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Monday, November 4, 2024
With just two days of games left, the big questions revolve around potential top seeds in the NCAA Tournament and a few potential bid thieves that remain. Plus more coaching news, a couple of players announce plans to transfer, and a different start to the season is ahead for one conference.
For the first time in several years, the Southland Conference did not have Stephen F. Austin carrying its banner. What it had instead, though, was one of the great comeback stories of the 2016-17 college hoops season.
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.
This year’s NCAA Tournament is poised to have a number of great stories, including a number of schools making their first appearances ever. None will be better, though, than New Orleans.
Early season notes on Temple, USC, Loyola (Ill.), Middle Tennessee State and more.
With holiday tournaments past, college basketball hits a docile stretch, a relative lull in the schedule. One filled with guarantee games, light weeks while teams take final exams, made-for-TV games, and more guarantee games.
The Southland Conference has had greatness in its midst the past four years, as Stephen F. Austin has put together what is nothing less than the most dominant four-year stretch in the league’s 53-year history.
Those buying into the overhyped storyline about college basketball being unwatchable this past season could’ve found their antidote if only they watched a little bit more of Stephen F. Austin and the Southland Conference.
Lafayette and head coach Fran O’Hanlon have been together a long time. Both have been rewarded for their patience, and it will be good to see both of them again in the NCAA Tournament this year.
Unexpectedly, Stephen F. Austin had a banner year and made national headlines with its play, providing a number of highlights for the Southland Conference in 2013-14.
