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Sunday, May 5, 2024
Friday night wasn’t quite the snoozer this time around, with a few close ones on tap. One conference has a lot of teams tied for first place. That, plus changes to the NIT, a couple of Longhorns banged up and a Buckeye suspended at least a little longer.
The Ivy League now takes center stage on Friday nights, and we have an early feel for the teams. Plus the Pac-12 has some action, a blowout in a big MAC game, and a couple of injury notes heading into the busy Saturday.
A prevailing theme over the last week or so of college basketball games has been resilience. Just when some may have thought they were down and maybe even wanted to count them out on various levels, a number of teams have made some real statements in the past week in their next games following poor performances. We saw it again Monday night as Florida played easily its best game of the year to rout Yale 85-47.
This introduction was going to be about one of the most anticipated games of the year so far, as Duke and Wisconsin squared off in a battle between top 5 teams, Final Four contenders and legendary coaches. That changed after midnight here in the Central time zone after watching Wichita State face Utah in what was maybe the second-most anticipated game of at least the night, anyway.
As part of this weekend’s big kick off to the Christmas shopping season, yesterday was dubbed Small Business Saturday across the country. The basketball schedule for the day might have qualified under that designation, as few of the biggest names were in action, in part because the big holiday tourneys ended a few days ago. What the day may have lacked in big names, though, it did not lack for stories.
The Big East is getting by just fine. Here is how good the Big East has been so far this year: nine of its 10 teams are so far undefeated. Villanova is 5-0. So are Providence and Creighton. Xavier and Seton Hall are 4-0. Georgetown, St. John’s and Butler are 3-0. Shoot, even DePaul is 2-0.
Holiday tournament basketball tipped off on Thursday, one of the many things we can give thanks for over the upcoming holiday. Though perhaps not too much thanks. The proliferation of large, eight-team in-season tourneys has been a boon for teams looking to get in an extra three games over their NCAA schedule limit each season, but it also has played a part in watering down the importance of such tournaments as a whole.
There’s a lot of talk about Kentucky after they trailed at halftime, plus a tripleheader in Boston and some news with Florida ahead of some good matchups to start the week
Today’s the day we’ve been waiting for, the college basketball season opener. A few things we’re looking to see this weekend, and really in the first month of the season, as well as a preview of some of the top games tonight.
The 2013-14 season was a great one for the Icy League, and it may be a harbinger of things to come
