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Sunday, December 22, 2024
For the second time in three days, a big-time matchup for a tournament championship was at least as good as advertised. Plus several more tournament final matchups are set, a concerning development in Nashville, and a first loss of the season in a blowout.
Some games just need to be played between schools that are in the same geographic area, and we got one of them on Wednesday night. Plus the Bison aren’t going away quietly, and a couple of injuries come into play including one that will end a player’s season.
Only one game is left in what has been a wild season, which has us wondering if there is just a little more of that left. Plus a Wildcat continues to rack up the big honors, a Bearcat may be leaving early, and another conference maneuver may not be happening for now.
Notes, numbers and review from the first weekend of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, including highlights, lowlights, thoughts on television coverage and more.
History of the kind some of us never imagined occurring happened on Friday night. It was shocking in so many ways. Plus injury questions abound heading into the next round, while the next head coach at one school may have more headaches from the outset.
The NCAA Tournament field has now been selected, and now we can expect more unexpected. Plus a Hurricane won’t return, a Tiger will be out for at least one game, and three other tournament fields are released with one starting right away.
As four more NCAA Tournament bids go out, we had a little of everything in those games. Plus a few more championship game matchups are set, a few quarterfinal games were especially close, and the final regular season games are in the books.
It appeared Thursday night was going to offer us yet another instance of a top-ranked team losing this season when Virginia looked on its way to a sure loss at Louisville Thursday night. The Cavaliers trailed by four points, and there was less than one second left on the clock. No problem. All it took was two made free throws, a travel on the baseline by a Cardinals player inbounding the ball, and then a banked in three-pointer at the buzzer.
If you had forgotten about Wichita State, Sunday should help change that. Plus the Blue Devils win again without an injured star, two long winning streaks end at once, a big mid-major showdown, and a coach decides to leave now instead of at the end of the season.
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.
