College Basketball 2021-2022 Season (Men and Women)

[JohnBM01]

The "First Four" games are completed. Now begins the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. It's time to see who can stake their claim to make a Final Four run. Hopefully your favorite team goes far here. Hopefully your brackets last for quite some time.

Enjoy March Madness, GTPlaneteers!

 

[Dolph Drago]

First upset of the tournament is the Big Ten Tourney champs (who knocked off Purdue much to the chagrin of us Boiler fans) Iowa Hawkeyes falling to the 12 seed Richmond Spiders.

 

[Dolph Drago]

You can add #5 UConn and #2 Kentucky (sorry, @Jordan) to the list. I wonder how many brackets have already been busted?

 

[Jordan]

Yeah, what a day...

 

[JohnBM01]

Well, people think this year's tournament is wide open. Usual suspects may fall early. I'm still not confident in my beloved University of Houston to return to the Final Four. Unless if in the Final Four, you lose, season over. That's March Madness...

 

[Joey D]

Man, I have no idea what happened with Kentucky. I was a bit shocked with Connecticut too. Thankfully, the upset in my bracket was Michigan over Colorado St since I put fandom over statistics. Glad that worked out, otherwise I'd be kicking myself. I do wish I would've included Richmond over Iowa too since I was skeptical about Iowa's performance.

 

[JohnBM01]

Baylor is DONE. North Carolina defeated Baylor in Overtime 93-86. So we will have a new National Champion as Baylor's been ousted. Baylor, had they won, would have had the biggest comeback win in Tournament history after BYU came from behind to defeat Iona in 2012. Baylor was down by as much as 25. All congratulations to not only the North Carolina Tar Heels, but also the Baylor Bears. The first Top seed of the men's tournament is no more.

 

[Joey D]

Me when looking at my bracket:

 

[JohnBM01]

Let's clear one thing up right now. Do not worry if your bracket (granted you filled one out) is busted at this point. There are massive odds any one person will create a perfect bracket. It's just about how many teams can you get right. We always like to say "you can't script October" in pro baseball. Well, you can't script March or even April in college basketball. No single team is a team of destiny. We don't have fabricated storylines just to try to make college basketball interesting, like you may see with pro wrestling. You either defeat the other team, or see your season come to an end.

Both of Michigan's teams (men and women) advanced to their respective next rounds. Unfortunately for Kentucky, while the men were defeated in a shocker to the Peacocks of St. Peter's, the Kentucky Lady Wildcats were downed by the Princeton Lady Tigers.


The Madness continues today and tonight, so enjoy the action!

 

[JohnBM01]

How sweet it is! The University of Houston advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with a big win over Illinois. The Cougars won 68-53 over the No. 8 Illinois Fighting Illini.

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to the No. 15 St. Peter's Peacocks, as they downed Murray State Racers to reach the Sweet Sixteen. St. Peter's previously knocked off Kentucky to advance to the 2nd Round. So if you're looking for a Cinderella, St. Peter's might be that Cinderella team to watch.


[OMISSION] In case you don't know what St. Peter's College is, it is a small, religious, non-football (used to have a football team) school in Jersey City, NJ. They play in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). The MAAC is basically the West Coast Conference of the east, in which all of the schools are mostly religious universities and colleges without football schools. Marist is the only MAAC member with a football team.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to the No. 15 St. Peter's Peacocks, as they downed Murray State Racers to reach the Sweet Sixteen. St. Peter's previously knocked off Kentucky to advance to the 2nd Round. So if you're looking for a Cinderella, St. Peter's might be that Cinderella team to watch.


[OMISSION] In case you don't know what St. Peter's College is, it is a small, religious, non-football (used to have a football team) school in Jersey City, NJ. They play in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). The MAAC is basically the West Coast Conference of the east, in which all of the schools are mostly religious universities and colleges without football schools. Marist is the only MAAC member with a football team.

Normally I would absolutely pull for a team like this to make a crazy run. Buuuut, Purdue took down Texas tonight to advance to the Sweet 16 and play...St. Peter's! So I kinda need their Cinderella run to end.

