SOME NEWS (NIT CHALLENGE SET), MOSTLY NOTES (FINAL FOURs STUFF)

 So much going on … so little time to dissect the coming-out party of women’s basketball … it says here … a temporary phenomenon – unless, of course, CAITLIN CLARK proves alarmists wrong about the un-welcome she’ll face in the WNBA … By the way, can anybody identify the teams in the men’s Final Four … now that your bracket is long-since busted? OK, so there’s defending champion Connecticut (and its slug-of-a-coach DAN HURLEY) … and North Carolina State (which made the field as ACC champion only because Virginia’s TONY BENNETT suffered brain-freeze in the semifinals) … and Purdue (thanks to a very big player who, at 7-4, will never remind anyone of three-times national player of the year 7-4 RALPH SAMPSON) … and, finally … uhh … time out while I check ….. ALABAMA? … The basketball playing Crimson Tide? Next thing you’ll tell me is … the Atlantic Coast Conference has been relegated to second-class and will be looking for a new commissioner … sooner than later.

Last things first: The Big East, Big 10 and Big 12 in 

conjunction with Fox Sports announced a new post-season 

basketball tournament March 31-April 6, 2025 in Las Vegas. 

The “College Basketball Crown” will have a 16-team field … 

featuring two automatic qualifiers from each of the sponsoring 

conferences … with “additional at-large participants” chosen 

by a selection committee. The games will be televised on Fox 

and FS1. To read the canned quotes from the commissioners –

 BRETT YORMARK (Big 12), TONY PETITTI (Big 10) 

and

 VAL ACKERMAN (Big East) – you might think the CBC 

was going to be bigger and better than anything other than the 

NCAA tournament … including the NCAA-run NIT … which 

had a large number of schools like St. John’s, N.Y., Providence, 

Oklahoma and Pittsburgh turn down invitations this year … in a 

fit of pique over being left off the 68-team NCAA field.

Then, a think tank,“College Sports Tomorrow,” reportedly has 

devised a so-called “Super League” for college football … 

removing the five major conferences from NCAA control as 

well as any other DI schools interested in joining them … at 

their own peril, we should point out … The proposal would 

feature 70 “perpetual” schools – including still-football-

independent Notre Dame as well as SMU (?) --that would be 

placed in seven divisions … and always be guaranteed at least 

one place each in the post-season playoffs. In addition, there 

would be an eighth division comprised of programs “from a 

second tier of 50-plus” schools who would operate like 

European soccer, with relegation each year. (How that will 

work is to be determined.) … Among those directly involved 

are Syracuse chancellor KENT SVYERUD and West Virginia 

U., president GORDON GEE and BRIAN ROLAPP from the 

NFL … They will pay the players directly, with none of that 

NIL or transfer portal stuff that has already changed college 

sports if not for the better … I could have sworn author

 JAMES A. MICHENER (“Tales of the South Pacific,” 

“Centennial,” “Chesapeake”) predicted this would happen in 

his book “Sports in America,” published in 1976 … Anyway, 

except for the notation about SMU, one of three new schools 

effective 2024-25, there was no mention of ACC participation 

in either of the above … Meanwhile, the conference and 

commish JIM PHILLIPS are being roasted big-time by 

Florida State and Clemson. FSU is suing the ACC -- and the 

conference, in turn, suing the Seminoles, who are trying to 

leave the brotherhood without having to pay as much as $500 

MILLION, according to some reports. Clemson, likewise, has 

gone to court for similar reasons. Both are upset other 

conferences, like the SEC, have much better deals with the 

television networks … State will never forgive Phillips for 

being snubbed by the football selection committee despite 

being undefeated … And both have an ally in North Carolina’s 

chancellor ... Phillips could be in trouble.

But, we digress, (No surprise there.) … CBS notes Big 10 big-

foot ZACK EDEY “has missed only 35 seconds in 

tonight’sgame,” and, darn, if he doesn’t throw air ball free 

throw … then blocks shot at other end of floor … and Purdue, 

one of two No. 1 seeds still remaining, wins 72-66 over No. 2 

Tennessee to reach its second F4 – first since 1980 … Last 

thought while thinking about Boilermakers’ 7-4, 305-pound 

senior center: He’s borderline unfair … a too-large athlete who 

doesn’t have normal, prerequisite skills to play DI basketball … 

yet overcomes it simply by being SO DAMN BIG … As a 

result, he burned the Volunteers with 40 points and 17 

rebounds.

Tennessee couldn’t (consistently) take advantage of Edey’s 

notable shortcomings, like getting the ball close to the basket 

then, rather than turn and score easily over a much-shorter 

opponent, take a dribble before shooting … and giving the 

defense an unnecessary opportunity to knock the ball away or 

tie him up … Curiously, the Vols didn’t bother with trying to 

get Edey in foul trouble … or so it seemed.

It’s likely many coaches who came to see Edey, a Canadian 

(Toronto) at IMF Academy in Florida ... excited by his 

gargantuan size, left not convinced he could evolve into a big-

time player. Too raw, etc. Boy, were they wrong … something 

Edey noted Sunday after laying waste to UT, still seeking its 

first F4 berth. … “There are so many coaches who looked over 

me. [Tennessee’s] RICK BARNES is a great coach … but he 

came to practices … and looked over me. That’s been the story 

of my life,” Edey said at the post-game press conference. 

“People have doubted me. They looked past me. They can’t do 

that any more.”

Good news for the rest of the Big 10: Edey previously said he 

won’t accept a fifth season of eligibility made possible by the 

COVID 19 pandemic … There will be no third straight national 

player of the year … To think he applied for the NBA draft 

following his sophomore campaign then thought better of it and 

withdrew his name.

FINALLY … the pressure will be on UConn’s PAIGE 

BUECKERStonight in the national semifinals against Iowa … 

after GENO AURIEMMA said she was a better player than 

Clark. Thanks a lot, coach … Four years ago Bueckers was top-

rated coming out of high school in a recruiting class that 

included future All-Americans No. 2ANGEL REESE (LSU) 

and No. 3 CAMERON BRINK of Stanford. Clark was No. 4. 

In an interview this week, she said she wasn’t recruited by 

UConn, saying she wished Auriemma had called her but 

probably wouldn’t have played for him regardless ... When they 

were freshmen, Clark, who originally committed to Notre 

Dame, was clearly overshadowed by Bueckers who was 

national player of the year … then had injury problems – 

missing all last year with a torn ACL – while Clark was 

developing into a consensus G.O.A.T of the women’s game … 

“I wish I hadn’t said Paige was the best player in the country.

 [Clark] is the best of all time,” Auriemma told reporters, 

adding, “I don’t want her to be mad against us.” … Yes, that’s 

the same Auriemma, winner of 11 national championships 

(none since 2016), with a winning percentage of 88.3, who 

came to Storrs, Conn., in 1985 after four years as an assistant at 

… Virginia.

Until next time …