Kentucky

Will NBA free agents flee Western Conference for easy road in East?

With the NBA Draft in our rearview mirrors the focus for basketball fans throughout the remainder of the summer turns to the dealings of free agency.

Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders joined Carnahan Chronicles on AM 740 The Game to discuss a handful of topics from around the National Basketball Association.

Among those is a story he wrote about marque players choosing to leave the Wester Conference in favor of teams in the East in hopes of an easier path to the NBA Finals.

“I think it’s very possible that we’ll see players that are out West coming to the Eastern Conference, or free agents that are in the Eastern Conference staying out East, because players understand that the Western Conference is brutal right now. It’s hard to make a Finals run. You can be on a loaded team in the West and still miss the playoffs,” Kennedy said.

( – Click here for J.C.’s interview with Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders – )

Kennedy touches on a handful of NBA topics throughout the segment with a focus on players and teams from both central Florida and northeast Ohio.

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Duke legend Christian Laettner featured in new ESPN 30 for 30 film

Like most people with any amount of good taste in the early 1990s I grew up rooting against Christian Laettner and those Duke Blue Devil basketball teams. Yet for some reason my interest was peaked when anticipating the new 30 for 30 installment I Hate Christian Laettner.

Maybe it was the 90210 sideburns and haircut he sported that turned me off. Or maybe it was all that winning that Duke did. Whatever it was, the road down memory lane Sunday was a reminder of all the animosity we once shared for a player and program that appeared in four-straight Final Fours and won two national titles.

It’s not one of the better 30 for 30’s, considering the subject matter and that it’s narrated by Rob Lowe, but it’s a worthy look at what made one of the greatest college basketball players so polarizing among fans.

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Carnahan Chronicles Radio: Ernie Banks passes, changes in MLB, Klay Thompson sets record, Orlando Magic struggle, legacy of Mike Krzyzewski, potential strike in MLS

Cliff Bell of CRB Entertainment and Open Mike producer Mike Venditti joined the show Saturday morning to talk about a number of different topics in the world of baseball, basketball and soccer.

Check the links below to listen in on the conversations.

– We got things started by paying our respects to “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks before talking about the proposed pitching changes Major League Baseball plans to experiment with at the Double-A and Triple-A levels this coming year.

– We then talked about the NBA record-setting night put together by Klay Thompson during a 37-point third quarter outburst and how the Orlando Magic continue to struggle against the worst teams in the league. Shout out to Brian for calling into the show to share his thoughts on the Magic.

– The show finished up with a rundown of the top pro and college basketball games scheduled over the next few days, talk about legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski chasing his 1,000th win and about how a potential strike in Major League Soccer could impact the start of Orlando City Soccer Club’s professional debut.

Carnahan Chronicles Radio: Notre Dame alum and NFL first-round pick Jeff Faine talks about football past and helping foster kids

Jeff Faine was one of the fortunate ones.

Just seven days after being born Faine was adopted by parents who provided stability for a lifetime, ensuring he’d never be shuffled between foster homes throughout his childhood.

After a four-year career as a student-athlete at Notre Dame, the 2003 NFL Draft pick (21st overall) embarked on a 10-year professional playing career. Today he helps kids aging out of the foster care system by giving them a chance to transition positively into adulthood at The Faine House, which opened its doors a little more than a year ago.

Faine joined the show Saturday morning to talk about The Faine House and his playing days at Seminole High School in Sanford, Fla., with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and in the National Football League while with the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals.

( – Click here to listen to J.C.’s interview with Jeff Faine on AM 740 The Game – )

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Carnahan Chronicles College Football Rankings (Week 9)

The first version of the official College Football Playoff rankings rolled out Tuesday. There will be plenty of changes to that list throughout the remainder of the season and it’ll be fun to see how the committee weighs each team as it decides upon the four programs most deserving of playing for a national title. This week the top four teams according to the College Football Playoff consist of Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn and Mississippi – in that order. Here’s how the Carnahan Chronicles College Football Rankings shape up this week:

#1 (1) Florida State (7-0) – Did not play
#2 (2) Mississippi State (7-0) – Won 45-31 at Kentucky
#3 (4) Oregon (7-1) – Won 59-41 at California
#4 (6) Auburn (6-1) – Won 42-35 vs South Carolina
#5 (3) Mississippi (7-1) – Lost 10-7 at No. 24 LSU
#6 (7) Alabama (7-1) – Won 34-20 at Tennessee
#7 (5) Notre Dame (6-1) – Did not play
#8 (9) TCU (6-1) – Won 82-27 vs Texas Tech
#9 (8) Michigan State (7-1) – Won 35-11 vs Michigan
#10 (10) Kansas State (6-1) – Won 23-0 vs Texas

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Champions: Connecticut Win Means Justice Served For UK’s John Calipari

UConn’s improbable run to the NCAA men’s basketball national title was more than a historical feat that wrapped up another March Madness on Monday in front of more than 70,000 spectators in Arlington, Texas.

It was a begrudging battle between right and wrong. Between good and evil. Between overwhelming expectations and equally underwhelming expectations.

While Connecticut became the first 7-seed to ever claim the championship with a 60-54 win over No. 8 Kentucky, college basketball fans went to bed at ease knowing all things in the world of college hoops were briefly back to normal.

UConn head coach Kevin Ollie, in just his second season, outgunned controversial counterpart John Calipari in his first trip to The Dance as the main man in charge.

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