Technically true! But it was indeed a jam-packed and memorable past 12 months of college basketball; Let’s take a few moments to reflect on one of the most indelible years that sport has had in recent history. We’re only three days away from 2022, so it’s time for my annual look back. I rounded up the 22 biggest stories of the 22nd. Let’s not waste any more time. Let’s go to the list. The links associated with most of these stories are clickable to the date labeled in parentheses with each ranking.
22. No. 1 seed Gonzaga loses in Sweet 16 (March 24): At 26-3, Gonzaga entered the Big Dance with the best resume. A year earlier, GU entered the title game with an undefeated record, and then Baylor swept it. Jalen Suggs was gone, but a top NBA prospect, Chet Holmgren, was in the mix. There was significant pressure on Gonzaga to at least return to the Final Four. The Zags were ranked No. 1 in every major predictive metric … and then Arkansas showed up in the Sweet 16 and induced the Zags to their second-worst offensive game of the season. Had Gonzaga won, it would have faced Duke in the Elite Eight, a rematch of their tremendous meeting in November. Instead, an underwhelming outing via a 74-68 loss and a reset in the national conversation about Gonzaga as the strongest program without a national title to its name.
21. Omicron Scheduling Wrecks (Dec-Jan): In my 2021 year in review, as the Omicron variant was ravaging every sports schedule yet again, I wrote, “We lost more of 150 games and we can only hope that a year from now, when I’m recapping 2022, nothing related to COVID lands in the 20 biggest stories of the year.” The good news: this is not in the top 20! (I put my list together before checking last year’s post, I swear.) We missed a handful of games on the 22nd-23rd due to COVID, but thankfully it looks like the worst five/six/ seven phases of the pandemic are behind us. But at the beginning of January 22? Fortunately, college hoops ended up losing just 5% of their games on record last season.
20. Huggs inducted into Hall of Fame (Sept. 10): A grassroots campaign among members of basketball circles grew and grew over the past five-plus years to get Bob Huggins into the Hall of Fame. Naismith Memorial Basketball. At the 2022 Final Four, it was announced that he had finally made it, and in September he was enshrined. Huggins, 69, has 855 wins at the D-I level and 926 overall. He also has a unique personality and presence in college basketball. Huggins is somewhat similar to the late Mike Leach in proving that you don’t need a national championship to your name to be recognized among the all-time greats of your sport.
19. Basketball on an aircraft carrier is back (Nov. 11): It’s been a decade since college hoops tried the basketball experiment on the deck of a warship. Reason: A couple of East Coast airline games in 2012 had moisture issues that led to hazardous conditions and cancellations. But in the west? Everyone got out without interference. Gonzaga and Michigan State brought proceedings back to the docks in San Diego this year, playing out a 64-63 decision in favor of Gonzaga aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in what was the first high-profile game of the season It looked great, and to me, that helps increase the presence of college basketball nationally in the first week of its season. No plans have been announced yet to do it again in 2023 or beyond, but I would trust it to happen again at some point.
18. Tommy Lloyd effortlessly returns Arizona to national prominence (through 2022): As of this story’s publication, Lloyd is 45-5 as a head coach. It is the second-best 50-game winning percentage in D-I men’s hoops history. Lloyd took over after Sean Miller was fired and led Arizona to the forefront of the sport once again, guiding the Wildcats to a No. 1 seed in March, and then here at 22-23 with a in the top 10 and 12-1. record in game without scam. He lost three first-round picks after last season, but he could have a team this season just as fun to watch. Arizona is must-see TV. Few managers had a better January to December than Lloyd.
17. Georgetown craters under Patrick Ewing (all of 2022): The Hoyas were basically the inverse of Arizona this year. Georgetown is 5-28 in 2022. It must win on the road against DePaul on Thursday to avoid a 29th L’22. It’s downright depressing that one of the top 25 jobs in college basketball has turned into one of the saddest situations in college. hoops, with Ewing, of all people, responsible for it. He’s the most important player in school history, and now fans routinely call for him to resign or be fired on a weekly basis. Even worse: a large part of the base has been checked. Instead of getting this program to average status after making the 2021 NCAA Tournament as an automatic bid qualifier (as an 8-seed in the Big East Tournament; remember?), Georgetown is going backwards. A change is expected at Hilltop in the first three months of 2023.
