March Madness 2021 - Just The Way He Drew It Up

It's pretty rare that we get the best two teams in the national championship.  The tournament is called March Madness for a reason.  It's just not easy to navigate 5 rounds (or 6 rounds if you're UCLA) of single elimination to get to the final game.  But with all the twists and turns in this year's edition, we still managed to get the matchup everyone was eager to see.  Baylor and Gonzaga were supposed to play earlier in the year, back when they were both unbeaten.  Some covid positives in the Baylor program forced the game to be cancelled and it looked like we wouldn't get to see these two titans battle.  But the fates were kind and rather than see those teams face each other in a somewhat meaningless game in December, we got to witness it on the grandest stage of them all.  Bears.  Bulldogs.  Battlestar Galactica.  Basketball immortality.

One way or another, a program was about to get its first national title, as neither of these teams had ever won the championship before.  And for Gonzaga, the stakes were even higher.  Indiana back in 1976 was the last team to run the entire gauntlet undefeated.  The last team to make it this far was Indiana State back in 1979, but they were the underdogs vs Magic's Michigan State Spartans.  The Zags were the favorites in this matchup.  However, they were going to have to dig into the reserves to beat Baylor.  The national semifinal against UCLA was a Rocky-like slugfest.  Could they come back two nights later and maintain their high octane level of play?

The analysts on TV will tell you that Gonzaga looked flat early, but I disagree.  I think Baylor came out with a strong game plan that put the Zags into a situation they weren't used to.  Here's how the game started and see if you notice any trends:

• Baylor wins tip.  Misses jumper.  Gets offensive rebound.  Misses jumper.  Gets offensive rebound.  Makes jumper.
• Gonzaga misses a three pointer.
• Baylor misses jumper.  Gets offensive rebound.  Makes layup.
• Gonzaga turnover.
• Baylor makes a three pointer.
• Gonzaga misses a three pointer.  Gets offensive rebound.  Turns ball over.
• Baylor makes layup.

Add that all up and it was 9-0 Baylor very quickly.  As this game would go on, the analysts would talk about a weary Gonzaga team and how they couldn't make stops.  But to me, that really wasn't the case.  What I saw was:

• Baylor dominating on the boards.  It wasn't like the Bears came out with a hot hand or that the Zags were playing bad defense.  But Baylor kept getting offensive rebounds and it was too hard for Gonzaga to make multiple stops.
• Baylor was taking Drew Timme out of Gonzaga's offense.  The Zags couldn't get the ball to Timme, so they settled for three pointers early on, which they were not hitting.
• Baylor refused to drive 65.  I mentioned Charles Barkley's comment about Gonzaga only playing at 65 mph and being the best at it.  But Baylor's aggressiveness and speed on defense, especially in the first few minutes when they jumped out to a big lead, caused the Zags to have to play faster.  And when they played faster, they made mistakes.  There would be a lot of Gonzaga turnovers in this game where players tried to drive to the hoop faster than they were accustomed to and lost control of their dribble.

Would a fresh Gonzaga team be able to play at that faster speed?  Maybe.  But it seemed like Baylor had the perfect game plan in place.  The Zags were thrown off and panic mode set in quickly.  Jalen Suggs picked up his 2nd team foul before the first TV timeout, so they would have to play without their team leader for most of the first half.  The lead would balloon to 29-10.  Gonzaga was the top scoring team in the nation, but it sure seemed like they would need everything to go right the rest of the way to even have a chance of completing an improbably comeback against this Baylor squad.

To Gonzaga's credit, they would begin to figure it out as the first half wore on.  They had more success on the defensive end by switching from man-to-man to a zone.  They got Timme into the offensive flow eventually.  And after only scoring 10 points in the first 10 minutes, they scored 27 points over the next 10 minutes.  Their deficit at halftime was a mere 10 points, Suggs had managed to stay away from foul #3, and despite an ugly start, the undefeated season was still a possibility.

Unfortunately for Gonzaga, the second half started out eerily similar to the first half.  Baylor had the ball first again and that possession went: Missed three, offensive rebound, missed layup, offensive rebound, made three.  After a Gonzaga layup, the Bears came down and knocked down another trey.  The lead was 14 again.  Gonzaga would whittle it down to 9 at one point during the second half, but less than two minutes later, Baylor would put the final nail in the coffin.  With the lead back up to 13, Corey Kispert drove to the hoop and had his layup swatted away.  On the other end, the Bears had numbers.  After some crisp ball movement, they found an open shooter behind the arc.  As the ball was in the air, you could hear someone from Baylor yell "Yup" and sure enough, the ball found nothing but net.  The lead was 16, there was only 12 minutes to play and Baylor had crushed every small run Gonzaga had made to get back into the game.

I used to watch NFL Primetime on ESPN after the games on Sunday afternoon were over and every year, when the last undefeated team was handed their first loss, Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, and company would talk about how the 1972 Dolphins would pop the champagne again as the last undefeated champ.  They would even play a sound effect of a champagne cork popping.  As Baylor hit that three to extend the lead back to 16, I imagined hearing the 1976 Hoosiers popping their champagne, knowing it would be at least another year before someone could take their throne as the last undefeated champ.  (Of course, since this entire tournament took place in Indiana, it's possible that the 1976 Hoosiers were in the arena popping bottles and that's what I was hearing.  Ya never know.)

There was no drama over the last 12 minutes as Gonzaga would get no closer than 13 points.  With the blowout in place, CBS was desperate for filler as the minutes ticked down.  I'm sure they had a ton of stuff ready in case Gonzaga had been way ahead, but it felt like they weren't as ready for a Baylor blowout.  They decided to air coach Scott Drew's press conference from back when he got the Baylor job in 2003.  The program was in shambles, but he promised that he would get them back to the NCAA tournament.  And then he followed it up by saying that they weren't just going to get there, they were going to win games when they got there.  Well Coach Drew, your team won 6 of those games this year.  And that makes the Baylor Bears your national champion.  They handed the Zags their only defeat of the season, by a final score of 86-70.

One last look at the Magic Spreadsheet:

Magic Spreadsheet

Aiden and Scott B are your two champs.  Tiny is your double runner-up.  And Scott B and Dave H claim the final spots on the respective podiums.

That's it folks.  It was Madness as advertised: a 15 seed nearly making it to the Elite Eight, an 11 seed almost getting to the title game in one of the best college basketball games of all time, a final between the top two ranked teams in the country, and an undefeated team coming up one step short of glory.  I hope you enjoyed this tournament as much as I did.  I hope you watched One Shining Moment.  And I hope we're back to normal this time next year.  Take care everyone!

March Madness 2021 - And Here's To You, Adam Morrison

The National Semifinals played out just like everyone imagined: one hard fought battle and one complete snoozer.  Ok, maybe the Final Four flipped the script on us a little bit.  If you didn't tune in on Saturday night, you missed a doozy.  The national championship on Monday night has a tough act to follow.  But before we get to the Final Four recap, let's take a gander at the Magic Spreadsheet!

Magic Spreadsheet

Not much drama remaining in this year's pools.  In the Main Pool, Aiden was our champ this year, with Tiny taking the runner-up spot, and Scott B finishing in 3rd.  Some tweaks to that Main Pool bracket helped Scott finish two spots higher in the Gamblers Pool.  He is the champ of this year's edition, while Tiny got his second silver medal by coming in 2nd in this pool as well.  The only position that is still up for grabs is third.  Chubbs needs a Baylor victory and a total score less than 136 points to steal 3rd, while any other scenario will give the bronze to Dave H.

A Baylor victory in the national championship?  Yes, putting the Magic Spreadsheet at the top of the blog means spoilers galore.  (As does procrastination and putting this out two days after the game has ended.).  The Baylor-Houston game was supposed to be the tight affair among the two national semifinals as it featured two top 10 teams with contrasting styles.  Baylor was known for their strong guard play on the offensive end.  The Bears could score in bunches based on their proficient three-point shooting.  Their opponent was known for having one of the best defensive squads in the nation.  Houston had held their opponents to less than 56 points per game during the first four rounds of the tournament.  But they also were somewhat fortunate in how their bracket played out.  Their path to the Final Four consisted of playing the #15 seed, the #10 seed, the #11 seed, and the #12 seed, making them the first team ever to win their region without playing a single-digit seed.  Facing Baylor was a steep upgrade in competition and it showed very early in this one.  The surprise was that it was the Bears defense which dominated during the opening 20 minutes.  Houston only had one guy who seemed able to score and that was Marcus Sasser.  I'm sure that if you told the Cougars before the game that Sasser would score 17 in the first half, they would have assumed that they were well ahead of Baylor at intermission.  But Sasser's teammates only managed 3 points during those 20 minutes.  The Bears, meanwhile, were on fire from beyond the arc.  By the time the dust settled on half #1, Baylor led by 25.  The second half was nothing more than a victory lap for the Bears as Houston couldn't get any closer than 17.  Baylor will play for the national championship after a 78-59 victory over Houston.

The other national semifinal was the one that figured to be the mismatch.  Undefeated Gonzaga came into the game averaging over 90 points per contest.  UCLA had only scored 51 in their Elite Eight victory over Michigan.  The Bruins were going to have come up with some Houston-like defense (pre-Baylor) or they were going to have shoot the lights out to have a chance in this one.  And given that they had already played 5 games in this tournament, including 2 overtime games, it seemed really unlikely that UCLA could give the Zags a game.  Oh how wrong that analysis was!

There was plenty of offense in the first half as Gonzaga scored at their typical pace.  But they found themselves trailing for most of the opening 20 minutes as UCLA was hitting nearly everything.  Forget only scoring 51 points against Michigan.  The Bruins almost matched that mark by halftime in this one.  Still, despite holding the lead most of the way, UCLA found themselves trailing at the half when Gonzaga hit a last-second shot to take a 45-44 lead.  It was a really impressive showing from the Bruins, but it had to make you wonder whether we were seeing what we saw in Gonzaga's round two game vs. Oklahoma.  The Sooners came out blazing hot in that one, holding the lead for most of the first half.  But eventually they couldn't keep pace with the Zags offense and Gonzaga pulled away to a comfortable victory.  How much more could UCLA possibly have in the tank.  The answer?  Plenty.

