The latest season of college basketball had it's high points and low points, it featured numerous upsets, games that will go down in history, and strong seasons by a group of seniors. An article by SB Nation (linked here) explains just how turbulent the season was, with five number one ranked teams falling by February, which hasn't happened since 1949. As an Iowa sports fan I had first hand experience with this, because three of the #1 ranked teams lost in the state of Iowa. Northern Iowa beat #1 North Carolina at home very early in the year, then Iowa took down #1 Michigan State in Carver Hawkeye Arena, and finally Iowa State took down #1 Oklahoma inside a very loud Hilton Coliseum. In fact the entire college basketball season was good for the state of Iowa, from each team beating a #1 team, to all the teams making the tournament and making it past the first round.
Then there was the unforgettable games, the most important one being the National Championship game between North Carolina and Villanova. The last couple minutes of that game will be remembered for a long time, and especially the last 10 seconds. With very improbable game tying shot by UNC guard Marcus Paige, to the game winner as the clock expired by Villanova's Kris Jenkins. The other game I was thinking of was the first game between Oklahoma and Kansas, where Kansas won in triple overtime 109-106. It really wasn't fair for one team to win the game because the game just seemed like it would never going to end. There was also a large number of first weekend upsets and close finishes, there was St Joe's barely outlasting Cincinnati, Yale beating Baylor, UNI hitting a half court shot to beat Texas, Wisconsin hitting a buzzer beater to beat Xavier, Middle Tennessee beating Michigan State, and many others that I didn't list.
Then there was the great senior leadership shown by players such as Denzel Valentine, Perry Ellis, Georges Niang, Jarrod Uthoff, Wes Washpun, AJ Hammons, Brice Johnson, Marcus Paige, Buddy Hield, Malcolm Brogdon, and the list goes on and on. These players brought a great four years to college basketball, and there will certainly be a different landscape next year. In fact the next year will probably be a more freshman centered season. High profile players like Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, and Frank Jackson all heading to Duke, plus the return of Grayson Allen, Duke will probably be one of the better teams in the nation. Along with Kentucky gaining and entire line-up of 5-star prospects, and Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf both heading to UCLA. Plus the top prospect in the nation, Josh Jackson, has yet to decide where he will go.
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