March Madness 2023 - The Perfect Storm

The Final Four is set.  And nearly all the brackets are done.  Find the almost fully complete pool standings here.

Who was going to take on the refuse-to-lose Florida Atlantic Owls in the national semifinals?  A surprising rematch would determine that answer.  San Diego State and Creighton were meeting in the tournament for the second season in a row, though there were much bigger stakes on the line this time around.  These teams met in round one last year, with San Diego State blowing a late nine point lead then losing in overtime.  That might have given the Aztecs some extra motivation in this one, although how much extra motivation do you need when your school's first Final Four appearance is on the line (true for both schools)?

Most of this game was played at San Diego State's pace, another disadvantage for the Bluejays, but Creighton held the lead for much of this game despite that.  They weren't hitting as many three-pointers as they typically do, but they were getting the ball inside to big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, who was a nightmare matchup for San Diego State.  The low-scoring affair went to halftime with Creighton holding a 33-28 edge.  It was avert your eyes time in the second half.  There is no way to describe the opening 12 minutes of half number two as anything but ugly.  Neither team could convert offensively without any regularity, as they would combine to score 23 points during those 12 minutes.  Tennessee had spoken about making Duke "play in the mud" during their second round game and San Diego State was doing something similar here.  The offense picked up a little in the home stretch as the Aztecs would go on an 11-3 run to nose their way back in front, a position they had not been in since very early in the game.  But their biggest lead in this game would only be 4 as they could not pull away from this pesky Creighton squad.  The Aztecs looked like they might be in control after a Bluejays miss with 40 seconds to play as they had a two point lead and could run out most of the clock.  But as we saw in their game against Alabama (and in their late game collapse against this Creighton team in round one last year), San Diego State might be the worst team in the country against a press.  First, they tried to inbound the ball and couldn't, forcing them to call a timeout to avoid a five-second call against them.  Somehow they drew up one of the worst inbounds passes you will see in a basketball game at any level.  San Diego State's Adam Seiko (who was playing against his brother, Creighton's Arthur Kaluma, in yet another odd subplot from this game) decided to try and lob the ball from the sideline back towards a teammate that was running towards Creighton's basket.  The pass was overthrown, Creighton easily picked it off and laid the ball in to tie the game.  I know the backwards heave from the Virginia game was more shocking because it led to a last second three that won the game for Furman, but this play was just way worse in terms of fundamentals than that one was.

San Diego State may have blown the lead on that dumb play, but Creighton would make all of the head scratching decisions over the last 33 seconds.  San Diego State clearly was having trouble with the press, but with the game now tied, the Bluejays backed off and let the Aztecs walk the ball up the court on the next possession.  Because there was slightly more than 30 seconds left, San Diego State was going to have to shoot the ball and Creighton would likely get one more shot at winning the game.  But with a foul to give before the Aztecs were in the bonus, Creighton decided to foul San Diego State on purpose with just under 7 seconds to play and about 4 seconds on the shot clock.  That foul would normally reset the shot clock to 20 seconds, but with only 7 seconds left, the shot clock was turned off, meaning San Diego State could take the last shot of the game.  Bizarre decision.  The Aztecs tried to inbound the ball and had all sorts of trouble again as Creighton pressured the inbounds pass, but San Diego State eventually got it in.  The ball would get passed to their savior in this regional, guard Darrion Trammell.  He drove around the player guarding him, pulled up at the foul line and took a jumper.  It would be short and to the left, as Trammell fell to the floor on his left side.  And as the ball hit the rim, a whistle could be heard.  The refs called a foul on Creighton's Ryan Nembhard with 1.2 seconds to go.  There was plenty of uproar about this call.  Some believe you can't make that call with 1.2 seconds to go, which I personally believe is crazy.  If you're calling it with 15 minutes left, it should be called with 1 second left.  Or don't call it with 15 minutes left if it is truly a borderline call.  But be consistent.  The other issue was that Nembhard had drawn the call by putting his hand on Trammell's hip, which didn't seem like much contact at all.  But I would submit to you that if you jump straight up in the air, it is really hard to land sideways from that position unless you're given some assistance (go ahead, try it!).  It might not have looked like much, but Nembhard definitely gave him a nudge to the left, which seemed to have affected the shot, which missed to the left.  No matter what anyone else thought, the ref called the foul and Trammell was going to the line.  He missed the first (ball don't lie?), putting maximum pressure on himself for the second free throw.  But that one was pure, leaving Creighton with nothing more than a full court Hail Mary to win the game.  And they came close to at least increasing their chances.  They threw a full court heave that hit the fingers of several players before falling out of bounds.  And on replay, it looked like 0.1 seconds remained when the ball hit out of bounds.  So even though the Bluejays would only be able to tap the ball into the hoop with that amount of time on the clock, they happened to have a 7'1" dude who was considerably taller than anybody on the Aztecs roster and they would be taking the ball out right next to their hoop if they were awarded possession.  But the refs determined that the clock didn't start immediately when the ball was touched, meaning the 0.1 should have run off and the game was over.  Plenty of controversy late, but it is San Diego State heading to Houston after a 57-56 victory over Creighton.

One more ticket to be punched and that ticket would go to the victor of the Midwest region.  Miami had ended Houston's hopes of playing the Final Four in their home city when they beat them in the Sweet 16.  Now they would be attempting to end Texas' hopes of playing the Final Four in their home state.  The Longhorns would once again be without the guy who led them through the first two rounds of this tournament, Dylan Disu, but they showed in the last round that they were perfectly capable of destroying a very good team without him as they dismissed Xavier without much trouble.  It was the Hurricanes who got off to a hot start in this one, racing out to a 9-2 lead, but that lead would be short-lived.  Texas shook off the jitters and went on a 15-4 run to put themselves out in front.  They would maintain and eventually extend that lead to 8 by halftime.  One fun note from the late stages of the first half: Miami's Nigel Pack was driving towards the corner and had a little too much momentum, so as he was falling out of bounds, he put up a desperation jumper that found its way into the hoop.  But the refs waved it off.  Why?  Because in the college game, you are not allowed to shoot over the backboard.  And that was the only angle Pack had because he was falling out of bounds.  This wouldn't be the last unique Miami play of the game.

In the second half, Texas increased their lead even further, giving the impression that Miami's magical run may be coming to a conclusion.  The Longhorns led by 13 and were on defense as Miami inbounded the ball under their own hoop.  Now you might not be able to shoot over the backboard, but you know what you are allowed to do in the college game?  Bounce an inbounds pass off the opponent's ass and then dunk the ball furiously!  Texas made the mistake of defending the inbounds pass with their backs turned to the guy with the ball.  Miami's Wooga Poplar took notice, bounced it off the defender's butt, and then slammed it home.  The Hurricanes run didn't start immediately as a result of this play, but it was a moment where Miami suddenly seemed to have life again.  A few minutes later, Miami would go on a 13-2 run to take their first lead in forever, leaving the Longhorns looking a little wobbly.  The teams would trade baskets over the next couple of minutes, but momentum stayed in Miami's corner.  The final stretch would be dominated by Miami's Jordan Miller, who was perfect from the free throw line in his 8 attempts over the last 4 minutes of the game.  In fact, this Hurricane was perfect the entire game, going 7-7 from the field and 13-13 from the charity stripe.  Texas had no answer to Miller late and Miami slowly put this one away.  Jim Larranaga brought George Mason to their first Final Four and now he has done with Miami.  The Hurricanes are headed to Houston to take on Connecticut, winning the Midwest regional final over Texas by a score of 88-81.

Exciting news for all those who are upset that their brackets are done...so is everybody else's!  Okay, there is one exception, but we'll get to that.  All brackets in the Main Pool are kaput, but first place hasn't been decided yet.  Christopher and I are tied with 66 points, so the championship game tiebreaker will be needed to determine first place.  I need the combined score to be higher than 166 points, so if San Diego State beats Florida Atlantic, you can go ahead and assume that Christopher is the champ, as the Aztecs would need a triple overtime game to get to 80 points.  Fred Alcaro rides his alma mater to a 3rd place finish in the Main Pool.  Over in the Gamblers Pool, I currently hold a 4 point edge over Christopher, who used different picks in that pool.  One of those picks was taking Miami to make the championship game and if Christopher is right about that, he'll score 5 points and take the crown in this pool.  That is the only bracket with any action remaining in either pool.  First time participant Natalie Schweitzer hangs on for 3rd place in the Gamblers Pool.

To see the full spreadsheet, click here.

The Final Four begins on Saturday with three first-timers and a suddenly dominant-looking Connecticut team.  But if this tournament has shown us anything, it is that things don't always play out the way you might expect.  Enjoy the rest of the week and make sure to not only catch the men's action on Saturday night, but the Women's Final Four beginning on Friday night, as the most exciting player in all of college basketball, Caitlin Clark, meets the immovable object, the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, in the national semifinals.

March Madness 2023 - Few and Drew Got Nothing Left To Do

You're definitely going to read this recap, right?  It's only two games!  Fine, fine...for those only interested in the spreadsheet, you can find it here.

But if you're ready to find out which two teams punched their tickets to the Final Four, you're in for a treat.  It's gonna be a pretty short read.  Of the two games, most people were interested in the later game, figuring that the early game would not be that interesting.  However, 2023 is March Madness on steroids.  Better to expect the unexpected.  And as a result, we had a great opener and a snoozer of a closer.

Kansas State has been a surprise all season.  Florida Atlantic is a school that most casual college basketball viewers aren't familiar with, but they've been in the Top 25 rankings this year.  They were the last two standing in a region that included Purdue, Marquette, Tennessee, Duke, Kentucky, and Michigan State.  The "name" schools had their chance to cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden, but they were knocked out one by one.  So now it came down to the Wildcats and the Owls to decide who would get the first golden ticket to Houston.  These teams were evenly matched and it showed throughout this one.  The star of this tournament has been Kansas State guard Markquis Nowell, but Florida Atlantic also had a "little guy" in Johnell Davis who had been essential in getting the Owls to the Elite Eight.  Both teams liked to get up and down the court.  And both teams had a big guy who they relied on to make plays from time to time.

