Just as all those men’s and women’s college basketball teams are gearing up to roll into tournament play from this weekend into April, some post-season honors are being given to individual players. The biggest, literally, is Purdue’s Zach Edey, announced Tuesday as the unanimous top choice to head the men’s All-America Team, on all 62 ballots from members of the Associated Press. He won unanimously last season, as well. Zach’s 7’4″ tall and weighs about 300 pounds, very difficult for any team to defend. He’s joined on the All-America squad by fellow top vote-getters Dalton Knecht of Tennessee, RJ Davis from North Carolina, Houston’s Jamal Snead, and UConn’s Tristen Newton. Edey’s already the AP’s Big 10 Player of the Year for a second straight time. He may become the first man to repeat as national Player of the Year, since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson took that honor 3 straight years from 1981 thru ’83.
If you’re looking for something to feel good about, try this… Congratulations go to the Raiders of Wapahani High School in Selma, in Delaware County, right next to Randolph. Those young men went to Lafayette last Saturday, less than 48 hours after that EF-3 tornado had devastated much of their town, and won a semi-state basketball title, 60 to 49 in overtime, defeating Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian. And when the team got back to Selma, hundreds of people were in the streets, shooting fireworks to celebrate, and anxious to greet those young heroes. So on the 30th, a week from this Saturday, the Raiders will be in Indy’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse, playing for a state 2A championship, against Brownstown Central. Wow. Congrats to the Raiders, and all the best in that title game.
Remember, we’re collecting all kinds of items, and money too, to assist the tornado victims in that region. You can drop household items, clothes, and other items off at the Gillman Home Center in Batesville, or bring checks right here to the WRBI studio at 133 South Main Street, also in Batesville. Thank you, and Congrats again to that amazing team.
Looking more closely, yet quickly, at the college tournament seedings and matchups, we’re gonna have some big days and weeks ahead, as the college basketball season winds down, in its usual exciting way.
In the NCAA women’s tournament, the Hoosiers will host 3 other teams this weekend, for a 3rd straight year. Indiana’s seeded number 4 in the Albany 1 Region and will play 13th-seed Fairfield of Connecticut Saturday afternoon in Assembly Hall. They’ll be followed by 12th-seed Florida Gulf Coast against number 5 Oklahoma. The winners play each other Sunday and Monday. But those 4 teams aren’t in an easy bracket, because the winner among the 4 could run directly into unbeaten national Number 1 South Carolina in the next round.
That’s a lot for the women, just among 4 teams. The men in our part of the country also have some intriguing matchups, and in more than one tournament. The only local NCAA qualifier is Midwest Number 1 seed Purdue. They face the 16th seed Friday, which will be tomorrow night’s winner between Grambling and Montana State. The next round wouldn’t be a lot easier, in a match between the winner among those 3 teams, and either Utah State or Texas Christian.
Yep, suspense builds quickly among every few teams… and even turning to a whole ‘nother tournament, the NIT, where a bunch of area men’s squads are playing. One regional top seed is the Indiana State Sycamores, 28 & 7 on the season. They’ll have to get by a tough SMU squad tomorrow night, to go up against tonight’s winner between the Big 10’s Minnesota Golden Gophers and their plucky Indiana opponents, the 4th-seed Butler Bulldogs.
Next NIT bracket— the winner tomorrow between Bradley and Loyola of Chicago has to face the 2nd-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats, or the San Francisco Dons, who also play Wednesday night, and all 4 of those teams have won more than 20 games this season. The other side of the NIT is also exciting, with Xavier’s Musketeers calling “en garde!” to the 4th seeded Georgia Bulldogs tonight, at the same time as Ohio State’s Buckeyes, a 2 seed, face the Ivy League’s Big Red, Cornell.