While the first round is good for producing awesome stories, round two is usually where we say goodbye to those teams that will be featured in the first 30 seconds of One Shining Moment. Every now and then we'll see a team go on a truly magical run, like the Skis from Florida Gulf Coast did a few years ago. But it is awfully hard for a smaller school to ride that roller coaster of emotions from pouring their heart and soul into a 40 minute game, celebrating an improbably win, and then coming back 48 hours later to do it again.
That is why teams like UAB and Georgia State were big underdogs to make it to the Sweet 16. Both teams had shown they had the talent to play with the top teams in the tournament, but could they bring that same energy? For the Blazers, the answer was a pretty definitive no. They kicked off the Saturday action taking on a UCLA squad who was really playing with house money at this point. The Bruins fired away throughout the entire game and there wasn't much UAB could do to stop them. 92 points later, UCLA became the first team to punch their Sweet 16 ticket with a 17-point victory. Georgia State was a little more valiant in defeat. They took on a Xavier team who, like Michigan State, seems to be peaking at the right time of the year. The Panthers stayed within reach of the Musketeers for most of this game. Every time Xavier seemed to be pulling away, Georgia State would climb back into it. Their deficit was only four at the half. The second half played out the same way as Xavier would build the lead up to 10-11 points and the Panthers would cut it back down to 4-5. Georgia State would not be able to pull closer than that. With an eight-point victory, Xavier had knocked out the second of the two Cinderellas who got this year's tournament off to such a thrilling start.
Also in early action were two of the favorites for this year's tournament. Kentucky is out to make history, looking to become the first team ever to win a national championship with a record of 40-0. Standing in their way was Cincinnati, a very physical team that would challenge the Wildcats toughness. This would not be a game with a lot of pretty offense in it, particularly in the second half. Kentucky's front court is ridiculously long, and while the game was still relatively close in the second half, the Wildcats made a statement that Cincinnati had no chance of winning this game. Possession after possession, the Bearcats would drive to the hoop, and again and again, a big man wearing blue would swat the ball away. If it wasn't for some solid defense down on the other end, Cincinnati would have been blown out. As it was, they would end up falling by 13 to Kentucky in a game that did not seem even that close. The other early game featured Arizona, one of those #2 seeds who you could have easily made a case for as a #1 seed (nope, not you Kansas). They were facing an Ohio State team who showed a lot of heart in round one knocking out VCU. Early on, it was the Buckeyes dictating the game, jumping out to a 6-point edge, while Arizona struggled to make shots. But as the first half wound down, you could sense that the Wildcats were beginning to figure things out. After taking a 1-point lead into the locker room, the second half was all Arizona. There wasn't a big run. Instead, the Wildcats methodically put away their Big Ten counterparts. Arizona would move on for a date with Xavier in the Sweet 16.
With 4 teams already making plans for next weekend, it was time for the Pack to take on #2 overall seed and top seed in the East, Villanova. While LSU was a bad matchup for the Pack, Villanova was actually a good one for them, so there was mild optimism that they could hang with the Wildcats. (Seriously, does everyone have to be the Wildcats? Is there something incredibly intimidating about Wildcats? I think I'd be more frightened if my opponent was called the Rabid Dogs.) Villanova was led by their outstanding guards who were deadly from behind the three-point line. But NC State had talented guards as well and would force Nova to take contested threes if they were going to shoot from long range. Instead of trying to develop an inside game, Nova fired away from outside, connecting on little. Meanwhile, the Pack had decent balance in the first half. Holding a 1-point lead, the Pack got a huge defensive play from first-round savior Beejay Anya that led to a jump ball and NC State possession with less than 4 seconds left. That was just enough time to drive down the floor and hit a three at the buzzer, giving the Pack a 4-point halftime lead. Could this really be happening?!?! The second half was even better. NC State was controlling the paint with offensive rebounds and better shots than what the Wildcats were settling for. The one area of concern was foul trouble for point guard Cat Barber. He picked up his 3rd foul with almost 15 minutes left, and the Pack are not the same team when is not on the floor. Coach Mark Gottfried rolled the dice with him though and Barber managed to not pick up a foul the rest of the game. However, in typical NC State fashion, nothing could be easy. Eventually Villanova started hitting from outside, frantically chipping away in the closing minutes. Then with a 2-point lead, the Pack decided that it was better to throw the ball out of bounds rather than run out the clock. Typical. Nova got a clean look at an open three to take the lead, but it would not go down. From there, NC State made their free throws (who knew?) and knocked out the first #1 seed in the tournament with a 71-68 victory. It was the best NC State game I have watched that did not involve Jim Valvano.
There were still three games left, but I was on cloud nine, so I can only relay bits and pieces of them. Utah was down early to Georgetown, but came storming back, eventually leaving the Hoyas in the dust as they advanced with a 75-64 victory. North Carolina and Arkansas had a back and forth affair, but it was the Tar Heels who once again proved resilient in the final minutes, as they dispatched the Razorbacks with an 87-78 win. Finally, Butler and Notre Dame played a very entertaining game that would see both teams make big second half runs, before cold shooting and dumb mistakes (including a double-dribble by Notre Dame with 2 seconds left and a Notre Dame cheerleader catching an ensuing blocked shot to put tenths of a second back on the clock, giving Butler a third chance to win the game) would lead the game to overtime. And the Irish love them some overtime. Already with 3 overtime wins on the year, Notre Dame would never trail in the extra period. Butler had a game-ending dunk, but it was too little, too late as the ACC remained perfect in the tournament with Notre Dame's 3-point victory.
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