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Wednesday, January 22, 2025
This introduction was going to be about one of the most anticipated games of the year so far, as Duke and Wisconsin squared off in a battle between top 5 teams, Final Four contenders and legendary coaches. That changed after midnight here in the Central time zone after watching Wichita State face Utah in what was maybe the second-most anticipated game of at least the night, anyway.
Ah, it’s started already. We’re still a couple weeks away from final exams for most schools, a time when especially it seems like highly favored schools need to pay a little extra attention in games that they should win easily. But we saw several teams have more trouble than expected in games Tuesday night that all expected to be blowouts.
Boston University has had flashes of its potential thus far, but the wins have been hard to come by and the Terriers are struggling to find confidence and roles to help them get there.
VCU bounced back from a blowout loss to Villanova to do more than just take third place in the Legends Classic.
With November turning to December, we’re on what is easily the quietest month of the college basketball season. There are good reasons for that, of course (final exams) and not so good ones (far, far too many guarantee games).
UMass-Lowell has been a pleasant surprise thus far, as the young River Hawks have been winning on the road. Now they must manage this success going forward.
Texas caps off a great month, plus a key Husky is injured, two more tournaments crown a champion, and a couple of team remain undefeated.
Gonzaga has a lot going for it this season – talent, depth and experience, and they’re well-balanced. They showed all of that, and needed all of it, to win the NIT Season Tip-Off.
As part of this weekend’s big kick off to the Christmas shopping season, yesterday was dubbed Small Business Saturday across the country. The basketball schedule for the day might have qualified under that designation, as few of the biggest names were in action, in part because the big holiday tourneys ended a few days ago. What the day may have lacked in big names, though, it did not lack for stories.
Friday was a day packed with tournament action, and most of it was either a championship game or set the stage for one. Plus, potential over-achievers and news on some key injuries.