In the first half, neither team could build a big advantage.  Florida Atlantic held the lead for most of the first 20 minutes, but Kansas State kept things close.  And this wasn't one of those low-scoring slugfests.  Each team was lighting it up on the offensive end.  Kansas State would get one last layup before the half to cut the Owls lead down to 4.  If the second half lived up to what we saw in the first 20 minutes, we were in for an exciting finish.  With Nowell feeling unstoppable and Kansas State being the team from a major conference, there was a sense that if the Wildcats went on a run, then Florida Atlantic could be in some trouble.  That run came early in the second half, as Kansas State came out of the break on a 19-8 run to go up by seven.  How would the Owls respond?  Well, a big part of that run was due to Florida Atlantic starting to misfire on the offensive end.  They just needed to see the ball go through the hoop a couple of times to get back into rhythm.  Those 8 points I mentioned came over the course of the opening 8 minutes of the second half.  With the perimeter game on fumes, the Owls decided to get their big guy involved to turn the tide.  And center Vladislav Goldin came through for them.  He'd score 6 points for them over a stretch that saw them come back and regain the lead.  Now it was the Wildcats who had gone cold.  Nowell was still filling up the stat sheet, but his balanced attack from the win over Michigan State (20 points, 19 assists) had been changed in this game as he was first and foremost a scorer in this one.  And once it became clear that he'd be the primary offense, Nowell started forcing up some shots, just as he had done late in the game against the Spartans.  A 63-57 lead for Kansas State had now become a 67-63 deficit with only 4 minutes left to play.

The fireworks would pick up again down the stretch.  FAU's Alijah Martin (infamous for his missed dunk at the buzzer against FDU) drained a three and then hit two free throws on the next possession to put the Owls up eight.  Kansas State countered with two free throws from sharpshooter Ismael Massoud, followed by a long three from Nowell to cut the margin back to three again.  Johnell Davis hadn't been heard from in a while, but a driving layup made the lead 5 again.  Nowell would get fouled on the other end and calmly drained two free throws to get it back to a 3 point deficit with about a minute to play.  Martin would try for the dagger three, but that was no good.  Nowell tried to trim the lead to 1, but his layup wouldn't fall.  It was now time for Kansas State to foul.  The Owls could only make one of two to bring the lead to 4 temporarily, as the Wildcats raced down and drained a three to make it a one-point game again with 24 seconds to go.  Another foul put FAU on the line and Michael Forrest made both free throws.  Kansas State decided not to go for three, taking an easy layup to make it a one point game with 8 seconds to go.  The Owls were able to run 2 seconds off the clock again before Forrest was sent back to the free throw line.  He had ice in his veins, as he swished two more no doubters.  At this point, it seemed likely that Florida Atlantic would foul rather than let Nowell make yet another magical play in this tournament, but they surprisingly did not.  Several players met him as he came across with midcourt with the ball, but no one fouled.  Then Nowell did the unexpected: he passed the ball.  With only 2 seconds on the clock, he threw it to Massoud, who would get doubled immediately and then have the ball stripped away.  That was it.  The run of Jerome Tang and Markquis Nowell was over, while Florida Atlantic heads to their first ever Final Four, clinching the East region with a 79-76 triumph.

A couple of notes about these two teams.  To those who say that this tournament isn't as good as previous ones because Florida Atlantic has made it this far, I would say go watch another sport.  No one had a problem with #8 seed North Carolina getting to the title game last year, or #11 seed UCLA going from the First Four to the Final Four two years ago.  It's not crazy that a #9 seed has made it this far.  And this Florida Atlantic team has won 35 games this year.  They aren't a fluke on any level.  As for Kansas State, Markquis Nowell put up one of the all-time great performances in this tournament.  Even in this loss, he put up 30 points and 12 assists, making him one of only a handful of players to put up 30+ points and 10+ assists in a tournament game, just 48 hours after setting an NCAA record for assists in a tournament game.  As for first-year head coach Jerome Tang, he has a bright future.  He took a team expected to finish last in the Big 12 to the doorstep of the Final Four.  He also had enough class to go to the Florida Atlantic locker room after the game to congratulate them on their win and let them know that they were the toughest team they had played this year.  The Kansas State Wildcats are in good hands.

Game two featured at least two of the three title favorites once the field had been trimmed down to the Elite Eight.  Gonzaga seems like they are a title contender every year now.  Just one problem.  They still don't have a title.  They weren't going to get a better chance than this year with so many upsets having occurred already.  They would be facing a Connecticut Huskies squad that hadn't been tested yet in this tournament, winning every game by at least 15 points.  One question that had yet to be answered: How would Connecticut react if they were facing a tight battle in the final few minutes of a tournament game?  After all, this was a team that had lost 8 times this year, so it wasn't like they were invincible.  If Gonzaga could keep things close or had a lead late in the second half, maybe the Huskies wouldn't look as smooth as they had in their first three beatdowns.

Well, we still don't have the answer to that question.  Gonzaga led the nation in scoring this year, but one of the storylines that kinda emerged along their path to the Elite Eight was that they had sort of morphed into those teams like Purdue and Kentucky.  Those teams became heavily reliant on their big man without getting much help from their guards.  And the Zags had become the same way.  Drew Timme was carrying the load for them with the occasional assist from Julian Strawther, who was more of a guard/forward hybrid.  But the actual guards on the team were contributing very little.  Gonzaga's three-point shooting was poor in the first three rounds and their free throw shooting wasn't very good either.  Timme had put up 36 against UCLA, but it felt like he'd need at least 40 against Connecticut if the guards didn't step up their game.  Early on in this one, Timme must have realized he was going to have to shoulder the load again.  The Zags had several open threes in the first few minutes and two of them wound up being airballs.  It was going to be get the ball into the post or use transition offense if Gonzaga was going to make it to the Final Four.  For Connecticut, their attack was much more well-balanced.  And surprisingly, it was their big man,  Adama Sanogo, who was facilitating their offense.  Gonzaga didn't want Timme getting into foul trouble guarding Sanogo, so they would often double-team him.  Sanogo found his open teammates, finishing the first with 5 assists, a career high for him.  Finding open teammates was the theme of the first half for the Huskies, so it was appropriate that the half ended with Connecticut getting the ball to an open Alex Karajan for a three that extended their lead to 7 at the break.

Connecticut had broken several of their games open early in the second half, so Gonzaga would need a hot start to keep their chances alive.  That did not happen.  Timme, who picked up two fouls in the last 5 minutes of the first half, was called for an offensive foul less than 30 seconds into the second half.  Two minutes later, he was called for a very dubious foul.  That 4th foul would mark the end of Gonzaga's season for all intents and purposes.  Not because the Zags were going to come back and win this game (all indications at that point were that Gonzaga's guards couldn't hit enough shots to keep the team in it).  Rather the Zags had become lost on the offensive end without Timme on the court.  And with more than 17 minutes to play and 4 fouls, he was destined to be off the court for a while.  Connecticut immediately went for the jugular.  They led by 10 when Timme went to the bench.  A minute later, the lead was 18.  Everyone in a Gonzaga uniform looked like they had no hope left.  Eventually, Connecticut would be up by as much as 33 points.  The final margin would be 28, as Connecticut rolls on to the Final Four with another blowout victory, winning the West region by a score of 82-54.

As with the other game, a few comments about these teams.  Gonzaga has been a great program for nearly 20 years now, but you start to wonder whether they wouldn't trade spots with Virginia, a team known for getting upset in the early rounds of this tournament over and over again, but who managed to put it together one time to win a title.  As for Connecticut, they are going to be the big favorites in Houston next weekend.  During the Texas game last night, the commentator working the game was asked in the final moments if Texas was now the favorite as the highest seed remaining.  He responded "obviously they are".  That statement seemed dubious then and seems downright foolish now.  Even if the Longhorns blow out Miami tomorrow afternoon, my guess is that Vegas would still make them an underdog to this Huskies team that is firing on all cylinders at the moment.  One other note about Connecticut: all 8 of their losses this season were to Big East teams.  And there is still one Big East team lurking in the bracket.  That would be Creighton, who gave the Huskies one of those L's.  Would be an interesting title game if they met up.

Time for pool standings and with so many upsets, there is a bit of clarity even with 5 games remaining to be played.  In each pool, there are three people still alive to be champion.  In the Main Pool, Christopher's bracket is done, but he holds a 5 point lead.  I would need Miami to beat Texas and then have a favorable tiebreaker result to catch him.  Alex Peerenboom needs Texas to get to the title game to win the pool.  Fred Alcaro is currently in third, but like Christopher, his bracket is finished.  In the Gamblers Pool, I'm leading by 4 points over Christopher, who needs Miami to reach the final to win.  Dwight Crowley can still win if Texas gets to the title game and he beats me in the tiebreaker.  Natalie Schweitzer is sitting in 3rd and can finish as high as 2nd if Texas beats Miami and then loses to Connecticut in the Final Four.

Full standings and more can be found here.

Two more spots to be filled in the Final Four.  San Diego State and Creighton will decide the South region in the first game, with the winner taking on Florida Atlantic next weekend.  Then Miami and Texas clash to see who will take on the juggernaut known as Connecticut.  Enjoy the games!

March Madness 2023 - "The U" Oughta Know

The recaps will get shorter.  I promise.  But if you want no recap, just click here.

Only 12 teams remained heading into Friday night and with this being the craziest March Madness in recent memory (and given this tournament's history, that's saying a lot!), it was fair to wonder whether the #1 seeds would survive another round.  We would find out right away, as the first two games of the night featured Alabama and Houston.

We'd start off in the South region with the overall #1 seed Alabama.  This team has been shrouded in controversy all year due to a murder that involved several players, most notably All-American Brandon Miller.  And if you think I'm belaboring the point, the godfather of Alabama sports (Nick Saban) would disagree.  Earlier this week, Saban suspended a member of the Crimson Tide football team after he had been arrested.  Saban then pointedly said "there is no such thing as wrong place, wrong time".  That was the excuse Alabama's basketball coach, Nate Oats, gave when addressing Miller's involvement in the murder.  It was a flip response that no one appreciated, even within the Alabama athletic community.  That being said, if there is one truth in sports, it is that winning absolves everything, and the Crimson Tide seemed to have gotten the draw of all draws in terms of getting to the National Championship.  They faced little opposition in the first two rounds when playing Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and Maryland.  After Thursday night's results, Alabama would need to beat San Diego State, the winner of Creighton/Princeton, and then the winner of Kansas State/Florida Atlantic to play for the title.  Not exactly Murderer's Row, but in the tournament, it was silly to take anyone for granted.  Especially a team as good defensively as San Diego State.