16. The top six ranked teams and seven of the top nine lose on the same day (Feb. 27): There are rarely one-day results that you can claim are once-in-a-generation results. But that’s exactly what happened on the last Saturday in February. No. 1 Gonzaga lost to Santa Maria. No. 2 Arizona lost at Colorado. No. 3 Auburn lost to No. 18 Tennessee. No. 4 Purdue lost at Michigan State. No. 5 Kansas lost to No. 10 Baylor. No. 6 Kentucky lost to No. 18 Arkansas. A motley history of overthrows. I had NEVER gone 1-6 in the same day before. Also, ninth-ranked Texas Tech stumbled at TCU. You wouldn’t know it: Of those seven top-10 teams that lost, none would make it to the Elite Eight except for Kansas. (We’ll get to the Jayhawks eventually.)
15. IARP Light Penalties for Memphis, Louisville, Arizona Sean Miller (Sept. 27, Nov. 3, Dec. 14): All this FBI and NCAA melodrama, and ultimately for what? Some self-imposed postseason bans, wrong predictions from some media outlets, and a lot of wasted time and money. This story would be higher on this list if the penalties were notable. That’s not what happened. Self-imposed punishments by schools led to the independent accountability resolution process to facilitate rule breakers over the past five years. Some former assistants received harsh penalties, while the coaches were acquitted. It’s an outcome that makes many in college sports even more cynical, while others have been thinking that since it’s been so long, what’s the point?
14. Miami transfer Nijel Pack gets $400,000 NIL deal; Isaiah Wong threatens to transfer (late April): College football has had its share of interesting and controversial stories involving the NIL and transferring in 2022, but I’d argue that this one, in college basketball, was the which caused further discussion at the university. sports. Billionaire Miami booster John Ruiz broke precedent when he made the terms of Pack’s NIL deal public, expressly to transfer from Kansas State to Miami. Wong had a separate deal for less money, and stated he would leave unless a new deal was made. Ruiz eventually called Wong’s bluff (although it is believed that more was done behind the scenes to improve Wong’s situation). It has worked out wonderfully for Miami. The Hurricanes, coming off a surprising Elite Eight run, are ranked 14th and have a 12-1 record heading into ACC play. Pack (11.2 ppg) has yet to fulfill his NIL contract, but Wong (17.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.5 apg) is performing at an All-American level.
13. The big ones are back: Tshiebwe, Timme, Bacot, TJD, etc. are back. (mid to late spring): Since traditional big men who don’t shoot from the perimeter aren’t desirable in the modern NBA, he’s a great addition. College hoops provides an opportunity to bring back big men with big personalities and help make the sport more familiar to fans. The NIL legislation is also helping. Players now have the opportunity to make seven figures while dressed in varsity threads. So for Oscar Tshiebwe, Drew Timme, Armando Bacot, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Hunter Dickinson and others, it’s a win-win situation in the short term. And college hoops is all the better for it. You could argue that 2022 brought more big-name players to college basketball than any other season in the last decade.
12. Louisville’s Dismal 2022 (All 2022): As an entity, Louisville men’s basketball has been surrounded by controversy for nearly a decade. But these past 12 months have been a nightmarish nadir. Chris Mack resigned on January 26, when the team was 7-4. The Cardinals went 6-15 after he left. This season, U of L is infamously putrid, starting 2-11 under Kenny Payne, and losing to D.J. Wagner recruiting to Kentucky in process. The Cardinals are in a race with 1-12 California to see who might be the worst major league team this season. It’s hard to see how a program in the top 10 in the sport’s history could fall as far as this, but it’s a desperate situation at Derby City as we prepare to flip the calendar to 2023.
