This has been the most unusual college basketball season of all time.
Start with the pandemic. The pauses. Limited attendance or no fans at all. Jaw-dropping scores. Various blue bloods struggling to win games. And it will be topped off with an NCAA Tournament played entirely in one state — Indiana.
With that in mind, here are 20 crazy things that have happened in this crazy college basketball season (so far) in random order:
— 1. After an 18-day layoff, Michigan State managed to score just 37 points in a 30-point loss at Rutgers on Jan. 28 after having beaten the Scarlet Knights by 23 on Jan. 5.
— 2. DePaul did not play its first game until Dec. 23, nearly a month after the college basketball season officially began. In total, the Blue Demons had 10 games postponed or canceled before playing. Wild first year for DeWayne Peevy, UK’s former associate athletic director who is now the AD at DePaul.
— 3. In its first season of Division I basketball, Bellarmine is tied for the lead of the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 10-2 record.
— 4. Boston University and Holy Cross played a game on Jan. 5 in which both teams wore masks. Boston University won 83-76.
— 5. Belmont is 24-1 overall and 18-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference and may not make the NCAA Tournament if the Bruins don’t win the conference tournament.
— 6. Alabama not only leads the SEC at 13-1, but scored 115 points against Georgia and 105 points against LSU.
— 7. The Chicago State Cougars opened the season 0-9, then on Dec. 23 canceled the rest of their schedule.
— 8. Texas teammates Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones got into a confrontation during a timeout and had to be pulled away from each other as the Longhorns blew a 19-point lead and lost to West Virginia on Feb. 20.
— 9. North Carolina players Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were caught on video at a maskless party after the Tar Heels beat Duke. The players were suspended and UNC’s game two days later against Miami was postponed.
— 10. With COVID-19 cancellations limiting North Carolina home games, the school used Twitter to advertise for an opponent to come to the Dean Dome between Feb. 16-18. Northeastern accepted, and lost 82-62 on Feb. 17.
— 11. More scary than crazy: Florida’s sophomore star Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the floor during the Gators’ 83-71 loss at Florida State on Dec. 12. Johnson spent 10 days in the hospital but is now back with the Gators as a student coach with hopes of playing next season.
— 12. Will Wade is still the coach at LSU.
— 13. Both the Vanderbilt and Duke women’s basketball teams discontinued their seasons not long after starting. Duke played four games. Vanderbilt played eight.
— 14. Close to home. Morehead State won 12 straight games and probably still won’t win the OVC. (See No. 5 and Belmont.)
— 15. After canceling its entire season, the Ivy League will for the first time allow graduate students to play in 2020-21.
— 16. On Dec. 19, coming off a 17-day COVID-19 pause, Louisville lost 85-48 at Wisconsin. On Feb. 20, coming off an 18-day COVID-19 pause, Louisville lost 99-54 at North Carolina.
— 17. Kansas State suffered its worst loss in program history, trounced 107-59 by Baylor, on Jan. 27 in Waco. Baylor led at one point 41-7. And Kansas State wasn’t even coming off a COVID-19 pause. Plus, Baylor had beaten K-State 100-69 in Manhattan on Dec. 19.
— 18. Just 8-5, Iona canceled the remainder of Rick Pitino’s first regular season as coach because the Gaels do not have enough available players, thanks to COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. Iona does hope to play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament, starting March 8.
— 19. After Duke’s Jalen Johnson opted out of the rest of the season on Feb. 15, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim criticized the freshman, saying that the Blue Devils were a better team without him, before admitting he had not seen Johnson play with Duke this season.
— 20. Kentucky is 8-13.
