Before March Madness can finally arrive, let's look back at the season in Vines.
College basketball's regular season has a way of coming and going in a blur. The amount of offseason attrition means it takes even the most dedicated fans a few weeks to get acquainted with new-look rosters around the country. Early season tournaments like the Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis are great, but come with the added caveat that it's still only November. Conference play is a sprint that will leave you breathless if you don't keep up.
All the while, the focus on March never really wavers. It seems like Bracketology courses start earlier every year. By the time Joe Lunardi started making regular appearances on your television a week or two ago, it was mostly met with a collection of groans.
The postseason in college basketball is so outstanding that it's easy to discount the regular season. That's why we're here to tell you: don't do that! That regular season is fun, too. If you're just catching up now, we're here to give you everything you missed in a tidy six-second package. This is our season review in Vines.
When people look back at this historic Kentucky season, just remember it all started with an airball. From Drake!
The best play of the year might have come in the first week of the season. We still can't stop watching this Kansas State block:
The early portion of the season also gave us a buzzer-beating dunk. Manhattan trailed by two with 0.8 seconds left when they did this:
At the championship game of the Legends Classic, Jayvaughn Pinkston made one of the most clutch defensive plays of the season. This game-winning block beat Michigan:
Wisconsin began another great season by winning the Battle 4 Atlantis. Sam Dekker celebrated ... and hit teammate Nigel Hayes in the face!
It's been a long year for Michigan, with non-conference losses to NJIT and Eastern Michigan. This fan summed it up:
Florida and Florida State might have had the craziest finish of the year. The Gators lost after a UF player tipped in an FSU shot at the buzzer!
The defending champs were never able to put it all together this season. UConn lost back-to-back games to Yale and Texas on buzzer-beaters from the same part of the floor!
Jahlil Okafor established himself as the most dominant freshman in the country early and often. Dunks! Assists! There's nothing you can do to stop Big Jah:
Dunk of the year? Notre Dame's Jerian Grant might be a superhero:
Larry Nance Jr. and Wyoming have been a great story all year out of the Mountain West. Thankfully last season's knee injury hasn't robbed Nance of his athleticism. At all:
You know who else is pretty athletic? Arizona's pair of wings. Stanley Johnson is a tank:
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson isn't bad, either. Here he is dunking over 7'6 UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye!
Freshman guard D'Angelo Russell has been incredible all season. These spin passes!
Missed dunk of the year? Keifer Sykes of Green Bay Wisconsin tried to scale Frank Kaminsky and came up just a bit short:
We could watch Montrezl Harrell dunk all day:
We love DePaul's bench celebrations:
Iowa's Adam Woodbury couldn't keep his hands to himself. When you're playing the Hawkeyes, shield your eyes:
Freshman Cliff Alexander hasn't had the easiest season at Kansas. At least he'll always have this thunk (throw-dunk) on Oklahoma State:
Nominee for worst flop of the year comes from St. John's Sir Dominic Pointer. This is just embarrassing:
5-star recruit Carlton Bragg was set to announce he was committing to Kansas. He accidentally said Kentucky.
Get some, Norman Powell:
Here's another one of our favorite dunks of the year. Purdue's Jon Octeus getting up!
Of course, not every player to throw down highlight reel dunks. Rutgers .....
Short men everywhere can empathize with what this Northern Iowa guard went through:
Ok, let's get back to the dunks. Oklahoma State's LaBryant Nash, come on down:
How about LSU's Jerrel Martin getting fancy?
Kentucky wouldn't be 30-0 without Willie-Cauley Stein. Here's one big dunk against Florida ...
... and a huge block against Arkansas:
As good as Jahlil Okafor has been this season, but FSU freshman Phil Cofer got the best of him here:
Kentucky made of habit of dunking on everyone this season. Missouri's Keanu Post wasn't about to let Devin Booker get away with it on this play:
Oh Sterling Gibbs. This was not good:
One of the best moments of the season: North Carolina running Four Corners to honor the late Dean Smith. It somehow worked:
Here's one of the low points of the season: Kansas State rushing the court after beating Kansas. It got ugly:
Bruce Weber was not happy about it:
On a happier note: here's Butler's mascot, Jack the bulldog, skateboarding like a champ:
It's only getting better from here. Bring on March Madness.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1EgIGNj
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