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BOB'S CORNER: We're closing in on March Madness and the Big Dance and our man in the US, Bob Craven has an update on how it's all panning out. He also updates on the form of Aussies Josh Giddey and Patty Mills in another of his weekly comprehensive round-ups.

WELL the Big Dance bracket for the D-I men is set, with Houston, Kansas, Purdue, and Alabama the No. 1 seeds in the four regions, and Alabama as the overall No. 1 seed. 

Kansas will be trying to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Florida in 2007.

Action in the 68-team tournament begins Tuesday with two games in the "First Four". 

March Madness gets into full swing Thursday and Friday with 32 games spread over eight cities.  The Final Four is set for April 1 and 3 in Houston.  Should they make it to the Final Four, the U. of Houston will be playing what would amount to home games there.

Shooting 58 per cent from the field and holding St. Mary's to 33 per cent, 9th-ranked Gonzaga destroyed the Gaels by almost 30 points in the West Coast Conference title game. 

St. Mary's came in as the top seed in the tourney and was the last team to defeat Gonzaga.  By virtue of the win, the Zags took the WCC's automatic berth in the NCAA's Big Dance, and they're hoping for a #2 seed in one of the four regions. It was the Zags' fourth consecutive WCC tourney title and their 10th in the last 11 years - St. Mary's in 2019 being the exception during that span.

In the win, All-American Drew Timme became the Zags' all-time leading scorer with 2,210 points and counting.  Back in the day when first year players could not play on the varsity, the previous record holder was Frank Burgess, who played from 1959-1961 and ended up with 2,196 points.  Timme has played in 130 games, while Burgess played in only 78 games.

At the end of this weekend, the NCAA will be ready for its dog-and-pony-show to select placings and brackets for the start of the big shebang.

For the D-I women, there's been one big and historic upset result in the major conference tournaments.  In the Pac-12, the tourney was won by a local favorite in my neck of the woods:  the Cougars of Washington State U. won the conference title for the first time in school history.

In fact, it was the first conference title for the Wazzu women in any team sport ever.  The only other basketball conference title was won by the men's team in 1941, and that team went all the way to the NCAA title game that year, losing a close one to the U. of Wisconsin.

The WSU women (23-10) came into the tourney seeded seventh, but then claimed successive upset wins over second-seeded Utah (the #3-ranked team in the country), then held off a spirited rally from the third seed U. of Colorado. 

This brought them to the title game against the fifth-seeded Bruins of UCLA, who earlier pulled off a big upset of their own in the semis of top-seeded Stanford. 

In the 65-61 win over UCLA, WSU was led as usual by two of their foreign recruits, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker from New Zealand, and their 191cm post player, Bella Murekatete from Rwanda.  They were ably assisted in this game by another foreign recruit, first year guard-forward Astera Tuhina, who scored six points and dished out six assists, and may have saved the win by blocking a potential game-tying three-point shot with nine seconds left.

In other tournaments involving the biggest conferences and highly ranked teams, #7 Iowa routed Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, with All-American guard Caitlin Clark notching a triple double, with a line of 30-10-17. 

Clark scored 23 points in the first half, one more than the entire Ohio State team scored.  In the Southeast Conference, the undefeated and unanimous #1-ranked South Carolina ladies won the tourney easily.  South Carolina has now been #1 ranked for 37 consecutive weeks, the second longest streak ever, behind the U. of Connecticut's record of 51 in a row.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia Tech handled Louisville to take the title.  Tech's coach, Kenny Brooks, became the first Black coach to win the ACC women's tourney.  And the UConn women comfortably won the Big East tournament. 

For almost 30 years, UConn coach Geno Auriemma has had the women's team ready to play its best on the biggest stage.  This season was a bit more challenging than usual, as the Huskies lost consecutive games for the first time in three decades, and also suffered through injuries that left them with only seven healthy players for some games.  No matter - they won their 10th consecutive conference tourney.

And now, it's almost time to cue up the music and ... Let's Dance!!!!
OKLAHOMA City Thunder recently took down the Golden State Warriors 137-128 in Steph Curry's second game back from missing 11 games due to injury. 

Curry scored 40 points, including 10 three-pointers, in the loss. In fact, the W's have lost both games since his return.  For OKC, Aussie Josh Giddey continues to make news. 

He had a 17-11-17 triple double, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to record a 15+ assist triple double, and he's also now one of just two players ever to record at least seven triple doubles before the age of 21.

Patty Mills was finally allowed to come off the bench for the Brooklyn Nets - the first time in multiple games that he's seen any game action.  The Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, but Mills was able to show that he can still play when he can get on the floor. 

He logged 31 minutes, scored 24 points at 50 per cent (5-of-9 from behind the arc), grabbed seven boards, dished out four assists, and added a steal and a block for good measure.

Kevin Durant was due to make his home debut with the Phoenix Suns this past week.  Since his recent trade to the Suns, he'd played in three games, all on the road.  Alas, it wasn't to be. 

He slipped and fell during pregame warmups, twisting his ankle, and was then forced to watch from the bench as the Suns won their fourth game in a row.  Phoenix looked like a juggernaut during those first three games he played in for the Suns since the trade. 

Most media types have said that, while the Suns are a good team, they will not have much of a chance to win the NBA title without Durant in the lineup.  The Suns were hoping to have him back in action fairly quickly, but their medical team is now saying that he won't return until sometime in April. 

Not good news as the Suns only have five more regular season games after his projected return before the playoffs start.

JIM Boeheim first enrolled at Syracuse U. as a basketball player in 1962 and played thru the 1965-66 season.  He returned as an assistant coach in 1969, then took over as head coach in 1976. 

This past Wednesday, Syracuse declined to renew his contract as the head guy, ending his tenure there after 58 seasons, the last 47 of those as the head coach.  He has more than 1,000 career wins (and an NCAA title) and has the second-most wins at the D-I level, after retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Another well-known NCAA D-I coach was dumped on Thursday, although his fame rested mostly on his HOF college and pro careers as a player:  Georgetown U. coach Patrick Ewing was fired after going 75-109 over six seasons.  His last two seasons were not good, including a 7-25 record this past season.

Anniversaries:

1943--Eddie Dancker banks in a desperation hook shot from almost eight metres out in the right corner to give the Sheboygan Red Skins a 30-29 win over the Fort Wayne Pistons and the league title of the National Basketball League (a predecessor of the NBA).  The defeat of the Pistons is still regarded as one of biggest upsets in US pro basketball history.

1954--The Milwaukee Hawks (soon to be the St. Louis Hawks) defeat the Baltimore Bullets by the almost identical scores of 64-54 and 65-54 in the only doubleheader in NBA history involving the same two teams.

1985--Larry Bird scores 60 points, including Boston's last 16 straight, to lead the Celtics to a 126-115 win over Atlanta.  His 60 points is a new Boston single game record.
2003--The longest winning streak in women's NCAA Division One history ends at 70 games when No. 18 Villanova hands No. 1 Connecticut its first loss in more than two years in the Big East tournament championship game, 52-48. 

2013--Liberty U. becomes the second 20-loss team to reach the NCAA Tournament, beating Charleston Southern 87-76 to win the Big South Conference Title and its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  It joins Coppin State U. in 2008 as the only schools with 20 or more defeats to make the final field in The Big Dance.