Tag: ncaa tournament

Texas Basketball’s Seeding History in the NCAA Tournament

Today would have been Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament. Here is UT’s history of seeding throughout the NCAA Tournament.

If it were not for COVID-19, today would have been Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament. Going into the Big 12 Tournament this week, Texas was in need of a win against Texas Tech to fully secure their spot in March Madness this season. However, we will never know if the Longhorns were going to make it or what their seeding would have been.

Throughout Texas’ history, they have made the NCAA Tournament 34 times. 26 of those appearances came after the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, beginning in 1989 and as recent as 2018. The Longhorns have been seeded in 11 different positions ranging from the top of the bracket to playing the underdog role.

Here is Texas’ seeding history in the NCAA Tournament:

Highest ever seed: One seed in 2003

Lowest ever seed: 11 seed in 1989, 1995, 2012, and 2015

Most frequent seed: Six seed (four times), 10 seed (four times), 11 seed (four times)

The one time Texas was ever a one seed was in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, where they also made their third Final Four in school history. Led by T.J. Ford and Brandon Mouton, the Longhorns went 22-5 in the regular season and finished second in the Big 12 with a 13-3 conference record. Despite losing to Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, Texas managed to hang onto a one seed.

In the tournament, Rick Barnes’ squad beat UNC Ashville by 21 in the first round and Purdue by 10 in the second round to make the school’s second Sweet 16 in as many years.

The games got tougher from then on, escaping from UConn with a four-point victory and then beating Michigan State by nine to win the South Region. After making it to the Final Four in 1947 and only getting as far as the Elite Eight once since then, Texas was back to the promised land.

The Longhorns lost to a Syracuse team led by Carmelo Anthony by 11 at the Superdome in New Orleans, ending their best season in over 50 years. The Orange would go on to win the National Championship, beating Big 12 foe Kansas in the title game.

Only securing a one seed once in their history, Texas has only gotten as high as a two seed since then. Coming in 2006 and 2008, both teams lost in the Elite Eight to LSU and Memphis respectively.

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Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger addresses the abrupt ending to the NCAA basketball season

“This is uncharted waters,” Kruger told media members Friday evening. “It’s a crazy time, it’s unsettling, it’s a little bit scary.”

After having their entire season cancelled over the course of mere hours, Lon Kruger finally had an opportunity to speak to the media via teleconference to take a peek behind the curtain of the Sooners past 48-72 hours.

“This is uncharted waters,” Kruger told media members Friday evening. “It’s a crazy time, it’s unsettling, it’s a little bit scary.”

Due to the pandemic outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Big 12 and NCAA went from fanless games at their respective tournaments to the full cancellation of the tournaments in less than a day. The Sooners left Kansas City Thursday morning after learning that the Big 12 Tournament cancelled the remainder of the men’s and women’s tournaments less than 24-hours after commissioner Bob Bowlsby made the announcement that the Big 12 would play their tournament games in front of a limited crowd of family and essential personnel. Just hours before the team was supposed to play six-seeded West Virginia, Oklahoma was on their way back to Norman, Okla.

“On the ride home, we learn that the NCAA Tournament was cancelled,” Kruger said Friday. “They handled it well…They totally understand the gravity of the situation and they understand that the primary concern is the health and safety of student-athletes and the staff and the fans.”

Of course, everyone’s season came to an abrupt end but for one Sooner, his entire collegiate career ended under circumstances nobody could have predicted.

Kristian Doolittle, the lone senior on the team, posted a good-bye to Sooners fans via social media after learning that his days of playing in crimson and cream were officially over.

“In Kristian’s case, you compliment him on all he’s accomplished and thank him for all he’s contributed,” Kruger said. “It’s disappointing that he’s not going to be able to finish it with actual participation.”

With all of the uncertainty that lies ahead of not just the Big 12 or the NCAA, but the nation and the entire world, Kruger told media throughout the interview that he believes the decision to cancel all of the post-season for basketball was the right call.

