The Week That Was | NBA & College Basketball Season Look-In | NFL Offseason News

This upcoming weekend in college basketball is coming to a close especially for the men's basketball landscape. The women's basketball season is over so currently it's tournament time and season so there is a head start in that department. But for the men's basketball from a smaller conference standpoint, there are a plethora of conference championship tournaments that are ongoing. For example, there is the Sun Belt Championship tournament, the MVC tournament, the West Coast Conference tournament, the Big South tournament, the CAA tournament etc cetera. But on Saturday March 8th and Sunday March 9th the top 25 teams will conclude the regular season. There are few games to keep eyes on like #6 St John's vs #20 Marquette as for St John's they secured their first Big East championship in the regular season since 1985 possibly ushering a new era of the changing of the guard in the Big East after their 71-61 win against Seton Hall.

Check out #7 Alabama vs #1 Auburn including #2 Duke vs North Carolina to keep the appetizer of the March Madness prelude going. Meanwhile Michigan State clinched the Big Ten Regular Season title after beating Iowa by score of 91-84 which is its first since 2020. For the women's basketball tournament landscape, the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team may miss the NCAA Tournament because on Wednesday night they lost to Clemson by score of 63-46. This result took place in the first round of the ACC women's basketball tournament which in all likelihood may end an incredible run of 36 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The streak is the second longest behind Tennessee with 42.

In the NBA landscape, congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers who are already in the NBA playoffs due to their win against the Miami Heat winning by score of 112-107. The Cavs clinched a playoff berth after the win over Miami which represents a microcosm of how a NBA team takes the regular season seriously on a game to game basis because currently the Cavs are on a 12 game winning streak signifying as one of just 7 teams to have 3 double digit winning streaks in the same season. The Cleveland Cavaliers currently has the best record in the NBA at 52-10 meanwhile out in the Western Conference, Oklahoma City Thunder is 51-11. Both teams have remained consistently excellent in their gameplay this season not relinquishing being the #1 team in respective conferences. Could these teams be on a collision course to meet each other in the NBA Finals only time will tell.

In NFL news, the Las Vegas Raiders made a trade to land Quarterback Geno Smith for a 3rd round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for the 2025 NFL Draft. Smith will reunite with Head Coach Pete Carroll of the Las Vegas Raiders. Obviously Smith should be the consensus starter at quarterback barring an injury or poor play. The Seattle Seahawks looks like they are in a rebuilding mode when Wide Receiver Tyler Lockett getting released plus Wide Receiver D.K Metcalf wants to be traded. Finally Running Back Saquon Barkley of Philadelphia Eagles got a huge pay raise by signing a 2-year extension(41.2 million dollar contract)making Barkley the first 20 million dollar player at the running back position. The new money average of 20.6 million is the highest for a running back including signing a full guarantee of 36 million which is the most by a running back. The 2-year(33.5 million) and 3-year(49.5 million) cash flow is the most for any running back in NFL history which is unprecedented.