Golden: Texas, Terry top the Ceddys — the best, worst of the college basketball season

Texas guard Jabari Rice drives to the basket against Kansas’ KJ Adams Jr. during UT’s March 4 win at Moody Center. The Longhorns went 17-1 at home in their first season in the new facility.

Remember that night in Kansas City when the Texas Longhorns had Miami dead to rights and were just a few dozen dribbles away from the Final Four?

Sorry to bring back such debilitating basketball trauma from not so long ago, but it’s a requirement that comes with wielding the pen.

So enjoy this latest edition of the Ceddys — the best and worst of the 2022-23 college basketball season.

Best venue: Austin’s $385 million Moody Center

Texas has its own beehive. After spending more than 40 years at the cavernous Erwin Center, the men’s and women’s programs were revitalized with the shiniest, swankiest new basketball facility in the college game. The men went 17-1 at home and the women were 15-3 in Year 1. The crowds were great, and DJ Mel’s playlist was even better.

Best rebound: the Texas men

The Longhorns were hit with a gut punch when coach Chris Beard was suspended in December and then fired in early January, but associate head coach Rodney Terry rallied a locker room of veterans, and the Horns finished 29-9 with a Big 12 Tournament championship. They were within 10 minutes of a Final Four before losing to Miami in the Midwest Regional final.

The Horns were fun-loving quote machines this season. They were a portal-potent collection that was deftly put together by Beard, Terry and a veteran staff. We’ll always wonder how it would have ended had Beard not gotten himself fired. Either way, it was one great ride, and we have RT to thank for that.

New Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry poses with athletic director Chris Del Conte at an introductory press conference March 27. Terry led UT to a 29-9 record and an appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight.

Coach of the year: Shaka Smart

Marquette was picked to finish ninth in the 11-team Big East, but the former Texas coach steamrolled the prognosticators with a 29-7 season that included regular-season and conference titles. Smart didn’t get it done at Texas, but he has just experienced a career renaissance at the relatively young age of 45.

Worst Final Four: The men

With all the upsets that happened in the men’s bracket, there wasn’t a whole lot of meat left by the time the final weekend convened in Houston. If not for San Diego State’s buzzer-beating win over Florida Atlantic, it would have gone down as the most funereal Final Four in history. UConn’s title win over the Aztecs averaged an abysmal 7.8 TV rating, which was down 15% from last season’s finale between blue bloods North Carolina and Kansas.

Story continues

M*A*S*H program of the year: Texas women

The Horns had one of their best seasons ever in the win-loss column, but Vic Schaefer had to coach through the losses of forward Aaliyah Moore (ACL tear), Sonya Morris (leg condition) and Kyndall Hunter (personal reasons) amid other ailments involving star guard Rori Harmon (toe) and post Taylor Moore (shoulder).

Somehow, the Horns, with step-up efforts from guard Shaylee Gonzales and forward DeYona Gaston, still pulled it together to go 26-10 and win a share of the Big 12 regular-season title. Better yet, they tied with a team (Oklahoma) they’d swept during the regular season.

Schaefer told me he has never been through a season like 2023. He has to be beyond excited with what lies ahead next season.

Best Final Four: The women

All hail the ladies, who turned Big D into a hoops party. Iowa’s derailment of South Carolina’s wire-to-wire attempt in the semifinals was quite possibly the most electrifying 40 minutes of the season. Caitlin Clark arrived as the female version of Steph Curry, only to be upstaged by Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers, who captured a natty two seasons into Mulkey’s tenure.

Best turnaround: LSU women under Mulkey

Love her or hate her, you must respect her. Two years after leaving Baylor, Mulkey is back in the winner’s circle with her fourth national title, trailing only coaching legends Geno Auriemma’s 11 and Pat Summitt’s eight. With Angel Reese coming back, look for more leather and feather boas in the 2024 Final Four.

Two seasons after leaving Baylor, Kim Mulkey — greeting fans during the championship parade in Baton Rouge on Wednesday — captured a fourth national title.

Best conference (regular season): Big 12 men

Didn’t we all agree that the Big 12 was the elite league all season? Then to have zero teams make the Final Four was beyond shocking, even if it was one of the bloodiest, most upset-filled tournaments ever.

Best conference (NCAA Tournament): Big East

In an ode to John Thompson, Jim Boeheim, Rick Barnes, Jim Calhoun, Rick Pitino, Rollie Massimino and the godfathers of the past, the Big East captured a national title and went 12-4 during March Madness.

Best career run: Drew Timme, Gonzaga

Timme didn’t win a title in his four years, but the Zags went 121-13.

Worst bracket: Everybody’s

Yes. Everybody’s.

Best professional: Craig Way

I was sitting right next to Craig — the radio voice of the Longhorns — in Kansas City when he took a tumble from his courtside seat after Miami’s Wooga Poplar barreled into the press table, also knocking water over his stat sheet. If you were listening from your car or online, you never would have known that Way was lying flat on his back for a few seconds before being helped up.

He’s one of the best in the game for a reason.

Best goodbye: Jim Nantz

Those of us who appreciated longtime play-by-play voice Jim Nantz, who called his last Final Four, will always remember his professional, no-nonsense approach to calling the best sporting event in America. He took over the lead play-calling duties in 1992 and did a wonderful job of bringing the sport into our living rooms in parts of the last four decades.

Best post: Angel Reese

Aaliyah Boston won player of the year, but Reese — the LSU star — was easily the most dynamic post player in America with a record 34 double-doubles this season, surpassing Oklahoma legend Courtney Paris. She made bigger headlines for her title-game trash talking to fellow elite trasher Caitlin Clark.

Best pump fake: Texas’ Jabari Rice

He’s 24 years old, but that pump fake is straight out of Dr. Naismith’s old afternoon runs at the Y.

Best Cinderella story: Florida Atlantic

The Owls had never won an NCAA tourney game before taking out No. 2 Alabama, No. 8 Memphis, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 3 Kansas State and then losing at the buzzer to No. 5 San Diego State. A 35-4 finish ain’t bad. Kudos to the Owls.

Best upset: Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue

Fairleigh Dickinson got the NEC bid because tourney champion Merrimac wasn’t still fully transitioned to Division I. So the Knights promptly knocked out top-seeded Purdue.

Worst invitation: Jill Biden

First lady Jill Biden attended the women’s title game and said she wanted to invite the runner-up Iowa Hawkeyes to the White House along with LSU. Sorry, but don’t award participation trophies in big-time athletics.

Worst declining of an invitation: Angel Reese

Reese said on a podcast that she and LSU were declining the White House invite. “We’re going to see the Obamas,” she said. Well, Angel, you know the Bidens and Obamas were … never mind.

Best changing of minds: LSU

The Bayou Barbie and her teammates are going after all.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rodney Terry’s Horns one of best stories of 2023 basketball season