The Bruins were led by Johnny Juzang, who has been the most impressive player in this year's tournament.  Whenever UCLA really needed a bucket, Juzang would get it for them.  But this wasn't a case of a star player carrying the underdog team, a la Steph Curry back in his Davidson days.  Cody Riley was banging bodies in the paint with Gonzaga's Drew Timme, getting offensive rebounds and hitting the occasional mid-range jumper.  Tyger Campbell was running the offense for the Bruins, driving into the lane, hitting shots, and getting some of the Zags into foul trouble.  And when Juzang was denied the ball on the offensive end, UCLA turned to Jaime Jaquez Jr. to hit some key shots.  The Bruins seemed to be thriving on the "next man up" philosophy.  Whenever someone was called on to make a big play, they made it.  In most Gonzaga games this season, there was this feeling of inevitability that the Zags were going to win.  As the second half wore on, it felt like it was inevitable that the Bruins were about to end Gonzaga's undefeated season.

If it sounds like there is no way that Gonzaga should have been keeping pace based on how well UCLA's offense was working, then you haven't seen the Zags play this year.  You need a tremendous offense to score over 90 points per game.  Much like the Bruins, the Zags were getting contributions from everyone.  Drew Timme has been their best player in this tournament and he was a key to their offense yet again.  Jalen Suggs was doing his part to create off the dribble.  Joel Ayayi came out hot and did most of the scoring for the Zags in the first half.  Corey Kispert basically played the role of Jaime Jaquez Jr. for Gonzaga, hitting clutch buckets when the other offensive threats were defended well.  And even though Gonzaga unexpectedly missed some layups and free throws during the course of this game, they still managed to hold a 7 point lead midway through the second half.  But that lead evaporated quickly and the game became a one-possession affair all the way down to the final buzzer.  Making things more ominous for the Zags was foul trouble.  In particular, Timme had picked up his 4th foul with almost 5 minutes left in the game.  Could Gonzaga's offense keep up with UCLA (wow, feels weird typing that) if Timme fouled out?

Turns out they wouldn't have to answer that question.  UCLA oddly decided not to test Timme much on the defensive end by feeding the ball to Riley.  Instead they relied on the hot hand of Johnny Juzang.  But there was a key play involving Riley that made the highlight reel.  He had slipped free when Timme left him to double team a UCLA player.  Riley got the ball and looked like he had an easy dunk.  But Suggs came out of nowhere to get a finger on the ball as Riley headed to the rim.  The dunk missed its mark and Suggs tracked down the ball.  He then fired a full court bounce pass to a streaking Timme for a dunk on the other end.  The Zags were back on top.  Until Juzang made yet another jumper.  The game was still tied as UCLA came down the court for the last possession.  Juzang was not giving up the ball.  As the seconds ticked down, he drove past two defenders and elevated in the lane.  Before Juzang had even gotten to the free throw line, Timme had set up shop ready for a charge.  The last seconds ticked off the clock as Juzang released a floater and collided into Timme.  I was expecting the refs to let the teams play, but suddenly there was a whistle.  Would the call go against Timme, knocking him out of the game and giving Juzang two shots from the free throw line for the win with less than a second to go?  No!  The refs called a charge on Juzang.  The game was headed to overtime.

(I should note that I had alternated between sitting and standing while watching this game, but for the last 6-7 minutes of regulation and overtime, it was nothing but standing and pacing.)

We headed to OT and Timme's foul trouble still seemed to be the guillotine hanging precariously over the Zags head.  Could he make it 5 more minutes without fouling out?  Seemed like only a matter of time before he got his 5th foul if he was going to make defensive plays like he did at the end of regulation.  But the Zags didn't seem concerned that his 5th foul might come on the offensive end.  They fed Timme the ball for the first 3 possessions of overtime and he scored on all of them.  UCLA kept switching on screens and the Zags were taking advantage.  After a timeout, Gonzaga tried to play it safe with Timme by sitting him on the bench for a possession, trying to get him back in for offense later on.  But that strategy seemed to backfire as the Zags offense would not be as sharp for the remainder of overtime.  There were some head scratching plays for UCLA as well, with Juzang not touching the ball on offense for most of the extra period.  Both teams strayed from the guys who got them here.

Gonzaga would hold a 5 point cushion, 90-85, with less than a minute left in overtime.  For some reason, I was still convinced the Bruins were going to win.  The score 91-90 flashed through my mind.  And when Jaquez Jr. hit a contested three to trim the lead back down to 2, that feeling grew even stronger.  As had been the case in regulation, the Zags went to Corey Kispert for their final offensive possession and once again he was off the mark.  Deja vu.  UCLA grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Juzang.  Deja vu.  Would the variation be a three here to end it?  No, instead Juzang pulled up for a contested jumper that missed.  But he grabbed the rebound and laid it back in.  90-90.  Three seconds left.  We were headed to a second overtime.  Or were we?  Rather than call a timeout, the Zags inbounded the ball to Suggs immediately.  He had enough time to dribble just past halfcourt.  He rose up and shot the ball before the buzzer.  And it banked into the basket.  I was in complete shock.  It almost felt like UCLA should get another possession to tie it and send it to double overtime.  But the clock read zero, Gonzaga had escaped, and the dream of being the first undefeated champion in 45 years lived on.  Somewhere Adam Morrison was smiling...

...and that somewhere was courtside.  Morrison was the star player on the Zags back in 2006 when they were still truly a Cinderella.  It looked like they were headed to the Elite Eight as they held a lead late against (you guessed it) UCLA.  But the Zags blew it down the stretch and when the Bruins got a hold of a loose ball with a 1 point lead and only seconds remaining, Morrison was reduced to tears while laying face down on the court.  UCLA broke Gonzaga's hearts 15 years ago and now Jalen Suggs had returned the favor in the 2021 Final Four.  The Zags will meet Baylor after narrowly beating UCLA 93-90 in overtime.  It was one of the best college basketball games ever.  And UCLA provided one of the gutsiest runs in the tournament ever, playing 6 games, 3 of them going to overtime, only being eliminated when the undefeated #1 team in the nation banked in a shot from half court.  Hats off to this UCLA squad!

While the Bruins were amazing in this year's tournament, their loss means we get the game we were all hoping for.  Earlier in the season, when both Baylor and Gonzaga were undefeated, it was the matchup every college basketball fan had circled on their calendar.  Covid didn't cancel that game, it merely delayed it.  Monday night, with the national championship on the line, the two top teams in the country will find out who truly is the best.

Make sure you tune in.  And don't forget to stay for One Shining Moment!

March Madness 2021 - USC Can't Drive 65

It's been a busy week, so even though I started writing this blog post on Wednesday, it's not getting finished until shortly before the Final Four begins.  One change in today's blog: the Magic Spreadsheet moves from the top of the post to the bottom.  We have a winner in one of the pools and the other one is all but decided, so we'll leave the congratulations until the end.

The West region was up first on Tuesday night and it was time to see how powerful the PAC-12 juggernaut truly was.  USC had crushed their first three opponents in this year's tourney, but so had Gonzaga.  In fact, the Zags had been doing it all season long.  The analysts on TV certainly seemed to believe that USC was a formidable foe for Gonzaga and not the team that needed two overtimes to beat Utah in the PAC-12 quarterfinals just a couple of weeks ago.  To put it nicely, the Trojans did not get off to a good start in this one.  They turned the ball over a few times, allowing Gonzaga a quick 7-0 lead and once again, a Gonzaga game felt like it was over really early on.  USC came into the game as one of the top defensive units in the country, leading the nation in blocks.  They would record zero blocks in this game.  They only managed 1 turnover in the first half, while giving up 49 points to the Zags as USC headed to the locker room down by 19 after 20 minutes of play.  There was no drama in the second half as Gonzaga seems to know how to hold on to a cushion without expending too much energy.  Sir Charles probably put it best after the game when he said the following (paraphrased): "Gonzaga doesn't play at 100 mph.  They play at 65 mph.  They keep the game at that speed and they know no one can beat them at that speed."  It's true.  The Zags never seem to be stressed while they play the game.  They go about their business and dominate.  It's methodical and ruthless.  And it was good enough to earn them a trip to the Final Four.  The West region champs remain undefeated after dismantling USC by a score of 85-66.

Hope you got your offensive fix in the first regional final because baskets were hard to come by in the East region final.  It was a matchup of the two conferences that had been talked about the most in this year's tournament.  Michigan was representing the Big 12, the best conference in the country during the regular season, but a huge disappointment during March Madness.  They were taking on UCLA from the PAC-12, a conference that didn't get a lot of love during the regular season, but showed how good they were when it counted by getting 4 teams into the Sweet 16 and 3 into the Elite 8.  Oregon State had fallen short vs Houston and USC had just gotten bounced by Gonzaga, so it was up to the Bruins if the PAC-12's run was going to continue.  10 minutes into this one it was 11-4 Michigan and, after watching the Gonzaga game, it was hard to imagine how either of these teams was going to be able to keep up with the Zags in the national semifinals if they survived this game.  UCLA was able to develop a bit of offense as the half wore on and the Bruins led by 4 at the break.  They would extend that lead to 9 early in the second half and it appeared the Wolverines were in deep trouble, but then UCLA went cold.  Like "the mountains have turned blue" cold.  For the next 7 minutes, the Bruins didn't score.  That allowed Michigan back into the game, but they could only muster a mild run while UCLA went scoreless.  It would be a one possession game throughout the final minutes, mainly because neither team could score.  The Bruins went ahead 48-47 with 4 minutes to play and then no one scored for another 3 minutes.  Yikes.  Both teams added two points to their totals in the final minute, but Michigan would have the last chance to win.  And the chance after that.  And one more still.  Down by 1, Franz Wagner airballed an open three from the top of the key.  After UCLA hit a free throw to make it a two-point game, the Bruins exhibited some dicey last-second defense for the second straight game, allowing Michigan an open look for the win that did not drop.  The ball was knocked out of bounds with less than a second to go, but the Wolverines got possession.  Surely they wouldn't get another open look, right?  Wrong.  Wagner got about as good a chance as you can get on a catch and shoot 3 and it didn't miss by much, but it missed by enough.  UCLA has gone from the First Four to the Final Four.  It feels like they might have stolen Abilene Christian's magic as they've needed miracles to win the last two games.  Alabama couldn't hit a free throw and Michigan couldn't hit open threes.  They will probably need Gonzaga to miss the exit ramp to the arena to get to the national championship game, but hey, they've made it this far, so you've got to give credit where credit is due.  UCLA is your East region champ after an ugly 51-49 victory.