11. NCAA Tournament Expansion Rumors/Speculation (Summer to Fall): One of the hottest stories of the offseason was slow speculation that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who co-chairs the D-I Transformation Committee, would grease the wheels to allow for change in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament capacities. There is no indication, at this time, that this change is imminent. But it sure didn’t stop a lot of people (understandably) from freaking out over potential unnecessary disruptions to one of the world’s near-perfect sporting events. The Transformation Committee’s work is complete and its recommendations to Division I will be made public in early January. Sources told CBS Sports there will be language allowing all D-I national championships to allow 25 percent of teams from a sport to be included in a postseason bracket, but there will be no official recommendation or mandate to do it If the NCAA Tournament is going to change its size, it will first be up to the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee to decide whether or not to do so. And to that I say: don’t even think about it.
10. Historic move atop the AP poll through the first five weeks of the 22-23 season (Nov.-Dec.): After months of hype, UNC moved from preseason No. 1 to UNCLASSIFIED the first week of December was shocking and historic. No team had ever fallen from first place to out of the standings in less than eight weeks to start a season. Conversely, while UNC was falling, Purdue was cheering as it climbed the rankings escalator. The Boilermakers sat outside the preseason AP Top 25, then rose to No. 1 in the poll’s fifth week, by far the fastest rise in college basketball history. Throw in the fact that it’s Purdue’s Zach Edey, not Carolina’s Armando Bacot, who is leading the NPOY race at this stage. The UNC-Purdue dual storyline has been the biggest talking point in college hoops on the court for a third of the season, with UConn not far behind. The Huskies are ranked second and off to their best start since ’98-99. They won their first national title that season. To make things even more intertwined, Purdue and UConn won their respective brackets at PK85 in November. They haven’t been shutout since, a combined 25-0.
9. UCLA, USC leave Pac-12 for Big Ten (June 30): A football move — and a thunderous one — but college basketball history because of UCLA’s involvement. We’re talking about one of the top five programs in sports history. Their longtime affiliation with West Coast basketball will end in 2024. USC isn’t all that terrible historically either, just pales in comparison to UCLA, with the Bruins owning 11 national titles, 19 Final Fours and nearly 2,000 victories . The Big Ten men’s basketball will feature 16 teams and will be the most interesting league in the country for many years to come. UCLA and USC in the Big Ten standings. This will take a year or 20 to get used to.
8. Tshiebwe’s legendary POY campaign (March 31): Someone winning NPOY isn’t a top-10 story every season, but when they’re the centerpiece of a blue-blood program that’s done it with a stat line historic and for a team that is among the best in the sport, that strikes differently. Oscar Tshiebwe averaged 17.4 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks for a Kentucky team that clinched a No. 2 seed after winning 26 games. By sweeping all major NPOY awards, Tshiebwe became only the second Kentucky player ever to accomplish the feat, joining Anthony Davis in 2012. He was also the first player in more than four decades to have a average of at least 15.1 rebounds. He also became the first transfer to win NPOY since Larry Johnson at UNLV in 1991.
7. Juwan Howard/Wisconsin Melee (Feb. 22): A chilling sight to see one of basketball’s best-known coaches throw an open hand at the postgame handshake line. Juwan Howard’s behavior was out of line and cost him a suspension that lasted until the end of the regular season. After initially taking issue with how Badgers coach Greg Gard handled the end of the game, with Gard and Howard warming up to each other, Howard lashed out at Badgers assistant Joe Krabbenhoft, when a fight broke out in the demolished handshake line. Howard wasn’t the only person who mishandled this situation, but he was the worst. His menacing move at Krabbenhoft made national nightly news and tarnished his reputation.
6. Chris Beard Arrested, Suspended (Dec. 12): An ongoing story and a big one. Beard was arrested and charged with third-degree assault of a family member after his fiancee called 9-1-1 in the early hours of Dec. 12. That night, police observed multiple signs of abuse on her body, and according to the arrest report, she told police she called 9-1-1 because she didn’t feel safe. Additionally, according to the arrest report, Beard’s fiancee told officers Beard bit her, threw her off the bed, choked her and choked her. Eleven days later, on the night of Dec. 23, Beard’s fiancee released a statement through her attorney that read, in part, “Chris did not strangle me, and I told law enforcement that night. Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I don’t dispute that.” Beard remains suspended and without pay. Given the allegations, the high-profile nature of the case and the school involved, this will also be a big story as it unfolds into 2023.