The Aztecs play the game the way that Virginia and Tennessee did, and you might think "well, that's no good, those teams got upset".  Well, that style plays a little better in the tournament when you're the underdog.  When you're the favorite, you don't want to let the underdog hang around, but if you're the underdog, you don't mind so much if things stay tight.  And that's how the first half played out in this one. In horse racing, we always say "pace makes the race" and the Aztecs had Alabama playing at their pace in the first half.  It was a low scoring, grind it out type of affair, with San Diego State getting the better of it, heading to the locker room ahead 28-23.  Coach Oats definitely sent the message that his players needed to pick up the pace in the second half, as they forced the action immediately, going on a 17-6 run.  The Aztecs foolishly tried to go up and down the court with Alabama and paid the price.  After the Crimson Tide increased their lead to 9, San Diego State remembered that they would have to play their way to advance.  Over the next 4 minutes, they would go on a 12-0 run to retake the lead.  Meanwhile, neither team was getting much production from their top scorers.  Miller was misfiring from all over the place, hitting only 3 shots from the field and totaling just 9 points.  The Aztecs had a worse problem as their best player, Matt Bradley, had a goose egg to this point.  But Bradley would get on the scoreboard late in the game, helping out teammate Darrion Trammell who had been carrying the Aztec offense.  On the other end, Alabama was struggling to score inside due to the presence of San Diego State's Nathan Mensah, who was swatting away anything near the rim.

San Diego State led by 9 with less than 1:30 to go and it seemed the game was well in hand, but putting away games must not be a West Coast thing.  Just as Gonzaga had done the night before, San Diego State began to wilt under the late game pressure.  They started turning the ball over.  They couldn't make free throws.  And they were fouling Alabama.  30 seconds later, the lead was down to two.  The Aztecs needed to steady themselves at the free throw line and eventually they did.  They would make 5 of their next 6 free throws while not allowing the Crimson Tide to score another point.  Say bye-bye to another #1 as Brandon Miller does his best Cade Cunningham impression in this year's tournament.  San Diego State will make their first Elite Eight appearance after a 71-64 victory over the top team in the land.

Alabama's loss left the Houston Cougars as the only #1 seed remaining in the tournament.  And they would not have an easy task on their hands trying to defeat the Miami Hurricanes.  Miami had shown in their second round game against Indiana how dangerous a team can be when they have exceptional guard play and the ability to clean up on the glass.  They also had one of the most likable coaches in America, Jim Larranaga.  Larranaga had brought George Mason to the Final Four back in 2006.  Now he was aiming to bring the Hurricanes to back-to-back Elite Eights, after having never made it before last year.  Could this Miami team score enough against a stingy Houston defense that allowed under 57 points per game this year?

The answer sure seemed to be yes early on.  Both teams started out ice cold for about two minutes, then both went on a scoring spree, which was much more to Miami's playing style than Houston's.  With about 5 minutes left in the first half, the score was tied at 31, so unless Miami went ice cold like UCLA did in the second half of their game on Thursday, 57 was going to be a breeze (wasn't meant to be a Hurricane joke, but now that I've written it, I am not changing it).  "The U" would actually end the half on an 11-5 run, giving them a 6 point lead at the break and leaving Houston coach Kelvin Sampson scratching his head on how to stop this team.

Miami didn't slow down in the second half.  They scored the first 5 points after intermission.  Then they went on a 14-2 run that opened the lead to 17.  The Cougars wouldn't get the lead under double digits the rest of the way.  As much as I hate to say nice things about another ACC club, Miami has kinda become the most likable team to watch in this tournament.  They will head to yet another Elite Eight, sending home the final #1 seed in Houston by a score of 89-75.  Not only will "The U" be represented in the Elite Eight of the men's tournament, they will be joined by the women's team who upset #1 seed Indiana and #4 Villanova to find themselves one win away from a Final Four appearance as well.

Not sure who would have predicted that #6 seed Creighton and #15 seed Princeton would be battling for the right to play #5 seed San Diego State with a trip to the Final Four on the line, but that is how things have played out in the South region.  Creighton, like their Big East brethren Connecticut, had a ton of early season success, went into a bit of a swoon, and then came into this tournament as a bit of an enigma. But with 10 teams remaining at this point, the Big East was represented by three of them, so falling short in conference play might not have been as bad as it looked.  On the other side of the court was Princeton, who was actually the #2 seed in the four-team Ivy League tournament, but they won two games there, then won two games against slightly stiffer competition (Arizona and Missouri) to find themselves in the Sweet 16.  This one was a shootout early on.  Creighton is known for its scoring, so that wasn't much of a surprise.  And Princeton showed during the first weekend that they weren't here to play the 43-41 style game that old coach Pete Carril used to upset UCLA once upon a time.  In fact, 43-41 was already in the rear view window by the time this one got to the half.  Creighton held the lead, but it was a slim 47-43 advantage.

The first 8 minutes of this game was where it was decided.  The Bluejays kept their offense humming along at the pace it was going in the first half, while the Tigers finally hit a wall.  Creighton would outscore Princeton 21-9 during this stretch, building a 16 point edge and putting this game out of reach.  But give credit to "the smart kids".  They never stopped trying and were able to get the lead down to 7 points at one stage, but that would be as close as it got.  Creighton advances to their first Elite Eight, further twisting the knife they put in my back in round one.  A valiant Princeton team bids adieu.  The Bluejays face the Aztecs for a spot in the Final Four after an 86-75 victory.

As was the case on Thursday night, it seemed like the best matchup of the evening was slated for last.  But unlike UCLA and Gonzaga, Texas and Xavier didn't have any notable history between them.  They just happened to be two of the top seeds remaining in this insane tournament and they were colliding in round three.  Texas got some horrible news before the game, as the man who led them to victory in round two, Dylan Disu, was injured and would not be available against the Musketeers.  Perhaps that adversity was exactly what the Longhorns needed, as they took it to Xavier from the opening tip.  Texas scored the first 6 points in this one and would never trail.  Xavier had a lot of good looks in the first half, but their shots would not fall.  The Longhorns had everything going their way.  Already up 14 with time winding down in the first half, Texas' Timmy Allen put up a desperation heave that banked in to put the Longhorns up 17.  If Xavier's bubble hadn't been deflated before, it seemed to be once that miracle went in.  Texas would increase the lead to as high as 24 in the second half before Xavier made the final score a bit more respectable in the final minutes.  But the Musketeers would not be the 3rd Big East team to make it to the Elite Eight.  Instead, it will be Texas after a dominant 83-71 victory.

On to the standings...Christopher (still don't have a last name) has jumped into the lead of the Main Pool, holding a 1 point edge on me as we head into the final 7 games of this year's tournament.  Fred Alcaro is stubbornly holding on to 3rd, 6 points back.  In the Gamblers Pool, thanks to all of the chaos, the guy who picked NC State to win it all holds a 7 point edge over Natalie Schweitzer.  Christopher holds third in that pool.

Now that you've patiently read about all of Friday's action, you can access the spreadsheet here.

Time to punch some tickets to the Final Four!  The East region will see underdogs collide at Madison Square Garden as Kansas State and Florida Atlantic battle for a trip to Houston, followed by a heavyweight matchup between Connecticut and Gonzaga in Las Vegas to decide who will represent the West region.  Just two games tomorrow - don't miss them!

March Madness 2023 - Dad Jinxed Me

Just here for the spreadsheet?  You can find it here.

The Sweet 16 is upon us and that means evenly spaced out games that are a heck of a lot easier to keep track of over the course of the day.  Two regions playing with games spaced out a half hour apart.  It ensures that we don't have multiple games coming down to the wire at the same time.  Ya know, unless a game goes to overtime, which we hadn't in this year's tournament until...

...welcome to Madison Square Garden, where the first game of the East regional featured the surprising Wildcats of Kansas State vs Tom Izzo's battle-tested Michigan State Spartans.  After his amazing play in the second round vs Kentucky, the focus was on Wildcat guard Markquis Nowell.  Nowell was seemingly involved in all of his team's scoring in that game, whether it was emulating Magic Johnson with some fancy passing or channeling his inner Steph Curry with some cold-blooded threes to end Kentucky's hopes of advancing.  Somehow Nowell would raise his game Thursday night on one of the biggest stages in basketball.  This game was a high scoring, but fairly evenly matched affair through the first 24 minutes of play.  Kansas State held a lead of 43-38 at the half despite the fact that the Spartans were on fire from outside of the arc.  About 4 minutes into the second half, a play happened that seemed to spell doom for the Wildcats.  As Nowell was driving to the hoop, he turned his ankle.  During the TV timeout, he was unable to put any weight on his injured leg, leaving everyone to wonder whether he would be able to continue.  But Nowell wouldn't be out of the game long, even though it appeared that he was playing on one leg for the next few minutes.  He made a spectacular play, heaving up a desperation three with the shot clock winding down that banked in, tying the game at 55 while he hopped down the court to try and play defense.  Both teams put on a show on the offensive end.  Michigan State was getting contributions from everyone on the court, whether it was AJ Hoggard continually driving to the hoop against a hobbled Nowell or the continued bombardment from three-point range from Joey Hauser, Tyson Walker, and Jaden Akins.  Nowell might have been facilitating the offense for Kansas State, throwing highlight reel passes to David N'Guessan and Nae'Qwan Tomlin, while getting long range shooting help from Cam Carter and Ismael Massoud.  Just as Kansas State seemed to be pulling away, gaining a 7 point edge with under five minutes to go, there was an immediate response from the Spartans, draining a three to let the Wildcats know they weren't ready to go home.  There were several times in the final minutes where Nowell would try and hit a three from beyond NBA range to try and end it, but none of them connected.  Michigan State continued to drive to the hoop, eventually tying the game with 5 seconds left.  Nowell would get the inbounds pass and race down the court for a potential game-winning layup, but the attempt would bounce off the rim.  This tournament has more than lived up to the Madness label, but until now, it hadn't had an overtime.  Off to the extra session!

