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Sunday, December 22, 2024
On a busy day of conference tournament action, a regular season result is a big one for a preseason favorite. Plus a conference tournament roundup, more in the FBI investigation, and a coach is officially cleared of wrongdoing in a terrible accident.
March as we know it is officially here-conference tournaments have begun. The Atlantic Sun tipped the first D-I tourney, with top seeds Lipscomb and Liberty clearing one hurdle each on the way to a potential anticipated third meeting. Also, Kansas State and Texas Tech move closer to Big 12 title.
Kansas’s Big 12 streak is still alive, though its other-worldly performance on Mondays meant we should’ve expected as much. Iowa State, Florida State & Lipscomb also win and Northern Colorado makes the Big Sky race more interesting.
Once again another highly ranked team had some trouble on the road this week, with Gonzaga only pulling away from Loyola Marymount in the final minutes. Plus: the Murray State/Austin Peay rivalry is back, and some superb individual performances in the Big Sky, CAA and Summit League.
Steve Alford’s firing at UCLA was no surprise. That still doesn’t make it right in the middle of a season.
It looks like Villanova is not in a great place right now and that another recent game may not be an aberration. Plus tournament action continues, and one team has taken control of a rivalry of late.
As the early season tournaments get going, impressions are made, especially the one made by Iowa in New York. Plus a number of other tournaments get going or have later action, and wildfires in California continue to impact games.
A busy night featured several mid-majors picking up nice road wins against high-major opponents. Plus a busy night in the SEC sees a few teams pull their games out, some good mid-major matchups were on tap, and the NCAA looms large at two schools.
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.
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.