“Of course, there’s a disappointment of not being able to continue to participate, but it pales by comparison in significance of the event,” said Kruger. “What’s going on worldwide is much much much more significant than our disappointment to not being able to play.”

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Michigan State basketball players react to abrupt end of the season

Michigan State basketball players took to social media, reacting to the abrupt end of the NCAA season. Here are a handful of reactions.

Well, it looks like we now live in March Sadness. Big Ten Tournament has been canceled. NCAA Tournament has been canceled. No more Michigan State basketball. Cassius Winston & Kyle Ahrens already posted about the season on Instagram. Here are a handful of other social media reactions from MSU players.

Xavier Tillman

Xavier Tillman posted a photograph of himself and his daughter, Ayanna Tillman, on Instagram. Tillman expressed disappointment on behalf of MSU seniors unable to finish their final year with an NCAA Tournament run.

Aaron Henry

Aaron Henry posted a collection of photographs from the season, expressing some disappointment in the wake of tournament cancellations.

View this post on Instagram

Damn 🙁 … #TMC

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Gabe Brown

Gabe Brown posted a photograph on Instagram, celebrating the familial bond of his team.

Malik Hall

Malik Hall enjoyed an exciting freshman season, averaging 15.9 minutes per game and starting most games during the closing stretch this year. He posted a nice tribute on Twitter:

Julius Marble

Julius Marble did not play too much in his freshman season but seemingly won the hearts of many MSU fans. He will probably play more off the bench next year as a rim running big. Marble expressed his disappointment in this season’s abrupt end on Twitter.

Conner George

Michigan State senior Conner George joked on Twitter about MSU’s preseason No. 1 ranking, lightening up a rather somber timeline.

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Bingham posted a collection of photographs on Instagram, commemorating the season.

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Big Ten Football Basketball School Rankings: Hoops and Helmets 2019-2020

Which Big Ten schools had the best and worst years in the two major sports – football and men’s basketball?

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Which Big Ten schools had the best and worst years in the two major sports – football and men’s basketball? Which fan bases got the glory, and which ones didn’t have any fun?

Contact @PeteFiutak

On the field and court – whose fans had the most fun?

Of course every school has sports outside of the big two that matter and generate revenue, but when it comes to what athletic departments need, it’s really all about college football and men’s basketball.

Which Big Ten schools had the best and worst seasons?

Here’s how these rankings work.

1) The top-ranked schools with teams that went to a bowl game and would’ve played in the NCAA Tournament.

2) The next group had stronger football seasons and were okay in basketball. The superstar basketball schools get credit, but football is the bigger revenue generator.

3) One or the other. Usually there’s a disparity with one good season in one sport an a clunker in the other. It’s sort of a catch-all before …

4) The disasters. No bowl game, there wouldn’t have been a trip to the NCAA Tournament, no fun.

The worst-to-best Big Ten schools in 2019-2020 in college football and college basketball …

Big Ten Hoops and Helmets: Losers In Both Sports

These schools suffered the indignity of failing to come up with a winning season in either of the two major sports. The fans didn’t get to have any fun.

14. Northwestern

Football: 3-9 overall, 1-8 in conference, 7th in Big Ten West

Basketball: 8-23 overall, 3-17 in conference, 13th in Big Ten

How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Despite winning two of its last three games, the Northwestern football team came up with a stunningly miserable season. The defending Big Ten West champ started 1-8 scoring 15 points or fewer seven times. It was really, really bad, and then Northwestern basketball grabbed that beer.

Like the football team, the hoops side came up with two late-season wins, but  a run of 12 straight Big Ten losses made it ugly. Two of the three conference victories came over …

13. Nebraska

Football: 5-7 overall, 3-6 in conference, 5th in Big Ten West

Basketball: 7-25 overall, 2-18 in conference, 14th in Big Ten

How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? 17 straight Big Ten basketball losses – who loses twice to 2019-2020 Northwestern? – with a depleted team was awful, but head coach Fred Hoiberg suffering from the flu on the sidelines in the Big Ten Tournament turned a horrible season frightening.