In OT, the teams yet again traded the lead back and forth as Nowell crept closer and closer to the NCAA tournament single game record for assists, which was 18.  With the game tied and about a minute to go, Nowell would tie the record on the play of the tournament.  Walking down the court, Nowell appeared to be arguing with his coach in a very animated fashion.  Right as the argument ended, he fired the ball towards the hoop from just inside half court.  As the ball headed towards the rim, teammate Keyontae Johnson was streaking to the hoop, having cut behind his defender who was mesmerized by the player-coach argument had been taking place.  Johnson rose up, caught the ball facing away from the hoop, and reverse jammed home the alley oop, sending MSG into hysteria.  After the game, the Kansas State players and staff would claim this wasn't a designed play, but I urge you to go back and watch the incredibly bad acting of coach Jerome Tang.  There's no chance this wasn't scripted.  But it was a hell of a play at a hell of a moment.  Michigan State wasn't dead yet though.  They would get fouled on the next trip down the floor and make 1 of 2 from the free throw line, leaving them down by 1.  Nowell once again tried a crazy long 3 to end it and it missed badly.  A Spartan player allowed the ball to bounce out of bounds, but the refs gave possession to Kansas State.  Replay confirmed that the ball had nicked the fingers of a Michigan State defender.  Nowell would inbound the ball, finding Massoud in the corner for a jumper that would extend the lead to three and give Nowell the NCAA record for assists in a tournament game.  The Spartans had one last chance to tie, but they made a mess of their final possession.  Nowell knocked the ball free as Michigan State desperately tried to shoot a three.  He tracked down the ball, sprinted down the court, and spun in a reverse layup as time expired to send Kansas State to the Elite Eight, winning by a score of 98-93.  Nowell would end the game with 20 points and 19 assists in an all-time performance.  After the game, coach Tom Izzo would channel his inner John Calipari and disrespect the upstart Wildcats, saying that it was a couple of lucky shots that decided the game.  You have to wonder if that disrespect continues to fuel Kansas State as they move further in this tournament, hoping to reach their first Final Four in the modern era.

That was a really long recap...ready for a shorter one?  Connecticut hasn't given me too much to write about in this tournament because they have been bludgeoning their opponents especially in the second half.  They trailed by one against Iona only to win by 24.  They were up by one in their next game against Saint Mary's, but ended up winning by 15 in a game that never really felt that close in the second half.  Surely Arkansas, who had just dethroned defending champion Kansas, would give them more of a game, right?  Wrong.  Connecticut didn't even bother waiting for the second half to establish their dominance in this one.  The Huskies would build a 17 point lead going into intermission and things didn't get better for the Razorbacks during the second 20 minutes of play.  Connecticut would go on a 16-4 run out of the locker room to lead by 29.  Arkansas coach Eric Musselman would not be removing his shirt after this game, though Huskies superfan Bill Murray did encourage his team's coach, Dan Hurley, to remove his shirt once the blowout was complete.  Hurley is a bit less exuberant than Musselman and declined the request.  But he won't be declining a spot in the West region final on Saturday as his Huskies continue to be the most impressive team in the tournament through three rounds, eliminating the Razorbacks by a score of 88-65.

If any game was expected to be a blowout, it wasn't Connecticut-Arkansas.  It was Tennessee-Florida Atlantic.  The Vols had re-established their reputation as a national title contender by bullying a red-hot Duke team in round two.  Florida Atlantic had been a bit fortunate to get to this point.  In round one, it took a Memphis meltdown for them to advance.  Then they avoided top seed Purdue thanks to a historic upset by Fairleigh Dickinson.  And then they were in trouble against the Knights before Johnell Davis saved them late in their second round game.  But the Owls came into this one with 33 victories on this season's resume.  And that record was built playing in what may have been the most underrated conference in the country.  Florida Atlantic reigned supreme in Conference USA, a conference that also included Charlotte, who won the CBI championship this week (the third-tier college basketball postseason tournament).  And in the NIT (the second-tier college basketball postseason tournament), both North Texas and UAB are in the Final Four, with a chance to meet one another in an all Conference USA championship game.  So the Owls weren't just gonna be thankful to make it this far.  They were great at finding ways to win and they were planning on coming up with something to overcome the much taller, much more physical Tennessee team they were pitted against.  They didn't find many answers in the first half, 20 minutes that felt like they were dominated by the Vols.  Florida Atlantic was completely stifled on the offensive end, getting little going inside and misfiring from outside the arc, going 3 for 14 from three point range.  But when the half ended, they were only down 5 points.  Tennessee fit the mold of a lot of teams that had done well in college basketball this year.  Incredibly tough on defense (they were #1 in the nation), but unable to fill up the stat sheet on the offensive end.  So while the Vols felt comfortable playing games like this, it always leaves the door open for the other team to catch fire and put tremendous pressure on them in a one-game-for-your-season situation, as Virginia found out in round one.  That scenario played out in the second half.  The Owls finally started to make some three pointers and you could feel Tennessee tense up through your TV screen.  And as the Vols continued to struggle on offense, Florida Atlantic started to smile.  They started to accelerate the speed of the game.  They simply took control, even on the boards, where Tennessee was expected to have a huge advantage.  All of this resulted in an 18-2 run that put the Owls on top by 10.  That lead felt like it was a hundred based on the Vols inability to score.  They would end up getting no closer than 5 the rest of the way.  Florida Atlantic notches win #34 on the season and make their first ever trip to the Elite Eight, beating their second squad from the Volunteer state in this tournament by a score of 62-55.

Without a doubt, the marquee matchup of the evening was UCLA-Gonzaga.  There's no doubt that these two teams have been the two best teams on the West Coast for some time, but they don't tend to play each other during the regular season.  (I find this incredibly confusing.  Why do we get Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, and Kentucky in an early season four-team "tournament" every year, but we can't get UCLA, Arizona, Gonzaga, and Saint Mary's in a West Coast version?)  Perhaps this lack of regular season familiarity lends to more drama when they meet in the NCAA tournament.  UCLA and Gonzaga have in two of the most memorable tournament games in recent history.  It was 17 years ago exactly before Thursday night's tilt that we had the "Adam Morrison/Heartbreak City" game, where Gonzaga as the 3 seed in the West region looked to take over the mantle of best West Coast team from UCLA, the 2 seed in the West region.  The Zags would lead by 13 at the half and by 9 with less than 3 and a half minutes to go. But UCLA turned on the pressure and Gonzaga wilted under it late.  The Bruins would score the final 11 points, leaving Adam Morrison lying on the court in tears.  UCLA would make it to the national championship before falling to Florida in the title game.  Two years ago, these teams met in the Final Four under completely different circumstances.  UCLA was an 11 seed who started the tournament in the First Four.  They were massive underdogs to the undefeated #1 overall seed Gonzaga.  But the Bruins gave the Bulldogs all they could handle.  The game looked to be headed to a second overtime when Gonzaga star Jalen Suggs banked in a shot from just inside half court to send the Bulldogs to the national championship, where they had nothing left in the tank, getting embarrassed by Baylor.  What would round 3 give us?  More magic, naturally.

A key aspect of this game was that UCLA was dealing with injury trouble.  They had lost their best defender, Jaylen Clark, in their final regular season game.  Perhaps a bigger blow to the team was losing big man, Adem Bona, due to a re-aggravated shoulder injury in their previous game against Northwestern.  Bona was meant to guard Gonzaga's Drew Timme, so UCLA would have to channel their inner Florida Atlantic and figure out a game plan that would make up for their disadvantage in height.  That game plan looked good in the first half.  UCLA coach Mick Cronin seemed to say "Timme can have his, no one else is getting a thing".  Timme would score 17 of the first 31 for Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs were down despite his dominance in the low post.  As much as Timme was getting what he wanted down low, the Bruins were getting what they wanted everywhere on the court.  Not typically a high scoring team, UCLA put up 46 points in the first half, heading to the break with a 13 point lead (echoes of 2006!).  The announcers of this game realized that this performance was abnormal from UCLA and wondered aloud whether they could keep up this pace for the full 40 minutes.  Spoiler: they could not.  Gonzaga started to provide Timme some help on the perimeter, their defense got a little better, and UCLA started to score less and less.  And then suddenly, the Bruins weren't scoring at all.  With 12:30 to go, UCLA led by a score of 59-52 after star player Jaime Jaquez Jr. made a layup.  From that point on, the Bruins would go more than 11 minutes before they would hit their next shot from the field.  Meanwhile, Gonzaga kept their methodical offense humming.  With 9 minutes to go, the Bulldogs grabbed the lead.  And with 2:30 left, they had built it to double-digits, moving ahead 72-62.

So UCLA was done, right?  As Lee Corso would say, not so fast.  This game went completely retro over the last 90 seconds.  Gonzaga had multiple chances to extend the lead beyond 10 as the Bruins continued to miss all their shots, but they let those opportunities skate by.  With the lead down to 9, Jaquez drove the lane and ended UCLA's field goal drought, getting fouled in the process.  The "and 1" brought the lead down to 6 and CBS began getting the Adam Morrison footage ready.  The two teams traded free throws, keeping the lead at 6 with 52 seconds to go.  The Bulldogs got the ball inbounds and UCLA hounded them with their press.  Malachi Smith couldn't find a teammate, so he threw it to Mick Cronin.  (To be slightly fair to Smith, Cronin's suit was a similar color to Gonzaga's uniforms.)  It was a bad mistake and everyone watching had to be thinking it was 2006 all over again.  UCLA went to Jaquez again and he immediately came through with another "and 1", dropping the lead to 3.  The Bruins fouled one of Gonzaga's worst free throw shooters, who bricked the first and got a very fortunate bounce on the second one to increase the lead to 4.  Jaquez, who had now remembered that he could make a shot, drove to the hoop and cut the lead to 2.  Gonzaga continued to struggle with the press.  They managed to get down the court with the ball, but they picked up their dribble and needed to use a timeout.  For some reason, Gonzaga forgot the one option that it is open to teams who don't handle the press or shoot free throws well.  That option?  Just go to the hoop and score!  Gonzaga was so dead set on trying to dribble out the clock, that they weren't even attempting to convert on a fast break.  After the timeout, CBS showed Timme standing on the court just shaking his head in disbelief.  And when he was fouled after having the ball inbounded to him, you couldn't be sold on his chances of draining two free throws.  Or even one.  Neither attempt looked particularly good, UCLA grabbed the ball, and the Bulldogs were in deep trouble.  Gonzaga fell for the bait of defending another drive, the Bruins kicked the ball out for a three, and one swish later, it seemed like Heartbreak City again.

There was still 12.2 seconds to go though.  The safe money was that the ball would go to Timme, who had 36 points despite blowing those two free throws.  But when I say this game went retro, I'm not just talking 2006.  I'm talking 2016 as well.  Gonzaga ran the Kris Jenkins play, the one that won the 2016 national championship for Villanova at the buzzer against North Carolina.  The guy who took the inbounds pass dribbled quickly up the court, pitching the ball behind him as he played fullback to the two defenders in front of him.  Julian Strawther, a Las Vegas native, took the pitch and pulled up at the edge of the logo, a few feet further back than Jenkins was when he hit his famous shot.  The result was the same though, as Strawther's shot was pure, putting the Bulldogs back in front with 7.2 seconds to go.  UCLA raced down the court to try and tie it, but Tyger Campbell had the ball stripped from him and Strawther was fouled with 1.4 seconds left and a chance to put this game away for good.  Naturally, he missed the first shot.  He did make the second, putting Gonzaga up three.  Did I say this game went retro?  Because I'm not talking about just 2006 and 2016, I'm talking about 1998!  The Bruins countered with the Bryce Drew play!  UCLA inbounded the ball to mid court, where the ball was immediately lateraled to the right where a streaking Tyger Campbell got into position for a realistic shot at a three.  The ball was on line, but just a little long, hitting off the back iron.  Gonzaga survives one of the craziest roller-coaster-like games you will ever watch in the tournament, defeating their rival UCLA by a score of 79-76.

