Men's NCAA Final - SDSU vs UConn - 9:20 pm EDT on CBS
The college basketball season concludes tonight when SDSU (5) and UConn (4) meet in the men's final. The scheduled tipoff is 9:20 pm EDT - CBS will broadcast the game. UConn is favored by 7.0.
- Will you watch the game?
- Will you cheer for one of the teams - if so, which one and why?
- Any perspectives on the game, in advance, you'd like to share?
I'll be cheering for SDSU - the ties to Dutcher / Fisher are a big part of that. Beside that, I don't have a horse in the race. I do hope the officiating is balanced - called the same way - both ways - for the entire game.
It seems this year reflected the direction in hoops. The transfer portal plays a factor. A lot of young talent moving to the NBA with "one or two" and done. The lingering effect of Covid with additional year(s) of eligibility and experienced team rosters creating upsets throughout the tourney. Overall, parity resulted during the season and is reflected by a four and five seed facing each other in the final.
Enjoy...
I think Yukon wins easily.
I agree. Double digit win IMO.
I say go Aztecs! But, Jonathan is already celebrating.
Monday night late is a hard 'no' for me.
Final Four should be a Thursday-Saturday thing.
No championship game should ever be on a Sunday or Monday night (looking at you, NFL)
I agree but it will never be a Thursday-Saturday thing like the super bowl will never be on a saturday.
Its not about fans. Its about money. All the fans that attend these games are there so late they have to stay another night at the hotel and spend more money.
As far as TV goes if my team isnt playing in a title game at freaking 10:00 on a monday night then I'm not watching it.
BB - though your point is fair - if the women's final four was a "Thursday / Saturday", and the men's was "Friday / Sunday" - the hotel nights wouldn't change.
Instead of staying an extra night after the game - the fans attending would probably still do that. The difference is - they would arrive a day earlier.
And, the football championship is a Monday night game. Perhaps, like others - I'd prefer it be played on a Saturday evening. The viewership might be higher on Mondays - which, as we all know, is what fuels the dollars behind college athletics.
If the game were on a Saturday people would get a hotel the night before. Plus there is no way 40,000k hotel rooms are sold for half of the fans in attendance, and even so that nothing when compared to tv viewership. Why do you think every league bends over backward for tv deals, we added Rutgers for nothing more than the tv market, it wasn’t to try to get ticket and hotel sales
What time are the semi final games tipping off on Thursday? Unless they tip off at 6 eastern (unlikely), you run into the same issue as tonight because the second semi would begin after 9:30 like the women's game did Friday night..
1530 -
I assume you're referencing the Frozen Four. There are two games on Thursday:
- Minnesota vs Boston University - scheduled to start at 5:00 pm EDT, followed by
- Michigan vs Quinnipiac - scheduled to start at 8:30 pm EDT.
The final is scheduled for Saturday, with an 8:00 pm EDT start.
The games will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Enjoy... Go Blue!
Sorry, I was asking that in the hypothetical Final Four suggestion by Super Jay that it should be on a Thursday/Saturday, what time are you scheduling these basketball games that doesn't run into the same issue of a late ending game on a work night?
You may be right, but this isn't new. The title game has been played on a Monday night now for 50 years.
Thursday night is a hard no for many.
I hope the Hurleys lose in the most excruciating ways possible until their coaching careers end
I have not watched as much of the tournament this year as I normally do. Part of that (probably most of it) is just due to Michigan not being in the tournament at all. But I will not be watching tonight.
Mostly because its a 9:20pm tip-off, and I hate that the CFP title games do the exact same thing. Start the game extremely late on a work night. That makes absolutely no sense. I've got a 2.5 year old and a three month old at home. By the time 8:45-9pm rolls around, I don't care to do anything else but lie down and zone out. I'd be much more in favor of moving the semi-finals to Friday night and the title game to early Sunday evening, and I'm sure they'd do that if the almighty dollar agreed to it. But I'm sure it doesn't otherwise they would've done it by now.
Another reason I'm not watching is because it just seems like a foregone conclusion that UConn is not just going to win this thing, but roll in doing so. They've beaten everyone by double digits and in some cases these games were absolute beat-downs. I'm not staying up until midnight to watch that.
I don't really care if they win or lose. This isn't MSU, OSU or Wisconsin in the title game so it makes no difference to me. I do think it would be cool to see SDSU win its first title, but I don't care if they don't. It makes no difference to me that there is some distant Michigan connection on their coaching staff. I don't dislike the guy, but I just don't care enough to be disappointed if they lose.
Only question I have is if UConn wins tonight, do they (or should they already?) belong in the same breath of bluebloods as Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas and UCLA? Maybe they already should be. I think they have four titles in the last twenty years, and winning tonight makes five, but it does seem like they're left out of that discussion more often than not.
Interesting side note to that - if they win tonight they will have won those five with three different coaches.
it is an interesting question. I think that they are left out of the true blue-blood discussion for a couple of reasons:
1.) They have no history of real success prior to Calhoun in the 90s
2.) Even during the past 30ish years, they have had some really low valleys as a program...so they aren't really a year in, year out contender
Basically, they seems to do an unbelievable job of maximizing their opportunities and making unlikely runs.
UConn sometimes stuck me, in that regard, as the college basketball equivalent of the New York Giants in Eli's heyday. A team that wasn't bad by any stretch, but you didn't look at them and say "Yep that is an elite team, top to bottom, with legitimate championship aspirations." Then they sneak into the postseason, get hot at the right time, press all the right buttons at the most critical moments, and win it all.
