Day 3 standings? You can find them here. Mets super fan Chubbs has taken a big lead in the Main Pool after Day 3. In the Gamblers Pool, he shares the top spot with Tommy King. There are a host of pursuers not that far behind them though.
On to the second round action! On Saturday afternoon, I got to experience something that I never thought would happen in my life. As a lifelong NC State fan, I understood that there were basically two rules that I had to live by:
- Hate Duke
- Hate North Carolina
Everything else was pretty much optional. But during the first game of the second round, I found myself in the completely unusual position of not only rooting for the Tar Heels, but screaming at the television in hopes that they would win. Why? Certainly not because of my bracket. I picked Baylor to win the East Region and go to the Final Four. To give this story it's proper background, we need to go back and look at the preceding two weeks...
When I thought about what I wanted to write in the opening e-mail for this year's tournament, I wanted to talk about a disturbing trend that I noticed while watching Championship Week. And that trend involved how much the officials wanted to be part of the game, especially as it drew nearer to its conclusion. Part of the problem is that nearly everything is up for review in the last two minutes of the game. Should there be 3.4 seconds or 3.2 seconds left on the clock? Let's take 10 minutes to figure it out. Was there a hard foul? Well gee, it must have been flagrant in some way. Did someone swat the ball out of someone else's hands? Let's go to super slo-mo and see if the ball grazed the fingernail of the guy who was holding the ball before it went out of bounds. The point of these reviews is to correct obvious missed calls, but instead, refs were taking inconclusive replays and were going by what they "felt" was the right call, causing lengthy delays in the process. There was one championship game in a league tourney where the announcer said something along the lines of "I'm not sure what they're looking at since this one is pretty obvious" and then the refs made the complete opposite call. (The announcer was 100% correct by the way.)
That brings us to the opening game between Baylor and North Carolina. The Tar Heels looked outstanding as they throttled Marquette in round one, but they were still fairly large underdogs to the reigning champs coming into this matchup. Baylor would score the first 4 points, but then North Carolina took control of the game, going on a 24-6 run to open up a big lead. The margin was 13 at the half. When Brady Manek knocked down a three to extend the lead to 25 midway through the second half, you knew it was time to get the throne ready for a new national champ. Then all hell broke loose. Baylor had a player on their team named Jeremy Sochan who was basically playing the role of Dennis Rodman in this game. As Baylor's hopes of repeating began to slip away, he began antagonizing North Carolina. There was a moment where he got "tangled up" with a Tar Heel, then used his legs to clamp on the North Carolina player's foot while he tried to get up from the floor. That earned him a Flagrant 1, but it certainly didn't dissuade him from keeping up these antics. He'd be involved in three more moments like this before the game was over.
The second of these four incidents was where the game turned. To be fair, Manek deserved what he got in this situation. As Manek was boxing out, Sochan gave him a bit of a shove from behind. Manek turned to see where Sochan was, then swung his elbow behind him as the ball bounced off the rim. Manek hit Sochan in the head, Sochan went down, and the refs headed to the monitors. Manek had 26 points in the game and North Carolina was on cruise control, but this boneheaded play was certain to change the momentum. Manek was correctly assessed with a Flagrant 2 foul, which meant he could catch an early shower and watch the rest of the game from the locker room. You knew this would inspire the Bears to make a run, but climbing out of a 25 point hole in 10 minutes seemed unlikely. Baylor hit a few shots, North Carolina had a few turnovers, and the crowd started getting into it since they were playing in Texas. All of that felt normal. But then the refs sensed an opportunity to join in the fun and that is something that should never happen in a game, certainly not one of this magnitude.
North Carolina looked like they had never played against a press before and created a bunch of their own problems, but a press is definitely difficult to overcome when the defenders can just barrel into you over and over again without a foul being called. Meanwhile, when the Tar Heels were on D, any hand check drew a whistle. Baylor wasn't shooting the lights out to make this miraculous comeback happen. It was 8-on-5. North Carolina was having this game stolen from them and it was complete bullshit. It was gross cheering for the Tar Heels and it still makes me a little queasy writing about it. There was one stretch where 14 fouls were called by the refs, with 13 being on North Carolina. On a normal day, this would have made me laugh hysterically. But as I watched this theft unfold on Saturday, I was pissed. And once the game headed to overtime at 80, I knew the Tar Heels were done.
