"...These characters do not develop over the course of the movie. As the Catholic school basketball stars at the start of the film, Carroll (DiCaprio) and his pals are crass teen scofflaws who get their jollies from activities such as stealing fenceable items from the opposing teams' lockers and sniffing glue and then vomiting on lower-deck passengers on the Staten Island Ferry..."

"...Heysbert is also strong and affecting as Quincy's flawed but essentially decent father, who undergoes a painful transition from idolized role model to the embodiment of everything his son doesn't want to be. But the most compelling reason to see Love & Basketball is the excellent starring debut by Lathan..."

"...One month into the NBA season (and nearly four years into my Texas residency), the answer has finally come to me: The best reason to live in Texas is because this, more than any other place, is basketball country. Not college basketball country: I could care less about UT or A&M or Baylor..."

"...If you were to see me wheeling my baby down the produce aisle, indignantly calling her attention to the price of cauliflower, you would never imagine me driving all over town looking for that Sports Illustrated for the privilege of bringing home Dennis Rodman in a rhinestone-studded dog collar. That's exactly why I'm into it. Being a basketball fan has given me something to hang my personality on, something other than this harried mom shtick that's becoming way too comfortable - oy, this child, if I'm not wiping her tokus, it's her schnoz..."

"...Not Tim Duncan or Tony Parker or even Beno Udrih, but rather the lovely and talented Spurs Silver Dancers, the equally lovely and talented Coyote mascot, and the extremely talented but something less than lovely Spurs legend “Iceman” George Gervin, who did a fantastic job of waving to the crowd before the game. All in all, the evening had an air of significance about it, like the Toros and the D-League were finally taking their rightful place at the professional-basketball table..."

"...If UT's long-tenured men's basketball coach Rick Barnes felt bamboozled by his March 28 firing, after Athletic Director Steve Patterson's verbal commitment to keep him, it was nothing to how his roster felt. They found out on Saturday, when the rest of the city did, and then watched as he took a job with the University of Tennessee the following Tuesday..."

"...This Friday and Sunday, March 22 and 24, the Erwin Center will open its court to the biggest college basketball tourney in the world – the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship – for some select second- and third-round games...."

"...Dear Editor, Re: "NBA Playoffs: Thoughts and Notes" [The Score Sports blog, April 30]: Who is this new basketball reporter? Best basketball writing I've encountered in quite a while. Evenhanded, straight-shootin', and funny as heck...."

"...Brown (who is averaging 26.3 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.8 boards through four games) will certainly learn from this mistake and hopefully take out his frustration on UT's opponents and not the refs this weekend at the Erwin Center. Check www.texassports.com for UT's Black Friday men's and women's basketball holiday packs...."

"...As we go to press Wednesday afternoon, the No. 11 University of Texas men's basketball program is prepping for a huge Big 12 game against No..."

"...ESPN will broadcast the University of Texas men's basketball game vs. North Carolina Sat., Dec..."

"...On Monday, June 4, the Austin Toros host the first of eight of their summer basketball camps for the kids. Camp instructors will include ex-Toros, ex-NBAers, and top-notch varsity basketball coaches from local schools..."

"...Congratulations to Rockwall, Fort Worth Dunbar, Canyon, Poth, Nazareth, and Lindsay, your 2007 UIL girl's basketball state champions. This weekend it's the boys' turn, as their state tournament gets underway at the crack of dawn tomorrow with the Martin's Mill-Clyde Eula Class A Division I semifinal, 8:30am at the Erwin Center..."

"...Humphrey learned that his friend's grandfather had the fastest triple-double in NBA history, a slightly obscure but important record being perennially chased by Russell Westbrook. A triple-double – in which players get "double figures in three different statistics during a game," explains Humphrey, "is reserved for the best of the best." Along with Newman, Humphrey started filming Tucker, a Kentucky-born African-American whose mentor in the Syracuse Nationals was civil rights icon Earl Lloyd, "the Jackie Robinson of basketball," says Humphrey...."

"...It’s just before I-35’s exit 201 that you see your first billboard: black, and grey, and “Go Spurs Go.” The support sits right before the San Marcos outlets and the Ingram Readymix Plant, the first sign that you’re in Spurs country, the first sign that there was actually going to be a basketball game in San Antonio last night...."

"...21 (a three-point loss). Like most teams in college basketball, though, Texas’ potency shines best at home, and drains in a steady hemorrhage on the road...."

"...Following their heartwrenching 82-81 overtime loss at home to Kemba Walker and his UConn Huskies last Saturday, the University of Texas men's basketball team started Big 12 play Tuesday night in Lubbock by wallopping the unranked Red Raiders 83-52. Texas dominated the boards against Texas Tech 39-23 and was led by senior Gary Johnson's game-high 10 rebounds..."

"...Tom Izzo is one of the most venerated figures in college basketball, and when a man of his stature praises another team in the aftermath of a dispiriting home loss, you know it’s a painful, but genuine, declaration. “We got beat by a better team,” Izzo said, following No..."

"...UT men's and women's basketball teams both got their seasons started this week with predictably impressive results. The boys roughed up Navy 83-52 and are hosting Louisiana Tech Wednesday night as we go to press..."

"...Jody Conradt confirmed Monday night what Lady Longhorn basketball fans had wondered about for weeks – would the iconic women's coach retire this year? After two consecutive disappointing seasons, logic held that she would. But the suddenness of her announcement – just 15 minutes after learning of the team's failure to qualify for the NCAA tournament – came all too soon for friends and fans who had followed her 31-year career at UT..."