The football team lost five of its last six games, dropping the home finale to Iowa to miss out on a bowl game and close out a second straight losing season under Scott Frost.

12. Purdue

Football: 4-8 overall, 3-6 in conference, T5th in Big Ten West

Basketball: 16-15 overall, 9-11 in conference, T10th in Big Ten

How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? The Boilermakers could never get either season going. The basketball team looked like it might turn things up a few notches in early February, but it lost four straight and five of the last seven games to go the other way.

The football team played better than the 4-8 record. Decimated by injuries – and hurt by horrible performances against Nevada and Illinois – it was a struggle to get over a 2-6 start.

NEXT: Big Ten Hoops and Helmets: Good In One Sport, Not The Other

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Ten Badger Moments: Jerell Moore is part of the family

A quick primer before I dive into this new BadgersWire series: It has been a tumultuous 24 hours not only for sports, but for the world. Instead of focusing on all of the negative media and cancelations, in this series I want to try and help us …

A quick primer before I dive into this new BadgersWire series: It has been a tumultuous 24 hours not only for sports, but for the world. Instead of focusing on all of the negative media and cancelations, in this series I want to try and help us think of the memorable moments that defined the 2019-20 Badgers. This will not be a top-10 ranking of the best moments of the season from 10-1. Instead, I will go chronologically through the year and find ten moments that made 2019-20 unforgettable for Wisconsin basketball. Each moment will be accompanied by a word that describes this 2019-20 Badger basketball team, and in this first installment that word is family.

The Badger season began with tragedy. An unimaginable, tragic car accident claimed the lives of assistant coach Howard Moore’s daughter and wife, leaving him and his son injured. Moore’s 13-year old son, Jerell, needed a family around him in the months that followed. Wisconsin basketball was that family.

The Badgers wore shooting shirts all year with their motto: Do Moore. Be Moore. 4 Moore. UW also wore a jersey patch with the names of Moore’s wife and nine-year-old daughter, Jen and Jaidyn. The patch also included the words “4Moore.” In the locker room, after Wisconsin defeated Indiana to win the Big Ten regular season title, Greg Gard quickly reminded his Badgers that their 60-56 win ended with a winning margin of four. The Moore family was with Wisconsin basketball all year long.

Perhaps no moment all season was more impactful than what took place back on November 8th, during the starting lineup introductions for Wisconsin’s home opener against Eastern Illinois. Wearing his very own Badger jersey, Jerell Moore was included in the starting lineup and received the largest ovation of the night.

The Badgers went on to defeat the Panthers by 13, but the win and the score seemed largely irrelevant that evening. Wisconsin basketball gave Jerell a home, not only that night but all season long. It was a moment nobody at the home opener would soon forget. It defined one word that described Badger basketball this season: Family.

Coronavirus sports postponements and cancellations: The latest

Coronavirus postponements and cancellations in the sports world: tracking the latest

Tracking noteworthy sports postponements & cancellations during the coronavirus pandemic:

NCAA

  • Canceled all remaining winter and spring championships, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments
  • Most conferences suspended on-campus and off-campus recruiting, as well official and unofficial visits; length of suspension varies by conference
  • Suspended all recruiting on and off campus for all sports until at least April 15, according to sources

Auto racing

NASCAR

  • Postponed race events scheduled for this weekend in Atlanta and the following weekend in Homestead, Fla.

