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.

March Madness 2021 - It's baaaaaack

Usually the First Four games are just afterthoughts that get lost on cable TV on Tuesday and Wednesday night as everyone gets ready for the tsunami of games that begin on noon on Thursday.  This year, we got all 4 games on a Thursday night, at a time when the nation is desperate for huge sporting events.  And the games did not disappoint one bit.  There is basically one rule when it comes to March Madness: No lead is safe.  And if you had forgotten that rule, you got four more reminders on Thursday night.

The Madness began with a pair of 16 seeds battling it out as Mount St. Mary's took on Texas Southern.  I wish I could tell you something about either of these teams, but I have to admit, for the first time in a long time, I watched very little college basketball this year.  Typically, by March, I'd have some tidbits to share with you on all of these teams, but after tuning in to watch some games earlier in the year and finding out that they were all canceled due to the pandemic, I kinda tuned out and decided to wait until March to re-engage.  So here's what I learned from watching these two teams: part of the reason they were 16 seeds in this year's tournament is because both squads can't hit a free throw.  Thanks to some made free throws at the very end of the game, these two teams finished with more makes (18) than misses (17) from the charity stripe, but every time one of the players stepped to the line, you began to expect a clank.  That led to some low scoring.  Mount St. Mary's was better from the field in the first half and took a 10 point lead into intermission.  But that advantage would disappear quickly as Texas Southern scored the first 11 points of the second half.  Back and forth these teams would go over the last 15 minutes, but Mount St. Mary's struggled to get their early momentum back.  Down 4 with a little over a minute to go, Mount St. Mary's made the confusing decision not to foul and extend the game.  Well, at least they didn't intentionally foul Texas Southern.  With about 35 seconds to go, one of the Mountaineers lost his balance and went barreling into a Texas Southern player shooting a three.  That sealed the Tigers victory as they advance to play Michigan with a 60-52 victory.

Drake and Wichita State used to be rivals in the Missouri Valley Conference before the Shockers became a mid-major powerhouse and moved on to the American Athletic Conference.  Wichita State often got the better of the Bulldogs in the last few years they played together in the MVC, so Drake was looking for some delayed vengeance.  Despite no longer being in the same conference, the script seemed the same early on as Wichita State held Drake to only 6 points in the first 13 minutes of the game.  But the Shockers weren't exactly lighting up the scoreboard themselves, so when Drake had a small run at the end of the first half, it was enough to narrow Wichita State's edge to 21-20 at the break.  The second half followed the same pattern as the Bulldogs only managed 3 points in the first 7 minutes of play as Wichita State extended their lead to a dozen.  But as Teddy KGB might say, Drake had alligator blood...hanging around, hanging around, can't get rid of them.  They slowly clawed their way back into it and it became clear that Wichita State was going to have to win this one on the defensive end as their offense continued to stall.  Eventually Drake would take the lead and looked ready to run out the clock as they stole the ball with a 4 point lead and only 18 seconds left.  But nothing is easy in March.  They immediately coughed up the ball and Wichita State hit a trey to cut the lead to 1.  Drake was fouled with 6 seconds to go, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1.  The Shockers hurried down the court to provide the first One Shining Moment highlight of the tournament, but a three pointer at the buzzer drew the front rim and bounced away.  Drake had their 1st NCAA tourney win in 50 years and will move on to play USC.

The other matchup of 16 seeds seemed like a carbon copy of the game played just before it, with Norfolk State playing the role of Mount St. Mary's and Appalachian State doing their best Texas Southern impression.  Except in this game, free throws weren't the problem, three pointers were.  How bad was Appalachian State from beyond the arc in the first half?  They heaved up 18 treys and didn't make a single one.  Yikes.  As a result, they dug themselves a 16 point hole at halftime.  However, one of the great things about March Madness is that you can feel momentum swings as you sit on the couch watching these games.  Sometimes it doesn't matter how many timeouts or substitutions a team makes.  If their opponent has all of the momentum, there's no stopping them.  That's what happened in the second half as Appalachian State would score 31 of the first 40 points, taking the lead on a long 3-pointer (naturally).  With a lead of 6 and Norfolk State seemingly on the ropes, it was hard to imagine Appalachian State losing this game, but give credit where it is due.  Norfolk State was gritty and decided they weren't ready to go home.  They took the lead after making two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.  Appalachian State would get two (ugly) looks at a game winner, but neither was particularly close to going in.  Norfolk State will take on the undefeated Zags on Saturday.

The final game of the night was the marquee matchup as two programs you wouldn't typically expect in the First Four battled for a place in the main bracket with UCLA taking on Michigan State.  At this point in the evening, there had been plenty of drama but very little scoring.  In the first three games, no team had scored more than 60 points.  No worries though as the Bruins and the Spartans would provide offense in the nightcap.  The first half mainly belonged to Michigan State as they held a 13 point lead with only a few seconds until intermission.  But then UCLA hit a long open jumper at the buzzer when Michigan State botched a defensive assignment.  Coach Tom Izzo got into it with one of his players leading to plenty of discussion during the halftime show.  For those who have watched the Spartans over the years, this was not the first time they've seen Izzo get into a heated confrontation with one of his players and the consensus seemed to be that it wasn't a big deal.  It might even fire up Michigan State even more in the second half.  But the Spartans didn't seem very fired up when they returned from the break.  UCLA would score 12 of the first 16 points to narrow the lead to 3.  As the second half wore on, it felt like the lead was stuck in that 3-5 point range with UCLA unable to make a stop and get a chance to tie the game.  Michigan State was up 5 with a little over one minute to go when more defensive breakdowns would cost them.  They put the Bruins on the free throw line for two shots and let them creep within 3.  UCLA finally got a stop on the defensive end and were fouled again.  This time they missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but the ball found its way back to the player who had been on the line.  He was fouled again, but only as he had converted a layup to draw the Bruins within a point.  After converting the and 1, we were tied.  Each team missed a shot to win it and we were headed to our 1st OT game of the tourney.  (Why does the last game of the night always seem to go to OT?  Some of us need to sleep!).  There wasn't much drama in overtime.  Michigan Stare had looked fatigued at the end of each half and they had absolutely no juice left for the extra period.  UCLA cruised to a 6 point victory and will move on to face BYU.

4 dramatic games to remind us what we had been missing.  And starting at noon on Friday, we'll have 16 games to remind us how glorious the full onslaught of March Madness is.  Order some food, grab a cold one (or six), and settle in.  It's gonna be fun.