Meet the new boss...same as the old boss

Well, that's how I see this year's NCAA Division 1 women's basketball tournament finishing up.

The same four teams that won their regionals in the 2024-25 season's go-'round are back at it: UCLA, Texas, South Carolina, and eventual champion Connecticut...with the Huskies rolling to their 12th wonen's D-1 title (and first since the 2015-16 campaign...when Geno Auriemma's club pulled off a four-peat).

Right now (6:06 PM Central time), the semifinals are about to tip off...so, here goes with the predictions:

Connecticut over South Carolina, UCLA over Texas...then on 4-5-2026, the Huskies will be beat Cori Close's Bruins. Again.

Tomorrow, this season's NCAA Division 1 men's basketball tourney heads for the home stretch...and it doesn't look so cut-and-dried (at least to these eyes).

So...with that in mind...here's how I think that cycle will shape up:

Connecticut over Illinois, Arizona over Michigan...followed by...Dan Hurley's Huskies taking care of Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats on 4-6-2026.

Come to think of it, any one of those four D-1 men's teams can be the final club to cut the nets down.

Anyway...I hope your favorite men's team and your favorite women's team win!

The most unlikely champion

It's been a while since I last posted anything about my version of the NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs. (That's what happens when you're asked to take on different things in life...such as a couple of GoFundMe projects.)

Anyway...I actually DID play the 2023 version, and I've been itching to post that. Well, here's how it turned out:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Boise State (24) 63, James Madison (9) 44/Oklahoma (16) 38, Penn State (17) 24/Iowa (20) 27, Miami (OH) (13) 14/Louisville (21) 38, Tulane (12) 20/Mississippi (19) 45, Toledo (14) 31/Notre Dame (22) 36, Troy (11) 13/Missouri (18) 48, SMU (15) 34/Oregon (10) 42, North Carolina State (23) 27

SECOND ROUND: Washington (1) 63, Boise State 38/Oklahoma 24, Ohio State (8) 14/Texas (5) 34, Iowa 10/Florida State (4) 38, Louisville 34/Alabama (6) 28, Mississippi 17/Notre Dame 42, Liberty (3) 21/Georgia (7) 45, Missouri 31/Oregon 35, Michigan (2) 28

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Washington 45/Florida State 37, Texas 21/Notre Dame 38, Alabama 21/Georgia 28, Oregon 17

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Florida State 42/Notre Dame 45, Georgia 37

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Oklahoma 41, Notre Dame 24

MVP: Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel...in the title game, he went 16 for 25 for 232 yards and three touchdown passes. Not only that, but he also ran 24 times for 163 yards to lead all rushers that night. What made the 2023 Sooners the most unlikely of the "shoulda-coulda-woulda" champions?

They were the lowest seeds EVER to win it all in these playoffs. (UCLA was seeded 13th out of 16 entries when it won it all in 1988...the same seeding USC drew when the Trojans won the 2003 playoffs, two years after the 1-A playoffs went to a 24-team format.) Oklahoma wrapped up its time in the Big 6/7/8/12 by winning these 1-A playoffs for the first time since the Sooners three-peated in 1985-87. Funny thing: This time around, Michigan had a chance to duplicate the Sooners' 1980s effort...but in the second round, Oregon's Bo Nix took matters into his own hands (23-30-217-2 TD passes plus 16 rushes for 88 yards and 2 TD runs) to end the Wolverines' two-year reign in these playoffs.

I used Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football to do these playoffs...and now, I want to slow down to see just what the 2024 D-1-A playoffs would've looked like.

It's that time again...

It's that time when both NCAA Division 1 basketball tournaments come down to four teams each.

Got to admit...I've slacked off a bit since last year when it comes to follow college hoops (2025 has been a year to deal with health issues, among other things)...but I'm still a fan.

I'm typing this in the middle of a game...but I'm going out on a limb to make predictions, anyway.

Women's: South Carolina over Texas, then Connecticut over UCLA...then the Gamecocks taking care of the Huskies on 4-6-2025.

Men's: Auburn over Florida, followed by Duke over Houston...with the Blue Devils stopping the Tigers on 4-7-2025.

Okay...now it's back to watching the games to find out what'll really happen.

Hope your favorite teams are still standing!

