I don’t know about you, but yesterday? My soul was stirred.
In increasing order of cosmic invigoration:
Indiana State 76, Minnesota 64
How good was yesterday? Avila vs. Garcia, the game that sold out the Hulman Center and set a new high for 2024 NIT attendance, offered the least intrigue of any (NIT) contest all day. Indiana State doubled Garcia on the perimeter early, striking a different tone from earlier in the week against SMU and fulfilling Josh Schertz’s promise to slow down the inside game. On a bad shooting day from Isaiah Swope and against another tantalizingly medium performance from Robbie Avila, Ryan Conwell picked up the slack. The Sycamores withstood every charge, ending a great step forward for Ben Johnson’s Gophers and keeping the whole nation watching what Schertz’s every move. There is not a bigger story in the basketball world right now than Josh Schertz. Except for one associated with him, that is…
Tomorrow night.
Back in Terre Haute.
Jizzle James vs. Cream Abdul-Jabbar.
Utah 91, Iowa 82
The Utes and the Hawkeyes lived up to the hype, but Iowa could never claw back far enough to really be in the game. It was Gabe Madsen night in Salt Lake City, and the possibility of Utah being the last Pac-12 team ever playing basketball remains a real one. (Especially on the men’s side.)
Georgia 72, Wake Forest 66
Archetypical underdog Georgia against the giants of Winston-Salem. It must be tax season, because the Dawgs were written off. But with Hunter Sallis sidelined, Wake Forest never clicked, and the defensive surge from the Deacs in the second half wasn’t enough to pull Georgia within Andrew Carr’s reach. Justin Hill, have a day. The Bulldogs travel to Columbus for tomorrow’s game.
UNLV 79, Boston College 70
Kalib Boone wasn’t able to play on Wednesday against Princeton, and often in the NIT, that spells the end of the season. It’s rare to see a guy sit one game and play the next. Usually, once you sit, you’re sitting.
So, credit to the Boone brothers for being competitors. Credit to UNLV for being a fun and silly group of guys we did not realize are this fun and this silly. Great game last night in Sin City. The Runnin’ Rebels are headed back to New Jersey now, with Seton Hall in their sights, while Boston College will take its twenty wins and go home. Like Minnesota, great tasting finish for the Eagles. Might be an NIT favorite next year.
VCU 70, South Florida 65
All of the tension in the world in this one, especially through that second half. But VCU took every punch USF threw and Sean Bairstow made the free throws VCU needed him to make to get a second road win. The third will be the hardest yet, flying out to Utah, but that’s a state where Ryan Odom’s coached before. You can’t kill the A-10 quietly. It simply cannot be done.
**
The NIT Bracket Challenge scoreboard is updated through the second round. Congratulations to rbunga1 and Cormac’s Bracket on their success so far. 52% of entries still have their champion alive, so get ready for things to get out of hand. What a week we have ahead of us.
We’ll see you tomorrow, for the much-awaited eighth day of the 2024 NIT.
