Tuesday’s college basketball lead serves as an excellent appetizer for what lies ahead during the conference tournament week as we build on Selection Sunday on CBS. Five teams beat their tickets to the NCAA Tournament by winning their title contests for the conference, the country’s no. 1-team got scared and the ACC kicked off its tournament with Duke selecting the position as the number 10.
The Blue Devils beat Boston College, no. 15, beat 86-51 to begin their pursuit of an unlikely five-day race through the event, but the biggest moment of the first day of the ACC tournament came in the night shell. The moment belongs to the No. 11-seeded Notre Dame and the guard Trey Wertz. More on this in a moment when we get to the winners and losers from a full day of post-basketball.
Winner: Gonzaga rallies against BYU, remains unbeaten
The only remaining unbeaten team in college basketball that came in on Tuesday was Gonzaga number 1. And for a while in Las Vegas, it looked like the list would shrink to zero, as BYU has the best Bulldogs with as many as 14 in the WCC title game led. But the Zags did what they always did and shook an early slump to come back to a 88-78 victory to improve to 26-0. First-year guard Jalen Suggs played the role of the hero during the return victory with 23 points. Get used to the name, because Suggs has the intangible things to become a legend during the NCAA Tournament, and he proved on Tuesday that he can shine in the spotlight. With the win, Gonzaga essentially pulls the overall No. 1 series in the NCAA Tournament.
Winner: Notre Dame at the buzzer
When Daivien Williamson finished his fifth three-pointer of the game for Wake Forest with 7:20 left, the no. 14 selected Demon Deacons took a 75-63 lead, and it looked like they would fight another day. The fighting Irish, however, had other plans. Notre Dame ended a 17-2 run to close out the match, when Wertz drilled a deep triangle at the buzzer to give his team a dramatic 80-77 victory. Wertz made it 4-out-5 from a three-point series during the game to save himself after a rough outing in Notre Dame’s upset win over Florida State on Saturday. His last shot continued the Fighting Irish to put North Carolina at No. 6 in the second round of Wednesday.
Winner: Rick Pitno’s Iona group wins
Do not call it a comeback, but in his first college basketball game after 2017 in Louisville, Rick Pitino led Iona to a 72-48 victory over Quinnipiac in the opening round of the MAAC tournament. The no. 9-seeded Gaels now advance to a Wednesday quarter-final with the No. 1 seeded Siena. Before rejecting Iona’s chance of upsetting his leading enemy, consider this: the MAAC has done its tournament by the number of total conference victories. Had it been nurtured by the league winning percentage, Iona would have been selected number 2 or 3 after playing 6-3 in the league during the regular season. So yes, maybe not sleeping in Pitino’s group
Loser: Rebuilding Pittsburgh has a long way to go
After an 8-2 start that included a 4C start to ACC, it felt like Pittsburgh might make a turn in coach Jeff Capel’s third season. But after bouncing back in the first round of the ACC tournament on Tuesday, Pittsburgh clearly still has a long way to go. With injuries, transfers and COVID-19 issues plaguing the Panthers, they have lost ten of their last 12 games to end with a losing record for a fifth consecutive season. Former coach Kevin Stallings has left a lot to be desired after the 2017-18 season and Capel is still looking for a foothold while Pittsburgh tries to climb out of the wreckage.
Winner: Duke plays some of his best basketball
Duke’s fight this season has required a recalibration of expectations for the program that makes Tuesday’s results worthy of the “winner” treatment. Normally, the Blue Devils would pass a disastrous bad Boston College team with 35 points, would justify a shrug. But they get applause because they did it Tuesday, especially since it was just three days after a 91-73 defeat to North Carolina that Duke selected to number 10 in the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils (12-11) are likely to win four more games in four days this week to reach the NCAA Tournament. But Tuesday’s 15-of-32 effort from the 3-point line was a start, and strong performances by freshmen DJ Steward and Mark Williams were a tantalizing reminder of the potential that has been with this team all along.
Maybe, just maybe, this team is ready to have some fun closing out a season full of adversity.
Loser: Iowa looks out for Roy Marble
The Hawkeyes did the right thing on Sunday by the no. 55 jersey of star Luka Garza to pull off after his last game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In the process, they allegedly offended the family of another everyday person. Athletic director Gary Barta on Tuesday apologized to the family of Roy Marble, who set the record for the program before Garza broke it last month. Marble is no. 23 jersey has never been retired, although he led the program during a strong run in the late 1980s.
“We have been hearing since Sunday that Roy Marble’s family has been hurt and contemptuous since that day,” Barta was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. “I just want to take a moment to share that the disrespect was unintentional and apologize for that.”
Winner: Mount St. Mary’s clinches NEC
Mount St. Mary’s clinched the NEC on Tuesday when he defeated Bryant 73-68 in the NEC title game. This is the sixth time in school history that the mountaineers have clinched the league’s automatic attempt to get a ticket to the Big Dance, and it is the first time under 36-year-old (and third-year) coach Dan Engelstad. This is a program with a lot of proud history at Division I level that rightly deserves a place at the table among the big dogs.
Winner: other automatic bids won
In addition to the mountain St. Mary’s and Gonzaga, three others bagged their bids on Tuesday, and the other three will all be dancing for the first time in more than a decade. Drexel put off the group’s longest drought by consolidating its first NCAA tournament bid since 1996 with a 63-56 victory over Elon in the Colonial Athletic Association final. Cleveland State is going for the first time since 2009 after beating Oakland 80-69 in the finals of the Horizon League. Then Oral Roberts avoided a collapse in the second half to beat North Dakota State 75-72 after leading 45-20 at halftime to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.