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We have NCAA champions on the hardwood! The 2021 NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments are now over. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, March Madness was full of great action and good memories this year... The NCAA can be proud of having been able to organize fantastic basketball tournaments for both young men and women during these uncertain times. As a matter of fact, college men's or women's basketball fans and observers were thrilled all season long. In times of health crisis, NCAA did all it could for March Madness  2021 to take place in "bubbles" even if, at some point, women’s teams have received unequal and subpar treatments. The Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the site of the 2021 Men's Final Four "bubble" The 2021 Men's Final Four was held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN from Apr. 3rd to 5th, 2021. Houston , UCLA , Gonzaga and Baylor qualified for the Men's Final Four . In the first semifinal game ...

2020 was definitely a year like no other...  Due to the COVID-19 situation and strict measures taken by the Belgian authorities, Bert has never attended so few basketball games in one year. Except for two FIBA Europe Cup games early last year, Bert could not sit or stand much on the sidelines and enjoy basketball games. Bert witnessed only two Spirou Charleroi losses in the FIBA Europe Cup in early 2020: one against 1. Bundesliga team medi Bayreuth (90-97) on Jan. 7th, 2020 and another one against Benfica Lisboa (78-85) on Jan. 21st, 2020. It was nevertheless a chance to see several young players who could become future stars on the continental basketball scene: Portuguese international guard Rafael Lisboa (born in 1999), US player Reid Alfred Travis (born in 1995, ex- Stanford and Kentucky in NCAA ) or Belgian shooting guard Milan Samardzic (born in 1999). It was also an opportunity for Bert to watch fantastic performances by excellent players Kenneth "Speedy" Smi...

The 2019-20 NCAA basketball season has been shortened due to the COVID-19 crisis. There was eventually no 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and  March Madness in the USA this year. Here is nevertheless the 2019-20 berthoop.net Men's College Basketball All-America Team : Men's All-America 1  Obi Toppin , Dayton - forward, 2.06m - 6'9", born in 1998, USA Men's All-America 2  Luka Garza , Iowa - power forward/center, 2.11m - 6'11",  born in 1998, Slovenia/Bosnia Herzegovina Men's All-America 3  Udoka Azubuike , Kansas - center, 2.13m - 7'00", born in 1999, Nigeria Men's All-America 4  Markus Howard , Marquette - point guard, 1.80m - 5'11", born in 1999, USA Men's All-America 5  Jordan Nwora , Lousiville - forward, 2.03m - 6'8", born in 1998, Nigeria Men's All-America 6  Kaleb Wesson , Ohio State - forward, 2.06m - 6'9", born in 1999, USA Men's All-America 7  John Mo...

Tennessee State Tigers vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers : 84-79 (played on 2020-01-02) Score at the half: 40-26 The Tennessee State Tigers vs. Eastern Illinois Panthers game played at the Gentry Center in Nashville, TN was in fact an Ohio Valley Conference opener on Jan. 2nd, 2020. The contest started with two fast threes for the Panthers who quickly took the lead at 2-6. The solidly built EIU players Jaqualis Matlock (forward, 1.96m, senior) and George Dixon (guard/forward, 1.96m, junior) worked hard in the first minutes of the game but Mark Freeman (point guard, 1.83m, freshman) replied for the Tigers . Jaqualis Matlock and Mack Smith (guard, 1.88m, senior) put Eastern Illinois in front at 6-13 and were pretty efficient from behind the arc for the Panthers . TSU suddenly developed a much better defense and increased the tempo offensively. It was a tied game at 13-13 on two free throws hit by Emmanuel Egbuta (forward, 2.01m, senior) who came off the Tigers ' b...

Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Villanova Wildcats : 76-51 (played on 2019-11-13) Score at the half: 40-22 The Gavitt Tipoff Games are an annual eight-game series played between the Big Ten Conference and the Big East Conference to tip-off the college basketball season. One of the games played in mid-November 2019 was held at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State Buckeyes hosted then the Villanova Wildcats in front of a huge attendance of 16,419. It was Villanova 's first ever game at OSU . After a 9-0 run for the home squad, with Duane Washington Jr. (guard, 1.90m, freshman) hitting two shots from three-point range, Villanova 's Head Coach Jay Wright took a first timeout. 'Nova 's guard Collin Gillespie (guard, 1.90m, junior) had been called two quick personal fouls and went back to sit on the Wildcats' bench after only 2 minutes spent on the court. Washington Jr. made 17-3 for the Buckeyes on a nice dunk followed by another three-poin...

Phoenix Brussels defeated Spirou Basket Charleroi by a close margin of 3 points (104-101 after overtime) in the first Belgian derby of the 2019-20 FIBA Europe Cup in Neder-over-Hembeek on Oct. 30th, 2019. Bert and his son Théo went to the Dome in Charleroi to attend the second act of the Belgian derby on Nov. 19th. It looked hard for the local organizing committee to attract basketball fans and enthusiasts and only a very sparse crowd joined the arena for what was nevertheless a very attracting game on paper. The first cold temperatures combined with the Belgian national team’s soccer game against Cyprus broadcasted on the public television did not really help in boosting the fans to travel to the Dome . Former Belgian Lion Khalid Boukichou , who was hired by Spirou Charleroi a few days before the contest, had an impressive start in the game. He controlled the traffic in the paint and actually scored the first 9 points of his team, to the joy of the few local fans who...

Around 19:00 on Friday, Sep. 27th, 2019, many local basketball fans queued up outside the Dome in Charleroi with the hope to attend a first great Province Hainaut's derby game between Spirou Basket Charleroi and Union Mons-Hainaut in the 2019-20 EuroMillions Basketball League . The attendance was estimated at 2,750 and you could feel excitement among the supporters and enjoy the nice atmosphere in the aisles and on the terraces of the arena. After a minute of applause in honour of a few Spirou fans who passed away over the summer, the game started in a very physical and defensive way. Bert and his son quickly understood that they would not attend a high-scoring game this time. It woud be an understatement to write that the contest was rather defensive. Spirou Basket of Belgian Coach Pascal Angillis faced a hard time in offense during the first quarter and the Foxes of Union Mons-Hainaut did not miss the chance to dig a first gap at 6-12 after 6 minutes of action. Belgia...