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Saturday, November 23, 2024
What to make of the first weekend of the 2016 NCAA Tournament? If there is one thing we witnessed over those four days (six including the play-in games) that can come close to being a fair generalization, it is that this year’s tourney has no one-size-fits-all quality to it. Maybe the only conclusion one can come to is there is no conclusion.
The improbable continues to happen as the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is in the books. Plus the ACC dominates the Sweet 16, some more coaching news, and no surprise at an early NBA Draft entrant.
Some final thoughts from Friday’s action in Brooklyn, which brought to mind some of the larger picture of what happened over the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
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.
The ACC Tournament was surprising in the lack of surprises, as only one of the 13 games saw the lower seed win.
The ACC Tournament is about to start, and there’s a good deal of balance, meaning the champion will likely have run a gauntlet by the time it’s over.
Looking around the country with our weekly notebook, checking in on the Atlantic 10, Wisconsin, Siena, Louisiana-Lafayette and others.
With all of the basketball history at Villanova, it’s hard to believe the Wildcats had never been the No. 1-ranked team in the country in the 67-year history of the Associated Press poll until yesterday.
It’s not a surprise that Oklahoma had an off day shooting on Saturday, or even that it came against one of the bottom teams in the Big 12 in Kansas State. The surprise is that it has taken so long for the Sooners to have a loss due to cold shooting outside.
Among all the oddities of this college basketball season, when all is said and done there will be few harder to explain than this: a game between Illinois and Rutgers may go down as one of the best and most entertaining games of the entire year.