5. Kansas rallied from 16-point deficit to win national title over top-8 UNC (April 4): Every national champion qualifies as a top-10 story, but when you a way never done before, you jump into the top five, at least. In fact, I’d argue that the historic nature of KU’s comeback is the defining feature of Kansas’ 72-69 win over North Carolina. Kansas Overcame the Largest National Championship Game Deficit in History! I feel like this hasn’t gotten enough recognition in the months since it happened. At its maximum margin, the difference was 16 points (38-22 with 2:23 left in the first half). UNC led 40-25 at halftime. The fact that this happened between two schools that have so many ties makes it all the tastier. Bill Self won a second title, Kansas won its fourth national championship and it was another classic played in New Orleans. After three years without a regular NCAA tournament, this was a sweet way to cap off a big ’22 dance.
4. Carolina stuns Duke in Coach K’s last home game (March 5): “UNC handed K an L and snagged a W so sweet it immediately ranks near the top wins of the Tar Heels’ regular season in the 100-plus year history of this proud program.” This is part of what I wrote after what was a shocking 13-point spoiler of North Carolina’s retirement party at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Heels won 94-81 and completely ruined Mike Krzyzewski’s home run, a plot twist so sweet it would be the biggest card in this rivalry…except for something lurking a more in the future than any of us could have. Imagine. My favorite nugget from this game was four UNC players scoring at least 20 points, which was the first time that has happened in a UNC game. Like: Any UNC game. Always. And it was this game. Of course it was. Nearly 100 Blue Devil alumni were behind Duke’s bench, and they went from engaged to stunned in about 20 minutes. On a personal note, I consider this the most memorable non-postseason event I’ve ever covered. It’s all too easy to instantly go back to pressing the line inside Cameron, watching UNC celebrate as the clock ticked down to 0. And then Krzyzewski chided the crowd after it was over and they had prepared to honor him ! What a night that was.
3. Jay Wright retires out of nowhere (April 20): We’ve had back-to-back impressive Hall of Famer retirements. In 2021, Roy Williams did it on April Fools’ Day. This year, Jay Wright derailed the sport by quitting almost three weeks into the season. Wright was set up to be one of the most prominent faces and voices in the sport for the rest of his legendary career. Instead, citing burnout, he opted to retire from coaching at age 60. He’s now a TV analyst for CBS (nice to have you, Jay!). Wright left with 642 wins, 34 NCAA Tournament wins, two national titles, 13 combined Big East titles, three National Coach of the Year awards and the 2010 AP Coach of the Decade honor in his name It’s still a bit strange not to see him on the sidelines for Vilanova this season.
2. Saint Peter’s Elite Eight (March 17-27): Simply one of the best stories in NCAA Tournament history. A streak of 15 eliminates a blue blood (Kentucky) in the first round. That alone places you in the pantheon of all-time March Madness fables. Then you go out and knock off two-loss Murray State to become the third No. 15 seed ever to reach the second weekend. And then? Oh, he just beat Purdue, a team with a top-five pick in Jaden Ivey, to become the first 15 in history to win three NCAA Tournament games. Remember, this is Saint Peter’s: one of the poorest programs in Division I, tucked away in Jersey City, New Jersey, playing in a smaller and worse gym than many high schools within a 90-minute drive of this campus. Shaheen Holloway used that career to catapult him into a job at his alma mater, Seton Hall, but we have to list the six players most responsible for giving us an all-time Cinderella story: KC Ndefo, Clarence Rupert, Matthew Lee, Daryl. Banks, Doug Edert and Hassan Drame. We will never forget the peacocks.
1. North Carolina Ends Coach K’s Final Four Run (April 2): Nothing else could top this list. Nearly a month removed from the embarrassment of getting run over in Cameron, the bracket gods gifted us with a game that instantly rose to the top of the list of greatest national semifinal matchups ever. And that was before UNC and Duke even tipped. North Carolina, from the 8 line, reached a 21st Final Four appearance, the most in history. Duke, a No. 2 seed, had some dramatic performances in leading Krzyzewski to his 13th Final Four, the most in history.
