-Oral Roberts beat Ohio State in overtime. Oral Roberts was the 4th place team in the Summit League, and I don’t think anyone on Earth (other than maybe Rocco Miller) gave them much of a chance of winning their conference tournament, much less advancing to the Round of 32. They are a really good outside shooting team and we saw that yesterday in one of the more surprising upsets (at least to me) in Tournament history.
-North Texas was on fire at the end of the year, but so was Purdue. I said that I thought North Texas had a chance to get through to the next round if they got the right opponent, but didn’t feel Purdue was the right opponent. I was wrong again! The game was close the entire way, but North Texas held the lead and then held on to win in overtime after Purdue tied the game and appeared to have the momentum with them.
-Florida held off Virginia Tech in another overtime game 75-70. This was the first game of the day to tip, and it kind of set the tone for the rest of the day!
-Oregon State sprinted ahead of Tennessee and then stayed ahead of them the rest of the way. These two teams were going in very different directions. Oregon State had gotten off to a sluggish start to the season and finished strong whereas Tennessee seemed to be limping down the stretch.
-Loyola Chicago is back in the Round of 32 after knocking off Georgia Tech.
-Rutgers made the most of their first NCAA Tournament game in over 30 years by knocking off Clemson. They are moving on for the first time in…well…I don’t know how many years. I am happy for their program, BUT NOT HAPPY FOR CHAD!!!
-Many, including myself, were predicting Winthrop to “upset” Villanova, but it didn’t happen. Nova held a lead for most of the game and basically controlled the latter part of the second half.
The chalk held in all the other games. As for today’s action…
-The last time Colorado played a team that’s currently on the #12 line, it did not go well. Oregon State blew them out in the Pac 12 Championship game. Georgetown had a rather unimpressive year, but they finished the season strong and went on a rampage in the Big East Tournament to earn the automatic bid. I’m curious to see if they can keep that momentum going.
-We expected a lot out of UNC Greensboro before the start of the year, and while they weren’t quite as dominant as we thought they’d be, they did win the SoCon. Florida State is really good, though, and while I’m not going to say they don’t have a chance, it will certainly not be easy.
-Saint Bonaventure was a hard team to evaluate due to so few OOC games, but they definitely looked like the best team in the A10. LSU had a good run through the SEC Tournament, though, so both teams are coming into this with a lot of momentum.
-UC Santa Barbara is a very dangerous team, and Creighton is a team that has a history of struggling in the NCAA Tournament. I could see UCSB pulling the upset, and actually getting past the first weekend.
-Maryland and UConn are both teams that have shown they could win big games. UConn hasn’t always been at full strength, but when they have they’ve been a completely different and far more dangerous team.
-Ohio U is a team that had some setbacks throughout the year, but when they were at their best they looked very dangerous. They were very impressive in the MAC Tournament and had some moments of greatness early in the season as well. The question is how will they play against Virginia’s pack-line defense.
-Drake had a big win in the opening round against Wichita State, but they’ll really have their hands full today against a USC team that once again looks like they are capable of winning games in this tournament.
-Missouri vs Oklahoma is a bit of a toss up. Both had some monster wins this season, but both also had some setbacks and Oklahoma kind of slowed down at the end of the year.
-UCLA kind of fell apart at the end of the year, but they had an exciting overtime win against Michigan State in the First Four. I think this BYU team is really good, though. They were particularly impressive in their last game against Gonzaga, where they really competed with them for most of the game.
-Michigan vs Texas Southern, Eastern Washington vs Kansas, Iona vs Alabama, Grand Canyon vs Iowa, and Norfolk State vs Gonzaga all tip off today