The Madness simply never disappoints.

After I had finished up the second round pool standings on Sunday night, I sent a picture of the Gamblers Pool to Natalie Schweitzer, the 15 year-old leader who was playing in this pool for the first time.  Her reaction?  "My dad just jinxed me, so I'll probably finish last now."  Natalie may have been right.  The young rookie picked UCLA to win it all, so it's going to be tough sledding from here on out if she's going to take the crown.  Someone who made an even worse pick for national champion (yours truly) has a 5 point lead over Matt Brayko and the aforementioned Natalie, with a boatload of pursuers 6 points back.  In the Main Pool, Fred Alcaro leads by 2 over Christopher and by 3 over me.

Once again, the spreadsheet can be found here.

Hard to believe that Friday night's action will be able to live up to the craziness of what we saw on Thursday, but this year's tournament had continued to deliver one surprise after another.  Will we see another #1 seed (or both that are remaining) get knocked out?  Tune in tonight!

March Madness 2023 - That's Alright, We're on TruTV, Man

Just 8 more games in a wild first weekend of the Madness that definitely did not disappoint.  No more 1 seeds in action, so let's head to the other end of the spectrum.  Could we possibly see the first 16 seed in the Sweet 16?  Fairleigh Dickinson would be taking on another team that had never been to the Sweet 16 either.  But that game would be played much late on in the schedule.  Let's start things with another team that took part in the First Four, the Pitt Panthers.

(Actually, if you don't want to hear about the 8 games that took place on Sunday, you can just access the spreadsheet here.)

When you have 16 seeds beating 1 seeds and 15 seeds getting to the second weekend for three straight years, nothing really surprises you about this tournament anymore.  But it is still pretty remarkable that one of the two winning 11 seeds that plays in the First Four always seems to take home a first round victory as well.  And some of them (like VCU) go much further than that.  Pitt was trying to replicate VCU's Final Four run, but they would have to get by Xavier to keep the dream alive.  Xavier was a bit of a team in disarray in round one, falling way behind Kennesaw State in the second half and arguing with one another before showing enough fortitude late to eke out a win.  Perhaps it was first round jitters, but the Musketeers showed why they deserved to be a 3 seed in round two.  Xavier's offense was high flying in the first half with guard Adam Kunkel draining 5 treys to give the Musketeers a 48-34 advantage at the break.  Things didn't change much in the second half as Pitt had a hard time cutting into the Xavier lead.  The Musketeers would build the lead up to 20 points, but the Panthers truly had no quit in them.  The game seemed out of reach, but Pitt kept grinding away, bringing the deficit down to 8 with a minute left.  But the clock was their enemy and despite never giving up in a game where Xavier was the dominant team, eventually Pitt ran out of time.  Xavier moves on to play Texas in the Sweet 16.

The next game featured the big name school vs the upstart.  With so much craziness in this year's tournament, Kentucky was one of the few recognizable powerhouses still standing.  On the other end of the court from them was Kansas State, the team picked to finish dead last in the Big 12 before the season.  But the team from Manhattan surprised everyone this season, earning themselves a 3 seed in the East Region.  Old habits are hard to break though and the betting public said Kentucky was the favorite in this one.  They certainly had the best player on the court in Oscar Tshiebwe, who I would argue is by far the best big man in the college game.  He's hard to stop on offense and almost impossible to keep off the boards.  The problem for Kentucky was the same one they had last year and the same one that Purdue had in round one.  Tshiebwe is so much better than his teammates that everything runs through him and the rest of the team can be gun shy when that option isn't available.  On the other side, Kansas State had a better balanced team, but it's not like they don't have a special player of their own.  His name is Markquis Nowell and to say he is a playmaker would be an understatement.  He made three highlight plays to end the first half that put Kansas State ahead at the break.  The first was a behind the back pass on a fast break.  The second was a pass through his legs to a trailing teammate on another fast break.  Finally, he threw a no look lob for an alley oop right before the horn.  In the second half, Kentucky fought back mainly on the shoulders of Tshiebwe, but also with some help from Cason Wallace, who made a habit of scoring after steals or rebounds.  But no one played bigger than "the little kid" (as Kentucky coach John Calipari called him afterwards) as Nowell stopped passing in the final minutes and started draining dagger threes to put Kentucky away.  The battle of the Wildcats goes to Kansas State as yet another big name in college basketball fails to make it to the second weekend.

Who would be up next for Kansas State?  We would find out immediately as Marquette and Michigan State were on the court next.  This game felt very similar in nature to the Kentucky-Kansas State game.  In one corner, you had the college basketball powerhouse (Michigan State).  In the other, the surprising upstart that surpassed all expectations to grab a high seed in the tournament (Marquette).  Michigan State's success in March has typically been attributed to coach Tom Izzo, mainly because a lot of his teams have lacked superstars and needed time to gel together.  "Mr. March" (as he's known) seems to care less about what his team's win-loss record is as long as they make the tournament and are peaking when they get there.  So even though the Spartans were a 7 seed in the East region, they had to be considered dangerous.  Marquette found this out the hard way on Sunday.  Early in the game, the Golden Eagles were stymied on the offensive end, partly due to Michigan State's defense and partly due to some cold shooting.  Marquette would soon be down by a dozen and their prospects at making a comeback were looking bleak with Big East player of the year Tyler Kolek in and out of the game with foul trouble.  But in the second half, the Golden Eagles went on a run and took the lead, seemingly seizing all of the momentum.  That was until they decided that shooting the ball wasn't important any more.  Marquette went on a stretch of 8 possessions where they took a total of 1 shot, turning the ball over 7 times.  Instead of pulling away, this sloppy stretch kept the Spartans alive and soon they had the lead back.  Michigan State's lead was 5 when college basketball's dumb replay rules came into play.  Kolek drove to the hoop and laid the ball up to the glass.  Michigan State defender Mady Sissoko rose way up and pinned the ball against the glass.  Was it goaltending?  The refs decided it was not while action was going on and it could not be reviewed because it happened with 2:01 on the clock.  If it happened two seconds later and the clock read 1:59, they would have reviewed it, since plays like this one can only be reviewed in the final 2 minutes.  That was the end of the road for Marquette, as their magical season ends at the hands of Mr. March.  The Michigan State Spartans have a date with the Kansas State Wildcats at Madison Square Garden next weekend.

Time to swing out to West region action in...Albany, NY?  The regions don't really make sense in the first two rounds anymore as Albany was hosting games for the Midwest and West regions this weekend.  At least this game had one team from the West playing in it.  St. Mary's looked for most of the season like they were on the verge of replacing Gonzaga at the top of the WCC.  They had a top 10 defense, they beat Gonzaga in their first matchup, and held a two-game lead in the standings for a while.  But a late loss in a league game followed by a loss to Gonzaga in the rematch got them a tie as the conference champs.  And when they met Gonzaga in the championship game of the WCC tourney, they got steamrolled.  So despite a very strong resume, it seemed like few people were expecting the Gaels to beat Connecticut in round two.  The Huskies, like the Gaels, were darlings of those who track advanced metrics for basketball.  And the trajectory of their season was similar to that of St. Mary's.  Early on they were blowing people out, before struggling a little bit in league play in the Big East.  Yet those losses weren't perceived as bad as the ones that St. Mary's had suffered.  Connecticut showed why they were favored in this one by repeating what they had done in round one.  They trailed at the half vs Iona.  In this game, they needed a three pointer with 5 seconds to go in the half to take a one point lead into the locker room.  But what Connecticut has done better than any other team in this tournament is force their will in the second half.  It's almost like a football team who struggles to run the ball in the first half, but as the game goes on, they wear the opponent down and start tearing off runs of 7-8 yards at a time.  A 1 point lead would balloon to as high as 18 points in the final stages of this one.  Connecticut will attempt to wear down the Arkansas Razorbacks in their next matchup Thursday in Las Vegas.

Princeton was still waiting to see who their opponent would be on Friday night.  Due to some odd scheduling, most of the teams who won on Saturday had to wait a day to find out who they would be playing next weekend.  The Tigers would get the winner of Baylor and Creighton.  Baylor had played like Connecticut in their first round game: meek in the first half, dominant in the second half.  Creighton was coming off of a bullsh...brilliant win against NC State, ensuring that I will never know joy as a sports fan. The Bluejays were a bit like Arkansas this season (they actually played a very tight game early in the season in the Maui tournament with Creighton winning by 3).  They were in the preseason top 10, they got off to a hot start, and then suddenly they lost 6 in a row.  They recovered somewhat in Big East play, at least enough to make the tournament.  Which Creighton team would show up in this one?  Answer: the preseason top 10 version.  This game was never that close, much like Princeton's the day before.  The Bluejays built an early 10 point lead.  Baylor tried to chip into that lead time and time again, but had little success doing so.  In fact, the lead would grow to 18 in the second half.  The Bears would make the final score look respectable, but 85-76 belies how badly Baylor was beaten in this game.