Let's just wait and see what happens

Now that the College Football Playoff has begun its new phase as a twelve-team affair, I decided to go ahead and check out the four first-round games that took place this past weekend. Had the CFP still been a four-team event, my answer would've been a resounding "NO!"

I wasn't really surprised at how the first four games turned out...but quite a few people who commented online, from casual fans to NCAA experts, were ticked off at how easily Notre Dame took Indiana down (27-17) and how Penn State exposed SMU (38-10). Texas' 38-24 win over Clemson and Ohio State's 42-17 humiliation of Tennessee rounded out the weekend.

Some called the results- the first CFP games ever played on college campuses- lackluster. Others labeled the whole thing disappointing. And then came the calls denouncing the CFP committee for letting the Hoosiers (11-1 before meeting the Fighting Irish) and the Mustangs (11-2 coming into their date with the Nittany Lions) in there.

To those critics, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina (each team 9-3 on the eve of the 2024 bowl season) would've been better off in this year's CFP than SMU and Indiana.

I don't agree with those critics...and I don't care if the Crimson Tide, Rebels, and Gamecocks are all part of the same SEC that Georgia and newcomers (and ex-Big 12 foes) Texas and Oklahoma are in.

Rhett Lashlee's Mustangs (the 2023 AAC champs before joining the ACC and almost beating Clemson in this year's conference title game) deserved to get in. So did Curt Cignetti's Hoosiers...a team that went 3-9 last year under Tom Allen, now Penn State's defensive coordinator.

The two clubs did what teams are called on to do. They won...even if the naysayers are troubled with the lack of pedigree.

While Penn State gets ready to take on Boise State on 12-31-2024, Notre Dame prepares to play Georgia on 1-1-2025, Texas bones up for its 1-1-2025 date with Arizona State, and Ohio State works to iron out the kinks in a 1-1-2025 rematch with Oregon, lots of people (fans and pundits alike) are proposing solutions to tailor the next CFP to their liking. Some want to see reseeding happen after the first round...some want to eliminate giving the four biggest conference champs first-round byes...others want the CFP knocked back down to four squads (or even two!).

Know what I'd like to see?

I'd like to see the NCAA take control of the CFP...and then make it either a sixteen-team event or a twenty-four-team tilt. [With two dozen clubs in there, maybe all Division 1-A (okay, FBS) leagues can get an automatic bid for their champions.]

Now...it's your turn. What changes would you like to see to make the current format better?

In the meantime, let's just let this year's historic version unfold.

Repeat! Repeat!

Nope...I haven't abandoned my "shoulda-woulda-coulda" NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs, where I run a 24-team field through Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football game.

Something special happened with the 2022 playoffs...and here goes:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Clemson (9) 31, Toledo (24) 7/Kansas State (16) 34, Oregon State (17) 15/Washington (13) 52, UCLA (20) 28/Alabama (12) 27, Cincinnati (21) 19/Florida State (19) 52, South Alabama (14) 30/Tennessee (11) 42, Coastal Carolina (22) 21/Oregon (18) 45, Utah (15) 30/Penn State (10) 41, Fresno State (23) 21

SECOND ROUND: Michigan (1) 38, Clemson 21/Kansas State 42, Troy (8) 21/Washington 49, USC (5) 35/Alabama 44, Ohio State (4) 41/Tulane (6) 48, Florida State 45/TCU (3) 50, Tennessee 35/Oregon 52, UTSA (7) 28/Georgia (2) 31, Penn State 24

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Michigan 34, Kansas State 32/Alabama 59, Washington 31/TCU 49, Tulane 27/Georgia 31, Oregon 14

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Michigan 44, Alabama 28/Georgia 44, TCU 33

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Michigan 55, Georgia 49 (2 OT)

PLAYOFF MVP: Michigan RB Blake Corum

HIGHLIGHTS: FIRST ROUND- Will Shipley's 174 rushing yards and two TDs help Tigers ground Rockets; Wildcats' 335 rushing yards and seven sacks doom Beavers; five TD tosses by Michael Penix Jr. (on 26-34-385 passing) let Huskies advance over Bruins; Jahmyr Gibbs' five-yard TD run with 4:53 to go in third quarter wins it for Crimson Tide; Seminoles outgain Jaguars, 626-329 (484 yards belong to FSU's Jordan Travis); Hendon Hooker runs for 199 yards and four TDs (and throws for 349 yards and two scores) to lift Volunteers; Bo Nix throws for three scores and runs for another three to awaken Ducks after they trail Utes, 10-0; Kaytron Allen's three ground scores lead Nittany Lions to victory.

