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:
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!
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