Ma-gic Spread-sheet. Clap-clap. Clap-clap-clap.
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment