This is something else:
The Ivy League has decided to cancel the League's upcoming Basketball Tournaments and implement highly-restrictive, in-venue spectator limitations for all other upcoming campus athletics events.
📰 » https://t.co/Y4nEjbsh0N pic.twitter.com/8zsrweXVXo
— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) March 10, 2020
It was fun while it lasted.
And it was close, too, a lot closer than the 76 to 60 scoreline indicates.
Penn came out flying in Wichita, building a 10-point lead against a sleepy Kansas. The Jayhawks eventually woke up and used a 22 to 5 run and a bullshit foul call to take a 33-26 halftime lead. Big 12 player of the year Devonte’ Graham poured in 19 in the first and finished with 29 points to lead all scorers.
Steve Donahue’s team cut the lead to four in the second and really didn’t play a bad game, but they disappointed with some self-inflicted wounds. The Quakers turned it over 11 times and finished 5-14 from the free-throw line, a miserable 35.7% from the charity stripe.
They shot 40% from the field and 39.3% from the three-point arc, hitting 11 of 29 from deep. Caleb Wood, a 38% three-point shooter, finished 4-12 from beyond as Penn went well-below their season averages against a bona-fide power conference champion. I still think they were under-seeded, but it doesn’t matter now.
This was a home game for Kansas, a first-round game in their home state. They had to travel ALL THE WAY to Kansas City (45 minutes) for the Big 12 tournament and ALL THE WAY to Wichita (2.5 hours) for this game.
They will, no doubt, find a way to underachieve and exit the tournament in disappointing fashion.
And then we will all laugh at them.
They will get their comeuppance.
Nothing Easy In March!
1 seed Kansas gets a hard fought win over 16 seed Penn 76-60. 1 seeds improve to 133-0 all-time vs 16 seeds.
Devonte' Graham: 29 PTS, 6 REB, 6 ASTpic.twitter.com/KXWxl1ZxAN
— CollegeBB News (@CollegeBBNCAA) March 15, 2018
Let’s give it up for your Ivy League champions, the Penn Quakers, who wrapped up a wonderful 24-8 season with a 68-65 win against Harvard in Sunday’s tournament final.
A.J. Brodeur finished with 16 and 10 on 8-14 shooting and senior guard Darnell Foreman, a Camden native, led all scorers with 19. The Quakers used a 24-0 run that spanned two halves to shake off a slow start, then pushed past Harvard with a pair of Caleb Wood three-pointers in the game’s final moments.
Video courtesy of Jonathan Tannenwald over at Philly.com:
It’s over. pic.twitter.com/pPDp5eVQrD
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald) March 11, 2018
Penn was a 13 win team last season and major, major props are due to head coach Steve Donahue for the turnaround. This will be the Quakers’ first tournament appearance since 2007, and they’ll look to win their first March Madness game dating back to 1994, when they knocked off Nebraska in an 11/6 upset:
Penn projects to be a 12-14 seed. They beat a pair of A10 teams in the non-conference schedule and we’ll see where they end up in a few hours, when the selection show kicks off.
Let’s talk about college basketball.
We really haven’t done much of anything on it this season, outside of the occasional Villanova mention, because we were preoccupied with your Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
And outside of the Wildcats, it was a down year for the Big 5 and Drexel, a crop that isn’t putting multiple teams in the big dance without pulling some Jon Dorenbos-level conference tournament magic, starting tonight and tomorrow. Temple and Saint Joe’s didn’t give us much this season, while Penn put together an excellent year amid very little press and fanfare.
Let’s take a look at where each squad stands, as we begin what I think is one of the best sporting weeks of the year. I put the conference tournament brackets below each section, courtesy of CBS Sports.
Let’s be honest; this is one of the best sporting weeks of the year.
You’ve got the NCAA conference tournaments starting midweek and taking you through Sunday afternoon, where we get the brackets for March Madness.
There’s always a number of great games, some really interesting storylines, and a Cinderella performance sprinkled in, which makes for a perennially enjoyable five-day stretch.
Problem is, the selection show gets worse every year.
It’s slow.
It’s dull.
And there’s usually only one or two people who even know what they’re talking about.
This year they’re gonna milk it even more:
On Selection Sunday, CBS/Turner say they will reveal all 68 teams ‘followed’ by the brackets pic.twitter.com/3IaSVI3IJG
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 6, 2018
Huh?
They’re going to announce all of the teams first, then give us the bracket? That… sounds like an bad idea.
Dude’s been holding all of that energy in during Phillies broadcasts because … well … there’s nothing to be excited about.
h/t reader Taylor
Nothing in the tournament can top this.
Or, “John Oliver [insert violent action here] the [insert terrible organization here]”
In case you forgot, or you just want to burn 21-minutes at work on a Monday, here’s John Oliver from last night’s Last Week Tonight going through the multitude of ways that the NCAA is a a corrupt sham. Happy March Madness, everyone.
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