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Monday, November 4, 2024
Two Big 12 programs got big wins on Wednesday and hope each is a sign of better things to come. Plus more tournament action includes a few other championship games, a Tiger will be out as long as first thought, and wrist injuries sideline a couple of key veterans.
With two championship games on tap, one was won by a team that needed it and another was not. Plus the tournaments continue with some entertaining games out west, a captain will move on, and another big pickup for a new head coach.
The Maui Invitational is the last great preseason tournament left, and it opened with another terrific set of quarterfinals, even as it was missing something-host Chaminade. Plus more tourney recaps
Happy Thanksgiving. While the Battle 4 Atlantis has been one of the premier early season tourneys in recent years, this year’s event looked very top-loaded. Thursday proved otherwise.
It’s become almost a yearly occurrence now that Scott Drew’s Baylor squads are underrated heading into a season. The Bears perennially are undersold. They don’t have blueblood status steeped in decades of tradition. They just may not ‘look’ like a top 20 team in a modern game that values guards upon guards and has little use for teams defined by a quirky defense. Maybe it’s just the bad highlighter uniforms. Whatever the reason, it’s an error that needs to be corrected.
With the ancient Great Alaska Shootout at its end with its 40th and final edition later this week, the Maui Invitational soon will move to a role in college basketball as not just the sport’s best in-season tournament, but also its oldest among eight-team tourneys.
Another quiet weekend included college football again making for light schedules, plus some underwhelming fields in eight-team tournaments. Here are some quick-hit notes from the third weekend of November and second of the hoops season:
