Daily rants and opinions...because we're THAT bored.
by Spaen - Monday, March 20
College basketball is a warzone at this time of year, and it seems that every year it just gets stranger. Nothing was like the first round this year, as all that "parody" build-up was true. The second round had it's share of upsets, but not as many surprises as the first round. It was still fun to watch (maybe not the final three games on Sunday), and it set up a terrific Sweet 16. In this week's Monday Mash-up, I'll go through the best and worst of the first 3 rounds of the big dance, give out my opinions on the best games, and a preview of all eight Sweet 16 matchups.
Without a doubt, Memphis is the strongest number one seed. People may question the toughness of the teams they faced...and you may be right about Oral Roberts, but 94 points with over 50 at the half? Pretty good for the collegiate level. And Bucknell isn't a walk in the park either. They dominated the Patriot League and played their non-conference schedule amazing well...yet they got snapped up by the Tigers.
Worst Team (still in the tournament): Washington
Call me a Pac-10 hater. Go right ahead. You know how much I've dogged LSU all season, and yet their still one of the 16 finalists and they aren't here. Washington got handed the win by Utah St because the Aggies had nearly 30 turnovers in that game. Illinois is overrated, period. I believe that UConn will have their best game yet of the tourney against these guys...although that's not hard to do considering the Huskies' performance so far.
I was gunna go with Utah State for all the turnovers, but I already dissed them. Seton Hall is one of those Big East teams that SHOULD NOT have been in the tourney, and showed it against Wichita St. WSU does not score a lot of points, yet they scored 86. Isn't the Shockers average PPG like 50? I guess you can expect that from a team that loses by 50 alone to UConn.
Most Surprising Team: Bradley
No one besides the students who go to Bradley chose the Braves to get this far in the tournament. And then...maybe they didn't either. There's no doubt that being a 13 seed, and having to face Kansas and Pittsburgh, respectively, that they're the most surprising team. A close second to George Mason, who had to go through Michigan State AND defending champs North Carolina...but more on how it's not so surprising later.
Most Disappointing Team: Iowa / Kansas
Had to give a tie for this one. The Hawkeyes were favored to have a run at least to the Sweet 16 in the NCAAs, and Kansas looked like they had the talent to make a decent run too, even though they are very young. If I had to choose one team, it would be Iowa. Being the highest seed upset, and how they lost is just demoralizing. How in the world to you give up a lead that big (16) with eight minutes left? They really just started to quit and be very conservative. You might as well hand the victory to the Demons on a platter. But honestly...that shot Northwestern State pulled was the luckiest ever. I mean honestly. Kansas's loss wasn't that better. They couldn't even get a lead over Bradley, and the Braves outplayed Kansas and showed how inferior they really are with their young talent.
Luckiest Team: Gonzaga
Are you kidding me? Xavier owned the Bullodgs in the first round, but Adam Morrison steps up even more in the final minutes to take the lead and never give it back. I swear I saw some spinach on the bench where Morrison sat. Honestly. He must have used up all that energy though, 'cuz he did horrible in Round 2. However, the whole team plays great basketball, and really denies the Hoosiers of a realistic chance to beat them. If it wasn't for Morrison's heroics, they wouldn't of even seen the Hoosiers.
Hard Luck Team: Texas A&M
You have to feel for the Aggies that they could have a decent chance to put up a fight with Duke. However, they just couldn't pull it off against LSU. After great defensive performances against Syracuse and LSU, the Tigers swish a dagger to go up by one with five seconds left. The Aggies had a hard time getting control of the ball. In fact...they never did, and LSU steals the victory. Congrats to A&M for an amazing season, and an unappreciated defense that will never get noticed.
Best Conference: Missouri Valley
I want you to take a good look at how the five Big East teams got where there at. Now look at how Bradley and Wichita State got where there at. Given, WSU's list isn't that impressive with Seton Hall being crappy and Tennessee overrated...but Seton Hall is a Big East team, and Tennessee is better than Kentucky, Arizona, Montana, and Northwestern State. I will have to say that if California could of actually not sucked and beat NC St and Texas, the Pac-10 would be the best conference. Scary.
Worst Conference: Big Ten
What the hell was that? Six teams, the best conference in the nation, and you lay the biggest dump in NCAA history by having no teams even get to the Sweet 16. That is absolutely horrible. All you fans that live in your own shelled world about how there's the Big Ten and Not the Big Ten need to realize that the Big Ten has never been impressive. Hasn't that ACC/Big Ten Challenge every year shown you enough that these teams can't compete well with the other conferences? They also suck on the road too...and that was the biggest point I made about Iowa. Both Iowa and the Big Ten, like I said all year, were and are overrated. Boy am I smart.
