College basketball coming to a close

By: Mark Elliott

Despite many disasters being caused by COVID, NCAA basketball still continued it’s full season. There were many surprises as to the team’s performances this year, such as Duke and North Carolina, traditionally two of the best teams in basketball, both had traumatic down years. Breakout teams also emerged this year such as Illinois, Michigan, and Florida State. As the year winds down teams are playing for conference championships and preparing for the dance. In the ACC, it was a very strange year compared to years in the past. In first place is Florida State, having a very dominant year. In second place is the defending NCAA champions, Virginia. defense all year long, but surprisingly are not in the driver’s seat to win the ACC this year. The two big shockers that have been mentioned are North Carolina in 7th place, a team that has been in and out of the final four each year. Also 10th place Duke, another team that is always dominating college basketball, this team is and always has been led by Coach K, so it is very strange to see this team along with North Carolina, as they are without the coach they have had for years upon year, Roy Williams. Although both teams are very young teams with a lot of potential to develop in the future, they had very disappointing seasons. The craziest part is both Duke and North Carolina not making March Madness at all this year. For the Big 12, this was also unlike any other years previous. KU, who has been dominating the Big 12 for the past 15 years has to win the tournament to even share the Big 12 Title. Despite their slow start to the season and all of their struggles, they are second place. In first place is Baylor, having a very solid 3 point shooting team rallying to a one loss season before the Big 12 tournament. Baylor being a rising team all year has a very real chance at winning it all this year. One of the worst seasons in the history of the Big 12 is the 2-19 Iowa State team. They went 0-16 in Big 12 conference play, and this team shared the conference title just a few years before. A team that recently, has been traditionally bad, Texas has had an up year, finishing 15-7. Texas hasn’t been anything in sports since Kevin Durant, and their old glory football days. They seem to have a good young future and could improve even more this year. One conference that has had a bunch of teams succeed this year is the Big Ten. In first place was Michigan, a team that has been on the brink of greatness for the past few years. This year they finally blossomed, dominating the paint and the boards, they have been a top team all year this year. In second place was a very surprising team this year, Illinois has been able to dominate most of the teams they’ve played this year, despite how little

teams they’ve played this year, despite how little attention they get unlike other schools in the Big 10, such as Ohio State. They had a very impressive year, and are looking to make a deep playoff run this year. The last division, and typically not one of the most popular is the Pac-12. This conference actually had some pretty solid basketball team this year. In first is the usual, Oregon, a team that never amounts to anything in the postseason, looks to make a change this year and go for a deep playoff run. Second place is traditionally a football school, USC. They have had a really good year with moving the ball, and having great team chemistry on both sides of the ball. They have also been very impressive in late game scenarios, winning a lot of games coming down to the wire. After fourth place there is a steep dropoff in terms of record, but overall a good season for teams in the Pac-12.

Three more teams worth mentioning that are not in any of the conferences that have already been discussed. One team is Alabama, again another football school succeeding on the basketball court. They have had great defense all year long. Alabama has been able to get good recruits the past couple of seasons. The second team is Gonzaga, it is no surprise they have had regular season success. They have every year in recent years, but their big problem has always been March Madness. This year they have championship aspirations, and look to not fall short in the sweet sixteen this year. For the last team, it is a team that has quite honestly been a big powerhouse for the past 6 years is Villanova. All though in the past couple of years they have lost a lot of their star power in multiple seniors, they still have had a very good year and are in the driver’s seat to win their conference. Villanova’s success began around 2014, and the success came out of practically nowhere, they started randomly winmultiple National Titles. One of which was a shocking buzzer beater against North Carolina. It went down as one of the best March Madness tournamentsin NCAA history. Anyway, despite their losses Villanova has a good chance this year in the playoffs. Despite the situation all sports are going through right now, college basketball has given everyone a entertaining seasons and is shaping up to give us a wild March Madness.