Magic Spreadsheet update: The Main Pool has not been decided yet, but Aiden is the overwhelming favorite at this point.  Nate S can still win if Houston defeats UCLA in the national championship game.  But any other outcome will give Aiden the win.  As for the Gamblers Pool, it was starting to look dire for Scott B, but he can thank UCLA for clinching the 2021 title for him.  Tiny needed Michigan to beat UCLA and Baylor to beat Houston to jump over Scott in the standings and he was certainly favored to do so, but the Wolverines came up short.  Chubbs was further down the standings, but he had Gonzaga losing to Michigan in the Final Four with Baylor as his overall champion, so he had ample room to make up ground late.  But the Wolverines loss left him with too much to do in the final weekend.  So congrats to Scott B, the 2021 Gamblers Pool champ!

Magic Spreadsheet

Time for the Final Four!  Can Houston cool down Baylor's explosive offense?  Does UCLA have any more miracles up their sleeves?  Will we get the covid-delayed dream matchup of Baylor-Gonzaga in the national championship?  And can Gonzaga cap off an undefeated season, something that hasn't been done in 45 years?  Tune in now!

March Madness 2021 - Head Start Program

The tournament reached the Elite Eight on Monday night.  And by the time Monday's two regional finals were over with, we had reached the Fab Five in this year's pools.  Abracadabra!

Magic Spreadsheet

In the Main Pool, either Boogie Schefter or Pat O'Brien will take down top honors as Aiden holds a slim lead over Nate S, with everyone else mathematically eliminated at this stage.  In the Gamblers Pool, it has been Scott B from the start, but like a 20-1 shot that I've bet to go gate-to-wire, he is getting extremely leg weary in the final furlong.  Tiny may even be a slight favorite to catch him at this point.  But gobbling up all of the ground in the late stages is Chubbs.  If he finds a way to pull off the upset, he will be worth every penny of the $385M over 12 years that the Mets are paying him.

The first spot in the Final Four would come out of the Midwest Region as the Houston Cougars took on the Oregon St. Beavers.  The Beavers have seemed like this year's team of destiny.  They had overachieved just to finish midpack in the PAC-12, but to make a run to the conference tourney title was more than anyone could have imagined.  To continue that run by taking out three teams who had been ranked in the Top 25 this season was some movie magic type sh-tuff.  (Hey, this year's tournament is taking place exclusively in Indiana, so it makes sense.).  But they would need to find yet another gear to beat the Cougars, a Top 10 team for most of the season.  It didn't seem like the Beavers had it in them early on, as Houston clamped down on them defensively.  Oregon St. was stuck at 4 points nearly 9 minutes into the game.  Yes, that was similar to how the Sweet 16 played out when they faced another extremely good defensive team in Loyola-Chicago, but in that game, they pulled it together and led by 8 at halftime.  Here, they faced what seemed to be an insurmountable 17 point deficit as they went to intermission.  Oregon St. would need to take a page out of Houston's playbook if they wanted to get back into this game because there weren't going to be many easy shots on the offensive end.  They needed to shut down the Cougar offense to close the gap.  The Beavers began slowly erasing the huge Houston lead, but a random accident midway through the second half would really help their cause.  Houston's leading scorer, Marcus Sasser, bumped heads with an Oregon St. player as he tried to fight through a screen.  If they had a blue tent in basketball, they would have brought him into it to check for a concussion.  While Sasser tried to remember what planet he was on, the Cougar offense stalled.  The lead continued to shrink until an Oregon St. three with less than 4 minutes to go tied the game at 55.  Team of destiny!  But right when Houston looked like they were on the ropes, they showed that they are a championship caliber ballclub.  They scored 9 of the next 10 points to put the game away.  Oral Roberts had come oh so close to being the first 15 seed in the Elite Eight and Oregon St. had looked like they might become the first 12 seed to crash the Final Four.  Sadly, the two best Cinderella stories of this year's tournament have reached their final chapter.  Houston is the first team in the 2021 Final Four, advancing after a 67-61 victory.

One of the great March Madness bets in Vegas is the "First to 15" bet.  It doesn't matter how lopsided a matchup might be, either team has a legitimate shot to get to 15 points in a game.  Well, almost any team has a legitimate shot.  In this year's tournament, there is one team that was a surefire loser when it came to that bet: Arkansas.  Colgate, Texas Tech, Oral Roberts...all got to 15 before Arkansas.  In fact, all 3 of those teams held double-digit leads on the Razorbacks before Arkansas came back to win.  It's like they had to give all of their opponents a head start before proving that they were clearly the superior team.  They likely wouldn't have that luxury against Baylor, since the Bears were ranked higher than the Razorbacks all year long.  I told my cousin Dave that I could see this game going a couple of different ways: either the Razorbacks would finally take an opponent seriously early on, play a disciplined game from start to finish and upset the #1 seed...or Baylor might win by 39.  If you chose door #2, you probably felt pretty good at the beginning of this game.  Once again, Arkansas was tremendously sloppy with the ball, turning the ball over repeatedly and allowing Baylor to jump out to a 29-11 lead.  Surely the double-digit deficit was something the Razorbacks were used to, but making up that type of ground on one of he best teams was a recipe for disaster.  Or was it?  When Arkansas stopped turning the ball over, they scored at will on the Bears.  At halftime, Baylor's lead was down to 8.  It was down to 4 midway through the second half.  But as we saw in the first game of the night, overcoming a huge deficit takes so much out of a team.  If they're not able to poke their nose out in front at some point (I know, so many horse racing analogies!), the task becomes too overwhelming.  Oregon St. drew even, but could never get ahead to really terrify Houston.  And even though Arkansas showed explosive stretches where you thought they might just find one more 8-0 run to grab the lead on Baylor, it never materialized late.  They missed 11 shots in a row after drawing to within 4 points and this one was over.  Baylor will take on Houston in one national semifinal after defeating Arkansas 81-72 to win the South Region.

When there's just two games in a given night, the recaps get shorter.  So we're done.  Who will join Houston and Baylor in the Final Four?  Tune in for the West and East Regional finals on Tuesday night (still feels weird saying that) to find out!

March Madness 2021 - Freedom Isn't Free...And Neither Are Free Throws

Does anyone know what day it is?  It's been fairly impossible to track since the pandemic began, but with March Madness altering their schedule this year, things have gotten really confusing.  A Saturday through Tuesday schedule for the second weekend?  I guess that means it is Sunday as we wind down the Sweet 16.

But first, as always, I give you the Magic Spreadsheet:

Magic Spreadsheet

The Main Pool is by far the more interesting of the two pools at this point.  Aiden and Nate S are still tied for the lead, but folks went in a variety of different directions in terms of who they selected as the overall champion, so this pool still has a long way to go in terms of playing out.  Less drama in the Gamblers Pool.  Scott B has kept the field at arms length for much of this year's tournament and the vast majority of the entries selected Gonzaga as their champion.  That means the pool winner will likely be crowned before the Final Four.  Keep an eye out for Dave H though, as he now has the bracket with the highest potential number of points.

Sunday's games started with the #1 seeds taking the floor first.  The #1 overall seed, Gonzaga, kicked things off and they were big favorites to remain undefeated as they took on Creighton.  And as much as I'd like to build up some drama with this recap, there really wasn't any to mention.  Gonzaga has only had one game this year where they won by less than double-digits, so Creighton had plenty of company in the "couldn't make the Zags sweat" category.  Gonzaga just never looks like they are under any stress at all, moving fluidly around the court, scoring during most trips down the floor, and gradually extending their lead.  The Bluejays were only down 10 at the break, which wasn't terrible, but you got the impression that the Zags were simply halfway to a 20 point win rather than in a game where their opponent might threaten them late.  Gonzaga would actually see their lead balloon up to 27 at one stage in the second half.  Some of these games are like watching an NFL team with a strong running back just ram the ball down the throat of a team with an exhausted defensive line.  Creighton knew what was coming, they simply could not stop it as the game wore on.  Will any team be able to slow down the Gonzaga freight train?  We'll see in the Elite Eight as Gonzaga moves on to the regional final after an easy 83-65 win.

Michigan is one of the few teams that college basketball analysts believe could give Gonzaga some trouble.  They play solid defense, they can score a bunch of points, and they have some versatile big men.  Aren't a lot of college teams that can check all of those boxes.  Speaking of big men, the Wolverines would be seeing a lot of them in this game as Florida State boasted the tallest lineup in college basketball.  The Seminoles were the last team standing for the ACC, which surprisingly had a really down year.  (NC State is one ACC team that had a down year, but that's never a surprise).  You would think that Michigan might need to be hot from beyond the arc due to the Seminoles size, but it was actually the Wolverines who ruled the paint in this one.  Michigan jumped out to a 19-8 advantage in the early minutes and held that 11 point edge as the teams went to the locker room for intermission.  Florida State would make one run in the second half, getting within 5, but the Wolverines would score the next seven points to end any momentum the Seminoles might have had.  Both #1 seeds on this side of the bracket looked really strong in the Sweet Sixteen as Michigan turns out the lights on the ACC after a 76-58 victory over Florida State.

