- Villanova had yet to run into a team that could give them a challenge for 40 minutes. Their first round opponent, Radford, was only competitive for 5 minutes. Second round foe Alabama hung tough for 20 minutes before the Wildcats broke the game open. West Virginia actually held a second half lead in the Sweet 16, but their breaking point was the 30 minute mark as Villanova dominated the last 10 minutes of the game. Texas Tech was next in line to try and shut down the team many think will cut down the nets in San Antonio. The Red Raiders are a very athletic bunch, but like Kansas State, they rely on their defense rather than their offense to win games. They would have their hands full trying to shut down Villanova's high-powered offense. In the first half, the Red Raiders looked in over their heads. They struggled to score, only putting up 23 points in 20 minutes, while Villanova played their usual game, scoring 36 points to go to the break with a 13-point halftime lead. As Virginia, UMBC, and Kansas State all discovered in the South region, stifling defense can only take you so far if you can't put the ball in the hoop at the other end. It looked like Texas Tech was about to learn the same lesson. Surprisingly, the Red Raiders hung tough. Their defense was even stingier in the second half, frustrating Villanova for a long stretch. Texas Tech decided they couldn't come back shooting threes, so they drove the lane over and over again with mixed results. They were drawing closer to the Wildcats, but they would have put a real scare into the favorites had they converted more of these close-range opportunities. The lead was down to 5 with four minutes to go, but that would be as close as Texas Tech would get. The most underrated weapon that Villanova has is their ability to shoot free throws, meaning it is nearly impossible to make up a late deficit against them. The Wildcats once again knocked down most of their free throws, while Texas Tech was unable to hit the three-pointers they needed at the end of the game. Villanova is your East region champ after a 71-59 victory.
- The marquee matchup of the Elite Eight featured two programs who always seem to play deep into March. On one side, you had the #1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks, champions of the Big 12. On the other, you had the #2 seeded Blue Devils, a team filled with superstar freshmen and one very polarizing senior, Grayson Allen. Allen is known for his long-range sharpshooting as well as his penchant for bending the rules. For some reason, he has felt the need to trip and body-check players on the opposing team, leading to an increased spotlight on him whenever he's involved in a questionable play. The spotlight would fall on him again in this game, but at least it was for actual basketball reasons this time. These two teams were expected to be evenly matched and that is how this game turned out to be. Duke held the biggest lead in the first half (4 points). Early on in the second half, the Jayhawks took a 7-point lead, but that was very short-lived. For most of the second half, the teams traded buckets and the lead. Each team had a big man in foul trouble, with Kansas losing center Udoka Azuibuike with just under 2 minutes to go. The Blue Devils held a three-point lead with 30 seconds left, but Kansas hit a three to tie it. That gave Duke the chance to hold the ball for a potential game-winning shot. They put the ball in Allen's hands and it was clear he was not giving it up. As the final seconds ticked down, he drove to the left part of the lane, trying to draw a foul before putting up a bank shot. The ball circled the rim, hit the backboard, and circled the rim a second time before falling off at the buzzer. It seemed like there was no way that shot couldn't go in, but somehow it found a way to spin out. The game went to overtime where (and I can't believe I'm about to write this) Duke seemed to get robbed on two calls. The first one was the more crucial of the two. The Jayhawks were being carried by guard Malik Newman in this game and he tried to do it all in the overtime. With less than 3 minutes to go, he drove into Wendell Carter Jr., the Duke big man who had been in foul trouble. Carter may have slightly leaned to his left as he was barreled into, but it sure looked like a charge to this Duke-hater. The ref called a block and Carter had fouled out. Later on, there would be a ball that was tipped out of bounds that the refs said was off Kansas, but after a ridiculously long replay, they deemed there was indisputable evidence that the ball had hit off of Duke last. (Note: If there is indisputable evidence, then it shouldn't take 5 minutes to figure out whose ball it is.). Duke fell behind and resorted to three-point attempts to catch the Jayhawks, but nothing would fall until the game was basically over. Allen would hit a 3 with a few seconds left to end his college career, but it wasn't enough as Kansas would move on to play Villanova following an 85-81 overtime victory over Duke.
The standings might still look bunched, but we have a lot more clarity on who is likely to win each pool at this point. In the main pool, Scott Brown leads by one over Jen Shields and Jenn Nichols, but Scott holds the trump card of having Villanova as his national champion. No one has Loyola-Chicago or Michigan winning it all, so only the top entry with Kansas as national champ can catch Scott. That entry belongs to Luis Ramirez. So whoever wins the second semifinal on Saturday night will determine the winner of the main pool. For the gamblers pool, Big Nick is getting ready for his victory lap. The only way he can lose is if Kansas defeats Loyola-Chicago in the national championship. If that happens, Luke McLoughlin will be your champ. As it stands right now though, Nick holds a two-point lead over Jimmy O'Connor with Jenn another point back in 3rd.
I will send out a post later in the week that will show the top 3 in each pool based on the eight different Final Four scenarios that could happen next weekend.
To see the standings with just three games to go, click here.
Holding the Trump card used to sound cool, now it just sounds dirty.
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