Pitchin with Pritch: It’s getting to be tournament time

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The men’s NCAA regular basketball season is getting close to being over and conference tournaments will begin. 

Some teams will have the opportunity to make it to the Big Dance by way of winning their tournament.

And of course, there will be those teams that end the season with hopes of getting to the NIT. 

To most coaches, the NIT means “Not In the Tournament” and I would imagine that it still does in a lot of cases. 

But taking a look at some of the teams that have a chance, there are going to be some really important games in the making. You have a lot of teams that look like they are in the tournament no matter what. 

Some of the blue bloods of the NCAA, like Duke, are maybe making some people a little nervous by losing to teams like Wake Forest this late in the season. But, a decent record and a history of success will help some teams get picked. 

Creighton looks like a team that will make it unless there is a complete breakdown the last few games. 

I would say the way the Bluejays are playing right now, there are not a lot of teams that would want to face them on a neutral floor—maybe KU, Baylor, Kentucky etc. might but Creighton is playing really well right now. 

Creighton has some good wins going for them. They are for real. In their last 10 games they are 9 and 1 with a loss at Georgetown and then wins over Villanova at Villanova, a win over Seton Hall at Seton Hall, a win over Marquette at Marquette and then a win over Butler in Omaha all good wins when the selection committee is looking over schedules. 

The Big East is a tough conference and it shows in the number of teams that have made it to the tournament over the years. 

The Big East is at the top of list of conferences making the NCAA tournament. The Big East has produced more NCAA national champions than any conference in the last 10 years or so. The Big 10 is the next conference that has gotten teams to the tournament but it has been 20 years since a Big Ten has won a national championship. Part of the problem is that the Big Ten teams have not gone in as high seeds, so it makes it a little more difficult. 

The Big 12 has had its share of disappointing results in the tourney. In its 23-year history, the conference has had just one champion and that was KU back in 2008.

Regardless of who wins it or the conference it in which it plays, this marks the time of the year when the suspense of the NCAA basketball season starts to build. You have those teams that rise up and surprise people and those that disappoint their fans. Still it is a great time of the year.

The past week saw the boys high school state qualifying games start. PCS got to hold the final of a D1 game that was originally being played in Sidney. Paxton and Wauneta/Palisade were to two teams in the finals and the NSAA granted a change in venue to cut down on mileage for the two teams and allowed it to be played at PCS. 

PCS Activities Director Jeremy Struckman, on somewhat of a short notice, got all the needed people to handle putting on a game and the fans were treated to a pretty competitive final between Paxton and Wauneta-Palisade.

On paper, one would think that Paxton, with their size advantage, might run rampant over W-P but that wasn’t the case. W-P played very hard and the game was tied at halftime 34-34. Paxton ended up winning the game but it was a great game to watch because of the hustle and desire shown by the two teams.  If Paxton can make it to the state tournament, and I think they should, they could be one of the favorites in the field. They have size in 6-11 Blake Brewster, 6’7 Davin Helmer and 6-2 Dayo Kennedy. 

I was impressed with all of them but Kennedy could be the difference maker in a game. Paxton also has a very competent veteran coach in Jody Rhodes, so all the parts are in place for a run to a Class D1 title.

 

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