Split Weekend of College Basketball

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

We've talked about my interesting sports interests before here. This weekend was a split decision weekend. 

On Saturday night, Duke men's basketball fell to Houston 70-67 in the Final Four. On Sunday, the UConn women's basketball team defeated South Carolina 82-59 to win the National Championship. 

Let's start with Duke on Saturday. The Blue Devils led for a majority of the game, approximately 35 of 40 minutes, including by as many as 14 as one point. 

They held a seven-point lead 64-57 with 1:27 to play and 67-61 with thirty-three seconds left. However, mistakes and strong Houston defense left them down three with three with one last chance. With 3.7 seconds left, the Blue Devils got the ball back and had a prayer to tie that was off the mark. 

It's an extremely disappointing loss, but credit to Houston. They made the plays down the stretch and Duke did not. 

Duke Head Coach Jon Scheyer has done a great job in the first three years at his alma mater, taking over for the legendary Coach K. It's a bright future for the young coach. 

Cooper Flagg was a well deserving Player of the Year and Kon Knueppel hit some big shots during the run in the tournament. 

Tough ending to a great season. 

Best of luck to Houston and Florida, who defeated Auburn in the first semifinal, in the National Championship on Monday night. 

I'll be rooting for Florida as I know a number of Gator basketball fans, including but not limited to, Tyler Geriak, Trip Keyes, Cole Stotler, and Joe Bossio. I don't mean to leave anyone out, I just know those are who I have talked to about Florida during this NCAA tournament. 

As for my Duke fandom, I was a front runner when they had JJ Redick in the mid-to-late 2000's. Then, I stayed following them through the Scheyer and Kyle Singler years, where whey won a championship. I didn't follow them as much on a constant basis after that but there were still the Austin Rivers and Grayson Allen years to name a few. 

I know, unless you are a Duke fan, most of America hates Duke. 

As for Sunday's UConn game, the Huskies and South Carolina traded buckets early on before the two-seed UConn was able to get some breathing room on way to the victory over the number one seeded Gamecocks. 

UConn star Paige Bueckers struggled early on but Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, who had 24 points apiece, came up with big shots and Paige, who finished with 17, was able to come up clutch when it mattered. 

South Carolina is a great program, having won two championships in the past four years, but UConn was better on this day, and that's all that matters. 

It's the twelfth championship for Head Coach Geno Auriemma and the UConn women's basketball program, which is the most all-time for any program, men's or women's. 

The title is also the first for the Lady Huskies since 2016, which is an eternity for that program. For most teams, it's not that long, but we just get spoiled by how dominant the program has been. UConn has still had terrific years, just have not been able to finish the deal. 

There are people that don't like women's basketball or have an issue with UConn because of their dominance, and I don't get that. 

UConn just plays basketball the right way which makes them so much fun to watch. Without a professional sports team in the state of Connecticut, this is as close as it gets. And while the UConn men have had some great seasons, including the back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024, the women have been successful almost every year. 

The women's season is over. 

The men's season will be over on Monday night (or early Tuesday morning). 

Baseball (and hockey) will get the spotlight. 

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I saw a discussion on Twitter about the start time of the Women's National Championship game. 

The game on Sunday started at 3pm where the men's championship on Monday begins at 8:50pm. 

People complain that a lot of games start too late. However, the complaint here is that the women's game doesn't get the primetime slot like the men do. I actually thought the game was somewhat later than it was, like 6pm. 

The NCAA and the Networks, ESPN/ABC and CBS have their reasons based on ratings and conflicts that go up against one another. 

It also used to be up until a few years ago the women's championship was on the Tuesday after the men's championship on Monday. This got changed because the women's game was sort of forgotten about/overlooked after the men were done. The hope with moving it to Sunday is that there would be more viewers still in the college basketball mindset. 

Lots of things to think about from a media perspective with the championships. The less I say, the better. 

Duke, Nets and World Cancer Day

It was a quiet Saturday, but I got to watch a lot of basketball. 

I watched parts of a number of games, but most noticeably, Duke vs UNC and Nets/Wizards. 

Let's start with the college rivalry. We will get to the Nets. 

Neither of the North Carolina teams separated by 10 miles are having a great year. Neither are currently ranked in the top 25. 

That being said, whenever the two schools play in basketball, it's always a hyped up and often a very competitive game. This was no different. It came down to the final few minutes with the team from Durham getting the win at home in Cameron Indoor. 

The rivalry has been back and forth over the years. Last year, the two teams split the regular season matchups for UNC came away victorious in the Final Four. 

This was the first of two meetings this year. They will meet in Chapel Hill later in the season. 

It's one of the best rivalries in sports. To me, it's right up there with Yankees/Red Sox and Lakers/Celtics. 

Now, let's get to the Nets....

Boy is there a lot to talk about. 

On Friday, Kyrie Irving was once again in the news, and once again it wasn't good. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, Irving has requested a trade before Thursday's trade deadline, or will leave this summer in free agency. 

Breaking: Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving has requested a trade, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The franchise has been informed that Irving prefers to move on ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline – or will leave in free agency in July.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2023

It's always something with Kyrie. 

As for the game today, the Nets came back from down 23 points to defeat the Wizards. Irving was out as he was on the injury report with what was called a calf injury. Interesting timing. I'll leave it at that.  

Also out for the Nets was Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons with injuries. They had 10 active players when the game began. Towards the end of the game, the Nets have eight players to use as Markieff Morris and Seth Curry both went out with injuries. 

Cam Thomas put the team on his back with 44 points off the bench in 29 minutes to help lead the comeback win. 

I've written about the Nets dysfunction before. They are tough to root for. I'll still be loyal but they don't make it easy. 

That being said, today's win, even being a random February regular season win, is special. The players who were there overcame adversity, ignored the distractions as best they could, and played for each other. That's a character building win. 

Winning is about the team, not one person. It's about a culture and having the right pieces to fit that culture. That's what the Nets need to figure out. 

I don't see Kyrie on the team much longer. I don't see how you can keep him. 

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On a different topic, today is World Cancer Day. We think about those who have lost their battle to this awful disease, those who have beaten it, and those who are currently fighting. It's also about those who have supported the people directly impacted. So many people have been touched by Cancer and it's had an effect on people even if they were not directly impacted. 

March Madness

The 2017 NCAA Tournament, also called "March Madness" begins today.

As we often do, I'm sure we will see some upsets, especially today and tomorrow.

Have multiple teams I am rooting for, for a number of different reasons. Overall, I hope we get competitive, exciting games. The teams I am rooting for are Duke, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Unfortunately. those four teams are in the East and Midwest regions, respectively, so they all can't make the final four.  

I filled out two different brackets. After filling out the first one, I wasn't happy to see how much "chalk" I had. And I filled them out for different groups.

My first bracket: Lots of chalk

That was the first one, which I wasn't happy to see that I had picked the four number one seeds to be in my "Final Four."

Bracket number two

I was much happier with bracket number two. In this bracket, I picked a few upsets with my heart, rather than my brain.

I will be ecstatic if Duke makes the championship, as I don't think they really had a great year. However, as a fan of the Blue Devils (yes, I'm a front-runner), seeing North Carolina win would hurt, especially if it is against Duke.

Today is one of the best sports days of the year, along with Major League Baseball Opening Day and the Super Bowl, in my opinion. March Madness also means that spring and baseball is close which makes me happy.

Excited to watch the games. Lets have some fun!