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Sunday, December 22, 2024
Much the same as the NFL season opening on a Thursday night or Major League Baseball beginning on a Sunday night, the NCAA Tournament beginning with play-in games on a Tuesday night-starting with two 16 seeds against each other-will never feel right. That said, as long as the NCAA continues playing its First Four, then Tuesday night was a pretty good start for a tourney.
The NCAA Tournament field is set, and there’s a lot to talk about. Plus the other three tournaments announced their fields, and weather appears likely to impact a number of travel plans in one part of the country.
The 2016 NCAA Tournament needed its signature game, and it got one in no better place-in its final game. And it was much-needed in a tourney that in many ways was slightly below average.
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.
NJIT fell behind early, but picked up a big win in the quarterfinals of the CIT and advance to the semifinals for the second straight year.
It’s regular for defending national champions to not go out easily in the NCAA Tournament, and one would expect that to be doubly true when that defending champion is Duke.
George Washington’s experienced core of seniors Patricio Garino, Kevin Larsen and Joe McDonald has accomplished a lot in four years together, so adding another milestone to their careers and to the school’s history books is a fitting ending for the three.
With the NCAA Tournament now on recess for a few days, the coaching merry-go-round is starting to spin again. Monday saw several vacancies filled, more created and rumors of still more to possibly come. The biggest moves both came in the Big 12, where TCU hired former Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon and Oklahoma State landed Stephen F. Austin’s Brad Underwood.
