another misfired shot then.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Having a little fun today.

With the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four looming, thought it might be cool to step back, let the mind wander and try to come up with the greatest college hoops team ever – with the disclaimer forever embedded with “in my lifetime,” and the added stipulation “personally witnessed.”

​Oh, yeah, one more qualifier: Gotta be a national champ.

Frankly, didn’t have to think about it all too long.

One squad stands above all others – even beyond the head and shoulders fashion.

In 1975-76, Bobby Knight, as he did every season, demanded perfection … and actually got it from his Indiana Hoosiers. To this day, no outfit since has been able to match that 32-0, national championship effort – although things did get a little interesting last spring with a very flawed Kentucky managed to survive a minefield of SEC mediocrity and reach the Final Four at 38-0 before getting exposed by Wisconsin.

Forty years ago, there were no flaws with Knight’s Hoosiers. They had it all – size, speed, skill, smarts, shooting touch, quickness, toughness, athleticism, you name it. They could play it any way you wanted, and force you to play it any way they wanted. Usually, they just grinded on opponents, wearing ’em down and then dropping the hammer, or, in a few rare cases, confidently – and annoyingly for those of us who couldn’t stand them or, even more so, their antagonistic, hard-headed coach – pulling out the victory from the jaws of defeat as if there were never a doubt.

In Scott May and Kent Benson, they had two-fifths of that season’s first-team All-American selections, with May taking home every national player of the year award available. Kids crooning and swooning over Stephen Marbury’s stroke these days would be wise to check a few videos on May squaring up and just draining mid-range jumpers right and left with almost production-line efficiency and effectiveness.

He averaged 23.5 points per game that season without forcing a single damn shot, and hauled in 7.7 rebounds a night as well. Benson, the big fella in the middle, was good for 17.3 points and 8.8 each time out. But they were hardly alone.

All told, seven guys on that 1975-76 Indiana roster were drafted by NBA clubs, four of them in the first round. May went second overall in 1976, with point man Quinn Buckner going seventh and swingman Bobby Wilkerson 11th in the same draft. Benson was the No. 1 pick in ’77.

My “horse” in the field four full decades ago, as embarrassing as it to admit as an Illinois grad, Michigan, made it all the way to title game against the Hoosiers at the now-defunct Spectrum in Philly. The Wolverines had an electric cat playing the point in Rickey Green, who had this fantastic way of attacking the hoop every time straight on and then just flipping the ball ever so gently over the rim and into the net. Eventually, he’d become an NBA first-round choice, too, and play 15 years in the league.

But he and his teammates were no match for their Big Ten rivals in the championship, losing just as they had twice before to Indiana during the conference slate.

Looking back, that dominating, start-to-finish performance by Knight’s fifth edition of Hoosiers was hardly a surprise. Essentially the same group had reached the Elite Eight the year before with a 31-0 mark and ranked No. 1, losing to a Kentucky team by 2 points at that point that it previously had beaten by 24 points earlier in the season largely due to the fact that May was wearing a cast on his broken, non-shooting hand and limited to 2 points and just 7 minutes playing time.

A preseason smashing of the Soviet National team in 1975-76 served as a precursor of things to come as well.

Greatness, and the best ever witnessed right here.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]
​

The following is a list of the best NCAA men’s basketball championship teams witnessed by the eyes behind this material:

1. 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers
​Record: 32-0
Story to the left.

2. 1983-84 Georgetown Hoyas
Record: 34-3
Just awesome during Patrick Ewing’s time there, this being the one crown in three title appearances.

3. 1994-95 UCLA Bruins
Record: 32-1
National player of the year Ed O’Bannon spearheaded Bruins’ run back into elite status.

4. 1977-78 Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 30-2
Two NBA first-rounders on the roster, including tournament outstanding player Jack Givens.

5. 1981-82 UNC Tar Heels
Record: 32-2
Only won the title game by a fluke, but two Hall of Famers in Michael Jordan and James Worthy.

6. 1989-90 UNLV Rebels
Record: 35-5
Had 3 NBA lottery picks, headed by overall No. 1, the bullish and athletic Larry “Grandmama” Johnson.

