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.
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