- After UMBC beat Virginia in a historic first round upset, you never would have guessed some other team could replace them as the darlings of this year's tournament. But Loyola-Chicago's run to the Elite Eight had put them on at least level playing ground with UMBC as the team you will most remember from this year's tournament. To be fair, UMBC didn't have 98-year-old Sister Jean helping their cause. The smiling nonagenarian has become the face of the Ramblers, making them impossible to root against. They would be taking on another Cinderella, Kansas State, for the first ticket to San Antonio, where next week's Final Four will take place. In any other year, the Wildcats might have been the team that the casual college basketball fan would be rallying around. They've played the majority of this tournament without their best player, yet somehow they were able to get to the Elite Eight. In this game they would play the role of favorite, which was a bit odd. 9-seed Kansas State was actually the lowest seeded team that Loyola-Chicago had faced in this tournament, having gone through 6-seed Miami, 3-seed Tennessee, and 7-seed Nevada to get to this point. The Ramblers didn't look intimidated at all by the stakes of this game, jumping out to a 19-7 lead. That was bad news for a Kansas State team that has relied on their defense all year long. They weren't used to manufacturing offense to dig themselves out of big holes. After the Wildcats narrowed the lead to 5, Loyola-Chicago used their highly efficient offense to build the lead back up to 12 at halftime. It would have been natural for nerves to kick in at that point and to see Kansas State claw back into this game in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Ramblers were relentless. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, Loyola-Chicago grew their lead to 23 and it was no longer a question of whether the Ramblers could hold on. It was how much were they going to win by. As Kansas State reached desperation mode, they were finally able to put together a run. The lead was down to 12 with three minutes left and the Wildcats looked to have cut it to 9 on a three-pointer, but somehow the ball spun around the inside of the rim and popped back out. I think it was the power of Sister Jean. The Ramblers put away the Wildcats from that point on, eventually winning by a score of 78-62. Sister Jean is headed to the Final Four!
- Florida State would try to get redemption for the 9-seeds in the nightcap against Michigan. The Seminoles played so badly at the end of the season that they went from being a lock to make to the tournament to a team that had to sweat a little bit on Selection Sunday. It was unlikely they would get snubbed, but their seed certainly plummeted over the past month. They regained their mojo once the tournament began though, beating three quality teams (Missouri, Xavier, and Gonzaga) on their way to the Elite Eight. Their path to the Final Four was being blocked by a Michigan team who looked lethargic in round one, needed a miracle in round two, then looked like the Big 10 champs in a 27-point rout of Texas A&M. Which team would show up in the West regional final? Certainly not the team that put up 99 in that Sweet Sixteen game. This would be a low scoring affair with a controversial finish. Neither team would gain much of an advantage in a first half that ended with Michigan on top by a point. The Wolverines extended that lead with the first major run of the game, an 11-2 spurt to begin the second half. Florida State would get themselves within one possession several times, but it looked like they would never be able to get over the hump. Michigan led by 10 with 2:30 to go, but the Seminoles hit a jumper and then capitalized on dumb play by the Wolverines. A foul on a 3-point attempt let Florida State hit three free throws, drawing them to within 5. Michigan was one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country and their ineffectiveness from the charity stripe let Florida State hang around. The Seminoles had a look at a three-pointer to tie the game in the final minute, but it didn't fall. Down 4 with 15 seconds left, Florida State took an ugly three that Michigan would rebound. And then for some reason, the Seminoles refused to foul. Michigan had missed 4 of 8 free throws in the last two minutes of the game. Virginia had won a game earlier this year when they were down by 4 with two seconds left. Florida State had simply had enough and called it a day. Michigan was all too happy to dribble out the clock and celebrate, punching their ticket to San Antonio with a 58-54 victory. They will take on Loyola-Chicago in one national semifinal. (Note: Be sure to check out the gem of an interview by Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton after the game. He was not excited about being asked why his team didn't foul at the end of the game.)
The left side of most people's brackets had already been crossed out by the time these two games took place, so there was very little movement in the standings. Jen Shields still leads Scott Brown by three. Jenn Nichols now has company in third place. Last year's champ, Will Peerenboom, had Michigan in the Final Four, so he climbed into a third place tie with Jenn. In the gamblers pool, Big Nick has taken a stranglehold on things with Michigan's trip to the Final Four. If Villanova reaches the national championship, Nick will win no matter what. He might not even need that if Michigan reaches the national championship. Jimmy O'Connor is 2 points back and Jenn is 3 points back, but neither can catch Nick in the games remaining. There are a few entries further back in the standings that have Kansas or Duke who might be able to catch Nick, but they need a lot of things to go their way.
For a look at the complete standings, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment