Aboubacar Traore was the Big West Tournament Most Outstanding Player. | Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports He averaged 12.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks for Long Beach State last season Long Beach State’s junior wing Aboubacar Traore is one of the most unique players in the country. A native of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Traore played high school basketball in Canada and became an upcoming star in the National Preparatory Association (NPA) prior to his commitment to Long Beach State. After three years on the West Coast, he has gained some national attention in a year ..read more

The Aztecs were the only mid-major to reach the Sweet 16 In the final Other Top 25 of the 2023-24 season, San Diego State claimed the top spot. The Aztecs were the only mid-major team to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. They wrapped up the year 26-11 and were a 5-seed in the Big Dance. They knocked off UAB in the first round and Yale in the second before falling to eventual champion UConn in a rematch of last year’s national championship game. Utah State and Saint Mary’s were Nos. 2 and 3. The Aggies, an 8-seed, beat TCU in the first round before falling to No. 1 seed Purdue in the ..read more

Kiah Pieters/South Dakota Athletics A 2:30 a.m. flight, and a 6 a.m. bus ride made sure the women’s hoops team was there for their teammate. The South Dakota women’s basketball team had a wakeup call that blurred the lines between early and late a few weeks ago. The Coyotes hosted UC Riverside in the WNIT opening round home game that tipped at 7 p.m. local time in Vermillion on Friday, March 22. With adrenaline still running high after a 15-point win, a bus left campus at 2:30 a.m. for a trip that was entirely voluntary. But in the middle of the night, the entire team was on that bus – and for ..read more

Dru Joyce III is a native of Akron, Ohio, and served as associate head coach the last two seasons. | Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports Joyce III will take over right off the heels of Dukes’ trip to the NCAA Tournament With Duquesne’s run to its first NCAA Tournament since 1977, many headlines centered around it being the last dance for head coach Keith Dambrot, who announced right before March Madness that he was retiring at the end of the season. The Dukes won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1969 to extend the seventh year head coach’s career, but their run came to an end in the Round ..read more

Cam Spencer started his career at Loyola (Md). | Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports The graduate guard played with the Huskies as they dominated their way to the title Benches around the city of Baltimore are plastered with the catchphrase, “Greatest City in the World”. It’s that, a great city filled with 569,931 smiling faces and diehard sports fans. Nestled in the shadow of the NFL and MLB leading Ravens and Orioles is a small Patriot League school off Cold Spring Lane that has produced more stories than ever imagined following a tough 15-17 season. One where the Loyola (MD) Greyhounds were the ..read more

James Madison’s Terrence Edwards and Xavier Brown were key cogs in the Dukes’ wire-to-wire win over Wisconsin | Photo by Elsa/Getty Images So. Many. Sentences. (Apologies if any are run-on sentences we were a little liberal with it.) First Four Wagner’s transition offense led by Melvin Council Jr. was too much for Howard to overcome despite a valiant comeback. After a controversial inclusion in the field, Virginia proved the naysayers right with just 14 points in the first half of a blowout loss to Colorado State. Jimel Cofer’s offense fueled a furious Grambling second-half rally to force over ..read more

Joe Rondone-Arizona Republic While no mid-major squads made the national semifinals this year, there were some stout performances we can write about. Although there were no mid-major squads in this year’s Final Four (lame), we were represented well with former players. Each of the four teams had a shining star on Saturday and helped their programs make historic runs. NC State DJ Burns (Winthrop) The Big Darling of the Big Dance found a lot of success over three seasons at Winthrop, leading the Eagles to a Big South regular season title every season in Rock Hill. He was the Big South Freshman o ..read more

Kyla McMakin and Camree Clegg combined for 26 points in the WNIT championship game. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK The Billikens become the first A10 team to claim a postseason crown in women’s basketball EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Saint Louis led for more than 35 minutes in a 69-50 win over Minnesota to claim the program’s first WNIT championship Saturday. After a back-and-forth first six minutes, the Billikens scored 10 of the final dozen points of the first quarter to take a seven-point lead, which they did not relinquish. The advantage was a dozen at the half. The lead balloo ..read more

Aaron Estrada was named the CAA Player of the Year in consecutive seasons at Hofstra before heading to Alabama. | Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports Here are the players and head coaches who spent time at mid-majors before taking the sport’s biggest stage Last year at the men’s Final Four, we were all talking about not one, but two mid-majors reaching the national semifinals in San Diego State and Florida Atlantic. This year, we’re not so lucky as only one mid-major even reached the Sweet 16 (thanks again, Aztecs). While there are no mid-major teams in this year’s Final Four, several players and ..read more

Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports The Indiana State Sycamores end their dominant run in the NIT with a heartbreaking loss to the Seton Hall Pirates in Hinkle Fieldhouse The Sycamores have more than proved their case for being in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, a 79-77 loss to the Seton Hall Pirates ended their season without a trophy, and head coach Josh Schertz and his team will make the short trip back to Terre Haute with no awards to speak of. A run to remember, but not our night tonight#MarchOn | #Kaizen | #NIT2024 pic.twitter.com/sOQmPAew0F — Indiana State Basketball (@IndStBasketball ..read more