First, you get three teams that had to drop out of their conference championship games (that I heard about) due to a positive test for Covid-19. I posted about Virginia, and I imagine most of you saw the news come out about Kansas. But the third one, while going more unnoticed, is really sad. That is because the third was MEAC regular season champion North Carolina A&T. Virginia and Kansas were going to be in the tournament no matter what – but the Aggies only path to the dance was to win the MEAC conference tournament. It is sad to watch any team possibly have their season end this way – but it is slightly more painful to watch a mid-major regular season champion go down like this.

Then, my Boilermakers fell down to #9 Ohio State by 18 points, missed 10 free throws in regulation, and somehow, still came back to tie the Buckeyes in regulation. Just to get out-played in the overtime period and have their Big 10 tournament come to an end. They probably weren’t going to beat Michigan – but would have loved to get a chance to play another game at the court where most of the tournament is going to be played against one of the teams who many believe can win it all. That would have been great experience for my Boilermaker team filled with young players (they have had 4 different freshmen win Big 10 Freshman of the Week honors).

No shame to losing to the #9 team in the country in overtime. And the Boilers will hear their name called on Sunday. But still rough to watch them lose.