This is an opinion column.
____________________
Bill Self, self-basketball coach, took a look at his bench on Tuesday evening at the Marriott Center as if he had been transported by extraterrestrials in a distant solar system.
“What am I doing here?” said the gaze on his face. “”Do anyone please get away from this place. “”
Self is Kansas Jayhawks coach, a main team that started the n ° 1 classified season in the country. Ku played by Byu on Tuesday and lost 91-57. The Jayhawks have lost three of their last four games and are 3-7 from Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas is one of the Blue Bloods in university basketball, but these days, that doesn’t mean much.
Something is happening in university basketball sport. There is a movement under the foot and trembling in the hills and lair and the fields of the field. The fundamental powers of university basketball are cracking and crunched.
The last thing that university basketball fans in Alabama probably remember the Jayhawks was the way the referees bale them last year against Samford in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Teams like Ku benefit from doubt in March. It happens every year. In this new era of Nile pay checks, the Mighty Blue Bloods will need all the help they can get. Look around. Kansas collapses. Kentucky is ranked ninth in the SEC classification. The UNC, with a global record of 16-11, may not make the NCAA tournament.
What’s going on and is it good for sport?
As in university football, it all depends on who you ask.
I heard a lot of complaints concerning the zero revolution in the fall, but everyone in the south calmed this winter. For Auburn and Alabama, things have never been better.
The basketball season that takes place in the SEC is one of the biggest stories in sport this year. The dry was once dominated by Kentucky. On the recruitment track and on the field, everyone was playing for second place.
Remember when the native Alabama Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe both chose Kentucky? Elite players like cousins and bledsoe not only choose schools closer to their home, but they are now staying at school longer. The trend increases sport for those who have money.
In Auburn, the Johni Broome center and goalkeeper Denver Jones were both named national players of the week this season. In Alabama, Labaron Philon, from Mobile, chose the wave on Kansas and looks like one of the best young players in the country.
Auburn and Alabama should both be standard n ° 1 in the NCAA tournament. Maybe the self is right. Perhaps we live in a modified reality in a distant dimension.
I don’t complain. I just find it hard to believe it too. I mean, technically, Someone recalled all of this in 2020But nobody could have imagined that the tide and the tigers being the best teams in the country and becoming the first match one two in the history of dry basketball.
The stars have lined up, and in the spirit of fire, a great Bill Walton, I dig this new cosmic adventure.
The dry could get up to 13 teams in the NCAA tournament. Auburn is classified n ° 1 in the country. Alabama, which finally broke the final barrier of the four in 2024, is currently classified n ° 4. Florida is n ° 2, Tennessee is n ° 6 and Texas A&M is n ° 7.
And the dry, the king of culture of university football, is now more entertaining than the NBA. All players are paid, but they still play Defense.
There is a top 25 every day in the dry. Tuesday, the Mississippi State n ° 21 upset the n ° 7 Texas A & M 70-54. The two teams are locks for the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, Alabama ends its season with seven consecutive games against classified opponents. N ° 4 Alabama lost its second consecutive match on Wednesday. The result of 110-98 against Missouri n ° 15 felt a lot of 94-85 defeat against Auburn n ° 1 this weekend. Does the version of this season catch up with the crimson tide? On Saturday, once Kentucky, once Kentucky, is in Alabama (Tipoff 5 p.m.) and it is Big Blue who needs a signature victory to strengthen his post-season curriculum vitae.
From next Wednesday, Auburn ended the season with matches against four classified opponents: against No.24 Ole Miss, at n ° 17 Kentucky, at n ° 7 Texas A&M, then at home for the grand finale against Alabama March 8.
It will be the biggest basketball match in the history of Alabama, then, then … the dry tournament, which begins on March 12 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, will be one of the most competitive supports in history collegial athletics.
Call that the country of Oz. Bill Self will probably scratch his head on the selection on Sunday, but we already know the truth. The heart of university basketball is no longer in Kansas.
Be heard
Do you have a question for Joe? Do you want to remove something from your chest? Send Joe an email on what you think. Let your voice be heard. Ask for anything.
Joseph Goodman is the main sports columnist For the Alabama media group and author of the book “We want Bama: a season of hope and the manufacture of the ultimate team of Nick Saban.”