Time for the game of the night!  I'm sure at the beginning of the season, people were wondering when we might get an FDU/FAU battle.  In the second round of the tournament, duh!  Two rosters filled with mostly little guys (taller than me, I know) on a stage that no one expected them to be on, duking it out for a spot at Madison Square Garden next weekend.  Hard to even describe what an opportunity this was for each of these schools.  Florida Atlantic was the big favorite here based on having 32 wins on the season and the suspicion that Fairleigh Dickinson played their Super Bowl the other night and might have nothing left for round two.  But the Knights weren't lacking energy in this one.  Florida Atlantic scored the first 9 points of the game, but Fairleigh Dickinson immediately responded with a 14-6 run to let the Owls know they had a fight on their hands.  And FDU also had Dayton's band behind them.  Because FDU didn't have a band of their own, Dayton's band decided to follow the Knights from the First Four to make sure they had musical support.  Those tunes seemed to be working as Fairleigh Dickinson would go ahead by as much as 5 points in the second half.  But as is the case in many of these games, one player decides to take over and that player was Florida Atlantic's Johnell Davis.  Davis became the first player in an NCAA tournament game with at least 20 points (he had 29), 10 rebounds (he had 12), 5 assists, and 5 steals.  The Owls pulled away late, leading to Fairleigh Dickinson raising the white flag and not fouling as the final seconds ticked off the clock.  But Florida Atlantic's Alijah Martin decided to put an exclamation point on the win by going in for an uncontested 360-degree dunk.  Not only was it in poor taste, it looked especially dumb when Martin was rejected by the rim (boos rained down from the crowd).  FDU's coach, Tobin Anderson was livid while shaking hands with FAU's coach after the game, but even that seemed a bit rich for a guy who's been talking shit publicly about Purdue and Florida Atlantic.  Speaking of talking shit...the most hilarious moment of the night came in the postgame interview with Johnell Davis.  He was giving a genuine answer to Jamie Erdahl's question when he accidentally said 'shit' on live TV.  He immediately apologized, but the best part was Erdahl's immediate response: "That's alright, we're on TruTV, man!" (translation: no one could find this game on TV if they tried).  It was a light-hearted moment that might have balanced out the bad karma of the gratuitous dunk attempt.  At least Florida Atlantic hopes so as they will need as much luck on their side as possible when they face the Tennessee Vols in the Sweet 16.

Back to Albany, capital of the Midwest.  Indiana was taking on the last ACC team remaining in the field, the Miami Hurricanes.  The Hoosiers were led by one of the best (some say the best) big man in the country this year, Trayce Jackson-Davis.  If your best player is a center, you would expect that team to clean up on the glass, but Miami did something in this game that I can't recall having ever seen in a game, much less a second round game in the tournament.  The Hurricanes had more offensive rebounds than the Hoosiers had defensive rebounds.  That means for every missed shot Miami put up, they were more likely to come away with the ball for a second possession than Indiana was to head down the other end.  That's insanely good rebounding, especially when the other team has a huge All-American patrolling the lane.  All of those extra opportunities gave Miami a huge edge.  It led to a 14-2 run that broke the game open.  And when Indiana started pressing to try and get back into it, their problems got worse.  Miami's guards were way too fast, leading to easy scores once they broke the press.  The ACC does not get shut out of the Sweet 16 as the Hurricanes overcome the Hoosiers by a score of 85-69.  What inspired such a performance?  Coach Jim Larranaga said in the postgame interview that they were embarrassed by how they played on Friday (in a game they won).  Houston better hope that the Miami players weren't embarrassed by how they played in this one as they'll be facing the Hurricanes on Friday night.

The last game of the night featured maybe the most polarizing program in college basketball: Gonzaga.  Fans of schools from the major conferences say Gonzaga skates by on their easy conference schedule and gets seeded way too high for March Madness.  Zag defenders respond by saying that Gonzaga's tournament performance proves they are as good as any other school in the nation.  The Zags were putting a streak of seven consecutive Sweet 16 appearances on the line against TCU.  That streak makes them the only non-ACC school to make more than 5 consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16 since the field expanded to 64 (and now 68, I guess) teams.  Early on, that streak appeared to be in danger as the Horned Frogs jumped out to a 10 point first half lead.  Gonzaga cut that lead in half by intermission, then got rolling in the second half.  At one point, the Bulldogs scored 13 in a row to take charge, never falling behind again the rest of the way.  But the best part of this game was the finish.  You may have seen the "bad beat" on social media featuring the last play of the game, but this gambling nightmare was way more soul-crushing than that clip might have let on.  Let's pretend you bet on Gonzaga.  The Zags were laying 4.5 points to TCU and led by 7 with 30 seconds left and TCU in possession of the ball.  Not ideal.  If they hit a 3, you might be screwed.  And the Horned Frogs were firing from beyond the arc.  They missed one trey and then another.  <Phew!>  But the ball went out of bounds and is staying with TCU.  <No!>  Except Gonzaga was pretty sure the refs made the wrong call and asked for a review.  The refs somehow missed the ball hitting the arm and the leg of the TCU player.  After a fairly quick review, the call was overturned.  Zags up 7, with the ball, 15.6 seconds away from cashing your bet.  <Pay Daddy>  With so little time left in a 3 possession game, it was possible that TCU might even let Gonzaga run out the clock.  Instead, they defended the inbound play really well, causing the Gonzaga player to absurdly just throw the ball to no one in particular underneath his own hoop.  A TCU player grabbed it, was fouled, and made two free throws.  Still up 5 with only 13.7 seconds left.  And things got better when Gonzaga scored a breakaway dunk with 8.4 seconds to go, making the lead 7 again.  <Woo hoo!>  Except now you knew TCU was going to be putting up a three that could kill your bet.  And sure enough, they hit a three with 3.0 seconds left to trim the lead to 4.  <Come on!>  At this point, you're ready to rip up your ticket, since TCU probably ain't fouling.  But they did!  And it wasn't even the first guy who touched the ball.  Gonzaga got the ball in, completed a pass, and TCU still fouled, leaving 0.8 seconds on the clock.  The Zags went to the line, drained both free throws, and were up 6 once again.  <It's a miracle!>  Except you know how this story ends.  TCU slowly rolled the ball up the court.  No one touched it as Gonzaga celebrated.  As the ball trickled past half court, a Gonzaga player realized the horn hadn't sounded yet, looked at the TCU player following the ball up the court and gave them the "pick up the ball, dude, the game's over" look.  TCU guy picks it up inside the logo just past half court, fires from deep, and swishes it.  <LOSER!>  Gambling is so much fun.

Luckily for you, all of the heartbreak from this year's pool probably already happened.  Most of the brackets have been smashed meaning you will have to pull off some sort of TCU-like cover play to catch the folks at the top of the standings if you fell behind on opening weekend.  Who are you chasing?  In the Main Pool, Princeton Fred has a big margin on the field, leading 2nd place Christopher by 5 points and me by 6.  In the Gamblers Pool, Natalie Schweitzer (aka Teen Angst) looks to follow in her mom's footsteps as a pool champion.  She leads me by 1 point and Matt Brayko by 3 points.

Another link to the spreadsheet can be found here.

That's it for the first weekend!  Not sure I can remember a Sweet 16 that feels like this one.  Who's the favorite?  Alabama or Houston, the remaining #1 seeds?  UCLA, Michigan State, or Connecticut, the teams with banners hanging in their gyms?  It seems like you could make a strong case for 14 of the remaining teams, with Florida Atlantic (33 wins) and Princeton (outplayed a PAC-12 and a SEC team in the first two rounds) as the two not-the-craziest-longshot teams remaining in the field.  Should be interesting.  Tune back in on Thursday to see how it plays out!

March Madness 2023 - Magic Mike: Musselman Edition

Not interested in the recap?  Then go right to the spreadsheet, which you can access here.

Saturday marked the beginning of the second round.  Would the Cinderellas from Thursday (Princeton, Furman, and Penn State) have anything left in the tank to make it to the Sweet 16?  We'd get one answer right away as the first game of the day featured Furman taking on San Diego State.  The Paladins probably didn't need to change up the scouting report from round one as San Diego State played a style of basketball similar to Virginia.  (In retrospect, we may owe Furman a debt of gratitude as a San Diego State - Virginia round two matchup might have wound up with a score of 47-45).  But this game got off to a very different start for the Paladins.  With the game tied about 10 minutes in, Furman watched the Aztecs break the game open with 13 points in a row.  The lead would be 14 at the half and San Diego State would keep it above 20 for pretty much the remainder of the game.  Furman will be featured prominently in One Shining Moment after the championship game due to their amazing last-second victory against Virginia, but their tournament runs here with a 75-52 loss to San Diego State.

Perhaps the most compelling matchup of the day was up next.  Duke had won 10 in a row and was on the upswing.  Tennessee had been near the top of the rankings for most of the year, but limped into the tournament.  Their 3 point victory over Louisiana was not nearly as impressive as Duke's 23 point win over Oral Roberts in round one.  So the popular opinion going into this one was that Duke would be moving on to the Elite Eight, as a win here would make them a huge favorite in the next round against the winner of Fairleigh Dickinson and Florida Atlantic.  But Tennessee had other plans as they decided to bring Duke down "into the mud".   The Vols were going to make this game very physical from the outset and see how the Blue Devils reacted.  Tennessee's center committed two hard fouls on Duke star Kyle Filipowski in the first two minutes, likely as a message to the Blue Devils about how the next 38 minutes were going to play out.  The Vols refused to give an inch on the defensive end, taking Duke out of their offensive routine.  Tennessee wasn't doing much scoring either until the very end of the first half, when they scored the final 9 points to take a 27-21 lead into intermission.  The second half was the Olivier Nkamhoua show, as Duke had no answer for the Vols forward.  Nkamhoua put up 23 points in the second half alone, turning a tight game into a runaway.  Duke's win streak ends at 10 as Tennessee moves on to the Sweet 16 with a 65-52 victory.

It's not uncommon for a tournament team to be affected by medical issues.  There are several teams who worked around injuries to key players in their first round games.  But Kansas was dealing with a whole different issue altogether.  Coach Bill Self was diagnosed with a heart issue during the Big 12 tournament, causing him to miss the team's run to the championship game, where they fell to Texas.  His doctors advised him not to be on the sideline for the defending champions opener against Howard and despite his pleas to coach the team's second round game against Arkansas, he was overruled by doctors once again.  He'd have to watch his team on TV as they took on the dangerous Razorbacks, a team that had been to the Elite Eight the past two years and began this year ranked in the preseason Top 10.  Like North Carolina, Arkansas was one of the big disappointments of the season, but they did just enough to get into the tournament.  After dismantling Illinois in round one, they got one more chance to prove that the preseason chatter was justified.  Early on in this one, though, it was all Jayhawks.  The champs jumped out to a 13-4 lead and thwarted every run that the Razorbacks threatened to go on.  It began to feel like one of those games where the team that had jumped out in front would hold the other team at arms length the whole way.  But with 12 minutes left, Arkansas grabbed the momentum.  A 10-0 run tied the game up and suddenly Kansas looked like they had been hit with a jab and needed a standing 8 count.  From there, it was a back and forth affair.  Inside the final minute, it was tied.  Then Arkansas took the lead on a layup.  Kansas was fouled and sank two free throws to deadlock the score again.  The Razorbacks looked to go back on top and were fouled.  They made the first free throw, but missed the second.  However, the rebound went right back to the free throw shooter, who was fouled as he charged to the hoop a second time.  This time he made both free throws.  This unorthodox three point play was huge with only 21 seconds to go.  If it sounds like there were a lot of free throws in the final minute, just wait.  Kansas drove to the hoop at the other end only to be fouled.  Two free throws cut the deficit to one.  The Jayhawks immediately fouled.  Arkansas hit two free throws to extend the lead back to three.  Then the Razorbacks fouled with 3 seconds left to stop Kansas from having a shot at a tying three-pointer.  Kansas made the first.  Then they attempted the basketball equivalent of an onside kick.  Intentionally missing a free throw so that your teammates can get the rebound is much harder than it looks.  As with an onside kick, you're basically looking for a funky bounce to go your way.  There is also the danger that you will do what Kansas did in this situation: accidentally make it.  The Jayhawks crashed the boards hoping for a rebound, but when the ball went in the hoop, they were totally out of position defensively.  Arkansas quickly inbounded the ball still up by 1 and ran the final three seconds off the clock.  Down goes another #1 seed as Coach Self doesn't get the chance to be on the court to help his team defend their title.  The other coach was a little more jubilant.  Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman decided to celebrate with the Arkansas faithful by ripping off his shirt and waving it above his head deliriously.  Unsure if he'll need to put it back on since Arkansas will be playing their next game in Vegas, but we'll see Musselman and crew again next weekend.