And hey, that's part of the game. Teams make runs, or one guy has a 6-7 game stretch where he just freaking plays on fire and is nigh unstoppable. But UConn has this uncanny ability to do it on a consistent basis. And not just make their way to the Elite Eight and bow out. They freaking go all the way.
What's UCLA done since the early 80s? 5 Final Fours and 1 championship over the last 40+ years? That's not nothing, but nobody screams Florida is a blue blood and they've had a better run. And UCLA has had some shit years along the way also. Is Indiana still a blue blood? They haven't won it all in 35 years and I think only have two Final Fours since they last won it in 1987.
IF they win tonight, five championships in 25 years is damn impressive. Only UCLA, Kentucky, and UNC will have won more.
Huh. The only times Indiana has made the Final Four since 1987, I happened to be in Rupp Arena the weekend they made it in, and I don't visit Rupp very often these days.
Seeing a Rupp crowd cheer for Indiana, like they did in 2002, is still one of the strangest sports memories I have. But Knight was gone by then and they beat Duke, so it was all fine.
Something probably stranger than that was 2013 when Louisville and Duke both played at Rupp. Kentucky fans were sick to their stomachs both of those teams were playing in their house.
That was the game the Louisville player snapped his leg and they ended up beating Duke, and we all know what happened after that.
I think it's been clear for a few weeks that UConn is the best team in the tournament. SDSU has been a great story and fun to watch, but their chances in this one probably rest on UConn having a bad shooting night.
I'll definitely be watching.
I picked UConn to win the tournament (I grew up there), so I have a huge vested interest in both my bracket and my non-Michigan fandom.
I'll probably DVR it and watch it Tuesday at a more normal hour (two 6 month olds will do that to you).
I usually just click over at the end for One Shining Moment.
I love your new avatar
UCONN has looked really good...feels like they should win handily. Personally I'm just rooting for a good game most of all. I would prefer to see SDSU win, but i won't be devastated either way.
I will probably watch and cheer for a blowout so I can go to bed. 9:20pm on a Monday night is ridiculous.
Go Aztecs! Although, I think UConn wins it fairly comfortably (10-13 pts).
I'll probably watch, although as an east-coaster I'm not in love with the 9:20 tipoff.
San Diego State is a winner just by getting to the final game! As is UConn too. What an unlikely matchup. Hope that SDSU wins since I spent my high schools years there (La Jolla) and even attended a summer school class there one year. Also for Fisher and Dutcher, no question.
My question is: no matter which team wins, do they deserve being ranked #1 in the final poll?
That is the best thing about tournaments/playoffs. No polls needed.
Earlier this season, UConn worked their way up the polls... I think at one point as high as #2. Then they had a mid-season slump (lost something like 6 of 8 in conference play), before recovering to finishing strong. So I think they were under-seeded and definitely deserve top ranking if they finish with a win tonight.
But I am admittedly biased. Aside from Michigan, they are the only NCAAM men's team I follow and root for.
I already won my bracket with SDSU winning Saturday night, so I'll check Tuesday morning to see who won. I am pulling for Dutcher, but I can't stay up past 10PM for the game unfortunately.
Whomever Kim Mulkey is rooting for I am rooting against.
I'm a night owl and even I think that is a late tip off time.
If SDSU somehow pulls off the upset, I win a pretty large pool. So of course I'll be rooting hard for them but I'm not very hopeful.
Connecticut looks unstoppable. They can beat you down low, or at the 3 line. They play excellent defense. They are super deep, so tired legs and/or foul trouble aren't a thing. The only way I see SDSU winning is if they somehow get a ton of offensive rebounds and get a bunch of 3s to fall while UConn has an off-shooting night. Even then, it's going to be a huge uphill battle for them.
Will watch. And hope neither team gets a tilted whistle like yesterday's affair.
This is gonna be a boring game, most likely. SDSU doesn't have enough offense to win.
(which is too bad)
If it's even close, I will be surprised.
I will be watching and rooting for SDSU because of the ties to Fisher/Dutcher. No perspectives other than UConn will probably win and the announcers will be painful to listen to.
Id like SDSU to win. First title. Michigan connection. UConn has had enough success the Hurleys are kind of annoying
But I think UConns probably gonna throttle them. SDSUs offense just looks so janky at times and UConn is hot. 80-57
Rooting for SDSU, both for the underdog narrative and the Michigan connection, but I don't have high hopes for them. Their defense is elite but they struggle to score. I think it will be one of those games where UConn is always up about 10 points - too close to turn off the TV but not close enough to actually be exciting.
The tipoff is too late for me to watch to the finish, so I'll DVR it and watch on Tuesday if it was an interesting game.
I'd rather SDSU win, but UConn reminds me of the Jay Wright Villanova teams with their versatility and fundamental soundness. I will be satisfied with a competitive affair and no refshow.
Never been a fan of UConn, because I didn't care much for anyone in the old Big East and thought the program was dirtier than average. Not strong-ass offer dirty, but dirtier than average.
But my GF went there for a year, and she almost cares about this kind of thing. SDS has some weak connections to Michigan, so I guess it's a wash. Just give me a good game.
As a former ref, I start by looking at the coaches. If one of them is more of a "screamer/yeller" then I weight that heavily. Add in the Michigan connection to Fish/Dutch and the fact that UConn always seems to win when they get a really favorable draw, and it's Aztecs all the way.
Go Aztecs!! God I hate the Hurley family and hope Dan shits his pants while complaining about all the imaginary slight his team gets!
Fell little sorry for you folks out East, 9:20 start time.
damn, only 45+ comments on the title game. Shows how many of us were invested. Yeah, I know it wasnt the main thread.
