NCAA investigation

Yahoo! Sports has revealed their findings having sifted through hundreds of pages of federal documents from the NCAA Investigation

We have been hearing for a while about the FBI probe that had been investigating schools around NCAA men's hoops for over a year. An article today by Yahoo! Sports details some of the findings.

As expected, amateurism violations abound with schools and agencies finding ways to pay their players under the table.

“There’s potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for players and families of players at Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC, Alabama and a host of other schools.”
— Yahoo! Sports

The article also outs the names of several players that had been receiving compensation, a few of which have already made their way into the NBA. These findings, while damning, are not surprising. With only one agency highlighted and 20 or so schools, they are only scratching the surface here.

The athletes in question are almost all receiving room and board, along with scholarships to fund their education. However, they are also the largest contributors to one of the biggest money-making organizations in sports.

These kids cannot even sell their own autograph, despite their hard work. The NCAA could not truly believe they could go on without someone, somewhere compensating these athletes.

This will be interesting to watch going forward. How many more schools, players, and agencies will be called out? Will the NCAA give up and start paying their largest money-makers? Will kids start going overseas or find other ways to get paid for their services after high school before they go pro?

Stay locked to The Basketball Movement for more news and updates. Anything above that was more opinion than fact, is solely that of blogger @WilHarrington

February Madness

Last year, the NCAA decided to release an early, in-season look at the bracket for the big tournament. That time of year is here again.

For the second year in a row, teams and fans get a sneak peak at how the official tournament bracket is looking for men's college hoops. The top 16 teams to this point have been named and appropriately seeded.

Virginia was awarded the overall number one seed, beating out Villanova. Xavier and Purdue are the other top seeds in their respective quadrants.

The bracketing principles are admittedly difficult to follow, but considerations are given to geographic location and seeding of potential opponents. Number two seeds in a quadrant cannot always go to the closest site if a one seed is going to play there, and so forth.

An attempt is also made to balance brackets, ensuring that the top four teams in one bracket are not substantially better statistically than the top four of another.

Again, it is a little tough to follow, so most will be fine to let the committee handle it, unless of course your favorite team does not get fair shake.

The top 16... so far

Below are the top 16 seeds in their respective divisions to this point in the season (per NCAA.com):

“South (Atlanta): (1) Virginia, (2) Cincinnati, (3) Michigan St., (4) Tennessee
East (Boston): (1) Villanova, (2) Duke, (3) Texas Tech, (4) Ohio State
Midwest (Omaha): (1) Xavier, (2) Auburn, (3) Clemson, (4) Oklahoma
West (Los Angeles): (1) Purdue, (2) Kansas, (3) North Carolina, (4) Arizona”

The season is not over yet, so these determinations are not final. March 11 is the day that the final bracket will be announced.

This list does provide interesting insight into what the bracket committee is looking at. It could also serve as a wake-up call to teams that may have believed that they were among the country's elite.

With a few weeks to go, will there be big shake-ups to the teams in the top 16 or their seeding? Is there enough time for the perennial contender Kentucky Wildcats to make it in?

Stay tuned to The Basketball Movement for more NCAA news as well as NBA, prep, and local hoops stuff.

NCAA power rankings - Who is at the top?

Men's college basketball is slowly starting to wind down and thoughts are turning to the NCAA tournament.

Power rankings are becoming more and more important each week, as we are starting to get a good idea of who we will see competing in the NCAA's big dance.

As you likely know, records are not everything, as the tournament takes into account things such as conferences and strength of schedule. ESPN has updated its comprehensive top-25 list and the top three are as follows:

  1. Virginia Cavaliers (22-1)
  2. Villanova Wildcats (22-1)
  3. Purdue Boilermakers (23-2)

Virginia sits at the top of the list bolstered by its intimidating defense. They are hoping this improved defense can take them farther this year after being ousted by Florida in just the second round last year.

Villanova is certainly a team that we are used to seeing near the top year-after-year. This year is no different with them sporting a lot of offensive firepower.

Purdue has had several good seasons, but they have been surprisingly elite this year. They have had some close ones, but are currently clinging to a 19-game win streak.

The other guys

Kansas (18-5) is number four, having played one of the tougher national schedules and Xavier (21-3) is at the five. Duke (19-4) has looked out of sorts of late, slipping to number seven, while Clemson (19-4) makes a jump to number eight in the standings with some big wins.

Trae Young finally had an off night shooting last Saturday and OU (16-6) moved back a few spots to 14, right in front of North Carolina (17-7). Kentucky (17-6) recently dropped a game to Mizzou, and takes the 22 spot.

Since their Cinderella run in 2010, Butler (17-7) has done a great job of staying relevant. They are holding onto the number 25 spot, with Florida, Arizona State, and Wichita State (not a state) on the outside looking in.

For the full list, check it out on ESPN. For all things basketball, check out The Basketball Movement.

Trae Young just keeps getting buckets for OU

It has been an exciting season in NCAA Basketball, but Trae Young of the Oklahoma Sooners has been the unexpected star of the show.

To start the season, you probably did not see the name Trae Young at the top of many projected draft boards. The Oklahoma Sooner freshman has been re-writing the narrative with his silky-smooth jumper.

 In the age of the three pointer, we knew that another Steph Curry-type shooter was bound to emerge. Is that Trae Young?

The 6'2" guard is averaging 30 points and 10 assists per game this season. That is a pretty impressive line for any college player. Young also dropped 44 against Baylor on Tuesday, only 10 days after hanging 48 against their in-state rival OSU Cowboys.

He has emerged as the Sooner's top recruit since Blake Griffin. He doesn't seem surprised though.

If Trae Young can keep up this dominant display, he will almost certainly show up to the NBA draft as one of the top prospects.

He was flying below the radar coming into the year, which only seems to have fueled his fire. Young players can look to Trae as an example of where hard work and determination can take you.

For more on everything basketball, keep it locked to The Basketball Movement and follow @BBall_Movement on Twitter.

Stats per ESPN