INDYCAR

  • Canceled all series events through April

Formula 1

  • Postponed start of season; expects to begin season at end of May

Baseball

MLB

  • Canceled remaining spring training games
  • Delayed start of regular season, including minor leagues, by at least two weeks

Basketball

NCAA

  • Canceled men’s and women’s basketball tournaments

NBA

Football

NCAA

  • Most conferences have canceled spring football practices and spring games

NFL

  • Prohibited “all in-person pre-draft visits involving draft-eligible players effective at the end of this business day, until further notice”
  • Several teams suspended travel to pro days

XFL

  • Canceled remainder of regular season; “committed to playing a full season in 2021”

Golf

PGA

  • Postponed tournaments through April 12, including the Masters (April 9-12); hope to hold events, especially the Masters, at a later date

LPGA

  • Postponed tournaments through April 15

European Tour

  • Postponed tournaments through April 26

Hockey

NHL

  • Suspended all games until “as soon as it is appropriate and prudent”

Soccer

MLS

  • Suspended season for 30 days

Premier League

  • Postponed season until April 3 at the earliest

UEFA

  • Postponed UEFA club competitions (including Champions League and Europa League) through March 21

Serie A

  • Postponed season through April 3

La Liga

  • Suspended games for first and second divisions

Combat sports

UFC

  • Moved Saturday’s UFC Fight Night Brazil to Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia with no spectators
  • Moved UFC Fight Night: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik, scheduled for March 28, from Columbus, Ohio, to Las Vegas
  • Moved UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris, scheduled for April 11, from Portland, Ore., to Las Vegas

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Stephen A. Smith slams NCAA for timing of March Madness cancellation

Stephen A. Smith went off on the NCAA.

For the first time since an NCAA basketball tournament was introduced in 1939, a national tournament to decide a champion will not be held. The NCAA announced Thursday that all remaining winter and spring sports championships have been canceled in response to the coronavirus outbreak, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The NCAA will reportedly give student-athletes participating in spring sports an extra year of eligibility, and some basketball coaches have endorsed allowing graduating seniors in winter sports the chance to return next year.

The decision to cancel all college sports was a difficult but necessary step by the NCAA – but according to Stephen A. Smith, the organization didn’t act quickly enough.  On ESPN’s First Take, Smith eviscerated the NCAA for being “late to the party,” after the decision to cancel the tournament was announced after many sports leagues, including the NBA, NHL and MLS, had already paused their seasons.

“The NCAA is always late to the party. I don’t think they give a damn about the players, the student-athlete. I think that’s their No. 1 asset, and I think religiously and continuously, they have shown to lack of respect and decency when it comes to the athletes. It was nice to see them join the party, but to me, it should have been done earlier. Especially – I keep bringing this up – especially in light of the fact that the NBA had suspended its season….. If you spend one extra minute thinking about dollars and cents over human life, you have revealed yourself to be pretty close to despicable.”

If you spent any time on social media and you follow people in the sports industry or sports fans, you likely saw reactions like this throughout the day, directed at various organizations. People mocked and criticized the NHL for not suspending its season…. until it did. People slammed college conferences for not canceling their tournaments… until they did. In this case, Stephen A. is criticizing the NCAA for being “late to the party,” despite the fact that it announced the tournament would be held without spectators while the NBA was still packing arenas.

The reality is that the public consensus over what is an acceptable response to the coronavirus outbreak is changing hour-by-hour, but an endeavor such as suspending and entire season or canceling one of the biggest sports events of the year isn’t something that can happen as quickly as a critic can fire off a tweet.

On Tuesday, a great deal of people thought the Ivy League was wrong to cancel their tournament outright instead of holding it behind closed doors. Less than 48 hours later, after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus, it was deemed just as outrageous that every sports league on the globe hadn’t already paused their seasons.

The important thing is that the NCAA made the right decision to prioritize public health and cancel the tournament. Whether that announcement came three hours or thirteen hours after the NBA’s suspension is ultimately irrelevant.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: This sucks, but we’re going to be OK

Reacting to the news that sports are shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic

Wil and Matt talk about sports shutting down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Plus, plans for the show over the next month.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Ohio State basketball’s five recent postseason moments to remember

The postseason is dead as Coronavirus measures go into motion. To fill the void, here are five of Ohio State’s best moments to re-live.

The sporting world — okay the entire world — has been rocked by countless measures to try and curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Almost every single sporting event has either been canceled or postponed until further notice. That includes the end to any postseason run the Ohio State basketball team was going to embark upon

March madness has turned into March emptiness, but for good reason while the world gets this outbreak under control.

