- The first game of the day was actually a rematch from earlier in the year. Folks living in Philly are familiar with the Big 5. All of the local schools compete against one another over the course of the year. In Indiana, they have something similar called the Crossroads Classic, where 4 big schools (Indiana, Notre Dame, Butler, and Purdue) from within the state face off against each other. Purdue beat Butler pretty handily in that matchup, winning by 15. The rematch would be a much closer affair. The Bulldogs led for most of the first half, but Purdue went on a 22-10 run before intermission to take a 4-point lead. The Boilermakers kept a two-possession advantage for most of the second half, but Butler was able to creep within two late. The Bulldogs got one final chance when Purdue missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with less than 2 seconds to go. However, they weren't able to duplicate Michigan's magic as a half-court heave to tie the game was off the mark. Purdue maintains their Indiana superiority and moves on.
- Michigan State was one of the favorites to win the title early in the year and their popularity did not wane as the regular season came to a close, even though they were starting to struggle against teams with bad records. They weren't losing, but they were barely getting by with some 3-5 point wins against the bottom of the Big Ten. Outside distractions might have gotten to the Spartans, as no team (not even Louisville) went through as much turmoil this year. Michigan State was not only dealing with the pay-for-play issues that many other teams were involved in as well, they were also dealing with the sexual abuse case that rocked the gymnastics world. Coach Izzo looked exhausted and these scandals might have finally had a toll on his players. That was the perfect recipe for a Syracuse upset. The Orange really have no business being in this tournament, but give them credit: when they get in, they make the most of their opportunities. They beat a floundering Arizona State team in the First Four and then they beat a team in TCU that had no idea how to handle a zone. Michigan State got plenty of open looks against Syracuse, but they could not shoot at all. Even when they were at the free throw line, they struggled. 25% from the field isn't going to beat anyone, but remarkably the Spartans led for most of this game despite their putrid marksmanship. Eventually their cold shooting would doom them as Syracuse sprung a 2-point upset.
- North Carolina was the favorite to come out of the West region. Not only were they the defending national champions, but they wound up in a part of the bracket with teams that didn't have histories of winning championships. There was no Kentucky, no Duke, no Kansas, and no Villanova in their region. The top seeds in the West (aside from the Tar Heels) were Xavier, Michigan, and Gonzaga. They would have the opportunity to beat up on those teams as soon as they were finished with Texas A&M. Except the Aggies didn't get the memo. A trademark of this year's tournament has been upsets that weren't buzzer-beaters, but rather absolute thrashings by the underdog. That was the case once again as Texas A&M went on a 29-8 run before the half, then came out after halftime and poured it on some more. Time to cross out more of your bracket as the Tar Heels get routed in this one by 21.
- There was another rout taking place in Nashville as Cincinnati scored on their first 9 possessions to open up a huge early advantage against Nevada. The lead grew to 22 with 11 minutes remaining in the game. The Bearcats had the second best defense in the country, so there was no chance that the Wolfpack could make up that much ground, right? Ummm...wrong. Nevada has one of the best offenses in this year's tournament and they got it clicking over the last 11 minutes of this game while Cincinnati turned into Michigan State. Nevada would score the next 16 points to trim the margin down to 6. They were down 3 with under a minute left before tying it from beyond the arc. Then they took their first lead of the game with 10 seconds left on a jumper in the lane. The Bearcats were completely rattled. Their last possession to tie the game was a mess. Their guard lost his dribble, then managed to get it back before having his shot blocked. As the teams scrambled for the loose ball, the horn sounded. An epic comeback, an epic collapse, or a bit of both? However you look at it, Nevada is moving on for an all-Cinderella Sweet 16 matchup with Loyola-Chicago.
- Auburn must have decided that they wanted to top Nevada's huge comeback. That is the only explanation for the #4 seed digging themselves a 41-point hole with 9 minutes to play. To be fair, if they had come back from that, people wouldn't even be talking about the Nevada-Cincinnati game. However, Auburn did not come back. They simply sucked against Clemson. Clemson wins the battle of the Tigers by 31 in a game that didn't even feel that close.
- Everyone's new favorite team, UMBC, was up next in a matchup with Kansas State. After beating Virginia, taking down the 4th best team from the Big 12 would be a piece of cake. Okay, it almost never works out that way, but it nearly did here. These two teams somehow found a way to play even worse than Syracuse and Michigan State did. This one was ugly and for a while it seemed like the first team to reach 40 points would win. The Retrievers kept it a three-point game with under 90 seconds left, but a Wildcat bucket extended the lead to 5, a gap which seemed insurmountable based on how UMBC was shooting. The magic ends in round 2, but UMBC will go down in history as the team that did the impossible. Kansas State moves on with a 50-43 victory.
- Back to Nashville where another team from Cincinnati was playing. Xavier had just watched their city rival choke away a golden opportunity. Cincinnati was in a bracket where the other three top seeds had already lost and they were ahead by 22. Their path to the Final Four couldn't have been any easier. And yet they gave it away. Surely the Musketeers wouldn't make that mistake. They got to see that Cincinnati meltdown in person. They knew the favorites from their bracket (North Carolina) had been eliminated earlier. Their path to the Final Four had been cleared. They just had to defeat a decidedly mediocre Florida State team who had been humiliated by Louisville (not in the tournament) and NC State (didn't show up for the tournament) in the last month. Easy peasy. The Musketeers opened up a 12-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go. There was no way they could mess this up. Only they could. Xavier got into some foul trouble and watched their lead slowly go away as the clock ticked down. They were still up two with 90 seconds to go, but a Seminole three would give them the lead. You could see the panic in Xavier's eyes. Were they going to be Cincy, part deux? Yes they were. After Florida State hit two free throws to stretch the lead to three, Xavier had an open three from the top of the key to tie. And they airballed it. Bye bye to another #1 seed as Florida State moves on to play Gonzaga.
- I would love to tell you the last game of the night was similar to the Michigan-Houston finish we had to wrap up Saturday, but unfortunately it was more like Clemson-Auburn. Marshall talked a lot about wanting to take on their in-state rival, West Virginia. Little brother was going to show big brother how the game was played. And early on, it looked like it could happen as the Thundering Herd grabbed a 7-point lead. Then the Mountaineers went on a 23-2 run. Game over. West Virginia would lead by as much as 31 in the second half, cruising to an easy 94-71 victory.
All these upsets led to a lot of movement in the standings, so let's see how things have shaken out. In the main pool, Scott Brown has grabbed a 3-point advantage. He's got a couple of Jennifers on his tail. Jen Shields holds down second place, while Jenn Nichols is one point behind her. In the gamblers pool, Jim O'Connor also has a 3-point lead. Scott is in second place there, while Jenn Nichols is one point out of third in that pool as well.
For complete standings, please click here.
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