Remember, these programs have never met in the NCAA Tournament. Yet here they were, for the first time, doing it on the biggest stage. And with K’s impending retirement hanging in the backdrop of it all. Then we get to the actual game. How cool, seriously, how could something so hyped be so good? — was No team led by more than seven. constant tension (With a little Guster sprinkled in.) It looked like we were headed for a last-possession swing, until Caleb Love’s 3-pointer over Mark Williams fell with 24.9 left, giving UNC a four-point lead and throwing Love in the story of Carolina forever.
As the year ends, I can’t stop thinking. Krzyzewski announced in June 2021 that he would retire after the ’21-22 season. But if you told him before his last tour that he would end up losing his final home game against UNC and his career ending in the NCAA Tournament — the Final Four — at the hands of North Carolina, do you think that? would he have taken the business Had he known what awaited him, he might have signed up for two more years instead of one.
While it didn’t end with a shot to decide it at the buzzer, there has never been a Final Four game of greater consequence. The stakes are unmatched in sports history, really. When you consider that this is the best rivalry in college basketball, and that K is the winningest and arguably best coach in college basketball, we probably won’t see another national semifinal heavier than this one. Always. As long as they play in this NCAA Tournament, hopefully for hundreds of years, UNC-Duke will be on their level.
His 135-point outburst remains the highest high school total anywhere in the world. At the college level, there have been seven 100-point games, two of which were recorded by Clarence "Bevo" Francis from Rio Grande College and two from Jack Taylor from Grinnell College.
What team is most likely to win March Madness 2022?
The 10 most likely teams to win the 2022 men’s national title To see also : Netflix’s most popular movies and shows: what’s on trend June 30, 2022..
- Arizona Wildcats.
- Kentucky Wildcats.
- Kansas Jayhawks.
- UCLA Bruins.
- Tennessee Volunteers.
- Iowa Hawkeyes.
- Texas Tech Red Raiders.
- Arkansas Razorbacks.
Which team is the favorite to win March Madness? 1. Houston Cougars (600) The Houston Cougars have the best odds to win March Madness.
Who is most likely to win the March Madness 2023?
Houston (700, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM) They’ve been dominant all season, though it was their road win against Virginia, arguably the biggest win in college hoops last week, that cemented their status favorite
Who is favored to win NCAA Championship 2022?
Heading into the bowl season, Georgia remains the favorite to win the National Championship at -145 odds, per BetMGM. On the same subject : Prisco’s Week 16 NFL picks: Vikings take on Giants, 49ers take on Chiefs, Chiefs crush Seahawks. The Bulldogs enter the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed.
Who has the best defense in college basketball 2022?
| classification | team | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee | 0.739 |
| 2 | Houston | 0.757 |
| 3 | Rutgers | 0.788 |
| 4 | Miss State | 0.789 |
Who is the defending college basketball champion? Kansas is the most recent champion, having defeated North Carolina in the finals of the 2022 tournament. See the article : Olympic sports roundup: ASU football extends losing streak to three games – The Arizona State Press.
What is the most effective defense in basketball?
Man-to-man defense is the most common basketball defense at all levels and for a very good reason… It’s the best defense to develop and prepare your players to defend against anyone in any contest .
Who has scored 70 points in a game?
#1 Wilt Chamberlain Not only is he one of six players with a 70-point game in his NBA career, Chamberlain is also the only player in NBA history with multiple games of at least 70 points (he did it six times). . He also has the most 60-point games (32) and 50-point games (118) in NBA history.
Who scored 73 points in one game? Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for most points scored in an NBA game with 100. Kobe Bryant is second with 81 points. Other than Chamberlain and Bryant, the only players in NBA history to score 70 points in an NBA game are David Thompson (73), Elgin Baylor (71), David Robinson (71) and Devin Booker (70).
Did Kobe have a 70 point game?
Kobe Bryant played 1 game with 70 points.
Who has the most 70 point games in career?
Which NBA player has the most 70 point games? Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for most games with 70 or more points scored, with 6 of those games. Chamberlain’s highest scoring game saw him score 100 points on March 2, 1962 against the New York Knicks.
