The biggest winner of Wednesday’s college basketball championship was college basketball itself. It was almost exactly a year ago, at this time – with the main tournaments in the conference going through their initial games – that the sports world stopped amid the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a year later, we are finally getting ready to crown some conference champions.
Although the teams are still immersed in strict protocols related to the virus and the arenas are far from crowded, the sport appears to be in a better position now than at any time since this fateful week a year ago. Up until this point in the conference tournament week, we avoided the regular wave of cancellations / postponements that plagued the regular season, and no one with legitimate hopes for an NCAA tournament was forced to withdraw from a conference tournament.
In fact, there were some teams that desperately needed victories this week in action on Wednesday, like Syracuse and Duke, who handled business in the second round of the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils and Orange are among the top winners of the day’s action as we approach our first real Selection Sunday since 2019.
Winner: Duke stays alive and reinforces his resume
With a resounding 70-56 victory over Louisville, Duke (13-11) scored his second count in the winning column in just a few days at the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils are still out looking at the NCAA Tournament, but now they are looking at a big test on Thursday against the State of Florida, which would give them a victory in Quad 1 and bring them closer to securing the automatic slot for the turns on. Less than a week ago, Duke’s team dropped three consecutive points to close its regular season, but now it looks like it is coming up at an opportune time and making his bubble case much more interesting than expected.
Winner: Syracuse bubble hopes
With hopes of his NCAA tournament on the line, Syracuse, who entered the ACC tournament as one of Jerry Palm’s “last four,” secured a much-needed victory to survive and advance in the league’s postseason bracket. Led by Buddy Boeheim’s 27 points, Orange defeated NC State 89-68 in a surprisingly unbalanced result that should give them momentum for a match on Thursday against No. 16 Virginia. The bubble is very soft now, so Cuse’s hopes for the tournament are not certain, but this was a crucial victory to position them for a great Quad 1 opportunity against the reigning national champions in the ACC quarters.
Loser: Xavier wilts in a bubbly moment
Musketeers number 7 led 19 in the first half before taking a 40-26 lead to the break against number 10 head Butler in the first round of the Big East Tournament. It looked like Xavier could achieve a crucial victory in his quest to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, Butler roared back and won 70-69 in overtime. The Musketeers entered the day as one of the “last four” in Big Dance, according to Palm’s Bracketology, but a loss to the Bulldogs (10-14) could have a fatal impact on their NCAA tournament chances.
Winner: Miami becoming a friendly underdog
The biggest turnaround of the day in the post-season game of the big conference was for ACC when Miami, the 13th seed, took down 5 seed Clemson 67-64. Hurricanes were marked by injuries and misfortunes throughout the season – they played with only six stock market players! – then seeing them kick out an infallible tournament team with less than full strength showed some serious vigor (and reflected badly on Clemson). Miami has a long way to go for the ACC title dispute – with Georgia Tech on its way forward – but this team is an unlucky and fun underdog who already has two ACC Tournament wins under his belt. As long as Isaiah Wong maintains his streak (he scored 20 points in consecutive games), this team has a chance to serve as a spoiler.
Loser: Marquette lays an egg at the Big East Tournament
The first game of the Big East Tournament took place with a resounding thud. That’s because, while Georgetown showed up for the game, Marquette apparently forgot that it was game day. Or at least they played as they did. The Golden Eagles accumulated the lowest mark of the season, 49 points in their 19-point loss to Hoyas. The defeat ensured the program’s first losing season (13-14) since 2014-15 – the first year that Wojo took over the reins of Buzz Williams’ program.
Winner: Wyoming explodes on record day at MWC
The Wyoming Cowboys comfortably reached a 111 to 80 victory over San Jose State in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Wednesday. The offensive explosion was the third largest in a game in tournament history and the highest in a tournament since 2002. It also scored the second highest total score for the school in at least a decade, behind only 114 points it scored in a defeat. in 2018 for New Mexico. They will need all that firepower to return on Thursday, when they face the San Diego State, to which they lost in the regular season twice by 30 and 27 points, respectively.
Winner: Iona wins number 1 in Siena
Iona Gaels, coach Rick Pitino’s first year, is now two wins away from reaching the NCAA Tournament after defeating Siena 55-52 in the quarterfinals of the MAAC Tournament. Iona is the No. 9 seed in the tournament, but that is a little misleading. MAAC sowed the teams by the total number of wins at the conference, not by the percentage of wins. After making 6-3 in the league game, Iona is proving to be legitimate, despite playing a short list of the regular season. Then, for the Gaelic, there will be a semifinal match on Friday with the winner of the quarterfinals of Thursday between the number 4 of the Marist ranking and the 5th of Niagara.
While we’ve averted large-scale disasters so far this week because of the problems with COVID-19, a team from the NCAA tournament bubble may be feeling the impact of the virus on their list this week. Wichita State, which is a seed projected in 9th place in Palm Bracketology, but still in the bubble, will not have two players in the AAC Tournament. Coach Isaac Brown revealed impending absences for the media on Wednesday, but he didn’t say which two players the No. 1 seed Shockers will lose when they start playing in the quarterfinals of Friday against the winner of the Thursday game between USF no. Temple.
Winner: Loyola (MD) is a true cinderella
We’re used to Loyola Chicago playing the role of cinderella in March, but what about Loyola Maryland? The Greyhounds finished by only 4 to 10 during the Patriot League game, but are going into the title game on Sunday against runner-up Colgate, after defeating Army fourth-placed 67-63 in a semifinal game on Wednesday -market. This victory followed a 76-68 victory over the Navy No. 1 in the quarterfinals. Taking down Colgate number 2 and making it to the NCAA Tournament would put the cherry on top, but this was once a big run for a program in the middle of its eighth consecutive losing season.
Loser: Washington ends worst season in nearly 30 years
The Washington Huskies have been consistent this season as one of the least effective teams at major college basketball conferences, so it was appropriate for their season to end on Wednesday night with a full showing of the Pac-12 tournament. The defeat – 98-95 at the hands of Utah – sealed a 5-20 season for the Huskies, the lowest number of victories in the program since the Pac-10 became the Pac-12. The five wins also represent the lowest number of wins for the Huskies since a 5 to 22 campaign in 1993-1994.