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Monday, November 4, 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 […]
We conclude our extensive year-by-year looks at NCAA Tournament and Selection Sunday bubbles over the last 35 years by revisiting recent history, the last five years of tournament selection 2015-19.
During a wild season like this, one has to keep some perspective, and the Big Ten provides many such places to look at as examples, including Ohio State. Plus a Pac-12 team comes up big, the Red Storm get an impressive conference win for a change, and the Mean Green will rule Conference USA in the regular season.
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.
Friday night saw an unpleasant surprise team in the Atlantic 10 lose their fourth straight game and continue to trend in the wrong direction. Plus another interesting night in the Ivy League, the top two in the Northeast continue to win, and one team in the MAAC is on top and got a bit of help on the evening.
The Ivy League is looking a little different than expected, with only one of the top three preseason picks among the top three at the midway point. Plus the leaders win in a couple of other mid-major leagues, the MAAC continues to be a tight race, and one MAAC coach will be sticking around a little longer.
Iowa got a nice win over Illinois on Sunday to get within a game of first, which was far from a given after roster changes and in-season adversity since the end of last year. Plus the Red Storm just can’t pull out wins in conference, one mid-major league race gets a little more interesting, and some clarity comes on a bizarre incident from a night earlier.
An NBA legend who meant so much to the game itself is gone too soon. Plus a rare good day to be a road team in one conference, an unpleasant surprise in another, and the Missouri Valley is all tied up at the top.
On a light night of action, a Big East battle that tipped a little later was everything we could have hoped for, and a big win for a team that had lost three in a row. Plus there’s no doubt who’s on top in one league, two teams have a reversal of fortune in the Big Ten, and a Wildcat is moving on.
A wild night of basketball started off that way as two highly-ranked teams went down, one to a team many had mixed thoughts about before the season. Plus close calls in Waco and Boulder, and a few other results on a light night include a buzzer-beater.