Was that recap a little long?  You're in luck.  The Missouri-Princeton recap will be much shorter.  This all-Tigers matchup would be one of the biggest blowouts of the weekend.  And no, it wasn't a case of the 15 seed having a letdown after taking out Arizona in round one.  The Ivy Leaguers completely dominated this game.  You might think Princeton is all back door screens, reverse layups, and the occasional open three pointer.  Not this squad.  Princeton made the Missouri press look silly, easily getting up court for the first 38 minutes of this game (they did have a little trouble at the end when the game was essentially over).  And in the second half, breaking the press meant open threes, which Princeton hit with deadly accuracy.  On those rare occasions when they missed, they were dominating the boards.  But my favorite tidbit from watching this game was seeing the smart kids do something all teams should do when trying to run out the clock with a big lead.  In college basketball, the clock runs after a made basket until there is one minute to play.  So anytime Missouri made a hoop, Princeton made no effort to get the ball an inbound it.  Three to five seconds would run off the clock before a Princeton player picked it up or a Missouri player heaved it to a ref in frustration to force a Princeton inbound.  Call me a nerd, but running the clock down with no risk is heady play as far as I'm concerned.  Athletically and intellectually superior, the Princeton Tigers are headed to the Sweet 16 after a 78-63 drubbing that was not as close as the score might indicate.

No one got a better draw this year than Auburn.  Not because Iowa and Houston are pushovers.  Rather because a 9 seed should never have anything resembling home court advantage, yet Auburn drew Birmingham, Alabama as the site of their opening weekend games.  The crowd was behind them as they took out the Hawkeyes.  They would need even more support to take out the top-seeded Cougars.  Houston had to be feeling a little pressure as no #1 seed had made it to the second weekend yet, with Purdue bowing out on Friday night and Kansas getting dethroned about an hour earlier.  Maybe those nerves played a factor in the first half as Auburn got the best of the Cougars, building up a 10-point lead at the break.  But Houston showed their superiority in the second half.  They came out knocking down shots to erase that Tigers lead quickly and then they won the free throw battle the rest of the way.  Typically that would mean that more fouls went their way and they got more free throw opportunities.  But this was far and away the tightest called game in the tournament.  Seemed like there was a whistle every time down the court for a stretch.  Auburn got the better this exchange in terms of free throw opportunities, but the Tigers struggled from the charity stripe, while Houston made everything from the free throw line.  Auburn wasn't only misfiring from the line.  They would make a paltry four field goals in the entire second half.  Houston began to pull away, with the only drama being whether they would have enough players to finish the game as almost everyone in their lineup had 4 fouls with 2 minutes to go.  They managed not to get everyone disqualified and became the first #1 seed to make the Sweet 16, cruising to an 81-64 victory over Auburn.

With the #1 seed in the Midwest moving on, it was time to see if the #2 seed could join them.  Texas had won the Big 12 conference tournament last week, moving them up the list of contenders for this year's title in the process.  But they were running into possibly the hottest team in the tournament in Penn State.  The Nittany Lions were firmly a bubble team leading up to the Big 10 conference tournament, but winning 8 out of 9 and losing the title game by a bucket to Purdue showed that they were going to be a tough out in the Big Dance.  They further served notice that they meant business by thrashing Texas A&M in round one.  Penn State was slow to get going in this one, only scoring 23 points and trailing by 8 at the half.  The second half was a lot more entertaining.  Both teams found their rhythm offensively, with the Longhorns still appearing to have control of the game.  Then the Nittany Lions ripped off ten straight points and suddenly it looked like the Big 12 could see another powerhouse eliminated in the first weekend.  That was when Dylan Disu took over.  The Texas forward personally outscored Penn State 10-2 in the closing minutes, ensuring that the top two seeds in the Midwest region would be playing next weekend.  Penn State's late season run falls a little short in round two as Texas advances with a 71-66 win.

Penn State may have been eliminated, but there was still one other feel-good Big 10 story remaining in the tournament.  Northwestern doesn't have a long March Madness resume, but coach Chris Collins managed to take a team with low expectations and led them to a second place finish in one of the country's major conferences.  They'd have a big hill to climb in this one as they were taking on UCLA, a team many thought should have gotten the final #1 seed over Purdue.  And the Bruins looked like a #1 seed early in this one, jumping out to a 14 point lead in the first half.  But the Wildcats didn't win all those games in the Big 10 this year without going through adversity.  And maybe, just maybe, they felt at home in Sacramento.  You might think that UCLA would have the advantage with the game being in California, but the purple-clad Wildcats were playing on the big purple court of the Sacramento Kings.  Whether it was violet-inspired or not, Northwestern began a comeback in the second half.  They put together a 17-4 run that tied the game at 45.  But they were never able to edge in front of the Bruins.  UCLA would score the next 6 points and never relinquish the lead the rest of the way.  UCLA is another team headed to Vegas next weekend after taking out Northwestern by a score of 68-63.

The last game of the night involved the overall #1 seed in the tournament.  Now as you might know, our household is very Crimson Tide friendly, especially when it comes to football.  But it's hard to ignore the storyline with the Alabama basketball team this year.  Earlier in the season, a young woman was killed in Tuscaloosa.  One member of the Alabama team has been charged in her murder.  The other player involved might be the best player in college basketball.  Brandon Miller is an absolute superstar and he will probably soon be a great professional player as well.  Still, it's tough to get excited about the athletic exploits of someone who supplied the gun used in a murder.  Was that a crime?  Should he have been suspended for his actions?  Reasonable people can come to different conclusions.  It just feels a bit icky to root for the guy, all things considered.  Why write about all that?  1) Because it truly is an important storyline regarding the top team (and top player) in the land.  2) Because the final game of the night was a complete mismatch.  Maryland was only down by 5 at the half, but it felt like the Crimson Tide were in command.  In the second half, the scoreboard reflected that.  The lead kept growing and growing and growing, making its way to 22 when the final horn sounded.  Alabama will take on San Diego State in the first known Sweet 16 matchup next weekend.

Time for the standings and these results are a bit hard to explain.  Ok, maybe not the leader of the Main Pool, as Princeton alum Fred Alcaro was the only one to have the Tigers making it to the Sweet 16.  But somehow I am tied with Maryanne for second place despite going with the full homer bracket where NC State wins it all.  It's even worse in the Gamblers Pool, where I'm leading by 1 point over Mark Grimes, with a 4 way tie 4 points back between Natalie Schweitzer, Jenn Nichols, Michael Blumenstein, and Tommy King.  Not to worry though.  I'm pretty sure I need the winner of Fairleigh Dickinson and Florida Atlantic to cut down the nets to stay above all of the other brackets for the next two weeks.

Don't want to scroll up?  No problem, the spreadsheet is linked once again here.

The field of 24 will be whittled down to the Sweet 16 this evening.  Recaps headed your way again tomorrow.

March Madness 2023 - Advancin' Ain't Edey

In many of the recent tournaments, there has been a ton of fireworks during the first round games on Thursday, followed by a bit of a ho-hum second day on Friday.  I'd guess that the shock of seeing fellow teams from a major conference getting upset or at least taken to the brink set off alarm bells in the minds of the Day 2 favorites.  But things were a little different on Day 1 this year.  Sure, we saw a couple of huge upsets when Virginia and Arizona were sent home early, but for the most part, the seeds held throughout the day.  And in a lot of instances, the games weren't particularly close.  Would Friday's favorites be ready to play or would Thursday's results leave them more vulnerable than normal?

Well, we'll get to that in the recap, but if you'd rather skip all of that, than you can go straight to the spreadsheet, which you can find here.

First game of the day would be between Michigan State and USC, a 7-10 matchup.  This year's Michigan State team is not that different than what you'd expect to see each year from a Spartan squad in the tournament.  Their seed is a little lower than usual, but they played one of the toughest schedules in the country and should be battle tested for whatever may come their way over the next three weeks.  USC was out to prove that the PAC-12 was more than just UCLA and Arizona this year (or should I say more than just UCLA?).  The Trojans hopes would seem to rest on star player Boogie Ellis and when he went most of the first half without a bucket, USC found itself down 11.  But the rest of the team rallied over the last few minutes of the half and this game went to intermission tied.  In the second half, Ellis was able to make a few buckets, but it was Michigan State that opened up a lead yet again.  Six minutes into the second half,  the Spartans would be up by 9.  Then it ballooned to 15.  USC wouldn't have an answer this time as Michigan State marches forward to round two.

Xavier-Kennesaw State was an interesting matchup because very few brackets had Kennesaw State winning this game, yet very few brackets had Xavier advancing to the Final Four.  If the 3 seed in this region was such a no doubter in this matchup, why were they so unlikely to make it to Houston?  My guess is that it was because Kennesaw State was a name that most bracket predictors were unfamiliar with.  Substitute in Valparaiso, Murray State, or Loyola-Chicago, and maybe more folks would have selected the Owls.  One thing that was for certain is that Kennesaw State was not intimidated by the Musketeers.  They were here to run and gun and that translated to a 43-36 advantage at the half.  They would extend that lead to 13 at several times in the second half, the last time at 61-48 with just over nine minutes to play.  But they ran out of physical and mental energy from that point forward.  Xavier began picking up the pace on the offensive end and the Owls could not match it with their fading defensive intensity.  And on the other end, it seemed like Kennesaw State had one play left that they could run.  Point guard Terrell Burden would dribble around a bunch of screens, dive to the hoop, and put up either a pressured layup (hoping for a foul really) or an out of control pass that would generally lead to a turnover. The lack of energy and imagination cost the underdogs as Xavier would rattle off 15 points in a row.  They still had a chance to win it down one in the waning seconds, but everyone in the building knew what was coming, especially Xavier defender Jack Nunge, who swatted away Burden's final layup attempt.  4 free throws in the final 2 seconds made the margin look larger than it really was, as Xavier was very lucky to escape being upset in round one.