SECOND ROUND- Wolverines boot Tigers out on J.J. McCarthy's two rush TDs and two air TDs; Wildcats score 35 unanswered points after spotting Sun Belt's Trojans a 7-0 lead; Huskies' two fourth-quarter TDs oust Pac-12's Trojans in a game where Penix and USC's Caleb Williams fire four air scores apiece; Will Reichard's 53-yard field goal with no time left in the fourth quarter sidelines Buckeyes; Valentino Ambrosio boots the game winner from 34 yards out with 56 ticks to go in the fourth to lift Green Wave; Max Duggan's five TD runs (25 trips for 154 yards- twice as many ground yards as Vols) team up with Horned Frogs' eight sacks of Hooker to send Vols home; Nix' three TD passes and three TD runs foil Roadrunners; Stetson Bennett (two TD passes) and Kenny McIntosh (two TD runs) key Bulldogs' second-half comeback.

QUARTERFINAL ROUND- Corum's third TD and Donovan Edwards' second one lift Wolverines...who thwart a K-State two-point conversion try that would've tied the game with 50 seconds to play in regulation; Tide's Bryce Young outdoes Penix by running for three scores and throwing for another three (and going 23-24-313 in the air department); Frogs' strong defense (seven sacks) and Duggan's strong running (two TDs by land and two by air) overcome Green Wave; Bennett's three air scores (and rush TD) shoot down Ducks.

SEMIFINAL ROUND- McCarthy throws for three TDs and runs for another to let Wolverines advance; Bennett accounts for six scores (throws for three and runs for three) to set up a rematch of the 2021 title test.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME- Bennett and McIntosh help Dawgs rack up a 35-21 lead with 12:28 left in the fourth...but McCarthy and Corum lead Wolverines' comeback. Makari Paige's 34-yard scoop-and-score gives Michigan its first lead...but Bennett's 28-yard TD toss to Ladd McConkey (and the PAT) force overtime. Corum's eight-yard TD run makes Michigan the first team to win back-to-back "shoulda-coulda-woulda" D-1-A playoffs since USC in 2003-04.

Can't wait to find out if the Wolverines pulled off a three-peat in 2023!

Vive la difference!

Great to see some different teams than the usual ones win regionals in this season's NCAA Division 1 men's and women's basketball tournaments.

No Number One seeds left at the moment in the NCAA D-1 men's tourney (Alabama, Purdue, Houston, and defending champion Kansas all went down before the regional finals)...and two remaining in the NCAA D-1 women's tourney (Virginia Tech and last season's champ, still-unbeaten South Carolina).

The Hokies and Gamecocks spearhead a women's D-1 Final Four that includes a Louisiana State team that hadn't won a regional final since 2008...and an Iowa squad making just its second trip to the women's D-1 Final Four. (The first happened in 1993.)

Now...how about the D-1 men's side? Three teams in the men's D-1 Final Four for the first time ever!

Two of those first-time teams (Florida Atlantic and San Diego State) taste it up tomorrow...when Miami (FL) takes on one of its old rival from its Big East days, Connecticut. That's right...a University of Connecticut basketball team made the Final Four after all.

Dan Hurley's...not Geno Auriemma's. So...2022-23 is the first season the Huskies' men's team got to a Final Four since 2014 and the first campaign where the Huskies' women's squad got left out of a Final Four since 2007. And, here in 2022-23, not a single Number One seed among the men's D-1 regional semifinalists...a first. All right...I'm going to try some predictions about the last team standing in each D-1 NCAA tourney this season. WOMEN: Louisiana State over Virginia Tech, South Carolina over Iowa...and then on Sunday, an all-SEC final in which Dawn Staley's Gamecocks make it back-to-back titles.

MEN: Florida Atlantic over San Diego State, Connecticut over Miami (FL)...with Hurley's squad cutting down the nets late Monday night for its first title since 2011.

The watchdogs chalk it all up to the transfer portal...something that's redistributed the talent in both women's and men's Division 1 hoops. (You know what I say? Right on for the portal!)

I'm going to be watching...hope you'll be watching, too.