The best game on Saturday was the third one on the schedule and the best game on Sunday would also fall into slot #3 on the docket.  Alabama simply could not miss in round two as they lit up the scoreboard against Maryland.  UCLA had survived against Michigan State, overwhelmed BYU, and then basically gotten a bye versus Abilene Christian to make their way to the Sweet Sixteen.  Did they have enough in the tank to keep up with the Crimson Tide?  There were some wild swings early on in this one.  UCLA scored 7 of the game's first 8 points, but then the Crimson Tide scored 13 in a row.  But once that run ended, it was the Bruins that dominated the rest of the half.  The 11 seed would hold an 11 point lead at the break.  Alabama came out of the locker room fired up, scoring 11 straight to tie the game.  And from there on out, this one would be a nailbiter.  Back and forth, the teams would trade the lead.  As the clock ticked under 2 minutes, the Crimson Tide led by 1 and had the ball.  A UCLA defender knocked the ball out of bounds through the legs of Alabama's John Petty Jr., but the Bruins claimed the ball went out off of Petty.  Since there was less than 2 minutes left, the officials could go to the replay.  In super slo-mo, it appeared that the ball might have grazed the shorts of Petty as it passed through his legs.  The refs overturned the call, gave the ball to UCLA, and Shorts-Gate was born.  (It really wasn't much of a controversy, as the Bruins came down, missed a shot, and Alabama got the ball back.  Ball don't lie.).  Alabama was down one and had the ball in the waning seconds and they were fouled as they attempted to take back the lead.  Most teams would probably be thrilled to have 2 free throws to take the lead with only 6 seconds to go, but a big reason this game was so tight was because the Crimson Tide was horrible from the charity stripe.  They had missed 10 of their 21 free throws in the game, so it was no sure thing that they were going to make these two.  First one was no good.  Second one was no good.  Make that 12 misses from the free throw line.  When UCLA corralled the rebound, was fouled with 4 seconds to go, and sank two free throws on their end, it looked like this one was over.  The announcers on the broadcast even pointed out how UCLA's coach loves to foul in this situation, preventing the other team from getting the opportunity to tie the game with a three.  But as was the case in the Oral Roberts-Arkansas game, the defensive scheme drawn up for the final seconds was dubious at best.  UCLA allowed Alabama to throw the pass to half court to begin the play.  Two defenders began to converge, possibly to foul, but then backed off.  While they were in no man's land, Alabama's Alex Reese was open on the edge of the logo.  He received the ball just in time to throw up a prayer.  And the prayer was answered.  The Crimson Tide were clearly missing free throws because those shots were too close to the basket.  We were headed to overtime.  One would think Alabama might ride the momentum from the buzzer beater to a spot in the Elite Eight.  But it was the Bruins who were brimming with energy in the extra session.  They scored the first 7 points and would never allow Alabama to get within 4 the rest of the way.  PAC-12 dominance continues on in this tournament as UCLA takes down the #2 seed in the East. 88-78.

As hot as the PAC-12 was, they would be taking an L in the nightcap.  Of course, that was because both teams playing for the final spot in the Elite Eight were from the PAC-12.  Oregon and USC essentially shared the PAC-12 title this season with Oregon going 14-4 and USC going 15-5.  Technically the Ducks were the champs based on percentage points, but the Trojans got the better of Oregon in their only meeting during the year.  Both these teams blew out higher seeded opponents in round two and all signs pointed to a high octane game with plenty of scoring.  For 12 minutes, this game was fairly competitive, but USC certainly knows how to close out a first half.  After scoring the last 11 points of the first half in their last game to open up a 19 point lead against Kansas, the Trojans went on a 20-7 run here to take a 15 point advantage into the half.  Oregon wasn't able to make a dent into that lead in the second half, as USC held a safe 20 point margin the rest of the way.  Some garbage time points made the final score respectable, but the Trojans haven't been challenged through 3 games in the tournament thus far.  The 82-68 winners have a date on Tuesday with another team that hasn't been challenged yet, Gonzaga.  Should make for an interesting game.

The Madness has been a roller coaster ride this year, but it's time to get serious.  Who's going to the Final Four?  The first two berths will be determined on Monday night as the Midwest and South region champs are crowned.

March Madness 2021 - First Four Redux

Why is it called the Magic Spreadsheet this year?  Isn't this the same spreadsheet you use every year?  Well yes, but it makes these pools so much easier to run once I've gotten the picks filled in.  And after what we've all been dealing with for the past 12 months, it's nice to have something make life better for a change.  So the spreadsheet gets the Magic moniker for at least this year.  Here's the updated version:

Magic Spreadsheet

Quick version: The Main Pool finds a three-way tie at the top with Aiden, Nate S, and Fred holding top honors at the moment.  The Gamblers Pool has tightened up a bit, but Scott B still leads the way.  Keep an eye out for Nicola though, as she is making a late charge up the standings.

We were going to see a bunch of teams playing on Saturday that weren't expected to be around for the second weekend.  #11 seed Syracuse and #15 seed Oral Roberts were playing later, but two of the other surprises were meeting up in the first game of the day.  Sister Jean's inspired Loyola-Chicago club was the #8 seed, but the Ramblers looked like a team ready to make another Final Four run after manhandling top seed Illinois in round two.  Their Sweet Sixteen opponent was one of the more remarkable stories of this year's tournament.  Picked to finish dead last in the PAC-12 and sitting at 11-11 late in the season, something clicked with the Oregon St. Beavers.  They have been an unstoppable force over the last month.  They won the PAC-12 tournament to keep their season alive, an accomplishment that looks even more impressive in retrospect given that the PAC-12 has been the best conference in this year's tournament by far.  The Beavers then humiliated Tennessee before suffocating Cade Cunningham and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  This would be a new experience for Oregon St. though as Loyola-Chicago would bring the more heralded defense (#1 in the nation) into this contest.  Early on, the Ramblers lived up to their billing.  The Beavers only scored 3 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.  However, Loyola-Chicago was missing open threes on the other end and the score remained 9-3 for a long stretch.  Eventually Oregon St. found a way to score while Loyola-Chicago continued to struggle to put the ball through the hoop.  The Beavers would lead 24-16 at the break.  Oregon St. didn't let halftime interrupt their momentum, as they came out and extended the lead to 13.  The Ramblers were going to have find some offense fast or their run would be over.  Loyola-Chicago would slowly get into an offensive rhythm, but they may have sacrificed some energy that they usually expend on the defensive end to do it.  Every time the Ramblers drew somewhat close to the Beavers, Oregon St. would answer with a basket at the other end.  With their lead down to 4, the Beavers nailed a three with just over a minute remaining to close the door shut.  Oregon St.'s dream run continues as Sister Jean and the Ramblers fall short of another trip to the Final Four.  The PAC-12 wins again, this time by a score of 65-58.

Perhaps the most disappointing game of the day would be Baylor vs. Villanova.  Baylor is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, while Villanova has become a tournament stalwart, winning titles in 2 of the last 4 years March Madness has taken place.  It seemed like there was the potential for some serious fireworks in this game, but instead it turned into Loyola-Chicago vs Oregon St. part two.  Baylor, like Loyola-Chicago, had trouble scoring in the first half, unable to hit the threes that they had drained all year long.  Villanova wasn't much better, but they were good enough to hold a 7 point advantage at the half.  Were we about to see another major upset in this year's tournament?  Baylor decided that they would need to change tactics if they were going to survive.  Abandoning the three, they took the game to Villanova and found slightly more success in terms of scoring.  On the other end, the Wildcats went cold and suddenly we were knotted at 41 with 10 minutes to play.  So much for fireworks!  The last 10 minutes played out the same way as the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Baylor grinding out the occasional basket and Villanova unable to put together consecutive possessions with positive outcomes.  The lead slowly grew from 2 to 4 to 6 and, based on the Wildcats' futility on the offensive end, it became clear this game was over.  It certainly was not pretty, but Baylor survives, eliminating Villanova with a 62-51 win.

After two games, it started to feel like we were watching the First Four again.  60 points might punch your ticket to the Elite Eight.  And looking at the last game of the night, one could expect that pattern to hold when Syracuse took on Houston.  That meant Arkansas vs. Oral Roberts was the last chance to see some offense during Saturday's slate of Sweet Sixteen games.  You wouldn't necessarily expect teams from the Summit League and the SEC to be familiar with one another, but oddly enough, these teams had faced one another back in December in a season when Covid wiped out a large number of out-of-conferences games.  And in that game, Oral Roberts led by 10 at the half before Arkansas came back to win.  So there was absolutely no reason to think that the Golden Eagles would be intimidated by the Razorbacks.  The 15 seed came out of the gates strong, while Arkansas seemed to sleepwalk like they always do in the early going.  Oral Roberts was up 8 quickly and held a 35-28 advantage at halftime.  Even though only 63 points were scored in half #1, it felt like the NBA All-Star Game compared to what we saw in the first two games of the day.  You had to expect an Arkansas comeback in the second half, but they fell further behind in the opening minutes as the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 12 point lead.  Perhaps they had learned their lesson from December and were going to hold on in this one.  The problem for them was that it was clear that Arkansas was the more athletic, talented team.  They were just completely undisciplined.  When Coach Musselman finally got his team focused, they began to show why they are a very dangerous team in this year's tournament.  The Razorbacks started double teaming Oral Roberts star Max Abmas, forcing his teammates to knock down shots to beat them.  They didn't hit many.  Continuing the assault on Abmas was Jalen Tate of Arkansas.  Why put up jumpers when you can post up a guy 5 inches shorter than you?  Arkansas was suddenly back in it and we had a game.  The score was tied at 70 with less than 30 seconds to go and Arkansas had the ball.  They worked the clock down, then got it to Davonte Davis who sank a jumper with 3 seconds left.  Looked like ballgame.  Oral Roberts would have to go the length of the court and hit a shot to win or tie, but you knew Arkansas wasn't going to let Abmas get the ball.  Out of the timeout, Abmas had two Razorbacks giving him the Secret Service treatment.  They were going to follow him wherever he was going to go.  Except Abmas didn't become the leading scorer in the nation by giving in when situations were bleak.  He scrambled around, cut as close as he could to a screening teammate and sprinted to the far sideline.  The ball was thrown his way and suddenly he was dribbling upcourt with a chance to win it.  He actually got a clean look at a 3 and as the ball sailed towards the hoop, it looked like we would have our first 15 seed ever in the Elite Eight.  But the ball hit the rim and bounced away.  It was a gutsy run in this tournament by Oral Roberts and especially from Max Abmas, but they were two points short in this one.  Arkansas will play Baylor for a spot in the Final Four after a 72-70 victory.

Last game of the night was going to be another low-scoring defensive affair.  There was no way of getting around it.  It actually had a bit of a Michigan-LSU feel to it in the first half as the teams would trade runs with one team getting "hot" and the other team going cold.  (No quotes needed there).  There were a total of 3 runs in that 1st half.  15-3 for each team before Houston went 10-0 to end the half.  The Cougars led by 10 at the break.  In the second half, the Orange needed leading scorer Buddy Boeheim to get hot, but after averaging nearly 30 points per game in the first two rounds, Boeheim had a hard time getting off an uncontested shot against the Houston defense.  He would end up leading Syracuse in scoring with 12 points, but that would not be nearly enough.  The Orange would be held to an all-time program low of 46 points in this game as Houston will face Oregon State in the Elite Eight following their 62-46 win.

Four more games today to determine who else will play in the regional finals on Monday and Tuesday.  Make sure you tune in!