Only somehow they were not. They hit a three pointer to begin overtime and for some odd reason, Baylor pulled off the press that was essential to their miraculous comeback. Were there still terrible calls? Yes. But as I mentioned before, it wasn't like Baylor was making a lot of shots. The refs couldn't put the ball into the hoop for them. The Bears shot 1 for 11 in the extra session. Despite that, the refs were doing things like calling a ball out of bounds off of North Carolina when you didn't even need to see a replay to know that it hit off of each of the Baylor player's hands before going out. Then when Baylor put up an airball with 9 seconds left and were down 5, there was another lengthy review as the refs tried to figure out any way to keep this charade going. They had done their part, but Baylor hadn't done theirs. Congrats to North Carolina (feeling nauseous again) on knocking out the defending champs and this embarrassment of a referee crew with a 93-86 victory in overtime.
One #1 seed was now gone. Could we see a second one head to the exits in the next game? At least with North Carolina, you could point to their 1st round game and come up with a reason to think that they might put up an effort worthy of taking down a #1 seed. Creighton? They were very lucky to survive round one. And Kansas didn't break a sweat on Thursday. This had all the makings of a second round rout. But give credit to the Bluejays. They didn't back down to the Jayhawks one bit. At the half, they only trailed by 1. In the second half, they responded to every Kansas run by knocking down threes. And it wasn't like Creighton was a particularly good three-point shooting team. They just happened to be on fire from downtown in this one. They were still only down a point with a minute to go when they went to the well one too many times. As they pushed the ball out beyond the arc for a three that would put them up two, a Kansas defender jumped into the passing lane, stealing the ball for a fast break that would extend the lead to 3. Creighton would attack the basket the next time down the floor, but the Jayhawk defense made another big play, blocking the shot and ending the Bluejays' hopes. Creighton would not score again as their season came to a close. Kansas moves on to the Sweet 16 with a 79-72 victory.
The final #1 seed playing on Saturday wouldn't take the court until the very last game of the night, so we'd have to transition to a 3 vs 11 matchup next. Most pundits on Selection Sunday felt that Tennessee did not get a high enough seed when they were placed on the 3 line despite winning the SEC tournament. Based on the seedings of other teams who won that day, it was clear that the Selection Committee didn't put a lot of weight into the games that were decided on the day that the bracket was being announced. The Vols couldn't have asked for a better draw though. In round one, they faced Longwood, a 14 seed making their first appearance in the Madness. In round two, they got 11th seeded Michigan, a team that was dealing with turmoil and injuries. They had regrouped enough to overcome a 15 point deficit in round one against Colorado State, but this was definitely a step up in competition.
Perhaps that comeback was a sign that the Wolverines were getting their mojo back though. After all, this squad was ranked #6 in the nation in the preseason. Michigan jumped out to a 10-2 lead and held the lead for most of the first half before the Vols showed their class by ending the first 20 minutes with a 13-2 run to go into the locker room with a 5 point edge. Tennessee would still lead by 6 with under eight minutes to play, but the last two TV timeouts worth of game time belonged to the Wolverines. Over the last eight minutes, they outscored the SEC champs by a 22-8 margin. We have a double-digit seed headed to the Sweet 16! Juwan Howard and Michigan can be found in San Antonio next weekend after a 76-68 upset.
