2023-24 Post Season Scoreboard Sponsored by PRO Keds

Related to the post season...ratings for both men's and women's NCAA tourney are at or near record highs. I know the game is changing and its certainly different from our grand father's version of NCAA college basketball (with the portal, NIL, transfer rules, etc) but...at least at the high levels and related to March madness people are loving it and tuning in more than ever. The end is not nigh for college basketball.

Be interesting to see what the actual attendance numbers are. People watching on TV is great, but that doesn't earn the individual schools any ticket money or ancillary income. Attendance at Oregon State this year was abysmal, and I believe it was down throughout the Pac-12, except for Arizona, which always at least sells out (not sure how many no-shows).

And now OSU is getting slammed by the portal. Hard to develop any connection to anyone when they play one or two years and then bail. 

I watched a lot of TV games this year played in half-filled arenas, or less. The highlights from Callihan looked as if they were playing in an empty gym. 

The Sunday box score said 18,577.

The Friday box score said 18,574.

Score for April 4, 2024.

Seton Hall 79, Indiana State 77. In one of the best games of the season, Seton Hall rallied to take a two point win and the NIT championship over Indiana State at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It was basically a home game for ISU, with the sell out crowd of 9100 made up of roughly 90% Sycamore fans, based on my observation.

It was a battle all the way through. The game was tied at 38 at the half and the Pirates won the second half 40-38. It was also a game of runs; The Sycamores scored the last 11 points of the first half to draw even. The second half was a battle back and forth, and an 8-0 run by Indiana State game them a 77-70 lead with 2:54 left. The arena was rocking, and it looked like the game was over. The Pirates responded by closing the game on a 9-0 run of their own, taking the lead with 20 seconds left on a layup by Dre Davis, a native of...Indianapolis.

As the buzzer sounded as the Sycamores missed two shots late, Seton Hall celebrated and Indiana State collapsed. Both teams wanted that game bad.

The NIT caught a break with Indiana State making the Final Four, guaranteeing big crowds for the games at Hinkle. We'll see what attendance is like in the coming years.

Scores for April 6, 2024. The championship game is set. State Farm Arena was rocking.

Purdue 63, North Carolina State 50. If you would have told me that the Boilermakers were going to score 63 points Saturday night, I would have assumed that they had lost to NC State. This was an ugly game, with both teams missing at the rim and clanking open jumpshots. DJ Burns was held to 8 points and 4 rebounds, while Zach Edey put up 20 and 12, while dishing out four assists. The Wolfpack put up a good fight, but their magic run finally came to an end.

UConn 86, Alabama 72. Despite the final margin, this was a close game and the Huskies looked somewhat beatable. It was a four point game at the break, and it was a 6 point game with 7:30 left in the second half. The Tide hit 8 of their first eleven threes, but could never build the lead you might expect behind that kind of shooting. UConn kept doing what UConn does, and the Tide faded late.

Purdue and Connecticut meet on Monday for the title.