"...Austin's thriftier sports fans know two of the best bargains all year are the annual UIL high school basketball tournaments at the Erwin Center. Next weekend belongs to the boys, but the girls' tilt got under way early this morning and concludes Saturday night..."

"...Rock Star: Supernova runner-up Patrice Pike will perform live following UT women's final home basketball game of the season vs. Texas Tech to be held Saturday, 3pm, at the Frank Erwin Center..."

"...22, after collapsing on the court during the team's practice. He was 52 years old. Johnson, better known to basketball fans as D.J., was an NBA legend who helped two teams win the championship trophy during his storied 14-year career..."

"...Channel 12 is showing CW programming: Veronica Mars. So why can't I see my basketball game? Is anyone who subscribes to Grande having this problem? I can't get through to Time Warner – nothing but a busy signal..."

"...Former Hot Club of Cowtown violinist and vocalist Elana James will perform live following the UT's women's basketball game vs. Texas A&M Sunday, Jan..."

"...The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team now has a pair of exhibition victories in the bag, and for the most part, so far so decent. The starting guard combination of freshman D.J..."

"...… then the Longhorns would be on the jilted side of the velvet rope and its surly, burly handler: So said “seeding” sage Kevin Lyttle in the Austin American-Statesman, who cited UT’s “Bad RPI (66)” and their 2-8 record against college basketball’s Top 100...."

"...Those sports probably deserved to be parodied (though some might argue that any parody was bound to be redundant), and if the country wanted to see Ferrell running around in his unmentionables while it was happening, then the country was entitled. But basketball … basketball doesn’t deserve the Ferrell treatment..."

"...A few years ago, ESPN released its list of the best sports movies of the last 25 years. At the top of the list, in all its inspirational glory, was Hoosiers, David Anspaugh's classic story of redemption and basketball in small-town Indiana..."

"...Starring: Anthony Mackie, Wesley Jonathan, Wayne Brady, Alecia Jai Fears, Kristen Wilson, Michael Kimbrew and Shelli Boone. Writer-director Preston Whitmore II's basketball film is a well-intentioned but utterly clichéd slice of Detroit life..."

"...Shaquille O'Neal is undoubtedly one of the greatest centers to ever play pro basketball. The proof is in the championship banners, the all-star appearances, and the record books...."

"...So few are the inspirational sports movies for girls that this formulaic drama about an underdog basketball team that beats the odds to win the national collegiate championship can be forgiven any sins. That’s especially good because there are a lot of nuns around for the dispensation of holy passes – Hail Marys and otherwise..."

"...These are the dark and quiet days. Days when the basketball gods retreat to their beds, pull down the shades, and leave us mortals down on earth without even an exhibition game to watch..."

"...Starring: Kevin Zegers, Bill Cobbs and Wendy Makkena. A distinct canine motif runs through basketball history..."

"...Walsh, Alfre Woodard, Shaquille O'Neal and Bob Cousy. Written over 12 years ago by Ron Shelton (the writer and director of Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump), the story of Blue Chips explores the moral boundaries of the college basketball court..."

"...Directed by: Steve James. Hoop Dreams is an amazing documentary, nearly three hours long, that follows five years in the lives of two promising high school basketball players from Chicago..."

"...Starring: Kevin Bacon and Charles Gitonga Maina. The time-worn formula of the underdog surpassing all odds meets a premise reeking of cultural imperialism that takes basketball mania a bit too far..."

"...near dawn on the beach at Venice, California, three black street singers are harmonizing on a song backed by a guitar and drums, just enjoying the sound of their voices together. Bill Hoyle (Harrelson), a white kid with a basketball, walks by; he asks directions to the court..."

"...As local pro-hoops fans sit on their sofa beds, monitoring the NBA lockout in continuous waves of uncontrollable helplessness, watching its snail pace with incapacitated eyes, I come forth with good news for you sad basketball-loving individuals...."

"...Starring: Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Robert Forster, Crispin Glover, Jonathan Lipnicki, Eugene Levy, Anne Meara and Brenda Song. Like Mike is precisely the kind of movie you'd expect to see if the NBA were to get into the business of producing movies, and pint-sized adolescent boys who were already mega-successful rap stars wanted to extend their reach into the almighty worlds of movies and basketball..."

"...Disappointingly, O falls smack in the “done wrong” category. Director Tim Blake Nelson (who co-starred in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?) has substituted the passionately raging warrior Othello for basketball star Odin James (Phifer), or O, the only black kid at a tony, South Carolina prep school..."

"...illustration by Ben Plimpton Basketball season is over. Yeah, okay, the NBA Finals are -- as of this writing -- knotted at two games each, but the real season ended a few minutes before 11pm Thursday, May 29, when Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, this year's league MVP, set a flagrantly illegal pick on the Houston Rockets' Clyde Drexler, freeing up partner-in-crime John Stockton for a wide-open three-pointer that sent the Rockets' sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-frustrating 1996-'97 season down in flames..."

"...Sunset Park is an affectionate if lightweight and uneven testament to the power of communication, education, and human decency. The latest feature by Steve Gomer (Sweet Lorraine) stars Rhea Perlman as a Brooklyn high school gym teacher, Phyllis Saroka, who agrees to take over the coaching duties for the school's varsity basketball team in order to earn a nest egg toward early retirement in St..."

"...No, not Blues on the Green (save that for your aunt and uncle). I'm talking the return of Austin Toros basketball! Just the thought of their fastly approaching season-opening tip-off gets my blood circulating as fast as a Leo Lyons spin to the hoop...."