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Sunday, December 22, 2024
George Washington’s experienced core of seniors Patricio Garino, Kevin Larsen and Joe McDonald has accomplished a lot in four years together, so adding another milestone to their careers and to the school’s history books is a fitting ending for the three.
Small, private, religious-based, and running an athletics department on a modest budget, Valparaiso is precisely the type of school that makes NCAA Division I basketball so much fun.
With the NCAA Tournament now on recess for a few days, the coaching merry-go-round is starting to spin again. Monday saw several vacancies filled, more created and rumors of still more to possibly come. The biggest moves both came in the Big 12, where TCU hired former Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon and Oklahoma State landed Stephen F. Austin’s Brad Underwood.
Defense wins championships and yadda yadda, but Saturday at the NCAA Tournament was a day when offenses were on full display and took center stage in every game.
Upsets dotted the landscape on Friday, and there were some dramatic finishes as well, especially late in the day. Plus coaching changes continue with two that had years left on their deals, one coach will stay put, and another arrest in Illinois.
Two days into the 2015 NCAA Tournament have felt kind of like trying to start up the family roadster after she’s been sitting idle in the garage for a couple years. It’s taking a little time to get the engine warmed up, but slowly it’s getting back up to speed.
The NCAA Tournament’s First Four started the tourney with a whimper on Tuesday, and it ended Tuesday night with a whimper as well.
It turns out people do appreciate the National Invitation Tournament after all, far more than universally assumed. All it took was a little postseason saturation-the same thing that college football somehow seems immune to.
The new-look Selection Show wasn’t exactly a hit with viewers on top of the selections themselves. Plus three other tournament fields come out, one conference commissioner isn’t happy, and coaching changes continue.
Collectively, the 2015 NCAA Tournament was a roller coaster. There was the high of the first few days before the tourney slipped into mediocrity in its middle rounds, only to rise high again for a big finish at the end, worthy of all the history of such a splendid event.
