Why? Don’t worry about it!
I will give Niko Medved $100 of my own money if, upon losing to the Baylor Bears tonight, he does this:
Anyway, it is time for the College Basketball Crown, the FOX Sports empire’s answer to the NIT.
Details
Where are they playing?
Quarterfinals will be played in the MGM Garden Arena; semifinals and finals in T-Mobile Arena.
Those are both located in Las Vegas, just in case you’re unfamiliar. Nevada. State out west. Mostly federal land that I think a Bundy believes he owns. Who’s to say.
Who are the teams?
Thought you’d never ask.
- Baylor Bears (16-16, NET 50)
- Colorado Buffaloes (17-15, NET 76)
- Creighton Bluejays (15-17, NET 83)
- Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-17, NET 81)
- Oklahoma Sooners (19-15, NET 48)
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (14-19, NET 134)
- Stanford Cardinal (20-12, NET 61)
- West Virginia Mountaineers (18-14, NET 59)
Wait…why those teams?
The Crown is effectively a quasi-NIT for conferences that play games on FOX Sports. That means the Big East, Big Ten, and Big XII conferences all get two auto-bids to their best two teams in the NET rankings.
BUT!
Sore, shitty losers like Indiana (who lost to Northwestern twice and is thus forever deemed A Loser School) declined their bids. In fact…
- Why Creighton (NET 83)? Because Seton Hall (53) and Providence (80) declined.
- Weren’t there supposed to be two Big East teams? Yes, but Butler (84), Georgetown (90), Marquette (93), Xavier (97), and DePaul (102) all declined. So it’s just Creighton.
- Why Minnesota and…RUTGERS?! Because Indiana (NET 41), Washington (57), Northwestern (65), and USC (79) all declined—Minnesota (80) was next—and then Oregon (109) similarly demurred. Maryland (138) and Penn State (142) didn’t get the chance to say yes or no, but I have to think Buzz Williams would’ve loved the opportunity to yell some more.
- Why Baylor (50) and West-by-God (59)? Because Cincinnati (49) declined.
- So how about the other three teams? At-large bids (such as they are) went to Oklahoma (SEC), Stanford (ACC lol), and Colorado (third Big XII team) for having sufficiently high NET rankings, I guess?
Why would anyone want to play in this, though?
$500,000 in prize money to the winners.
Didn’t this event used to be bigger?
Correct. There were 16 teams last year. It’s just that no one cared.
Soooooo…bracket?
The Games: A Preview
Wednesday, April 1
Oklahoma Sooners vs. Colorado Buffaloes
7pm | FS1 | OU -9.5 | O/U 165.5
The Sooners were the First Team Out of the Big Dance, ultimately not doing enough to recover from a nine-game skid in SEC play. Meanwhile, three Buffs who averaged double-digits—Isaiah Johnson, Sebastian Rancik, and Bangot Dak—have all hit the transfer portal, with HC Tad Boyle very icily noting “we’re going to move on.” I’m sure everything’s fine.
Anywhoodles, both teams scored efficiently during the season, this one’s got a sky-high O/U, so let’s get weird.
Baylor Bears vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers
9:30pm | FS1 | Baylor -3.5 | O/U 148.5
And as a chaser…uh…Minnesota?
How the Gophers and their six-man rotation are gonna do this, I’m not sure. But Baylor only runs a seven-man rotation with a pair of talented guards, so perhaps the Gophers can turn this into a war of attrition. Let’s just let Cade Tyson and Cameron Carr turn this into a shootout and see where things go from there, shall we?
Minnesota plays at a glacial pace (only teams slower, in order, were Iowa, West Virginia, Northern Iowa, and Niagara), Baylor scores it well but defends poorly. If Minnesota hits their open threes, Gophers move on.
Thursday, April 2
Stanford Cardinal vs. West Virginia Mountaineers
7pm | FS1 | Stanford -1.5 | O/U 135.5
Stanford’s just a balanced, mediocre ACC team. HC Kyle Smith has climbed the ranks from Columbia to San Francisco to Wazzu to Palo Alto, doing an admirable job at each stop—you wonder if he gets a look from a bigger major conference basketball program as soon as the Cardinal break through to an NCAA Tournament. Ebuka Okorie’s been a revelation for the Cardinal, with 22 ppg as a frosh, and has a little NBA Draft steam as a future (maybe not this year) lottery pick.
The Mountaineers are coached by first-year boss Ross Hodge, who’s from the Grant MacCausland tree (in case you were wondering why they’re the third-slowest team in college hoops). They’re also the 17th-best defense. Took Ohio State to 2OT back in December, but couldn’t really find another signature win after a January upset of Kansas, and losses down the stretch to Utah and Kansas State took the wind right out of their sails. Diminutive senior guard Honor Huff used to fill it up for Chattanooga—the 5’10” shooter struggled to make as much space for himself in the Big XII, and we’ll see if he can find space against Furd.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Creighton Bluejays
9:30pm | FS1 | Creighton -3.5 | O/U 151.5
I tell you what, given that Greg McDermott’s retiring, a loss to Rutgers in, of all places, the College Basketball Crown, would be a hell of a brown note on the end of a storied career.
It’s not the Creighton clubs of old—the Jays don’t score particularly well, and the defense has fallen off. Former Iowa Hawkeye and Council Bluffs legend Josh Dix leads a balanced Creighton attack.
I will not spend another second thinking about Rutgers basketball. This should’ve been Nicky Meatballs’s last hurrah, and I’m mad at Northwestern for taking that away from me.
Thread for the night’s basketball. Maybe tomorrow’s basketball, too. We’ll see.
