Why This is the Best Day of the College Basketball Season: All Things CW

The NCAA Tournament is great, but for a true sports junkie there's nothing like the Thursday of Championship Week.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Mar 9, 2023 7:00 AM EST

In this story:

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 4

This is the day.

If you're a true sports fan there may be no better day during the calendar year. We're talking general greatness, you don't need to have a team playing to enjoy, a get up and watch-until-you-drop kind of day.

It's even better if you are a college basketball fan.

As terrific as the first couple of days and weeks are during the NCAA Tournament, when every game is win or go home, the Thursday of Championship Week is even better for sports junkies.

It has a little bit of anything, a whole lot of everything, and is kind of like the weather this time of year, all over the place.

The smaller conferences are winding down with their automatic berths, while the bigger ones are heating up. It's the day you want to stay home if you still have cable, and try to wear out the batteries on your remote control. Streaming? Yeah right. Maybe on secondary devices and your phone. The remote rules on this day.

Granted, the whole week is something special if for no other reason than every team plays, and each can make the NCAA Tournament. It might mean having to win up to five games, like with the staggered West Coast Conference bracket, and even with the worst teams there's the line from the movie Dumb and Dumber "So you're saying there's a chance ... "

True college basketball aficionados are still talking about Tuesday night's double-overtime semifinal of the Big Sky Tournament, with Montana State pulling out the 60-58 victory over Weber State. It then had to face Northern Arizona (12-22) last Wednesday with the automatic bid on the line, but that's the way brackets work sometimes.

The Lumberjacks had finished ninth in a 10-team league, yet they were one step away ... until the Bobcats ended their run 85-78 and celebrated after midnight CT.

Does that count as being part of Thursday? Sure, why not ...

But what takes this particular day to the next level are the games that really help determine who's in, and who's out, of the NCAA Tournament. It's when the bubble teams square off against each other, or a borderline team has to pull off an upset to improve its resume.

Take for example the SEC Tournament, being played up in Nashville. Few people were going to get excited about LSU vs. Georgia, or Ole Miss vs. South Carolina when those teams were probably playing for the opportunity to just play one more game.

But Auburn vs. Arkansas on Thursday? That might be the game of the tournament. Could the loser be out? Does Mississippi State have to beat Florida to get in? How desperate will the Bulldogs play?

Looking elsewhere, North Carolina vs. Virginia is considered a must win for the preseason No. 1 Tar Heels. Pitt against Duke. Is North Carolina State vs. Clemson a winner-takes-all game?

In the Big Ten, is Rutgers vs. Michigan essentially a play-in game? Does Penn State fall off the bubble with a loss to Illinois?

Does Providence get bounced if it loses to UConn? Is Oklahoma State in or does it have to beat Texas? How big is Arizona State vs. Southern California?

And it's like this all day long — 57 games, beginning at 10 a.m. — and for me the heart of March Madness.

Two final thoughts about the Thursday of Championship Week:

• It was three years ago (1,093 days) that the SEC announced it was canceling the remainder of its men's tournament in Nashville over COVID fears, just before Alabama was set to tip against Tennessee in the second round. The winner slated to face regular-season championKentucky.

How was that three years ago?

• It makes me think of Luke Ratliff. No one would love this more, and what Alabama basketball has accomplished this season, than the "Fluffopotamus."

Our passionate friend is truly missed.