7. 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils
Record: 32-2
A year after dethroning UNLV, Christian Laettner and Co. were dominant in repeating as champs.

8. 2011-12 Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 38-2
Guess you could say bigger fan of Antonio Davis than Ron Mercer (Kentucky 1995-96) here.

9. 1979-80 Louisville Cardinals
​Record: 33-3
You got Dr. Dunkenstein on the squad, you’re gonna leave some serious impressions.

10. 2006-07 Florida Gators
Record: 35-5
Not overly impressed by the Joakhim Noah-led team, but it is the only other repeat champ on list.
​
Note: Never witnessed any team prior to 1975-76.

Nova has been elite for a while
Looks like Original Big East bash
No hate here for Villanova
Have-nots lacking at Sweet 16
Committee had a few misses
Time to bust up bracket again
​

Yeah, it is.
​
When discussions start to delve into college basketball’s royalty, and questions arise about the merits of schools not named North Carolina or Duke or Kentucky or Kansas or Michigan State being national powers, keep this in mind:
​
Villanova deserves to be in the conversation, and, frankly, the evidence is kinda overwhelming that it ranks among the elite, especially in the last, oh, say, 12 years.

It was then, in Season 4 of the Jay Wright Era that the Wildcats re-emerged from the doldrums of the Steve Lappas reign and final few editions of Rollie Massimino Ball to claim their status as one of the country’s best.

A top-10 program? A marquee attraction? An NCAA big-timer? Yeah, ’Nova most certainly is.

Put it this way, with Wright’s latest group earning a spot in this weekend’s Final Four, only seven schools can claim more trips to the sport’s Holy Land than the two the Wildcats can in the time frame we’re talking about here. Kentucky, Michigan State and North Carolina all have four, while Louisville, Connecticut, Florida and UCLA three each … and the latter two there haven’t been relevant since 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Heck, both of ’Nova’s national semifinal appearances under Wright will have come since then – in 2009 and this Saturday. The ’Cats have averaged 25 wins a season beginning with 2005, been to 11 NCAA Tournaments, securing two No. 1 seeds, three No. 2s and one No. 3 along the way, and qualified for as many Final Fours as Duke and Kansas.
​
Yeah, you read that right.

Any narrative being put out there that ’Nova is some mid-majorish upstart that either has shown a spunky resolve to challenge the college game’s hierarchy and ought to be admired OR displayed the unmitigated gall to do the same and ought to know its rightful place among the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players is about as insightful as a Trump or Clinton Presidential campaign speech.

Hell, the Wildcats, who have won more games than anyone else the last three seasons, have been college basketball royalty for some time now. Oh, they may not be Kentucky or North Carolina, but they’re pretty close to Michigan State and they’ve surpassed the likes of UCLA and Indiana.

Basically, they’re fellow 2016 national semifinalist Syracuse, just without all the sanctions and soap operas.

Yo, possess degrees right here from Villanova Philly Big Five rival Temple and Big Ten staple Illinois, both of which have pretty impressive resumes and histories when it comes to college hoops, and both of which lost out to the Main Line school when it came to signing top-five recruit Jalen Brunson last year because of one thing – the Wildcats have a much better basketball program.

​So this isn’t exactly a joyful exercise for me.

Just can’t avoid reality, even teeth-grinding reality, is all.

’Nova is that good. Has been that good for some time.

It is a national power. It is elite. As annoying as that may be to myself and others whose squads keep getting kicked in the face by the ’Cats or the bluebloods who refuse to admit greatness in what they deem lesser lights for fear it may take some shine off their own teams’ greatness, it is.

Yeah, it is.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

It is a common occurrence.

In our haste to right what we have deemed wrong, reality often takes a back seat to guilt. Often leading to the absurd.

OK, got it. Villanova’s Jay Wright deserves a ton of credit for what he’s done with the Wildcats, taking them from the rubble left by Steve Lappas and molding them into one of the nation’s best outfits on a year-in, year-out basis.

But, please, spare me and anyone else with some common-sense perspective about how the guy has been mistreated in Philly or overly criticized.

For starters, he’s a media magnet. Everyone loves the guy. Personable, good looking and a sharp dresser, he’s the perfect Ken doll from NCAA productions of what a college hoops coach should look like and act like, and, oh, yeah, it doesn’t hurt that he’s proven to be a quality coach, running what at least appears to be a pristine program.

