Hoops HD

-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!!

-Another bit of a silver lining to a season that has had a lot of lead in it, we will get to see all eight Sweet Sixteen games this year with no overlap!  In other words, I won’t need two different TV screens anymore this tournament!

-Oregon State and Loyola Chicago face off in a game that almost no one would have had in their brackets two weeks ago, much less predicted prior to the start of the conference tournaments.  And, it should actually be a fun one!  Loyola Chicago has been a good team all year, but no one expected them to control Illinois from tip to buzzer the way they did in the Round of 32.  Oregon State was rather unspectacular for most of the season, but has been on a rampage since the conference tournaments started and now has a chance to get to the Elite Eight.

-I didn’t expect Nova to do much of anything in this tournament, and while some may argue that their bracket fell apart because their path to the sweet Sixteen went through a #12 and a #13 seed, I would respond by saying those was a damn good Winthrop team and a damn good North Texas team and I wasn’t really expecting them to beat either one.  I have nothing against Nova, but for the third time this tournament I’m picking against them.  Baylor is just too damn good and Nova still isn’t as good as they would be without the injuries.  But…I’ve been wrong twice already.

-Oral Roberts has been on a crazy fun ride since the semifinals of their conference tournament.  I’ve also picked against them twice (really four times if you go back to the Summit Tournament) and been wrong twice.  I’m picking against them again today against Arkansas.  This is a Razorbacks team that is on fire and that I think will win rather easily today.

-Syracuse is a double digit seed, and as has been pointed out that’s when they always seem to win big.  Houston has had a magical year, and really a magical few years when you consider just how irrelevant they were in the college basketball world shortly before Sampson got there.  They are now one step away from the Elite Eight and appear to have a rather wide path to going to the Final Four.  I remember really liking this team back in 2018 when Michigan knocked them out of the Round of 32 with a crazy half court shot.  Michigan went on to advance all the way to the National Championship game and while I don’t think Houston would have made it that far, I did think they had it in them to maybe win one more game and really get some limelight back on a program that hadn’t seen much in a long time.  Well, the Cougs have certainly bounced back!  Now all they have to do is get past a Syracuse team that, like a lot of previous Syracuse teams, looked mediocre for much of the season, but has looked amazing in the first two rounds of The Tournament.

-So, virtually every game of the Tournament has been amazing so far!  It’s an unusual day with it being a Monday and us having games during the work day, but I guess everyone’s work will just have to suffer.

-Loyola Chicago basically led Illinois tip to buzzer and knocked them off for one of the more surprising results of the NCAA Tournament 71-58.  A lot of people (like myself) were very impressed with how good the Illini looked and thought they’d basically walk into the Final Four.  Now, a lot of people are suddenly up in arms about how Loyola Chicago was only seeded #8th.  While I don’t entirely disagree, I also can’t help but notice that on Selection Sunday you saw no such outcries.  And, the committee can only evaluate what is there.  Had Loyola Chicago played a full OOC schedule and had it been a normal year they would have perhaps shown that they were better than an 8 seed caliber team.  As would have UC Santa Barbara.  As would have some other teams.

-I have to steal a line from Chad Sherwood.  I will NEVER doubt Syracuse as an #11 seed again!!  They knocked off West Virginia after managing to stay in front of them for the entire game and move on to the Sweet Sixteen.  As an #11 seed.  Again.

-Rutgers played a fantastic game against Houston for about 38 minutes and appeared to be putting the icing on the cake in order to move on to the Sweet Sixteen, but they fell apart in the last two minutes and appeared to try to play the clock too much and the game too little.  A lot of credit to Houston for how they stormed back and got the win.  This is a program that has really built itself up under Kelvin Sampson.  They are now back in the Sweet Sixteen and actually have a very manageable path to go all the way to the Final Four.

-Oral Roberts is not the first #15 seed to make the Sweet Sixteen, but they are just the second team to do it, and I’m pretty sure they are the first fourth place finisher out of a one bid league to do it.  Going back to the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament, Oral Roberts’ wins have been by 2pts, 3pts, 3pts in OT, and 3pts.  They have also been the lower seeded team in each of those games.  That is one hell of a ride!!

-When I said I thought North Texas would beat Villanova, I was wrong.  Very very wrong.  Nova blasted them out of the building 84-61.

-When we laughed at Rocco Miller the time he said he liked Oregon State almost a month ago, we were wrong.  Very very wrong.  Oregon State is on a rampage.  They’ve now won four in a row against ranked teams, and a game against UCLA before that four game stretch began.

As for today’s action…

-Texas Tech and Arkansas looked like it was going to be a classic, and it was.  The momentum shifted back and forth throughout the game and it came down to the last possession with Texas Tech coming up short.  Arkansas is back in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1996, which is kind of hard to believe.

-Oregon and Iowa features two teams that seem to have improved down the stretch.  Iowa can still struggle defensively, but they have gotten noticeably better and it wouldn’t shock me to see them move on today.  Oregon was playing really well in a Pac 12 Conference that we’ve seen perform well in this tournament.  This is just a really fun Round of 32 match-up between two solid top 25 caliber teams.

-Oklahoma struggled down the stretch, but managed to win their first round game.  They’ll take on Gonzaga, who seemingly hasn’t struggled in about a year and a half.

-Abilene Christian makes the Round of 32 after winning an exciting (but some what sloppy) game against Texas!  They face a UCLA team that appeared to be falling apart at the end of the season, but has won their First Four game and their Round of 64 game, and is now poised to go to the Sweet Sixteen!  This round has always been a hurdle for head coach Mick Cronin.  Out of all the good teams he had at Cincinnati, they oftentimes struggled to get past the first weekend.  Perhaps this year he got his struggling out of the way in the latter part of the regular season??

