Midnight Madness Off to an Early Start

Coach K passes Bob Knight's record

(NEWSER) - Duke Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski gave mentor Bob Knight a hug immediately after surpassing his record of 902 wins last night. The victory over Michigan State made the man known as Coach K, now in his 37th season, Division I's all-time winningest coach, and the season is just getting started. "Before Coach K decides to call it a career, he could very well be sitting on 1,000 career victories," writes Zachary Rymer at Bleacher Report . Click here for more. More»

(NEWSER) - A quest to play pro football might keep a Duke basketball player in school for another year, ESPN reports. Greg Paulus, who has used up his basketball eligibility at Duke, has been offered a tryout for the school’s football team—but at receiver, not quarterback, where he starred in high school. Yesterday, Paulus visited the University of Michigan, which has an uncertain quarterback situation, the Detroit Free Press reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Despite a lack of surprises on the court, the first day of March Madness saw a huge jump in visits to the CBS website as well as a bump in TV ratings, the Business Insider reports. The 2.7 million viewers of streaming video online represented a 56% increase over last year, and each visitor watched about an hour of content. On the broadcast end, ratings rose 9% over 2008. More»

Conference hasn't lived up to its reputation in recent years

(NEWSER) - With March Madness upon us, the hype machine is cranking up again about the Big East, with powers like Louisville, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh. Mike Celizic covered the conference’s period of dominance in the 1980s, but he’s no longer convinced, he writes for NBC Sports. The league has won only two NCAA basketball championships this century, fewer than the Atlantic Coast Conference and tied with the Southeastern. More»

Ex-president pops up at women's college hoops game in Waco

(NEWSER) - In his first public appearance since Barack Obama’s inauguration, George W. Bush took in a women’s basketball game Wednesday at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, about 25 miles from their Crawford ranch. Bush received applause when he and Laura walked onto the court, and seemed to almost tear up while the national anthem was played, the AP reports. More»