The NCAA Tournament is now the only one that is left, as champions have been crowned the past two nights in the NIT, CIT and now the CBI. As has happened often, the CBI went to a third and deciding game, and it was the road team that came out on top in convincing fashion as South Florida beat DePaul 77-65 in Chicago.
South Florida got hot from long range and built a double-digit lead early that they would never relinquish. DePaul would make it interesting, though, closing the first half on a 14-2 run to get within five, and later getting within a point, but they would run out of gas and South Florida regained control from there.
The Bulls complete the biggest turnaround in college basketball this season, finishing at 24-14 after winning just ten games a year ago. It’s the second postseason tournament title in their history, with the only other one being a Sun Belt championship in 1990. The 24 wins is also a school record, and it comes in Brian Gregory’s second season at the helm, which is usually a challenging season when a new coach takes over a rebuilding program.
What’s more, this team has just three seniors, two of whom barely played, so if they all return, Gregory may have a team ready to contend for a different postseason tournament. Their top four scorers should all return, including Alexis Yetna, who nearly averaged a double-double as he averaged 9.6 rebounds per game. But as we know, transfers and the NBA Draft have a way of changing things.
DePaul, meanwhile, won eight more games than a year ago, including three more Big East games. With that, they helped the Big East send all ten of its teams to a postseason tournament, with four in the NCAA Tournament and five in the NIT as well. Their immediate future looks a bit different, as their top three scorers, two of their top four rebounders and two of their top three assist men are seniors. Leading rebounder Paul Reed will be the only holdover who averaged in double figures, and they will need players like Devin Gage, Jalen Coleman-Lands and Jaylen Butz to step into larger roles.
This year was certainly not an anomaly with the championship going to a third and deciding game, as only twice in the 12 years of the tournament has it ended in a sweep. This was the fifth time that the road team clinched the series.
With that, the stage is set for the final three games of the season, two of which come on Saturday night.
Side Dishes
There is never a good time, but right now is among the worst times for a team to have a few players not feeling well, and that has been the case for Auburn of late. The star backcourt of Jared Harper and Bryce Brown both felt flu-like symptoms in recent days, but they and others appear to be on the mend leading up to Saturday’s national semifinal.
In recent days, UCLA has been in talks with TCU head coach Jamie Dixon about its head coaching vacancy, but now it looks like that won’t happen, largely because of his buyout with TCU. The LA Times reported that his buyout is about $8 million, and that appears to be too much to overcome. Dixon’s contract runs through 2023-24 after signing a two-year extension after last season. The big question now is if UCLA decides to hold off until Virginia is done playing, and then the follow-up is if Tony Bennett is even interested.
Another school that was in talks with a coaching candidate officially hired that candidate on Friday, as Memphis Grizzlies assistant Jerry Stackhouse is the new head coach at Vanderbilt. Stackhouse, who starred at North Carolina and then spent 18 seasons in the NBA, and new athletic director Malcolm Turner knew each other from their time in the NBA G League.
Elon has its new head coach after they let Matt Metheny go a couple of weeks ago, and it’s Ohio State assistant Mike Schrage. The long-time assistant coach has previously spent time at Duke, Stanford and Butler, and Elon makes sense given its academic profile. You can track this and other coaching changes right here.
A little different news on the coaching front came on Friday as federal prosecutors are attempting to prevent Arizona head coach Sean Miller and LSU head coach Will Wade from testifying at the bribery trial later this month. The two had been subpoenaed for the April 22 trial, but this motion could change that if it is granted. Wade is still on an indefinite suspension from LSU.
Tonight’s Menu
The national semifinals are on tap tonight, and we’ll see who will play for the title on Monday night.
- Auburn takes on Virginia to get things started at 6:09 p.m. on CBS.
- The nightcap is the battle between Texas Tech and Michigan State, tipping at 8:49 p.m. on CBS.