To fill the void left by no postseason tournaments, we’re throwing out a few pieces to take a few trips down memory lane and remember some of the most iconic moments in both the NCAA and Big Ten men’s basketball tournaments.

Here are five of the most memorable postseason moments in recent Ohio State basketball history.

Next … The big man saves the game with defense

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Well, this sucks.

This sucks. All of it.

What a week, huh?

I mean, what a gosh darn awful/insane/sad week.

I don’t know about you guys but I never thought I’d ever see what happened happen the past couple days and I still don’t think I’ve come to grips with what is going on – basically all of sports have been cancelled and the world is going into lock down to protect ourselves from a deadly and dangerous pandemic.

Which… sucks.

But pressing pause is the right thing to do. Human safety beats out sports every damn time, no matter how angry some dumb people get about it on Twitter. This thing is serious and is only going to get worse. We have to do what’s best for others who might not be able to beat this virus.

This whole thing still sucks, though. And excuse my spotty language here – I should be better than this. I went to college, I’ve made a living being a professional sports writer, and here I am breaking this whole thing down by saying it sucks.

But it does. It sucks that the coronavirus is killing people all over the world, that it’s continuing to spread at what seems like a really rapid pace, and that many, many, many more people are going to be greatly affected by this pandemic.

None of it is good. I’ve been texting with a good friend who is a dentist in the Army and lives just outside of Venice, Italy. Things are truly, truly awful there and some of the info he’s texted me has taken my breath away.

All that serious stuff that’s happening is very heavy and very sad.

And now our sports are gone, which is the right thing to do – even if the Big East and the PGA Tour had to wait too long before calling things off.

There will be no March Madness, which doesn’t seem real just yet but definitely will next Thursday around noon ET when we’re not parking it on the couch to watch 10 hours of college basketball.

There’s no NBA games to watch at night, which was starting to get good as we began to head down the homestretch and toward the playoffs, which may or may not even happen this year.

Hockey is done for the time being, too. Will we even see the Stanley Cup lifted into the air this year?

The start of the baseball season is going to be pushed back, which feels like the delay of spring and nice weather, two things that make a lot of people happy.

The PGA Tour is now done for at least the next few weeks, even after the Tour tried to sneak one through and played the first round the The Players Championship on Thursday. The Masters is now the next tournament on the schedule but that has to be jeopardy, too.

Tennis, soccer, the XFL… are also done for now.

The only things we have left are NASCAR and the UFC, which will hold events this weekend without fans. I wouldn’t be stunned if NASCAR cancelled its race. I would be surprised if the UFC cancelled its fight night in Brazil, because Dana White hasn’t handled this with much concern, which hasn’t been a great look.

Calling a time out on all the sports and Broadway plays and social gatherings are the right thing for us to do, though. We have to think about people who could be greatly affected by this virus. Elderly people who wouldn’t have the strength to fight it. People with immune disorders who could die from it, no matter their age. This isn’t something we should mess with at all and staying away from each other is the 150-percent right thing to do.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.

Because it does.

Quick hits: Barkley takes coronavirus test… Kansas the national champs?… Kevin Love’s awesome gesture… And more.

– Charles Barkley revealed Thursday night that he was being self-quarantined after taking coronavirus test in the afternoon because he wasn’t feeling well. Hopefully the NBA legend will be OK.

– No. 1 Kansas has the best claim to the national championship after the NCAA tournament was called off.

– Kevin Love donated $100K to arena workers in Cleveland, which is awesome.

– Mark Cuban also is acting fast to help those workers who need a lot of help right now.

– Rudy Gobert gave a heartfelt apology on Thursday.

– Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell had an important message for fans after testing positive for the coronavirus.

– “Good Morning Football” co-host Kyle Brandt had a great take on coronavirus “tough guys.”

This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Come yell at me on Twitter right here.