March Madness 2021 - First Team To 100 Wins

Standings first, recap second.  Click the link below to see how you are doing in each of the pools.

Magic Spreadsheet

Quick summary: Fred still holds the top spot in the Main Pool, but Aiden and Scott B still have a lot of potential points available to them, while Vince and the two Nates are also within striking range.  Scott B continues to have a strong hold over the Gamblers Pool.

There have been some impressive defensive performances in this year's tournament, whether it was Abilene Christian forcing non-stop turnovers in their upset win over Texas or Loyola-Chicago clamping down on Illinois in a dominant round two victory.  But on Monday, the name of the game was offense.  From the first game of the day to the last, we saw teams light up the scoreboard.  It was quite the contrast from the First Four, where no team scored more than 60 points until the final game of the session.  On Monday, it seemed like a bunch of teams might eclipse 100 points as they tried to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

It was no surprise that the Oregon-Iowa game would be a high scoring affair.  The Ducks had recently put up 91 in their quarterfinal win against Arizona State in the PAC-12 quarterfinals.  Iowa averaged over 100 points per game in the 6 wins they had to start the season before Gonzaga "held" them to 88 points in one of the big matchups of the early season.  Both teams were letting it fly early and neither team seemed to be eager to play much defense as we had a 46-46 tie with two minutes to go in the first half.  But while Oregon would keep their foot on the gas pedal in those last two minutes, the Hawkeyes tank hit empty.  The Ducks would score the last 10 points of the half to open up a big lead at the break.  Their run continued in the second half as they scored 11 of the first 16 points to make this game a blowout.  Luka Garza, Iowa's star big man, did all he could to keep the Hawkeyes in it with 36 points and 9 rebounds, but it was not enough to derail the Ducks, who moved on after a 95-80 victory.

While Oregon and Iowa were two teams that weren't shy about scoring points, the best offense in the nation belongs to Gonzaga.  Their offense reminds me a little bit of the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.  They might fall behind at times, but they have this scary ability to just score a lot of points in a very short period of time and completely change the feel of the game.  That ability was on display in their second round tilt with Oklahoma as the Sooners were ready to throw haymakers from the opening tip.  Guard Austin Reaves was ready to play the game of his life, as he drove to the hoop time and time again to help put Oklahoma up 8.  The Zags didn't look crisp early on, but they certainly never looked panicked either.  As the half wore on, the Sooners lead evaporated.  By halftime, the Zags were up 12 and the situation felt a bit hopeless for Oklahoma.  To their credit, the Sooners never gave up.  Reaves continued to make one big play after another.  And for Oklahoma to stay as close as they did without their 2nd leading scorer was admirable.  But in the end, it was Gonzaga putting up a ho-hum 87 points while cruising to a 16-point victory.

Over the next couple of hours, it was time to say goodbye to a couple of offensively-inhibited Cinderellas that didn't have enough scoring to extend their stay in the tournament.  UCLA beating Abilene Christian seemed like more of a lock than any of the 1 vs 16 matchups in round one.  The Wildcats needed the perfect storm of events to take down Texas by a point in the opening round.  It was unlikely they would be as fortunate in round two.  Combine that with a UCLA that seems to be picking up momentum as the season has gone on and you had a recipe for a mismatch.  Abilene Christian managed about as much offensive output as they did in round one, but 47 points wasn't going to get it done here.  UCLA moved on with an easy 20 point win.  Ohio had a bit more ability on the offensive end than Abilene Christian, but they only managed 62 points in their first round victory.  They needed a big game from star Jason Preston if they were going to take down another higher seed in Creighton.  But Preston could only manage 4 points against the Bluejays and the Bobcats were doomed.  Creighton becomes the next team to try to give Gonzaga their 1st loss as they head to the Sweet 16 after a 72-58 victory.

Game of the day would be next.  The Big 10's reputation had taken a huge hit during this tournament.  Many pundits thought they might have three representatives in the Final Four.  But as we got to the early part of Monday evening, they only had two chances to get a team into the Sweet Sixteen.  Maryland would be a considerable underdog later on against Alabama, leaving Michigan as the best hope for the most hyped conference in the land.  Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they were running into one of those "heating up late in the season" teams in LSU.  The Tigers nearly won the SEC conference tournament, losing by a point to the aforementioned Crimson Tide.  They barely broke a sweat taking down St. Bonaventure in round one.  Simply put, they were not going to be intimidated by Michigan.  This game was unlike any other in this year's March Madness in that it was almost exclusively a game of runs.  These teams weren't trading buckets end to end.  Instead, one team would score for 2-3 minutes, then the other teams would take over for the next couple of minutes.  This pattern played out for the first 32 minutes of the game.  With 8 minutes left, one team finally broke.  LSU began to shy away from shooting threes, instead driving to the rim even if their shots were going to be contested.  Unable to convert these tough shots, they allowed the Wolverines to go on a 14-1 run that would be the decisive stretch in the game.  Michigan turned a 5 point deficit into an 8 point lead, which is what they final margin would be as well.  The Big 10 lives on!  Michigan survives and heads to week two after an 86-78 victory.

The final three games of the opening weekend did not provide much in the way of drama.  Colorado had been on fire in their big win against Georgetown, but they were a paltry 6-25 from beyond the arc against Florida State as the Seminoles dealt the PAC-12 their first defeat of this year's tournament, dispatching the Buffaloes after an easy 71-53 victory.  Maryland and Alabama gave vibes of Oregon and Iowa earlier in the day, but this time around, it was the Big 10 team having the score run up on them.  The Terps didn't shoot it badly themselves as they went a respectable 10 for 27 from three-point range, but the Crimson Tide sank 16 of 33 from deep.  Alabama probably could have scored 100 in this one, but by the time they had established a 23 point lead, they let up some.  In the end, it was 96-77...Roll Tide!  Finally, the USC-Kansas game looked on paper like one that could go down to the wire, but the Trojans put an end to the Jayhawks dreams by halftime.  They scored the last 11 points before intermission and led by 19.  That lead would grow as large as 35 in the second half.  USC ends week one with the most dominating performance that we have seen in this year's tournament, humiliating Kansas in an 85-51 pummeling.

From 68 down to 16.  Let's hope the remaining teams stay healthy as we head to week two.  Remember, the Sweet Sixteen does not start until Saturday, so if you're flipping through the channels on Thursday looking for basketball, you probably won't find any.  (Fine, that's not true.  NC State is playing in the quarterfinals of the NIT on Thursday.  But I think we all know how that story is going to end, right?).  We'll have the South and Midwest regions on Saturday, the West and East regions on Sunday, with Final Four tickets punched on Monday and Tuesday.  Yes, that sounds super weird, but these are the times we are living in.  Until then...

March Madness 2021 - Remember The Skis!

Ma-gic Spread-sheet.  Clap-clap.  Clap-clap-clap.

Magic Spreadsheet

Quick version: Fred Alcaro has jumped out to the lead in the Main Pool, but Scott Brown and Aiden Schweitzer have higher potential scores and are lurking in 2nd and 3rd.  In the Gamblers Pool, Scott Brown is in a very strong position, holding a big lead and with the highest potential score by far.

8 games scheduled for Sunday and 8 games were played.  It feels weird typing that, but with what happened to VCU on Saturday night, we have to be grateful when all the teams get to play on a given night.  

The first day of round two is usually where Cinderellas find out it is midnight and head home.  It makes sense in a way.  You put everything you got into springing a major upset, then you celebrate, and then two days later you're supposed to summon up the same level of energy to take down another Goliath.  It's an incredibly hard feat to pull off, but in this year when nothing is normal, it's time to expect the unexpected.

The 8 games of the day were stretched out with 3 single games to start the day, with the other 5 games eventually starting to overlap as the night went on.  That meant captive audiences for the two #1 seeds playing today.  First up was Illinois.  The Big 10 tourney champs had become the most popular choice to be the roadblock that would end Gonzaga's undefeated season as they were the hottest team late in what was regarded as the best conference in the country.  They had the tough task of taking on Sister Jean's Loyola-Chicago ball club.  This matchup was going to be fascinating for two reasons: Loyola-Chicago had the best defensive team in the NCAA this year and they were the intrastate "little brother".  Remember when Wichita State finally got to play Kansas in the NCAAs after Kansas refused for years to play them?  The Shockers went to town on them.  So there were compelling reasons to believe that the Ramblers could upset the Illini.  And apparently they had God on their side...which is nice.  Loyola-Chicago jumped out to a 9-2 lead and controlled most of the action in the first half.  Their big man, Cameron Krutwig, had an advantage that Illinois never seemed able to counter.  The Ramblers like to play slow, half-court offense.  Since Illinois' heralded big man, Kofi Cockburn (not pronounced how you think, another theme of this year's tourney) would not come out of the paint to pressure him, Loyola-Chicago was able to run their offense through Krutwig and use up as much time as they would like.  Illinois was also stubborn about going over the top of screens, which played into the Ramblers' playbook, as they scored on back door cuts over and over again.  It all added up to a 14 point lead, which the Illini were lucky to trim down to 9 before the first half horn sounded.  Everyone expected a big run from Illinois in the second half, but it never materialized.  The closest they would get was 6 points as Loyola-Chicago just looked like the better team for the entire game.  Our first #1 waved bye-bye as the Ramblers are the kings of Illinois with a 71-58 thumping of the Big 10 tourney champs.

Could we lose #1 seeds in back-to-back games?  Wisconsin might have had the most impressive performance of a Big 10 team in round one, embarrassing North Carolina by 23.  They would need to repeat that type of performance to take down Baylor, who for a long time this year looked like they might enter March Madness with an unblemished record just like Gonzaga.  However, they had a break from playing due to Covid (as did pretty much every team this year) and they came back a little rusty.  They nearly lost to 2-22 Iowa State.  They finally did lose to Kansas.  And then Oklahoma State beat them in the Big 12 tourney.  They're in the process of trying to regain that mid-season form, and during the first half against the Badgers, it looked like they were back.  They opened up an early margin on Wisconsin, ended the half up 13, and extended that advantage to 18 in the first few minutes of the second half.  The Badgers play a methodical Loyola-Chicago type game, so the chances of them mounting a furious comeback seemed slim, but Baylor fell into a lull.  They could only manage 7 points over the next 8 minutes and suddenly Wisconsin was back within 7.  But the Badgers mirrored what their Big 10 brethren, Illinois, had done down the stretch and were unable to ever make it a one possession game.  The best conference in the country continued to be decimated in the tourney as Baylor moves on to the Sweet 16 with a 76-63 victory.

