As selection Sunday inches closer by the day, fans anxiously await to see if their teams will make the dance and what seeds they receive. There will be debates over those that were snubbed, tons of brackets filled out, and all of the hype and excitement of March Madness.
While we enjoy the conference tournaments as we wait for the NCAA tournament, let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories from around college basketball.
Duke Overcomes Food Poisoning To Take Down Shorthanded Syracuse
Due to a punch thrown in his previous game, Syracuse was short their leading scorer, Buddy Boeheim. As a result, many expected Duke to roll over Syracuse, but that was anything but the case on Wednesday.
While the final score saw Duke win 88-79, they were down at halftime 40-36. For a team that has shown inconsistencies this season, this would have been the ultimate letdown if they lost their first game of the tournament and did not make it to the ACC tournament semifinals.
While they eventually pulled it out, there may have been a reason they were struggling. According to head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is appearing in his last ACC tournament in a long and illustrious career at Duke, the team was actually really sick.
Krzyzewski indicated the team was suffering from food poisoning, and that was affecting both players and coaches during the game.
Blue Devils fans will hope they can bounce back in short order as they take on a Miami team that upset them during the regular season on Friday.
Not only was Duke the top seed in the ACC tournament, but they have the fifth-best odds of going on to win the National Championship at +1200.
Howard Returns, Gets Embarrassed In Big Ten Tournament
The last time that Juwan Howard was on the sidelines, Michigan was embarrassed due to a post-game incident with Wisconsin that saw punches thrown and Howard being suspended for the rest of the regular season.
On Thursday, he returned to the sidelines in the Big Ten tournament and once again was part of an embarrassment for the school. This time, it was what happened on the court as Michigan blew a 17-point lead to Indiana to be knocked out of the Big Ten tourney.
After leading 41-28 at halftime, the Wolverines were outscored 46-28 in the second half and fell 74-69. In the loss, Devante Jones led Michigan with 18 points.
For Indiana, this was a huge win as they not only move on in the tournament but they also add another big win onto their NCAA tournament resume. In the win, Trayce Jackson-Davis had a game-high 24 points while also adding eight rebounds.
Georgia Fires Head Coach
After four years of mediocrity, the Georgia Bulldogs announced that they have parted ways with head coach Tom Crean. Never finishing higher than 10th in the SEC, Crean’s final record with the Bulldogs is an underwhelming 47-75.
This season, Georgia was awful. They finished 6-26 overall and just 1-17 in the SEC. They finished the season on a 12-game losing streak and never won a single road matchup all season long.
Long known as a football school, Georgia has struggled for the better part of this century. In fact, they have made the NCAA tournament just once in the last decade, and they haven’t won a NCAA tournament game since 2002.
The Bulldogs’ season officially came to an end after they were beaten 81-56 by Vanderbilt in the ACC tournament. Now, Georgia will be on the lookout for its next head coach, with a hope that the program can return to relevance in the conference.
Bruce Weber Done At KSU
After a decade as head coach, Bruce Weber has decided to resign from Kansas State University. The decision was made after the Wildcats were knocked out of the Big 12 tournament 73-67 by West Virginia.
This season was a rough one for KSU and Weber as they finished just 14-17 overall and 6-12 in the conference. Even more frustratingly, they lost their last six games of the season.
Still, Weber’s tenure at Kansas State was largely a success. He finished 184-147 in the ten years there (good for third-most wins in KSU history). He also took the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament five times, including making it to the Elite Eight in 2018.
As the 65-year-old Weber moves on from coaching, Kansas State will be looking for his replacement, hoping to find someone that can get the program back to the same success they had at the height of Weber’s tenure.