The ball is in Purdue's court (no pun intended) to win their region after the Peacocks had already taken down UK, and 1 seed Baylor also bit the dust. It's a golden opportunity for the Boilers to take it all the way.

 

[JohnBM01]

March Madness continues starting tonight. This weekend determines which teams will play next weekend in New Orleans in the Final Four. If your brackets are still holding up, good job! For my beloved University of Houston, I am very not confident we will get past tonight or even our would-be Elite Eight opponent if we get past tonight. But then again, maybe that's just sports fan anxiety.

Enjoy this weekend's action!

 

[Dolph Drago]

It's a good thing I'm not a drinker, or I'd be hitting the bottle right now. 🥴

Happy for you though, @JohnBM01, with Houston pulling off the win against Arizona. Good luck to them the rest of the tournament.

 

[JohnBM01]

Yeah, all good for now. Next up... a cat fight- Houston Cougars vs. Villanova Wildcats. Winner goes to New Orleans to the Final Four, loser is done for the season. I am still feeling like I'd be jinxing the Coogs if I were to watch them in action. I'm still a wee bit nervous UH will be finished off by some team.

Oh, no! DOWN GOES PURDUE! I was poking around the Yahoo! Sports site and saw the sad headline for Purdue fans. St. Peter's Peacocks will meet the winner of North Carolina vs. UCLA in the Elite Eight. I hear St. Peter's College is the first-ever 15 Seed to reach the Elite Eight. The Peacocks' coach may have a soft voice, but his team is making a lot of noise so far. Sorry, Dolph Drago...

Kansas is the only remaining No. 1 seed in the men's D1 Tournament, and the Jayhawks took down the impressive Friars of Providence College. Kansas meets the winner of Iowa State vs. Miami (FL) next.


March Madness. Got to love it.

 

[JohnBM01]

Eight teams have succeeded to reach this stage of the tournament. Four will advance to the Final Four, and four others will see their season end. Welcome to the Elite Eight! How are your brackets holding up?

Enjoy the Elite Eight action!

 

[JohnBM01]

You get each team's best shot in the Tournament. Sadly, my Houston Cougars are DONE. They lost 50-44 to No. 2 Villanova Wildcats and will be denied back-to-back Final Four trips. Congratulations to whomever wins it all this season.

 

[JohnBM01]

Allow me to congratulate some champions in other divisions of NCAA basketball.

• NCAA D2 Men's Champions: Northwest Missouri State (defeated Augustana 67-58)
• NCAA D2 Women's Champions: Glenville State (defeated Western Washington 85-72)
• NCAA D3 Men's Champions: Randolph-Macon (defeated Elmhurst 75-45)
• NCAA D3 Women's Champions: Hope (defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater 71-58)

We still have the Division 1 tournaments to be settled.

 

[Joey D]

At least my bracket wasn't a total loss. I ended up with 3 of the Final 4 teams since I had Kentucky playing Duke. Looks like I magically moved into first place overall somehow since most people had Arizona in the Fina 4. Now if Duke can just win, I'll be happy.

 

[JohnBM01]

Honestly, I think this season's March Madness is setting up to be more like Coach K going off into the sunset with a National Championship. And speaking of, we have our NCAA D1 Men's March Madness, GTPlanet! The Final Four is this Saturday live, loud, and proud from New Orleans, LA. Final Four matches:

• Kansas vs. Villanova
• North Carolina vs. Duke

That's right- no mid-majors, no Cinderellas... just four powerhouse programs looking to go full anger towards a National Championship in the men's ranks. Later this week will be the National Championship game for the NIT Tournament. Did you know the NIT will not be held in New York City at Madison Square Garden in the coming years? Reports suggest the NIT Tournament will be staged in cities like Indianapolis or Las Vegas.


Well, GTPlanet... if you want to talk March Madness, tell it- who you got making the [NCAA D1 Men's] National Championship game, and who wins it all?

 

[JohnBM01]

On this day (March 28) in 1992... Christian Laettner hit a game-winning shot to lift Duke past Kentucky. And to this day, the University of Kentucky STILL hates C. Laettner. Sorry to give UK fans any bad memories.

