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Sunday, December 22, 2024
Wisconsin is playing well at a good time, and the Badgers kept that up by winning on the road against another team playing well of late. Plus a couple of regular season titles are still to be decided, while a first-year Division I team claims at least a share of a conference title and overtime is needed in a key Conference USA game.
Duquesne has not seen a lot of winning since their last trip to the NCAA Tournament 42 years ago, but there may be some renewed hope as the Dukes win again. Plus the Hawkeyes put forth a complete effort for a win, a bad injury for the Hilltoppers, and a school is questioning the evidence presented in its notice of allegations.
The first day of action in the Maui Invitational didn’t quite start off as expected, but that might help in a year where it may be surpassed in terms of having the best field. Plus more tournament action includes one championship, a program first in Richmond, and a Hawkeye is done for the season.
On a day where tournament action slowed temporarily, a game outside of tournaments was as good as advertised featuring a young but very talented team. Plus the other results of the day include a couple of monster individual efforts and a big road win for an Ivy League team.
Old Dominion won the regular season and tournament titles in Conference USA, which was actually an improved conference again but whose razor-thin difference between many squads mean it didn’t always show.
UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara played a late-night dandy reminiscent of Big West games of the past. Also, Houston quietly keeps winning, Carsen Edwards helps Purdue escape and some huge scoring performances in Conference USA.
North Carolina continues to defy common knowledge, this time raining threes to drill Virginia Tech. Kansas survives (again), Michigan State wins Big Ten showdown, plus Western Kentucky and Marshall play a dandy in Conference USA.
Conference play is here in earnest now, and it couldn’t come soon enough. The ACC, Southern Conference and WCC offered some glimpses of where we’ll see it at its best over the next two months.
Saturday was a wild day full of Power 5 teams losing to mid-majors, with one struggling conference being the worst offender. Plus a rivalry game tells us something about the winner, a big man returns to action, and one undefeated team falls at the buzzer while another one beats a good road team.
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.