If anything, he’s held in higher esteem than any of the city’s other Division I coaches, almost as an “untouchable” because he gets the best players, competes in the best conference, and, not for nothing, works at the nicest school out of the group.

But, even with that, Wright has no business being excused from criticism when it is warranted, and when you have three teams in six years receive No. 2 or better seeds for March Madness and they’re part of an 0-for-5 run you experience from 2010 through 2015 with not getting beyond the first weekend of the tournament, guess what, you deserve to get criticized.

Frankly, you deserve to get ripped, and Wright hasn’t been. Criticized, yes – mildly, not overtly.

Could he be more appreciated for all that he’s done on the Main Line in his 15 years at the helm? Yeah, probably so. But let’s hold off on comparisons to someone such as Bill Self when the Kansas coach has an .823 winning percentage with the Jayhawks and Wright’s is .690 with the Wildcats, he has a national title and two title-game appearances and Wright doesn’t have any, and he has 114 more career victories (and 54 fewer losses) than Wright while being a year younger.

​That's absurd.

It's an Original Big East party
No hate for Villanova or Arch
Have-nots missing in Sweet 16
​Committee shoots an airball

Atlantic Coast Conference dominance my arse.

They can crow all they want down on Tobacco Road about their beloved conference, its self-appointed place atop the college basketball world and good ol’ North Carolina making this season’s Final Four, but for those of us with memory and a pulse for the romantic side of sports knows in their heart that next weekend’s extravaganza is another showcase for the Big East.

Hell, if carpet-bagging Notre Dame had anything left in its tank Sunday night after rallying from a double-digit, second-half deficit to take a short-lived lead, we could be talking about a repeat of 31 years ago – when Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova joined Memphis State for the NCAA Tournament’s final weekend of dancing.

You know, just in some updated – read: distorted and mutated – form.

Kidding aside, Syracuse, fortunately, will never be able to shake the Original Big East stink from its program. Good, it’ll be forever tough as nails because of that. Just like Villanova, a former OBE foe of the Orange which has taken up resident in the updated – read: distorted and mutated – Big East.

Both, ahem, gritted their teeth through the second week of March Madness and willed their way into the national semifinals.

Indeed, if anything stood out this weekend, even beyond the great plays, the key shots, the critical fouls, the ill-timed blunders, it was the neon-bright evidence displayed by those two of what was so great about the immortal Dave Gavitt’s creation four decades ago.

Put it this way, if you’re gonna take on an OBE bad-arse, you best beat them to death, because they’re gonna keep coming if you don’t – no matter the score, or the line set by Vegas.

’Nova … no chance against top-ranked Kansas, huh? Think again. Behind inspirational leader Ryan Arcidiacono, the Wildcats prevailed in the South finale, leaving mindless, Trump-like hoops followers to bitch and moan about mid-majors being lame and traditional powers being down this season. Puh-leeze. ’Nova hasn’t been a mid-major since, well, ever … and, not for nothing, has a spot on the traditional powers list itself.

But, really, truly, the story of this tournament now is the Orange. Four games in, having raised their shaky-bid 19-13 record to a somewhat respectable 10 games over .500, they still have everyone shaking heads and wondering what the heck happened. Frankly, a case could be made that they were better than just one of the teams they’ve toppled, and even that’d be debatable considering Middle Tennessee State knocked off one of the favorites win the whole damn shebang in the opening round – Michigan State.

The No. 1 fave, by the by, was Kansas.

Oops …

Never disliked Jim Boeheim. Never had the inkling to ridicule his coaching chops, either. So, for me, seeing ’Cuse muscle its way through the likes of Dayton, MT, Gonzaga and then the Midwest’s No. 1 seed, Virginia, was entertaining and fascinating. Trailing by 15 with 9:33 to go in the regional final to a fellow conference member that had beaten it by 15 three straight times, ’Cuse proceeded to close with a 29-8 run that almost looked embarrassingly easy.

