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Sunday, December 22, 2024
If the Big Ten is to get 11 or even 12 teams into the NCAA Tournament, a couple of teams need to play their way in, including one who won on Sunday. Plus the Bearcats finally avoid overtime, two conferences get tighter, and a subpoena is served to rekindle the hard feelings between a school and its former coach.
So much for any talk about one team possibly going undefeated, and given that their conference is better than some think despite its downward trend, there are teams capable of beating them anyway. Plus no surprises in one big conference, while it was a good day to be a road team in another, and a mild surprise in an academic league opener.
One day after Villanova’s national championship game win over Michigan, the NCAA received a harsh reminder of the price it paid and continues to pay for decisions it made in TV contracts for its prize NCAA Tournament.
The ACC is simply dominating the Big Ten, simply put. Plus a few injuries have cropped up, one head coach is out already, and a box score with a lot to take note of.
As Wichita State joins the American Athletic Conference, we are seeing which programs are consistently carrying the flag early on, and a couple of surprising programs that are not.
A program once among the also-rans in its conference continues to be a consistent contender and winner. Plus the NCAA wants more numbers, another coach goes on the shelf, and an incident in Arizona remains a mystery.
The American did well to place teams in the NCAA Tournament in 2015-16, but appears to be a conference still seeking a clear identity and a signature program.
On an emotional night at Oklahoma State, the Cowboys very nearly were successful in reprising the spoiler role they are going to continue to take on in this year’s Big 12 race.
East Carolina’s first season in the American Athletic Conference is complete. With that, the challenge they face as shown by their history looks clear, and they may have just the right coach to navigate it.
Some brief college basketball thoughts from the middle of February:
