The summer is almost over, and while everyone's attention seems to be on football right now, we continue to bring you the best in hoops notes from around the Internet.
Speaking of the end of summer, CAAHoops is ready for it to be over, as apparently is William and Mary coach Tony Shaver:
A certain William & Mary coach summed up the turning point in our basketball calendar perfectly:
"The Shaver family is going to sit on the beach and I'm throwing my cell phone into the ocean. Then we'll come home and get rolling."
More gems from Shaver are in this rundown from CAAHoops' series of coach interviews as the summer comes to an end, with the promise of more to come.
Yesterday, we talked a lot about the challenge that Central Florida has against it should the top two returning players leave. We compared their top players with those on Memphis, and how on paper, the Knights stack up pretty well if they can just hold on to their stars.
So what about Memphis? Coach Josh Pastner talks about his schedule for the upcoming season and the challenges that come along with it.
And the Memphis Commerical-Appeal dives into Antonio Barton and how hard it was for him to continue at Memphis with a daughter at home and his brother on his way to the NBA.
And last, but not least, a little television fun.
Deadspin takes us back in time to watch a little Miami Vice. In the episode in question, Bill Russell plays a corrupt judge who needs his basketball playing son to shave points so that he can pay back his gambling debts.
I would think that if there were such thing as a mascot for Mid-Major Madness, Bill Russell would have to be in the running for it. He is tall, fuzzy and has two national titles under his belt while playing at San Francisco.
Larry Bird would probably be a close second with the tall and fuzzy part taken care of. But the lack of a title thanks to those boys at Michigan State doesn't help his case.
But back to Russell. The video is well worth the minute-plus watch for how poor the acting was back in the 1980s on some of these shows, especially from the guest stars.