-Oregon State marches on!! That is five top 25 wins in a row for a team that almost no one gave any thought to on the Thursday of the Pac 12 Tournament. They are now in the Elite Eight after knocking off a very good defensive Loyola Chicago team, and are perhaps the most improbable team to ever advance to an Elite Eight. I don’t know that any team who was in virtually no bracketology projections at any point of the season and who needed the automatic bid just to get in has ever gone all the way to the Elite Eight. The Loyola program is still in the midst of a great run. It was their second Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last four years, and given how things are going the run may not be over. We may see more NCAA Tournaments and top 25 rankings in their future. Yesterday’s game was a bit of a rock fight, but it was one of those that guaranteed a good and historic story regardless of how it came out.
-Villanova was riddled by injuries, but still hung in with Baylor for pretty much the entire game. While they didn’t get the win, they demonstrated as much valor as they ever have not just yesterday, but in winning their first two games. Speaking of surprises…
-I don’t think anyone (aside from maybe Rocco Miller) picked Oral Roberts to go any further than the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament. They took Arkansas all the way to the wall yesterday after leading for most of the game, staying in the game when Arkansas finally got the momentum to go back their way, and getting off what could have been a game winning shot after Arkansas went ahead with less than three seconds to go. It was an unbelievable and unforgettable run that almost saw a #15 seed who finished in 4th place of a 1-bid league go all the way to the Elite Eight. This Oral Roberts team was a ton of fun to watch, and while it stings for them to end the way that it did (because it always does when you lose that last game) it was still amazing. Arkansas, on the other hand, has a good story of their own. They are back in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1995 and will face an old conference rival in Houston, who ran away from Syracuse in their Sweet Sixteen game last night.
-Houston is another good story. They were once a powerhouse, then they became a wasteland, and then they started to improve but still weren’t nationally relevant, and now they are a top 25 regular, an NCAA Tournament regular, and are just one win away from a Final Four.
As for today’s games…
-Gonzaga is looking to make their 4th Elite Eight in the last six NCAA Tournaments, and while Creighton has looked good in their two wins to make the Sweet Sixteen, Gonzaga seems to be far superior. The question for the Zags seems to be how much longer until a team is able to compete with them? Creighton is in their first Sweet Sixteen of the 64 team era, so even if their ride does end today, it was still a historic season for a program and fanbase that is very passionate and given their history probably deserved to get this far.
-USC and Oregon are conference rivals and both come into this game with a huge head of steam. USC obliterated Kansas in the round of 32, and Oregon ran away from an Iowa team that many thought was as good as a #1 seed. USC won when these two met about a month ago, but you almost have to throw out that result given that it might as well have been a year ago.
-Michigan and Florida State is the only Sweet Sixteen game that features two protected seeds. Both teams are on fire, both are on a roll, and both are capable of making the Final Four if they win this game. It should be fun.
-UCLA, who was in the First Four, squares off against an Alabama team that has been on an absolute rampage all season long. Alabama can score in a lot of ways, and UCLA is a very tough defensive team, so it should be a fun game of contrasting styles.
-And, like yesterday, I’ll probably DVR the games, start watching this evening, speed through all the timeouts, halftimes, and time between games, and catch up to live action in the second half of the last game. So, if I’m not on Twitter sharing all of my valuable knowledge and insights, that is why! I hated pretty much everything about COVID, but I do like not having any of the games staggered in the Sweet Sixteen and being able to watch all the games in their entirety on on TV set!!