I probably sound like I am bashing Syracuse every time I write about them in the NCAA tourney, but they truly remain baffling to me.  TV analysts will say "it's really difficult to prepare for their zone", but the Orange play the same 2-3 zone every year.  They play it in their regular season games.  If it was that difficult to figure out, wouldn't Syracuse be 29-3 every year and enter as a 1 or 2 seed?  Instead, it feels like they barely make it into the field, then start knocking off higher seeded teams one by one.  To give you an example of why I don't understand this phenomenon, I give you Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh was 8-12 for the season when they didn't play Syracuse.  But against the Orange, they were 2-0.  They even beat Syracuse by 20 in one game.  Duke (not in the tourney) beat them by 14.  Clemson (1st round exit) beat them by 17.  Bad/mediocre teams crushed them.  So what gives in the tourney?  My new perspective on Syracuse is that they are the Robert Horry of March Madness.  During the regular season, they are nothing special.  But when the money is on the line and the pressure is at its highest, you want to go with the Orange.  That was apparent yet again in their game with West Virginia.  The Mountaineers are coached by a guy who was won 900 games, but early on, they could not figure out the Syracuse zone.  It wasn't long before the Orange had built a 26-12 advantage.  West Virginia pulled within 6 by halftime, but Syracuse was off to a quick start in the second half as well, extending their lead to 11.  Eventually, Sean McNeil figured things out.  With West Virginia down 8, McNeil hit back-to-back-to-back treys and now the Mountaineers were out in front.  It wouldn't last long though.  Syracuse would score 10 straight of their own, then hold on in the final minute to win by three.  The Orange are making another surprise trip to the Sweet 16 after holding on 75-72.

The tightest matchup of the day was likely going to be Arkansas vs. Texas Tech.  Arkansas was the #3 seed, having a 24-6 record with all 6 of their losses coming to tournament teams.  Texas Tech was the #6 seed and had put together an up and down season after losing the national championship in overtime 2 years ago.  They had shown some of that tourney grit from 2019 in their 1st round win vs Utah State and figured to be a tough matchup for the streaky Razorbacks.  Arkansas started off cold for the 2nd straight game, spotting the Red Raiders a 10 point lead early in the first half.  But streaky can be bad and streaky can be good.  The Razorbacks would control most of the next 20 minutes, turning a 10 point deficit into a 13 point advantage.  Arkansas couldn't enjoy prosperity though and hit another cold streak.  Texas Tech went on a 14-2 run and suddenly it was a 1 point game with 5 minutes to play.  The Razorbacks kept trying to pull away from the Red Raiders, but Texas Tech kept fighting back.  With Arkansas up two, the Red Raiders had a chance to tie or even win in the final seconds, but they missed a layup with a couple seconds to go and the ball was batted away as the clock hit zero.  The Razorbacks survive a tight one, winning 68-66.

Two programs who went through long stretches of not appearing in the NCAA tournament found themselves playing for a spot in the second weekend as Rutgers took on Houston.  The Scarlet Knights hadn't been to the NCAAs in 30 years, but they made up for lost time by taking down Clemson in round one.  Houston's program has been tremendous in the last few years.  They were a 3 seed in the last NCAA tournament and this year they are a 2 seed.  But it wasn't long ago that they were effectively Rutgers.  From 1992 to 2017, the Cougars only qualified for the Big Dance once: a 1st round loss back in 2010.  So neither program had much in the way of recent tournament experience.  After a close first half, it was the 10 seed that began to pull away in the second 20 minutes.  Rutgers built their lead to 10 and kept it in the 8-10 range as the clock showed less than 5 minutes to play.  But the Scarlet Knights went into prevent D mode, trying to drain the clock on nearly every possession.  It was way too early to try such tactics and Houston took advantage.  With Rutgers stalling on offense, the Cougars began to eat away at the lead.  Houston had the ball down 2 with less than 30 seconds to go when they ran the Abilene Christian Special.  After a missed shot, the Cougars grabbed the rebound and were fouled on the follow-up attempt.  However, this follow-up went in and after converting the And 1, it was Rutgers who was now in trouble.  They turned the ball over, allowing Houston to sink two more free throws and take a 3 point lead.  The Scarlet Knights did get one last clean look, but their three pointer to tie did not go in and Houston kept their title hopes alive with a 63-60 victory.

I have been in Vegas three times during March Madness.  Two of those visits occurred while I was there for the Horseplayer World Series, so my focus was more on horse racing than on college basketball.  The other time was during my cousin Dave's bachelor party.  We spent quite a bit of time in the sports books, betting parlays left and right.  I'm not much of a sports bettor, but I remember hitting a well-paying parlay when LaSalle came back to beat Mississippi in the second round.  But the best memory of that tournament was rooting for the Skis.  The only time I have ever picked a 15 seed in my bracket and had it win was when I took Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.  They were such a fun team to watch, but none of us had any idea what their mascot was.  So we decided to call them the Jet Skis.  As they began to put away Georgetown in round one, we were wildly cheering for the Skis.  Same deal when they upset San Diego State in round two.  No one in the casino seemed to understand why we were constantly yelling things like "That's right Skis!" and "Pour it on, Skis!", but we were drunk, happy, and making money.  Ahhh, memories...

The reason for that trip down memory lane was that Oral Roberts was attempting to join the Skis as the only 15 seed to win two games in the tournament.  They were playing Florida, the team that would end the Skis run back in 2013.  This Oral Roberts team did have one noticeable similarity to the Skis and that is they could score in bunches without relying on threes.  Many upsets happen in the tournament one of two ways: a low-scoring affair where the favored team can't hit anything or a three-point barrage where the underdog just can't miss from beyond the arc.  The Golden Eagles had inside and outside threats and they were money from the free throw line.  The question was whether they could keep up the level of play they showed against Ohio State, because they would need it to take down the Gators.  Oral Roberts didn't have any difficulty on the offensive end in the first half, but Florida still led by 5 at the break.  Midway through the second half, it looked like the Cinderella story might be over as the Gators spurted out to an 11 point advantage with less than 10 minutes to go.  But Oral Roberts stuck to their guns.  They made threes.  They made layups.  They made free throws.  They found ways to score and eventually made a few stops on the defensive end.  With 3 minutes to go, the Golden Eagles reclaimed the lead.  Things got sloppy over the next two minutes with both teams committing turnovers, but Oral Roberts led by 3 with 15 seconds to go.  Florida got a look at a three to tie, but it missed.  They grabbed the rebound and flung up another three.  No good.  As everyone scrambled for the ball, the horn sounded, and the Skis had company.  Oral Roberts is the second 15 seed to ever make the Sweet 16 after eliminating Florida by the score of 81-78.

With an 8 seed, an 11 seed, and a 15 seed having advanced already, there was no reason to believe that the 13 seed Mean Green couldn't be in the Sweet Sixteen.  And things looked promising when they jumped out to a 21-13 lead on Villanova.  But in the only game of the day with no drama, the Wildcats would go on to score 62 of the next 90 points in this contest.  That's a lot.  An 8 point deficit became a 26 point lead and Villanova was moving on.  The Wildcats, like the Orange, are a tough tourney out as they beat North Texas 84-61.

If you stayed up for the nightcap, then I hope your favorite colors are orange and black.  Both Oklahoma State and Oregon State don those colors and they were meeting up in a 4 vs 12 clash.  Once again the focus was on Cade Cunningham, the presumptive #1 pick in the next NBA draft.  Cunningham was Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in the Big 12, but he laid an egg in round one.  Would the real Cade Cunningham show up in round two?  While Cunningham was the headliner, perhaps the real story should have been the Beavers.  It is rare that a team from a major conference could be considered a Cinderella, but Oregon State was picked to finish dead last in the PAC-12.  They managed to go 10-10 and finish middle of the pack in the conference, but they had no chance at the NCAAs without winning the conference tourney.  But they overcame a 16 point deficit to UCLA in a quarterfinal win.  They took out top seed Oregon in the semis.  And they held off Colorado by a bucket to punch their ticket.  In round one, they clobbered Tennessee.  Suddenly, a team that was an afterthought had become one of the hottest teams in the nation.  And that momentum continued early on in this game.  Oregon State was up 40-22 with three minutes left in the first half.  Cade Cunningham was picking out his draft day outfit as he continued to look fairly disinterested in the proceedings.  He certainly wasn't taking over the game as you would expect the top player in the country to do.  In the second half, the Cowboys turned up the pressure and got back in the game.  The Beavers were uncomfortable being pressed and turned the ball over repeatedly.  They also got in foul trouble as Oklahoma State began driving to the hoop more.  The Cowboys got within 2 as the under 12 TV timeout was called.  And then their strategy changed.  Oklahoma State started firing jumpers while Oregon State charged to the hoop and evened out the foul situation.  The Beavers lead grew back to 11.  The Cowboys would make one last run, hitting two threes in a quick 11 second flurry to make it a one possession game again, but that was as close as they would get.  Cade Cunningham's college career likely ends with a 9-34 shooting performance in two games vs. Liberty and Oregon State.  Not good.  The Beavers will try to stay hot next week as they will meet Loyola-Chicago in the Sweet 16 after an 80-70 triumph in round two.

Monday basketball!  We usually only see that for the national championship, but we get 8 games this Monday to end the first weekend of play.  How many more surprise entrants will we see in the Sweet 16?

March Madness 2021 - Hair Of The Dog

Long recap ahead.  Better get off the next exit and visit the Magic Spreadsheet if you're looking for a quick fix of pool standings before watching today's games:

The Magic Spreadsheet

(Quick version: Fred Alcaro and Scott Brown have built a little bit of a lead on the field in the Main Pool, while Scott Brown, Nate Heffner, and Vince Berarducci are battling it out at the top of the Gamblers Pool.)

