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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
A college basketball season like 2015-16 deserved better than the past few rounds of the NCAA Tournament had provided, and Monday night a thoroughly enjoyable year received a fitting sendoff with one of the great Final Four championship games in the sport’s history.
It all comes down to one game, and the participants look very deserving. Plus a former All-American returns to his old state, a legend has a medical procedure, and more to the draft.
In so many ways, the NCAA Tournament has consistently, without fail delivered one quality game after another for literally decades, and nowhere has that consistency been more able to be counted on than in the Final Four. All of which makes Saturday’s results more surprising, yet perhaps also indicative of the way this year’s tourney has gone.
The one tournament that uses a series to determine its champion has a dramatic final. Plus coaching moves lead the way, and a Tiger will try out the NBA Draft but could return.
Years from now, perhaps the best compliment one will be able to give one of the most talented senior classes in the history of George Washington basketball is that not only did they go out as champions, but they also went out playing their very best.
The college basketball season is a journey in every way, and few demonstrated that better this year than Old Dominion. The Monarchs’ 2014-15 campaign was truly a long and eventful one, full of ups and downs, successes and disappointments. It may not have always lived up to expectations on the outside, but there were plenty of reasons for that. Still, it would be hard to argue that ODU didn’t make the best of it.
The championship game for the 79th annual National Invitation Tournament is set, and it’s a worthy one with two very good teams. How good? Put it this way: if Oklahoma and Syracuse end up playing in the NCAA Tournament final on Monday, their combined win total will be less than that of the two playing in the NIT title game.
The fifth entrant in NCAA Division I’s college basketball postseason debuted on Monday with the first-ever Vegas 16 tournament tipping off. If you’re a history buff, you really should check it out now because…if the event is relying heavily on ticket sales, the odds of there being a second one are not very good.
The Final Four is set after an amazing comeback and another team having a little too much for the opponent. Plus a head coach leaves after a long time at one school, more coaching changes, and a championship game is set in another tournament.
One of the most underrated college basketball coaches of our era is likely to finally get his due this week. In fact, the same might be said about two coaches as the NCAA Tournament soon approaches its climax.
