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Sunday, December 22, 2024
Sometimes, our best-laid plans just flop. In March, this writer rolled out a historical series looking at NCAA Tournament at-large selection and the proverbial ‘bubble’, examining teams just above and below the cutline in the tourney every year from 1985 through 2019. The series ran in early March, five years […]
The second part of our review of bubble teams in and out in the NCAA Tournament over the past 35 years focuses on 1990-94. The span included those spurned during arguably the greatest NCAA Tournament of all, a 25-4 Dick and Tony Bennett led Wisconsin-Green Bay team left out, and a committee point of emphasis develops favoring conference champions.
It doesn’t happen often, but a visiting team won in John Paul Jones Arena, and they now will be interesting to track from an NCAA Tournament perspective. Plus the Diamond Head Classic gets underway and ends with a good one, and the Lobos will be down two starters for the time being.
The ACC openers are in the books, with the defending champs looking just fine and a freshman breaking a record. Plus one conference has started out well, and there’s also some coaching news.
A string of remarkable parity in the Big West Conference this decade was snapped by UC Irvine, which had a huge season and has emerged as the league’s top program.
Jamie Dixon’s turnaround of his alma mater has been swift, and now it includes a big in-season tournament title. Can they take another big step? Plus three more games round out the Diamond Head Classic on a light day.
The Missouri Valley Conference had a nice day on Sunday, which can make things a little better late in the non-conference game. Plus another thriller in Las Vegas, and the Cougars run away from a visiting team that didn’t have a good night shooting the ball.
Texas picked up its marksmanship and got a career performance from Kerwin Roach in a signature win over North Carolina. Plus, Thanksgiving tourney action including Virginia & Wisconsin advancing at Atlantis, surprises by Fresno State and Hawaii and more.
After a decidedly down season before, the Big West Conference followed up with a much-needed bounce-back year in 2017-18. Perhaps surprisingly so.
A Thanksgiving college basketball tradition will come to a close after this season with the end of the Great Alaska Shootout. And the sport will lose a little bit of its flavor because of it.