The Day 2 Hangover is a real thing.  There is so much anticipation for the first 16 games of the tournament and somehow, someway, those first 16 games never seem to disappoint in terms of drama.  Upsets, buzzer beaters, overtime thrillers...they all play out on Day 1 year after year.  Without fail, there are articles online about how Day 2 is going to be an encore of Day 1, with predictions of all the top seeds that are going to be shown the door.  And inevitably, it doesn't happen.  Maybe the big name teams that play on Day 1 don't fully appreciate that their opponents are capable of beating them on the right day.  And maybe the teams that play on Day 2 see the carnage from Day 1 and snap out of their trance of superiority.  Whatever the dynamics may be, it always seems that Day 2 is a letdown from the fireworks of Day 1.  For most of this year's Day 2, that pattern held.

First game of the day featured Colorado taking on Georgetown.  The Hoyas had to win the Big East tournament to make the Big Dance and Patrick Ewing's team pulled off a weekend of upsets to punch their ticket.  There were quite a few surprise champions in the major conference tournaments this year.  Would Georgetown follow the path of Oregon State and keep the momentum going?  Or would they be more like Georgia Tech, who left all their magic at the ACC tournament?  The answer came quick in this one as Colorado took advantage of a Hoya defense that didn't extend out to the arc.  The Buffaloes aren't a big 3-point shooting team, but they kept firing and connecting from downtown in this one.  Colorado sank 11 treys in the first half, opening up a 24 point advantage.  They would hold on to that huge lead from there on out, eventually winning by 23.  St. Bonaventure was another team that probably needed to win their conference tournament to make it into March Madness and they succeeded in taking down the A-10 tourney.  Unfortunately, they drew a very hot LSU squad that made a run in the SEC tourney before falling in the finals by a point.  The Tigers only got an 8 seed, but this never felt like a tight 8-9 matchup.  LSU didn't build a huge margin like Colorado did in their game, but they were always in control, gradually increasing their lead as they cruised to a 15 point victory.

In the other two games of the first session, there were two upset possibilities: one from a team you might expect and one that would have really destroyed brackets.  UNC Greensboro was a 13 seed, but they had gotten some buzz as a potential Cinderella as they took on Florida State.  Both halves this game were played the same way.  The Seminoles jumped out to a big lead midway through the first half, but the Spartans drew within 3 by halftime.  In the second half, it was more of the same as a 14-2 run turned a tie game into a Florida State lead of 12.  UNC Greensboro would fight back again though, as they trimmed the lead to 1 with 5 minutes to go.  But the Spartans could never quite get over the hump and take the lead.  Florida State held sway over the last 5 minutes and the Seminoles moved on with a 10 point win.  

The other upset alert was happening in the Kansas-Eastern Washington game.  The Eagles were following the Oral Roberts upset blueprint to a T.  They had two big time scorers (brothers, no less!) who were not afraid to take the game to their more heralded opponent.  The Groves would combine for 58 points in this game and Eastern Washington jumped out to an 8 point halftime lead.  But for all the scoring they were doing, the Eagles weren't doing a lot on the defensive end.  Once the Jayhawks started knocking down shots in the second half, you could sense momentum was on their side.  Kansas would score 55 points in the second stanza and Eastern Washington was unable to keep pace.  The Jayhawks got a scare, but would advance after a 93-84 victory.

The second afternoon session also featured two blowouts and two potential upsets.  #1 seed Michigan played First Four victor Texas Southern and the Wolverines put things away early, opening up an 18 point lead at the half and coasting to an 82-66 victory in round one.  The other blowout also involved a First Four team.  Drake hadn't won a tournament game in 50 years before their win over Wichita State.  They might have celebrated that win a little too much as they could not keep up with USC for more than a half.  The Trojans broke the game open after the break and the PAC-12 stayed undefeated with a USC 16 point win.

As for the upset possibilities, there was a traditional upset chance (#5 vs #12) and a potential bracket buster (#2 vs #15).  UC Santa Barbara brings one of the best mascot names (the Gauchos!) to the tournament, but they could also play some ball.  They were matched up with #5 seed Creighton, who had most recently gotten crushed by 25 in the Big East finals at the hands of Georgetown.  This game was back and forth from start to finish.  In the first half, it was the Gauchos who established an early lead, but the Bluejays would finish strong and take a 4 point lead into the locker room.  They would extend that lead to 9 in the second half, but then UC Santa Barbara went on an 18-3 run to take a 6 point advantage with 6 minutes to play.  From there it was a nailbiter.  Creighton would hold a 1 point lead as the final seconds ticked down, but the Gauchos would have the last chance to win.  They got it to their big man who laid the ball up to the rim from just a couple feet away.  The shot looked destined to fall, but instead it rolled around the rim and out.  No upset here as Creighton advanced.  

Kentucky didn't make the tournament.  Neither did Louisville.  But Rick Pitino did.  He's now the head coach at Iona, who upset Siena on their way to taking the MAAC tournament title.  Could Pitino guide a 15 seed to defeat the SEC champs on opening weekend?  For a while, it sure looked possible.  Iona hung tough with Alabama during the first half, only trailing by 1 at the half.  The high scoring Crimson Tide were held in check by the Gaels throughout this contest, but it was Alabama's defense that would be the difference in the second half.  Iona could only manage 23 points after the break as the Crimson Tide would pull away late, moving on after a 13 point victory over a pesky Iona squad.

It was during the first session of games that I finished entering everyone's bracket into the Magic Spreadsheet.  And it was during the second session of games that I completed the write-up for Day 1.  I was feeling relieved to be done with the hard part of setting up the pools when the bombshell of the tournament dropped.  There was only a few minutes left in the studio show as they got ready for the first game of the evening sessions when the report came out that the Oregon-VCU game would not be played and that VCU had been eliminated from the tournament due to Covid issues.  This was the cloud that has been hanging over this year's Madness and sadly, it took out a team before we had even completed the first round.  Could this happen again in this year's tournament?  Let's hope not.  But it's a reminder how fragile this whole situation is.

The Oregon-VCU game was scheduled for the late evening session, so there would only be 3 games to end the night.  Before then, we had our normal 4 games in the early evening session.  Oklahoma and Missouri were former conference rivals (another popular theme of this year's tournament!) who were getting reacquainted.  This was a tight one throughout as there were very few runs in this game.  Missouri had one in the first half that the Sooners quickly countered and the two teams switched roles in the second half when the Tigers responded to an Oklahoma run.  It wasn't until 4 minutes remained that the Sooners were able to create some separation.  They widened a 1 point advantage to 8.  But Missou would not go quietly.  They crept within 3 and had the ball in the waning seconds.  As the Tigers struggled to get organized on their final possession, Oklahoma made one of the smarter plays of the day.  They fouled a player out on the perimeter with just over 2 seconds left, taking away Missouri's chance to tie it with a 3.  The Tigers made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but Oklahoma got the rebound to clinch it.  While that was going on, Iowa was showing what a 2 seed from the Big Ten should look like, ruining the debut of Grand Canyon University with a 12 point victory that was never truly in doubt.  And Maryland kept the momentum going for the Big 10, dispatching #7 Connecticut.  The Terps built up a first half margin and held the Huskies at bay while winning by 9.

The most interesting game of the early evening session was always going to be Virginia vs. Ohio.  Virginia was not only the defending national champion, they were also the biggest question mark coming into the tournament.  Virginia had to withdraw from the ACC tournament due to Covid issues and rather than come to Indiana along with the other 67 teams to get ready for the tournament, they ended up quarantining at home until Friday.  That meant showing up last minute, going through a barrage of Covid tests, getting in their 1st practice the day of the game and then playing a popular upset pick in #13 Ohio, who had one of the top players in the nation in Jason Preston.  As is typical in any Cavs game, this would be a low scoring slugfest.  And because there tends to be little scoring in their games, Virginia's opponents end up hanging around.  The Bobcats were only down by 1 at the half and even when the Cavs went on a second half run, the largest deficit Ohio faced was 7 points.  Let an underdog hang around and you are asking for trouble in March and that was certainly the case when Virginia started to go cold from the field.  There were a bunch of empty possessions for the Cavs as Ohio slowly whittled away at the lead.  It was 40-39 when the Bobcats got 10 straight points from one of their players, but it wouldn't be Preston carrying the load.  Ben Vander Plas caught fire and suddenly the champs were the team down 7.  Virginia's run two years ago was marked by some miracle finishes to survive, but the Cavs couldn't get closer than 2 points in the final seconds.  A few free throws iced it and Ohio knocked out the champs with a 62-58 upset.

Just three games to end the night and one was over extremely early.  Gonzaga brings an undefeated record in the tournament and that record includes wins over 2 seed Iowa, 3 seeds Kansas and West Virginia, and the recently dethroned 4 seed Virginia.  They took on First Four winner Norfolk State.  The Vikings would score the first 3 points of the game, but there weren't a whole lot of positive from then on.  Gonzaga would lead by more than 50 points in this one and could have scored well over 100 points if they kept their starters in.  They settled for a paltry 98, demolishing Norfolk State by 43.  The last First Four participant left after Norfolk State was done for was UCLA and they were taking on Gonzaga's WCC rival, #6 BYU.  The Bruins represented the Thursday winners well as they jumped out to an 11 point halftime edge and were never threatened over the course of the final 20 minutes.  The 11 seed moves on with an 11 point win, 73-62.

The final game of the night was not expected to be thrilling, but somehow this game made the Virginia-Ohio contest look like a Golden State Warriors game.  That was in large part due to the 14 seed Abilene Christian.  The team decked out in purple might have had the most polarizing performance of the 1st round as they played Big 12 champ Texas.  Without a doubt, they were the worst offensive team of the opening round.  Their offense consisted mostly of running the clock down, driving to the hoop, haphazardly throwing the ball off the glass, and hoping it went in.  If you've ever seen me play Pop-A-Shot, where I just rapidly fire basketballs off the square on the backboard to get as high of a score as I can, then you're familiar with this "offense".  On the flip side, Abilene Christian had the best team defense I saw in round one.  They were constantly helping each other out when a Texas player got free.  And they would force 23 turnovers from the Longhorns.  They also boxed out better than any team I have seen in years.  There were multiple times where a shot hit off the rim and then bounced on the floor multiple times before an Abilene Christian player came over to scoop it up.  Each box out was like 5 seconds long and Texas just couldn't break through the purple perimeter to get a rebound.  Finally, there were the intangibles.  Abilene Christian's bench seemed to have more energy than the guys on the floor.  In particular, TV coverage kept showing #33 going insane after every Wildcats miracle went in the hoop.  Why am I telling you all of this?  Because this game was insanely ugly to watch.  But it was close and Texas was in deep trouble late, finding themselves down 4 without the ball and just over a minute to play.  Abilene Christian promptly turned the ball over and fouled Texas, who sank 2 free throws to get within 2.  The Wildcats ran some clock and then turned the ball over again.  The Longhorns came down and nailed a 3, giving them a 1 point lead with 16 seconds left.  As much as I wanted to see an upset, I had no faith that Abilene Christian could run a play an offense to score in these final 16 seconds.  And I was right.  Sort of.  Once again, the Wildcats ran clock, drove to the hoop completely out of control and flung up a desperation layup.  The shot was blocked off of the backboard and came to another Abilene player who tried to follow up with less than 2 seconds left.  A Texas defender slapped him on the arm and the Wildcats got two free throws to win the game.  Only problem: the player at the line shot less than 60% from the line all year.  Based on the rest of this game, anything from an airball to a banked in free throw to a swish was possible here.  The entire spectrum was in play.  But give credit where credit is due.  The Abilene player went to the line, took a deep breath, and calmly sank both free throws.  Texas was out of timeouts and tried to throw the ball to halfcourt for a last second heave, but the Wildcats intercepted it and the party began.  The Big 12 tourney champs followed the Big East tourney champs and the ACC tourney champs out the door.  It took a while, but Ohio and Abilene Christian provided some hair of the dog to get us through the typical Day 2 hangover.

