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Sunday, December 22, 2024
A light night of action starts the week with a champion crowned despite a prior champion’s best efforts. Plus a rematch in the nation’s capital is ahead, an in-state matchup will come in another final, and a couple of close ones out west close the night.
Three more automatic bids went out on Sunday, two of them to repeat champions, to set the stage for the week ahead. Plus lower seeds rule in the Colonial, three teams share the regular season title in two conferences, and a coaching change comes out west on a day off from tournament action.
The first two NCAA Tournament bids went out after dramatic finishes in championship games to set the stage. Plus a long day of tournaments ends with a thrilling back-and-forth between two star guards, a surprise champion in the ACC and a three-way tie atop the Big East.
After higher seeds routinely won the first couple of days, the Missouri Valley Conference highlighted a day where several lower seeds won. Plus one more regular season title has been clinched, a blueblood disagrees with some allegations levied against them, and the show will go on for one school next week.
There’s little separation throughout the Big East, and Wednesday reminded us of that. Plus one team stays undefeated, a dubious record in the SEC, and twice the bad news in Madison.
It looks more and more like Dayton is having a special season, one that continued with a buzzer-beater on the road on Friday night. Plus a couple of different games in the Big Ten, a light night of game action, and a coach is fined for sharing something meant to be private.
There might not have been many games on the schedule for Sunday, but it was quite a day with some big results. Plus a second home loss for one team, a few other games stand out, and a coach wasn’t able to go on Saturday.
Already enjoying great improvement the previous few years, the ancient Southern Conference broke out on the national scene with teams in the national rankings, NCAA at-large contenders, and the league’s best year in over half a century.
An NCAA Tournament can still be great without upsets or buzzer beaters. When it is lacking in close games in general, though, is another story, and this year’s first week was historically high in margin of victory, low in close games.
With half of the Sweet 16 set, we look back on a Saturday of action that saw one site have the two best games of the day. The remainder of games were not very competitive, and we also look at one conference that was clearly down this year after a great year a year ago, along with two conferences that already have three teams going to the second weekend.