The other two games in the early afternoon session were pretty similar with the underdog team keeping it close in the first half (UCSB actually led Baylor at the break), but the favorites pulled away in the second half, as Baylor defeats the Gauchos by 18, while St. Mary's sends VCU home after a 12 point victory.

For the second set of games, I'm going to remove the elephant from the room right off the bat.  NC State lost.  If I wrote honestly about this game, it would just sound like bitterness and bias.  So I'll leave it at this...congrats to the Creighton Bluejays on moving on to round two.  And thank you to Terquavion Smith for spending another year at NC State.  Hope you have an awesome NBA career.

While I was watching my favorite team play their final game of the season, there were three other games in action.  Marquette has been one of the best storylines of the year, going from unranked when they tipped the ball back in their first game in early November to Big East champs and a #2 seed as they began this tournament.  They might still be fighting for nationwide respect, but they likely have it in the state of Vermont after dominating the Catamounts from start to finish in a 17 point victory.  Pitt squeaked by in their First Four game, earning them a matchup with an Iowa State team that dominated on their home floor throughout the season.  But this game wasn't in Ames, and the Cyclones had no aim early on, doing their best Oral Roberts impression and falling behind 22-2.  Iowa State would get as close as 5 before the Panthers turned on the afterburners again, whipping the 6 seed in a comfortable 18 point win.  Finally, Iona was playing in a very familiar venue, taking the court in Albany where MAAC rival Siena plays its biggest games.  The Gaels held the edge at the half over Connecticut, but like UCSB earlier in their game against Baylor, the team with designs on a bracket-busting upset was simply outclassed in half number two.  The Huskies put on a clinic in the second half, showing why they will be a tough out in the loaded West region.  UConn moves on, ending Rick Pitino's tenure at Iona in a 24 point blowout.

Eight games left in the night sessions to wrap up round one.  The first matchup figured to be the least competitive game of the night.  Purdue was one of the best teams in college basketball this year and they featured the player of the year, dominant big man Zach Eddy, who stands 7'4" tall.  On the other end of the court was Fairleigh Dickinson, a team that only got into the tournament because the team that won their conference (Merrimack) is ineligible to play in the NCAAs until next year.  Did I also mention that the Northeast Conference was the lowest rated of all conferences in college basketball this year?  And that Fairleigh Dickinson was the absolute smallest team in college basketball this year, which is kinda less than ideal when facing the best big man in the land?  Well nobody told the Knights about how badly they were supposed to get beaten.  In fact, after winning their First Four game on Wednesday, their coach declared on camera that the more he had seen of Purdue, the more he thought his squad could beat them.  Bold words.  But his team was doing everything they could to back them up.  The Boilermakers had the size advantage, but Fairleigh Dickinson had the speed advantage.  And for some odd reason, Purdue was running everything from Kentucky's playbook in 2022 when they lost to St. Peter's.  In that game, Kentucky ran everything through All-American Oscar Tshiebwe.  When it worked, great.  When it didn't, then the other 4 players on the floor looked extremely hesitant to shoot the ball.  And as this Purdue-FDU game got to the later stages with the Knights still hanging around, the non-Edeys tightened up more and more.  Awkward lob passes were thrown to the star player, which were either picked off or stolen away when Edey brought the ball down to where the Knights could swipe at it.  And when FDU hit a three with less than 1:30 to go to increase their lead to 5, you could sense that we were about to witness history.  Purdue had a couple chances late to tie things up, but their sloppy play continued.  In perhaps the greatest upset in college basketball history, tiny Fairleigh Dickinson plays giant slayer, taking out #1 seed Purdue.

It was hard to keep focus on the other early evening games with history taking place in Ohio, but a couple of other powerhouses were on the court at the same time.  Kentucky is another college basketball blue blood that struggled for most of the season, but like Duke, they have hit their best stride late.  They held a 7 point lead at the half against Providence, then kept the Friars at bay for the final 20 minutes, basically holding on to a 4 to 8 point edge throughout the evenly played second half.  Kentucky moves on to the second round.  Gonzaga was the #1 overall seed in this tournament the last two years, but they seemed to be headed for something in the 5-6 range until they found their killer instinct late in the season, which got them up to a 3 seed.  They were neck and neck with a feisty Grand Canyon team through the first half of their game, but early in the second half, the Bulldogs went on a 24-4 run to break the game open, before waltzing to a 12 point win.

The last game of the early evening set looked like it could produce our first 5 vs 12 upset.  Miami looked like they were playing the role of the underdog in their matchup vs Drake, as it was the Bulldogs who held the lead for most of this game.  The Hurricanes would come back time and time again to tie things up, only to see Drake build a lead again.  And when the Bulldogs built their biggest lead (8 points) with less than 5 minutes to go, it felt like they had finally put Miami away for good.  But whether you want to say Drake pulled an Arizona or a Kennesaw State, the Bulldogs simply didn't have it in the final few minutes of the game.  The Hurricanes amped up their defensive pressure and finished the game on a 16-1 run.  No 12 seeds in the second round this year!  Miami comes through late to play another game on Sunday with a 63-56 victory over Drake.

The last 4 games of round one featured two nail biters and two games without much tension.  Let's start with the easy ones.  I've already mentioned that Purdue and Marquette were not in the preseason top 25 and had amazing years.  Kansas State might not have been in the preseason top 125.  Coach of the Year Jerome Tang has done wonders in Manhattan, Kansas in his first year with the team, getting them a #3 seed when most people thought they wouldn't even make the tournament.  They weren't spectacular in their first round test against Montana State, but they were always in control of this one.  Their performance was actually kinda similar to how their next opponent, Kentucky, played on the same court about two hours earlier.  We'll have Wildcats battling Wildcats in round two as Kansas State moves on after a 77-65 victory.  The flow of the Indiana and Kent State game was similar.  Indiana was always in control and the lead seemed to slowly grow as the game went on.  The Hoosiers move on to face Miami after taking down Kent State by 11.

If you stayed up until midnight, you were treated to two of the best games of round one.  Up first was TCU and Arizona State.  Early on, it looked like the Sun Devils were jet lagged after traveling from Dayton where they won impressively in the First Four.  The explosiveness from Wednesday night was missing as they quickly fell behind 15-4 to the Horned Frogs.  But they answered with a 13-2 run to tie things up, before going on another run that spanned the late first half and early second half to move ahead by 11.  It was time for TCU to go on a 13-2 run of their own.  Arizona State replied by scoring the next 8 before the Horned Frogs went on a 13-5 run to tie things up yet again.  Like a high scoring NFL playoff game, this one felt like it might go the way of whoever had the ball last.  And unfortunately for the Sun Devils, it was TCU holding the ball as the final seconds ticked down.  JaKobe Coles made a slicing move into the lane and floated the ball into the net with 2 seconds to go to retake the lead by 2.  Arizona State was unable to get off a desperation shot to try and win it, giving TCU the honor of taking on Gonzaga in round two.

Easily the craziest game of round one was the battle between Memphis and Florida Atlantic.  And all of the crazy was on the Memphis sideline.  Earlier in the day, there was a moment in the Xavier game where two of their players got into a heated argument during a timeout.  Memphis took that one level higher when an injured Tiger hopped off the court screaming at a teammate.  When the teammate got to the huddle, the injured player (who refused to sit down despite his ankle injury) barked at the teammate some more.  Which led to the teammate shoving the injured player in the back.  Memphis also forgot to sub in for a player who picked up his 3rd foul early in the second half.  And naturally that player got his 4th foul while the sub sat on the sideline.  Memphis would also have substitution problems in the last minute of the game.  Oh yeah, they were also playing a tight game against a Florida Atlantic team that spent several weeks in the Top 25 this year.  With two minutes to go, the Owls led the Tigers by 2, but Memphis was able to convert an "And 1" to re-take the lead.  A missed shot was redeemed by a fortunate tip-in to give Florida Atlantic the lead back, but then the exact same thing happened on the other end to put Memphis back up by 1.  The Owls came back down hoping to get the lead, but there was no tip in following the next missed shot and Memphis got the rebound.  The Tigers simply had to run out the clock or make some free throws once they were fouled, but they inexplicably threw the ball away.  Perfect opportunity for Florida Atlantic, except the dribbler immediately slipped and gave the ball back.  Or so it seemed.  There was a mad scramble on the floor where it looked like Memphis got control of the ball for a split second.  A Memphis teammate tried calling timeout, but a bunch of Owls descended on the Memphis player with the ball.  With the refs focused on the chaos on the floor, they didn't see the timeout being asked for and a jump ball was called.  The possession arrow pointed towards Florida Atlantic and they would have 5.5 seconds to try and steal this game.  Florida Atlantic called time out.  Then Memphis spent their final timeout for some unknown reason.  After two timeouts, Florida Atlantic drew up a very nice play, inbounding the ball to a player in the corner, who pump faked a three, drove into the lane, and laid the ball into the hoop with 2.5 seconds to go.  Memphis, now with no timeouts, had to rush the ball in.  The first player dribbled to half court, then passed it to a teammate.  Did I mention there was only 2.5 seconds left on the clock?  By the time his Memphis teammate caught the ball, the buzzer had sounded, and Memphis coach Penny Hardaway was throwing his water bottle across the court in frustration.  Memphis lets a golden opportunity slip away, while Florida Atlantic moves on to face Fairleigh Dickinson in the most improbable second round matchup in NCAA tournament history.

How many brackets had Fairleigh Dickinson winning?  Just one and that bracket belonged to John Falco, who has surged to the lead in the Main Pool with 31 points.  Two points behind him are Fred Alcaro and Maryanne (sorry, don't know your last name!).  Oddly enough, John Falco leads the Gamblers Pool with a different bracket that did not have Purdue losing in round one.  That bracket has 30 points, with Mark Grimes in 2nd with 28 points, and Tommy King in 3rd with 27 points.

Again, if you don't want to scroll all of the way to the top, you can find the spreadsheet here.

That's all for round one.  Only two games on Saturday have been completed, so I'm not as insanely behind as I usually am on the first weekend.  Enjoy the hoops!