-Ohio has been a damn good team when they’ve been at full strength, and we saw that the other day when they picked up a hard fought win against Michigan.  Today they face a Creighton team that barely got by a very good UC Santa Barbara team.  This will not be an easy match-up for the Blue Jays.

-LSU had played well in the latter part of the season and looked good in their first round game.  They’ve got a very tall order against a very good Michigan team today.

-Colorado and Florida State is a fun match-up between two teams that you feel could beat pretty much anyone on a given night if they were to play at the top of their game, so this one should be fun.

-Maryland has been hot lately, but Alabama has been read hot.  They Tide did get a bit of a scare from Iona in their first game, but I wouldn’t read too much in to that.  They’re set up to go deep into this tournament.

-USC and Kansas is another good game between two solid top 25 caliber teams.  Kansas has had some hurdles down the stretch and had a bit of a scare from Eastern Washington in their first game, but got through it and face a really tough USC team tonight.

-I’ll start with this!!  Room service at the NCAA Tournament is TERRIBLE!!!!  I kept calling and calling and asking for food and bourbon to be brought to my room, and they SIMPLY REFUSED TO DO IT!!!  Apparently it’s only for people who are actually staying at the hotel, or something like that!  WHAT A CROCK!!!

-Both Florida State and Kansas had to sweat a little bit in their First Round games.  FSU was never really behind, but they weren’t able to put away UNC Greensboro until the final minutes.  Nevertheless, they held on and advanced.  Eastern Washington was led by a Tanner Groves who scored 35pts as they kept it close (and actually led in the second half).  It wasn’t until the final minute or so that Kansas was finally able to breathe.  Eastern Washington is one of those teams that returns a lot and could make noise not just on a UTR level, but on a national level, next year.

-Iona also made it exciting as they kept it close and actually built a small second half lead against Alabama, but the Tide were able to get control down the stretch and get the win.

-UC Santa Barbara and Creighton was a game that saw several momentum shifts.  Each time it looked like one of them was building a lead and about to run away, the other would fight back.  It came down to the last possession of the game where UCSB missed a short jumper that would have given them the lead with less than 2 secs to play, and Creighton ended up holding on.  This was a really good UCSB team.  March can be cruel at times.  They probably deserved more national recognition for how good they were, and they would have gotten it had they been able to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, but they came up just 1pt short.

-Ohio U’s run is still alive as they held off Virginia 62-58 in a game that was very tough for them to win.  The Bobcats played great defense, rebounded well, and scored when they had to in order to pull off the upset.

-Oklahoma held off Missouri in another exciting game.  It was an old Big 8 rivalry between a current Big 12 and SEC team!!

-BYU had looked good pretty much all year long, but not yesterday.  They struggled shooting the ball, and UCLA (who had struggled down the stretch of the regular season) did not struggle at all yesterday.  It was a great defensive effort by the Bruins, and they’re moving on to face….ABILENE CHRISTIAN!!

-Texas played a brutal schedule and while there were times they did struggle, it was typically in close games against highly ranked teams.  They had just won the Big 12 Tournament less than a week ago.  But…they did not beat Abilene Christian today.  In what was a mistake filled, but also very exciting game, Abilene Christian pulled off the huge upset and will move on to the Round of 32.  This is a program that recently transitioned up from D2, so this was easily their biggest win in school history.

-Last, and definitely least, the VCU vs Oregon game was not played due to COVID protocol within the VCU program.  I feel very sorry for VCU.  If there are issues I hope everyone recovers fully and quickly.  And, I hate it for them that this happened despite all of the rigid protocol in place.  They deserved to play in the game.  I think the decision to not play it was the right one, but it still feels grossly unfair.

TODAY’S GAMES!!

-The thing about the Round of 32 is everyone feels good coming in because they just won a big game to get here!

-Loyola Chicago has what seems to be an impossible task this afternoon as they take on top seeded (and all around awesome) Illinois.  This would be a monster upset if the Ramblers can pull it off.  But, we’ve seen a few of those already.

-Wisconsin didn’t have that great of a season, but they had an amazing Round of 64.  If they can play like that again today they may be able to stick with Baylor, who many think can just walk into the Final Four.

-Syracuse will face West Virginia in an old Big East battle between a current ACC and Big 12 team.  Expect this to be a defensive battle.  WVU clearly looked better throughout the year, but Syracuse seems to have a history of playing well in the NCAA Tournament after barely getting in.

-Texas Tech and Arkansas should be a fun contrast of styles.  It’s also an old SWC rivalry.  I don’t think that means much to any of the current players or coaches, but it still has a fun flavor to it!

-Rutgers is coming off their first NCAA Tournament win in forever and will look to keep the party going against a Houston team that won a lot of games, but didn’t always bury what appeared to be inferior teams.

-Oral Roberts almost certainly has their heads in the clouds after beating Ohio State, and rightfully so.  The question is can they get their feet back on the ground for their game against Florida today.

-North Texas is a damn good team who knocked off Purdue in the Round of 64 and faces a Villanova team that struggled down the stretch, but who also managed to beat a really good Winthrop team in their first game.  This one looks to be evenly matched despite the big gap in seeding and should be fun to watch.

-Oregon State has been on a dream run through the Pac 12 Tournament, and now through the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.  They face a really good Oklahoma State team today who is probably tougher than anyone they’ve run in to during that stretch, but this Beavers team is on fire right now!!