Your Home For College Hoops
Saturday, January 11, 2025
A quick look at key results and/or top stories from the night before, as well as a look ahead to key games during the season, to lead a reader into the new day
For those who couldn’t resist all the curling and skiing at the Winter Olympics and watched hoops, it was yet another evening of highly ranked teams going down and streaks getting busted, something that has become the norm this year. The TV window of games that started at 7 p.m. Eastern time alone was enough to wear out the remote control as they came to an end.
The Friars bounce back in a big way in going from a bad loss to a high-quality win. Plus a notable losing streak continues, big road wins in the ACC and Mountain West, and one school’s dominance in an academic is continuing as expected.
The Big 12 is ready to give us the great finish we have come to expect from it thus far this season, with history or an unlikely champion appearing to be the result. Plus home teams rule one conference, a road losing streak ends elsewhere, and some news in a big off-court story.
With the increasing competitiveness of the Southeastern Conference in basketball, it was only a matter of time before coaches who we thought of as successes would instead be marked as failures and become casualties of the league’s improvement. That didn’t make it any less disappointing to see the news on Monday that Andy Kennedy and Mississippi had made what was termed as a mutual decision to part ways.
In a week where it was tough for teams to remain undefeated in conference play, one team made sure that didn’t happen to them in impressive fashion. Plus an injured star’s absence doesn’t hurt one team, a long streak of dominance over one team continues, and a long-time coach will call it a career.
In a season of parity, Saturday was just another day, loaded with happenings and surprises.
A coach returns to a league where he once won big and is winning yet again. Plus one conference leader adds to its margin, a once-promising season continues to go downhill, and a team responds to an ugly incident on campus the best way it can.
It was hard to guess who was the more desperate team going into the latest incarnation of the Duke/North Carolina rivalry, which resumed Thursday night.
St. John’s and St. Bonaventure. What a night it was Wednesday for a pair of Catholic schools in New York on the college basketball scene. Also, if anyone has been lulled into thinking there are three teams this season far and away above everyone else? Wednesday night provided the reality check.
The Musketeers continue to win while being overshadowed by other stories. Plus a big season sweep in the SEC, a little of everything in the Big Ten, and a big health concern that goes beyond basketball in Virginia.