Once the favored Cavaliers saw the Orange weren’t going away and, gasp, had the audacity to slap a full-court press on them, yo, this one was OHHH-va. Either lucky or having a feel for his squad like no coach ever has, Boeheim was, as he has been throughout the tournament, the ultimate puppet-master. A beady-eyed basketball Geppetto, manipulating all on display to perform as he wanted.

Forget Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon stepping up for his Orange. What was truly amazing was seeing Cavs such as ACC Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon completely crumble.

Kinda had you wondering if Cavs coach Tony Bennett somehow skipped the videotape of Syracuse’s comeback win against Gonzaga two nights earlier. The Orange did the EXACT same thing, using the press to rally from nine down with 6:28 to go for a 63-60 victory.

Now they get current ACC rival UNC this coming Saturday in Houston. But the real prize would be meeting up with a true rival in Villanova in the championship game the following Monday night.

Long live the Big East ... the Original Big East.

​- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

​National semifinalists Oklahoma and Villanova already met this season, on Dec. 7, 2015 at the Pearl Harbor Invitational. Let’s just say, the latter went down with the ship in that one, losing 78-55. Game got outta hand late, especially with the Wildcats unable to shoot straight. Don’t assume a repeat. The Sooners were ranked seventh entering that game and ended the regular season ranked seventh. The Wildcats were ranked ninth entering that game and ended the regular season ranked sixth. They both sat atop the polls for three weeks. OU is 23-7 since then with two losses to Kansas. ’Nova is 26-3 since then and just beat the top-ranked Jayhawks.

Kevin Stallings as the new Pitt head coach … really? Sorry, just can’t wrap the head around the Panthers hiring a guy from a relatively comparable program who had less success there than the guy who just bolted for his alma mater. Now, those in the Steel City saying Stallings’ current resume trails that which Jamie Dixon had when getting the gig back in 2003 are being ridiculous. That was Dixon’s first HC job. Stallings does have 455 wins as a Division I HC, but he was hardly “lights out” awesome at Vanderbilt during any point of his 17 years there, and, if reports were correct, he likely was going to be let go by the school after another early NCAA exit.

Gotta say, really don’t have any issues with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski sharing some postgame, um, advice with Oregon’s Dillon Brooks after the latter celebrated a little too much in Coach K’s eyes when sinking a “take that” 3-pointer as the Ducks were finishing off the Blue Devils Thursday night. The guy even put it, if anything, in POSITIVE developmental terms by telling the kid that he’s TOO GOOD of a player to be acting like that. OK, so it’s a bit pompous on his part. But no biggie. The problem, though, is when questioned about it, K denied ever saying it. Sorry, that’s gutless. Just own it.

No hate here for Villanova or Arch
Have-nots nonexistent in Sweet 16
Selection committee off its game
Time to bust up this bracket ... again
Izzo cuts a mean rug at Big Dance
​All is not lost, Nova Nation
Sure, Wildcats can win it all ...​

It’s an interesting dynamic.

Six Division I college basketball programs situated in a city or just outside it. Five of them linked by an annual series against one another, with the other a welcome opponent at times as well.

​All with passionate fan bases, be they big or small. All with thousands of alums residing in the area, some just miles from one of the campuses.

Given all that, emotions can run high, and allegiances can vary. So, too, can the level of disdain for the programs that are not your own.

In general, the one disliked the most by the natives is the one appreciated the most by outsiders.

So, with that backdrop, of being a native and having graduated from a different Philly school, it stands to reason my feelings for Villanova would range somewhere from disgust to hatred.

It’s just that has never been the case.

Oh sure, the alma mater, Temple, gets my full support in all head-to-head athletic endeavors. But when the Owls are out of the mix, hey, got no reason to hold any grudge against any of the other locals doing well. Even ’Nova.

It’s not like the Wildcats are the Duke Blue Devils or something.

Frankly, if anything, what head coach Jay Wright has built out on the Main Line is to be commended. We’re not talking North Carolina or Kansas in terms of budget or prestige. Yet, right here, right now, we are talking about a program on the same level in terms of how it performs.

Put it this way, tonight’s Elite Eight matchup pitting Wright’s Wildcats against Bill Self’s Jayhawks ain’t no accident. Nor, at this point, should it be a surprise.

Villanova, like Kansas, has been ranked No. 1 in the nation this season. It, like Kansas, is deep, talented and tough.