It's funny that North Carolina and Duke are playing each other for the first-time ever in the NCAA Tournament. UNC/Duke is more like the Yankees/Red Sox of college basketball. I don't believe in storylines, but the UNC/Duke game is the more intriguing of the two Final Four matches.

I learned next season's Final Four will be here in Houston. Maybe if UH gets into the Tournament and advances to the Final Four next season, it would be the ultimate home court advantage. They are sadly out thanks to Villanova. If we did have a Houston vs. Kansas match in the Final Four, that would be a future Big XII match for the Houston Cougars.

The Peacocks of St. Peter's deserve a lot of love for what they've done. And I found out St. Peter's is now St. Peter's University, no longer St. Peter's College. For them to advance this far the way they did is testament that ANY team can have a chance to play for a National Championship as long as you play hard. Who knows? There may actually be a time where a No. 16 seed could win the National Championship. Sure, St. Peter's was a 15-seed, but they still shown what was possible with lower-ranked teams. The Peacocks did something right to make it this far. Not like they asked nicely to get into the Elite Eight.


Good job if any of you predicted this Final Four we have now; or at least, a lot of the ones that did advance this far.

 

[JohnBM01]

We're all looking forward to the Men's Final Four this weekend, but tonight is the NIT final. We have the Xavier Musketeers taking on the Texas A&M Aggies. Big East meets SEC. Congratulations to whomever takes home the Men's NIT final tonight!

 

[JohnBM01]

Tonight begins the NCAA Division 1 Women's Final Four. The Final Four matches in Minneapolis, MN for the women begin today, followed by the National Championship game this Sunday. The matches in the Final Four are as follows:

• No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 1 Louisville
• No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Connecticut

Did you know that Connecticut is in the Women's Final Four for the 14th straight time? It should be great to see who will make the National Championship game and win it all.

As an off-topic note, my congratulations go out to the Xavier Musketeers on winning the Men's NIT. Xavier defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 73-72. It was a late go-ahead two-pointer with 3.1 seconds left on the clock after the made shot. Texas A&M, then, failed to connect a buzzer-beating shot. This is pretty much a sad story as the NIT at Madison Square Garden couldn't really sustain itself financially today. So therefore, the NIT will live on; just not at Madison Square Garden any time again in the near future. We'll see where the NIT goes in the future.


Also, don't forget- we still have the Men's Final Four to be settled starting on Saturday in New Orleans, LA. So stay tuned for that this weekend!

 

[JohnBM01]

The four best... or the four luckiest... teams in NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball compete tonight in New Orleans, LA in the Men's Final Four. Kansas battles Villanova, and we're guaranteed an ACC team in the National Championship as rivals Duke and North Carolina clash in the other Final Four match. Enjoy tonight's action!

 

[JohnBM01]

Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) coached his final game in his 42 year coaching career, as Duke was defeated by North Carolina 81-77. No. 8 North Carolina will meet No. 1 Kansas on Monday for the Men's Division 1 National Championship. All congratulations to Coach K on a legendary career coaching Duke, not to mention even his time with the USA Men's basketball team.

Tonight, though, it's Championship Sunday in NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball. Connecticut will meet South Carolina in Minneapolis, MN for the National Championship. Will the UConn Lady Huskies or the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks win it all? Find out tonight!

 

[JohnBM01]

Tonight is the National Championship game in NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball. Tonight in New Orleans, LA; the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks will meet the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels. Who will be the kings of college basketball this season? Find out tonight!

Last night, it was the No. 1 South Carolina Lady Gamecocks who defeated the No. 2 Connecticut Lady Huskies for the NCAA Division 1 Women's National Championship. South Carolina wins their second-ever National Championship in women's basketball in a rout- 64-49. UConn was denied their 12th National Championship in women's basketball in school history.

 

[JohnBM01]

Kansas is your 2021-2022 National Champions! No. 1 Kansas defeated No. 8 North Carolina 72-69 tonight. Kansas was the only #1 Seed to make it to the Men's Final Four this season. All congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks on defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels! Rock... chalk... Jayhawk... K... U...