Boston College 88, Pacific 76 (2OT)
We couldn't get through two hours of March Madness without sweatin' it out in hopes for having a great bracket. Pacific did come off of a pretty good win over Long Beach St in the Big West final, but never did I imagine them coming back to damn near upsetting BC. BC was very lucky to continue, and that they have more depth than Pacific. They got extremely tired during the 2nd OT.
Alabama 90, Marquette 85
Marquette looked pretty bad most of the game, but kept clinging onto the Crimson Tide, and eventually had a chance for a 3-pointer to tie. Ummm...nope, and it was even Steve Novak who missed it. He wasn't really defended well either. Yikes. With all those great 3's he has made, how does he miss that one to continue on in the big dance?
Tennessee 63, Winthrop 61
I'll say it again: The Volunteers did not deserve a 2 seed after what they did during the last few weeks...but I'm not the committee now am I. They probably liked Bruce Pearl, and the fact that if they gave them a 3 seed or lower they probably would of lost. I like Bruce Pearl as well, but how did this team get so flaky at the end of the season?
George Washington 88, UNC-Wilmington 85
I really wanted to believe that the end of the regular season and A-10 tourney showing was just a fluke, and that GW would be back in progress in March Madness. After watching their first-round game, I knew my upset prediction over Duke wouldn't happen. The Colonials fell into a humongous hole (18 pts down) but held firm and came back to win in one of the better comebacks in the tournament. I thought to myself: "If GW gets into a hole like that against Duke, they ain't winning." I was right again.
Gonzaga 79, Xavier 75
This game makes me so mad. I HAD this upset pick. I HAD Xavier beating Gonzaga, then Indiana. I HAD it when Xavier led by 10 most of the way through. Then the final 10 minutes hit. Then Xavier becomes conservative...or tired. The lead gets crapped on by Adam Morrison, and he takes over like a psycho. Literally...you should see the highlights of him banging the ball on his head.
Texas A&M 66, Syracuse 58
Gerry McNamara and company were completely gassed before this matchup, but give credit to the Aggie defense for just demolishing them and letting them have no chance to win. McNamara didn't even have a field goal, but you can't count when he was out for the final 8 minutes due to an injury. Syracuse came out flat, played throughly flat, and apparently was happy enough with a Big East championship.
Northwestern State 64, Iowa 63
Biggest heartbreaker of the tournament, period. It's just dumb luck to shoot a wild three with someone in your kitchen AND still make it. The Demons were destined to win...or maybe if Iowa wasn't so conservative, they wouldn't have to cry about this upset. But there's no denying that Northwestern State was just lucky, since you knew both teams wanted it.
West Virginia 64, Southern Illinois 46
You leave out Missouri State and you give us this shit? What was all that talk about SIU's great defense? Apparently that was all lies. WVU isn't the greatest team in the world, and is the weakest from the Big 5 in the Big East. Yet, for the Saluki's well-praised defense, they give up 64 points? I was expecting a final in the 40's. At least SIU stepped up and did that favor.
George Mason 75, Michigan St 65
Seriously, didn't anyone think this was an obvious upset? Experts think that this is such an amazing upset. From what I saw with CAA Basketball, I knew that George Mason had what it takes to shut down a weaker MSU team incapable of playing well on the road. It stayed true.
Connecticut 72, Albany 59
I knew that Albany was one of the strongest 16 seeds in the history of tournament, and how pissed I was when they were matched up with the best 1 seed. Even so, UConn didn't do their part, and Albany made them sweat from beginning to end. Once UConn made those three's however...you knew it was only a matter of time before history repeated itself for like the 84th time.
North Carolina 69, Murray St 65
Hats off to Murray State for giving the Tar Heels all they could handle AND THEN SOME. Like GW, you knew after watching this game that George Mason was going to be a bitch to beat. Hmmm, I was right on that too.
Bradley 77, Kansas 73
Second-straight year for the Jayhawks to fuck up again. Unbelieveable. I expected a bit more out of you than that, especially how they loss. Bradley owned them, and continuously had a solid margin over them. But I am happy about all this. I guess that's mainly because the Jayhawks are my biggest conference rival in basketball. Bradley is also a very hot team, and lost only one game in the last 2 months. That's pretty good stuff considering how they started the season.
SECOND ROUND:
Washington 67, Illinois 64
An unbelievable contrast on foul shots between these two teams. Washington: 28-39, Illinois: 9-11. With nearly 20 more free throw shots, and a winning margin by 3, you know that free throws were an obvious big part of it. Illinois held Washington down by not getting blown out, but the Fighting Illini was just not aggressive.
UCLA 62, Alabama 59
It wasn't so crappy as it was good defensive play. Albama definitely deserves a higher seed, because they were the best looking 10 seed in the tournament. But it seems that the Bruins can always pull out these close games. Maybe that's why I have them going to the...Final Four?? Maybe...depending on what Memphis does against Bradley.