The first round is complete and only the #1 seeds remained completely unscathed.  Will that hold true in round 2?  (Spoiler: it ain't looking good at the moment!)

March Madness 2021 - Oral Victory

The magic spreadsheet is all set.  Don't care about the recap and just want to know who's leading the Main Pool and the Gamblers Pool?  So be it.  Click the link below and find out.  (Also be sure to click on the selections tab if you think I have miscalculated your score.  On that tab, you can filter on your name and make sure that I have transferred your picks from Yahoo correctly.)

The Magic Spreadsheet

March Madness always seems to live up to its moniker, but on Friday, for the first time ever, 14 different seeds won basketball games.  No lead is safe and no seed is safe in this year's tournament.  Here's your daily recap:

The day got started with #7 Florida taking on #10 Virginia Tech, two middle of the pack teams from major conferences.  You wouldn't expect much to separate these two teams and it was a fairly tight affair throughout.  The Hokies held the early edge, going into the break with a 6 point cushion, but the teams would trade the lead over the last 10 minutes of the second half.  Florida looked to have finally vanquished their foe when they grabbed a rebound with 7 seconds left and headed to the free throw line for 2 shots, holding a 3 point lead.  But the Gators could not connect on either free throw and Virginia Tech sprinted down the court for a final chance to tie.  When their last gasp three went through the net with 1 second to go, I had my first "OOOOOOH!" moment of this year's tourney.  (Jenn can confirm).  Another game was headed to overtime.  In the OT, both teams looked tired, which looks to become a theme in this year's tourney.  (All of these teams played abbreviated schedules...why are they so tired?).  Florida had a little bit more in the tank than the Hokies did and moved on with a 5 point victory.

There wasn't too much drama in the other 3 games that made up the day's first quartet of action.  Colgate showed some early promise, with the 14 seed jumping out to a 14 point first half lead on #3 Arkansas.  But the Razorbacks would score the last 17 points of the 1st half before cruising to a 17 point victory.  (Yay, math symmetry!).  #11 Utah State held the lead at the half in their tilt with #6 Texas Tech, the national runner-up the last time we got to enjoy this tournament.  But the Red Raiders dominated in the second half, sending the Aggies home after a 65-53 triumph.  The debut of #1 seed in Illinois in this year's Madness was anti-climactic as they completed smothered Drexel, crushing the Dragons by 29.

As with the 1st set of games, there was only one close matchup in the next 4 contests.  Baylor followed Illinois's lead by pummeling #16 seed Hartford by 24 points.  Sister Jean showed up to root on a former Cinderella and Loyola-Chicago was able to recreate some of that magic by taking down ACC tournament champ Georgia Tech by 11 points in an 8-9 battle.  Like Georgia Tech, Oregon State was a surprise winner of a major conference tournament, shocking the field in the PAC-12.  Unlike the Yellow Jackets, the Beavers kept their hot streak going in the first round of the NCAAs.  The #12 seed dominated #5 seed Tennessee in a 14 point victory that wasn't as close as it might sound.

While those games were being played, the spotlight was on a game that most expected would be a blowout.  #2 Ohio State slugged it out all year in the Big 10, the conference that was deemed to be the toughest in the country.  Their opponent was Oral Roberts.  No really, snicker all you want, but that is actually the name of the school they were playing.  The Summit League champs were out to show they would not go down easy.  The usual blueprint for an upset involves the underdog getting off to a quick start while the favorite struggles to get into a rhythm.  But the Buckeyes weren't cold early as they raced out to an 8 point advantage.  That didn't intimidate the Golden Eagles one bit.  They had Max Abmas, the leading scorer in the country and he was willing to go shot for shot with Ohio State.  By the time the horn sounded for halftime, Oral Roberts held a 3 point lead.  That lead would grow to 7 in the second half before the Buckeyes battled back.  But everything was a struggle for Ohio State.  Even when they made buckets, they were tough shots.  Even when they shut down Abmas, the Golden Eagles found a complimentary scorer in Kevin Obanor, who would go for 30 before the day was done.  We were tied at 64 as the final seconds wound down and Ohio State had the last chance to put away their pesky foe.  But a step back jumper would draw the front of the rim.  That's right, more overtime!  In the extra period, it was Oral Roberts who had all of the energy, despite the fact that their starters had played almost the entire game.  They led by 6 before some closing jitters made the finish a lot closer than it needed to be.  After sinking two free throws to get the lead back up to 3, the Golden Eagles had to sweat it out as Ohio State got two clean looks at a tying trey.  As the second one clanked off the rim, the buzzer sounded, and the upset was complete.  Oral Roberts was moving on to round two.

There wasn't much of a break between the afternoon session and the evening session, so it wasn't long before 4 more games were tipping off.  The highlight of the early evening session was seeing the top prospect in the country play as Cade Cunningham led Oklahoma State against Liberty.  But for those hoping to see what all they hype was about, they were sorely disappointed.  Cunningham managed only one point in the first half, as the Cowboys were lucky to only be trailing by three.  Oklahoma State's star player continued to be a non-factor for most of the second half, but the Cowboys clamped down on defense and eventually gained the upper hand against the Flames.  Cunningham would end up with 15 points, but most of that was garbage time free throws.  Oklahoma State will need more from their much-hyped phenom if they want to go far in this tournament, but he did enough to help the Cowboys beat Liberty by 9.

Two teams that did not need to sweat out their opening games were Houston and Wisconsin.  #2 seed Houston was expected to overwhelm Cleveland State and things played out just that way as the Cougars moved on, thrashing the Vikings by 31.  The Badgers looked to have a tough matchup with perennial powerhouse North Carolina, but the Tar Heels meekly headed for the exits after Wisconsin pounded them by 23.  That left one other Big 10 team to play in the early evening session and that team was Purdue.  Purdue actually had something of a home court advantage in this tournament as everyone is playing within the state of Indiana at various sites.  If you watched the game, you could hear that the Boilermakers seemed to have a larger crowd than most of the teams.  But that didn't help them a whole lot in their matchup with North Texas.  The Mean Green came into the game having never won in the NCAA tournament, but they were giving off a very "Oral Roberts" type vibe in the first half.  You might have even thought that North Texas was the team from the major conference as they took an 8 point lead into intermission.  Purdue clawed back in the second half, eventually tying the game with 24 seconds left.  The Mean Green had a final chance to win it, but you know how much we love overtime in March!  And after seeing Michigan State's and Ohio State's performances in OT, you probably knew how much energy to expect from the Big 10 team in the extra 5 minute period.  The Boilermakers made it to overtime, but the reality of the situation is that their game ended in regulation.  Purdue wouldn't score again until there was 28 seconds left in OT, but they had dug themselves an 11 point hole by then.  The Mean Green would become the second Cinderella to take down a Big 10 powerhouse as they would win by 9.

Last 4 games of the night and even the announcers were exhausted by this point in the evening.  The Madness is great, but you need a good night's sleep to make it through 16 games where anything could (and usually does) happen.  Luckily, there were no overtime games in the final session.  Coach Bob Huggins would get his 900th victory as #3 West Virginia pulled away from Morehead State.  They will play Syracuse in the next round.  The Orange always seem to be one of the last teams to make the field of 64 and then become one of the hardest to beat.  #6 San Diego State wasn't able to figure out their vaunted zone defense and Syracuse would prevail by 16.  Syracuse's former Big East rival, Villanova, has also become a tough out in the NCAA tournament.  They were taking on popular upset pick Winthrop.  The Eagles were able to hang with the Wildcats for a half, only trailing by a point at the break.  But Villanova took control in the second half and weren't threatened late as they would win by 10.

The last game of the night featured what might be the big theme of this year's tournament: teams that haven't tasted NCAA glory for a while.  North Texas had never won a game in the NCAA tourney.  Drake hadn't won in 50 years before their victory in the First Four.  Oral Roberts hadn't won in over 40 years.  For Oregon State, it was just under 40 years since they had last won.  But none of those stories compared to a tough luck Rutgers team.  Rutgers hadn't even played in the tournament in 30 years, but they were about to break that streak last year.  You know how that story ended.  But despite playing against a ton of tough teams in the Big 10, they qualified for this year's edition.  The #10 seed was facing off against #7 Clemson, a game that eerily resembled the Florida/Virginia Tech game that started the day.  Two teams from major conferences who probably weren't ranked far above the teams who were left out of this year's dance.  The first half was closely contested with the Tigers taking a 3 point lead into the locker room.  Things remained tight during the first 10 minutes of the second half, but then the Scarlet Knights went on a run.  They opened up an 11 point advantage and New Jersey was ready to party.  But as we all know, no lead is safe.  Clemson went on a 16-5 run to tie it up.  As the clock ticked down, neither team seemed to be able to score, but Rutgers found a basket with 10 seconds left to up their lead to 4 and the drought was over.  The Big 10 wouldn't have Michigan State, Ohio State, or Purdue in the second round, but they would have the Scarlet Knights representing them after a 60-56 victory over Clemson.

That's it for the first half of Round 1.  More madness to come on Saturday.