Holy cow, is it tough.

Perhaps no other trait stands out during Wright’s tenure than the toughness his teams display – mentally, emotionally and physically. If you happened to follow any in his 15 years at ’Nova, the prevailing theme is that no matter what happened, pro or con, ahead or behind, close game or not, the ’Cats always keep coming. No backing off. No backing down.

Oh, they haven’t been perfect under Wright. Indeed, the bottom seemed to fall out in 2011-12, when, after an almost decade-long run of near-brilliance by the likes of Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Curtis Sumpter, Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham that yielded two Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight and a Final Four, the Wildcats limped home at 13-19.

Indeed, Wright’s time at Nova, to some right then, seemed as if it may have played out. That the program was ripe for change.

Maybe it did, but that change didn’t come in the form of the coach leaving. Instead, Ryan Arcidiacono arrived on campus … as the ultimate personification of what a Jay Wright Villanova Wildcat is meant to be and took the program to another level.

Four years later, the suburban Philly product continues to show why with absolutely inspiring exhibitions of hustle, heart, awareness, leadership, talent, never-say-die ’tude and, most of all, toughness.

Oh, he’s one annoying son of a gun if you can’t stand ’Nova or scrappy white guys who actually possess serious basketball skill.

But neither have ever been an issue for me.

NBA future or not, the impact Arcidiacono has had on ’Nova has been mind-boggling. Not only did he jump right into the starting lineup and undertake a captaincy from Day One, but he got the ’Cats winning again – a lot – and he exponentially reinforced the grit that had started to subside with their performance.

His freshman year, they went 20-14. Ever since, they’ve been the winningest team in college basketball, racking up 94 victories in 107 games. Though last season he walked away as the Big East’s player of the year, he actually stepped up his game in this one.

Field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, free-throw percentage, rebound average, assist average, steal average, scoring average, diving after loose balls … he set career highs in all.

Frankly, there is nothing about him, or his game, or his school, for me not to like.

You wanna root against ’Nova, against Arcidiacono, be my guest. ​Just won’t be joining you.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]
​

This is it.

Talk about you want about North Carolina, Virginia, the ACC in general, the athleticism of Oregon or the scoring prowess of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, the reality is the best two teams in college basketball this season, factoring in 2015-16 as a whole and how each is performing right now, square off tonight in Louisville, Ky., with the winner earning a spot in next weekend’s Final Four.

Villanova, Kansas … the floor is all yours.

Put it this way, if the second-seeded Wildcats or the top-seeded Jayhawks don’t end up walking away with the national championship trophy a week from this coming Monday, the titlist certainly won’t be the top team this season from start to finish.

On a night, in a moment, perhaps courtesy of one shot, maybe. But, honest to goodness, the best from October until April? No, that’s going to be determined tonight.

Which is why it was kinda funny to hear people stunned at the ease with which Villanova disposed of third-seeded Miami on Thursday night.

Not for nothing, but if yours truly was re-seeding things prior to the start of this weekend’s Sweet 16, Miami would have been No. 14. Of course, my No. 15, Syracuse, topped my No. 8, Gonzaga, to reach Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup with my No. 4 Virginia.

But let’s digress, shall we …

Kansas ended the regular season atop the polls, and rightly so. Loaded from top to bottom, a regular-season and tournament champion from a power-5 conference, and with one of the nation’s best coaches, it is a legit No. 1. That being said, the only thing keeping ’Nova from being viewed the same way is the stigma many have with its conference – get over it, the Big East is BIG TIME – and that it lost its tournament title game by a basket … to arguably the nation’s hottest team right then, Seton Hall.

​Frankly, ’Nova has been the most impressive team in the NCAA tournament thus far. There is no debate.

Face of the program Ryan Arcidiacono is a very good college player, but he’s hardly the only component to Jay Wright’s outfit. Heck, he’s only the third-leading scorer behind Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, and ’Nova also has future NBA players in senior center Daniel Ochefu and freshman guard Jalen Brunson, who, at worst, was a top-5 recruit when he committed.

None of the other six teams remaining have the depth or firepower of these two.

Neither are unbeatable, of course. But they are the best teams in college basketball, as they have been all season.