The next two games featured 4 seeds who dominated their opponents. The Richmond Spiders had made a gallant run through the Atlantic 10 tournament and used that momentum to upset Big 10 champ Iowa in round one. But they ran out of steam against the regular season champs from the Big East. Providence led by 15 at the half and the lead only got larger from there. The Friars exterminated the Spiders by a score of 79-51 and now move on to face Kansas in the Sweet 16. UCLA was expecting a tough West Coast battle when they took on 5th seed Saint Mary's, but the second best team from the West Coast Conference was no match for the second best team out of the Pac-12. The Gaels did jump out to a 7 point lead early on and were able to trim a 7 point halftime deficit down to 1 a few minutes into the second half. But the last 15 minutes of this game belonged to the Bruins. UCLA's hopes for a national semifinal rematch with the WCC's top team remains alive after taking down Saint Mary's by a score of 72-56.
Game 6 out of 8 was a matchup of two of the smallest schools remaining. Murray State has frequently come into the Big Dance as one of the best mid-majors in the country, looking to play the role of Cinderella. But in this second round game, they would have to play the part of considerable favorite. That was because the team standing at the other end of the court was 15th seeded St. Peter's, unexpected conqueror of the mighty Kentucky Wildcats. Up until 2013, it was unheard of that a 15th seed could make it to the second weekend. A few had sprung a 1st round upset, but being able to regroup and pull off that magic against another top team 48 hours later was a lot to ask. That was until the Jetskis of Florida Gulf Coast broke through in 2013. And then Oral Roberts was able to do it in 2021. Could the Peacocks be the third 15 seed to make it to the Sweet 16? One thing in St. Peter's favor was that the Racers went through just as tough of a game as the Peacocks had in round one. Both teams had to leave everything on the floor for 45 minutes Thursday night. Who would recover quicker?
Answer: the 15 seed. Murray State had won 31 games this season, including 21 in a row coming into this game, but they would never hold the lead against St. Peter's. The Peacocks bridged the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half with an 11-0 run that put them up by 13. The Racers kept battling back, eventually getting within 2 with four minutes to play. But St. Peter's scored 11 of the final 14 points. No overtime necessary in round two. The MAAC tournament champs are headed to Philly for the Sweet 16, ending Murray State's season with a 70-60 upset.
New Mexico State took out UConn in an ugly affair in round one. Their second round game vs. Arkansas was not much more pleasing to watch. The problem for the Aggies is that their superstar, Teddy Allen, wasn't able to go off for 37 points again. He could only manage a dozen against the Razorbacks. That dropoff in production was the death knell for New Mexico State. Arkansas only scored 53 in round two, but it was 5 points more than the Aggies. The SEC has their 1st Sweet 16 rep after Arkansas eeks out a 53-48 win over New Mexico State.
Last game of the night and it was back to the #1 seeds. Gonzaga looked terrible in round one, but they survived despite a lackluster performance. Memphis looked great for the first 20 minutes of round one, then hung on in the second half to get a date with the Bulldogs. Both teams played first halves that were similar to what they did in round one. Gonzaga was not sharp at all and Memphis built a big lead, heading to the break ahead by 10. Like Michigan, the Memphis Tigers were a team that was highly ranked in the preseason (#12), but never lived up to their potential. Were they finally living up to their potential now? Could they join the Wolverines in the Sweet 16 by pulling off a big upset the way Michigan had earlier in the day?
Well if Gonzaga played the first half like they had in round one, there was no reason for them to deviate from that game plan in the second half, since they had gone on a huge run in that first game to pull away from Georgia State. How did they do that? Dump the ball inside. And in the opening minutes of the second half, they did that. There was just no stopping Drew Timme. The mustachioed Bulldog with all of the old man moves went off for 14 points in the first 6+ minutes of the second half, bringing Gonzaga within 2. Memphis began to get in foul trouble during this stretch and you could also feel that the pace of the game was being played in Gonzaga's favor. Despite having 3 timeouts, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway decided to let his kids keep playing. And to their credit, they hung basket for basket with the overall #1 seed for most of the second half. But it became a free throw shooting contest late and Gonzaga made just enough to hold off a tenacious Memphis squad. For the second game in a row, Gonzaga has looked vulnerable, but they had just enough to defeat Memphis by a score of 82-78.
One more recap to end the weekend. Is this the last we see of Coach K? Duke - Michigan State is the feature matchup of Day 4.
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