Gonzaga 90, Indiana 80
I highlight this game only for the fact that it shows Gonzaga playing good basketball without 100% effort by Morrison. I don't know if it was fatigue or lack of caring, but Morrison was just not into it. Believe me, if the Bulldogs played the way they did in the WCC tournament against Indiana, they would have lost by 30.
George Mason 65, North Carolina 60
I am soooo dumb. I knew George Mason was a better team because of their fantastic season in the CAA. I knew North Carolina was a young team. So why did I choose the Tar Heels? Well...who do you think would win at Cameron Indoor Stadium? Hmmm, I believe one of those teams already did win there. But the game wasn't played there, it was played in Dayton, Ohio. Stupid me...that pretty much kills my bracket.
Georgetown 70, Ohio St 52
I had Ohio State going to the Elite 8 in most of my brackets. Why the hell did I do that? Georgetown has evidently found their funk after a strutty end to the regular season. They owned the Buckeyes in the second half, and left a 0% chance of Ohio State to ever get back into it.
Villanova 82, Arizona 78
Lute Olson will remember that time out he called when the Wildcats made the basket to cut the lead within two forever. That really did cost them the game.
Thursday - 6:10PM CT
I've hated LSU from Day 1. I believed that they were just another overrated team from the overrated SEC. Since I don't want to be the next Gregg Doyel, I'll let up on them, but I think that Duke found their swagger against GW last Saturday.
OAKLAND: 13)Bradley (22-10) vs 1)Memphis (32-3)
Thursday - 6:27PM CT
This is extremely interesting. Both teams are very hot, with Bradley being 11-3 in their past 14 games (7 straight until the MVC Championship game) and Memphis looking good after putting the smackdown in their own conference tourney and blowing out their first two big dance opponents. This is the game to see if Bradley is truly legit to contend for the national championship.
ATLANTA: 6)W Virginia (22-10) vs 2)Texas (29-6)
Thursday - 8:40PM CT (approx.)
Both teams have been very streaky in the tournament so far. There are times when they are dominant, and others when they seem extremely flat. It didn't happen so much with Texas when they got into the second round, and it happened more with WVU when they let the Demons come back in the game when they were up 41-19 at the half. You just have that feeling WVU should be able to pull this one off.
OAKLAND: 3)Gonzaga (29-3) vs 2)UCLA (29-6) >> Thursday - 8:57PM CT (approx.)
UCLA has come a long way since the first half of their game against Belmont, but after what I saw with Gonzaga playing as a team without the great aid of Morrison makes me weary of how they'll play with Morrison on target. Gonzaga either finally has it together to make a brilliant run to the Final Four, or UCLA will have the defense to cut them short.
MINNEAPOLIS: 4)Boston College (28-7) vs 1)Villanova (27-4) >> Friday - 6:10PM CT
Oh if only Lute Olson didn't call that timeout! Boston College will have to take on Nova after struggling mightily against Pacific and shutting down Montana in the end. I have BC going to the Final Four, but I can't back them up at all after the way they've played. Luckily, Villanova hasn't been great either, but what scares me is that either of these teams will have to face Florida or Georgetown, arguably both better than these two Big East powerhouses.
WASHINGTON, DC: 11)George Mason (25-7) vs 7)Wichita St (26-8) >> Friday - 6:27PM CT
Interesting to see a mid-major matchup like this in the Sweet 16...but I'm not really surprised. Both teams deserve to be here, and both have completely different styles of play. Wichita State focuses on defense, and George Mason likes to speed up the game. History says slow and steady wins the race, and I also believe Wichita State is a more experienced and talented team. However, history also says on February 18, George Mason won at Wichita State in a Bracket Buster. Revenge is sweet.
MINNEAPOLIS: 4)Georgetown (23-9) vs 3)Florida (29-6) >> Friday - 8:40PM CT (approx.)
Florida has been dominate in their first two games, but the strength of those teams are in question. South Alabama is a team that comes from the Sun Belt...and we know nothing good comes from the Sun Belt. Wisconsin-Milwaukee looked good against Oklahoma, but the Sooners sucked as of late, and UWM comes from the sad Horizon League. I believe Georgetown, coming from a better conference and looking pretty good in that strong win against Ohio St, has the upper hand.
WASHINGTON, DC: 5)Washington (26-6) vs 1)Connecticut (29-3) >> Friday - 8:57PM CT (approx.)
Washington is a team that's overrated even at a 5 seed, and like stated before, are pretty lucky to be where they're at. They should get pounded by UConn, but UConn has barely survived getting where they're at. It's one of those games that could be ugly, or could be good...but you have no idea what the hell to expect.