Hoops HD

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to award the first spot in the Final Four with the South Regional Semifinals and Finals.  It is no surprise that the Kansas Jayhawks advanced to the Sweet 16, but the other three teams in this region certainly are.  Kansas begins with 12-seed Liberty and the winner of that game will get the winner of 7-seed Illinois vs 11-seed Wichita State.  The big questions are can we get a Kansas versus Wichita State regional final and, of course, which team will advance to Atlanta?  It is time to find out!

REGIONAL SEMIFINALS – SOUTH REGION – HOUSTON, TEXAS

(1) Kansas vs (12) Liberty

The fact that the Kansas Jayhawks had advanced to the South Regional was of little surprise to most.  KU had defeated Robert Morris and Arizona and was the clear favorite to win two more games and claim the first spot in the Final Four in Atlanta.  The team that Kansas was scheduled to play in the Regional Semifinal, however, was a surprise.  The Liberty Flames had ousted 5-seed Auburn and then rolled over a Belmont team that had previously upset Wisconsin.  Both Kansas and Liberty had 32 wins already entering the game, showing that they both knew how to win.  However, Liberty would still need to be near-perfect to have a shot at eliminating Kansas.

Liberty was the team that needed to play a near-perfect game.  However, it was Kansas that actually played that way.  The Jayhawks jumped out right at the start to a 10-0 lead and pretty much never looked back the rest of the way.  KU led 50-29 at halftime and rolled to a 100-67 blowout win.  Devon Dotson (24 points and 10 assists) and Udoka Azubuike (14 points and 13 rebounds) both notched double-doubles for the Jayhawks.  Kansas was moving on to the Elite Eight and awaiting the winner of Illinois and Wichita State.

Final Score: (1) Kansas 100, (12) Liberty 67

(7) Illinois vs (11) Wichita State

Although Kansas being in the South Regional Final was of no surprise to anyone, whichever team they were to match up against would be.  Villanova, Kentucky and Michigan were all popular picks to advance out of this half of the South Region, but instead the Regional Semifinal matchup was between Illinois and Wichita State.  The 7-seed Illini had snuck past a tough Oklahoma team in the first round and then benefited from Georgia Southern’s upset of 2-seed Villanova, and took care of the 15-seed by 9 points to make it this far.  Wichita State’s path was tougher, as the AAC Tournament champions has to defeat both Michigan and Kentucky to win their pod.  Thus, although Illinois was the higher-seeded team in this game, on paper this one appeared to be a complete toss-up.

The experts may have predicted a close game, but Wichita State struck early, building a 7-point lead and withstanding several Illini first half runs to head to the locker room with a 42-37 edge.  The Shockers continued to play strong in the second half, pushing the lead out to as many as 10.  Illinois fought hard to stay within striking distance the rest of the way, but could not put together the run they needed.  A pair of late 3-pointers cut the Shockers lead down to as few as 5, but that was as close as Illinois got.  Wichita State was in the South Regional Final, wining by a score of 79-73.  Jaime Echenique was the leading scorer with 15 points for the victors.

Final Score: (11) Wichita State 79, (7) Illinois 73

REGIONAL FINAL – SOUTH REGION – HOUSTON, TEXAS

(1) Kansas vs (11) Wichita State

The South Regional Final may have been played in Houston, but it was truly a battle of the State of Kansas.  Although the Jayhawks and the Shockers were two of the preeminent basketball programs in the State of Kansas, their history against one another consisted of a mere 15 games in 112 years.  Since 1993, the teams had met only once  That game was an NCAA Tournament game as well, when Fred VanVleet and the 7-seed Shockers shocked the 2-seed Jayhawks 78-65 in the Round of 32.  Even after that game, head coach Gregg Marshall had not been able to get his Wichita State team onto KU’s regular season schedule.  Now, five years after ousting the Jayhawks from the Big Dance, Wichita State had another chance – and this time a spot in the Final Four was at stake.

The seeds may have read 1 vs 11, but that was meaningless in this game.  Wichita jumped out early, building a 20-12 lead before the Jayhawks came fighting back to eventually head to the halftime break knotted at 40 apiece.  The second half saw the Shockers try to build a lead again, getting the advantage up to 52-46 at the under-12 media timeout and eventually opening up a 63-53 edge with just over 6 minutes left to play.  The Jayhawks were not done, however.  A 14-3 run erased the entirety of the Wichita State lead and a Devin Dotson 3-pointer gave the Jayhawks their first lead since early in the game.  The Shockers had a few more chances, including when they pulled back to within 2 points on an Erik Stevenson 3-pointer, but Kansas made its free throws in the final minute and was able to walk out of the arena with a 73-69 come-from-behind win and a berth in the Final Four.  Dotson led the way with 16 points and Udoka Azubuike notched yet another double-double for the South Regional champions.

Final Score: (1) Kansas 73, (11) Wichita State 69

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to finish the First and Second rounds of the NCAA Tournament as we take a look at the fourth and final of the four pods in the East Region.  The final pod features three conference tournament champions from among the power conferences — the ACC’s Florida State Seminoles, the SEC’s Florida Gators and the Pac-12’s UCLA Bruins.  These teams, together with the Big South champion Winthrop Eagles, would battle in Tampa for the last of the spots in the Sweet 16 and a trip to New York City for the East Regionals.

FIRST ROUND – EAST REGION – TAMPA, FLORIDA

(7) Florida vs (10) UCLA

The final pod of the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament was being played in Tampa, Florida and featured a pair of teams from the Sunshine State – Florida and Florida State – being potentially lined up to meet in the Round of 32.  First, of course, both teams would have to get by their first round opponents.  For the Florida Gators, the lone remaining SEC team in the field, that would mean first getting past the red-hot UCLA Bruins.  The Gators themselves were on a roll, entering the Big Dance after having won the SEC Tournament.  UCLA was coming off of a Pac-12 Tournament title and an amazing late-season run that moved them from an afterthought for the NCAA’s to a team that was not only in the field, but dangerous enough to win a few games once they were there.

This 7 vs 10 battle had all the earmarks of a great game heading into it.  And that is exactly what it ended up being.  Both teams came ready to play and the first half was back-and-forth the entire way.  The largest lead for either team was 5 points, and that did not come until right before halftime when UCLA’s Jake Kyman sunk a 3 with 36 seconds left to send his Bruins to the break up 38-33.   UCLA tried to build off of that lead early in the second, extending their lead to as many as 9.  However, the Gators fought back and were able to retake the lead with just under 2 minutes left to play.  A pair of free throws from Noah Locke with 29 seconds left to go put Florida up 74-71.  UCLA was not done either, and a quick layup by Cody Riley cut the Gators lead down to a single point.  UCLA quickly fouled Kerry Blackshear – who promptly went to the free throw line and missed both shots.  The Bruins had the ball, down by one point, and 10 seconds to try to win the game.  After a quick timeout, Mick Cronin’s team got the ball down the court and into Cody Riley’s hands for a 10-footer as time expired.  The ball went up, it came down, a “swoosh” was heard as it went through the net, and the Bruins players mobbed their teammate, celebrating an amazing buzzer-beating 75-74 win and a spot in the second round.

Final Score: (10) UCLA 75, (7) Florida 74

(2) Florida State vs (15) Winthrop

Florida State pulled the “double” in the ACC this season – capturing the regular season title by a game over the three-way tie between Duke, Virginia and Louisville and following that up with the ACC Tournament championship as well.  Their season was impressive enough for some of the so-called experts to claim they deserved a 1-seed in the Big Dance, but the ‘Noles could not complain about being on the 2 line and heading to Tampa for their first two rounds of play.  Up first for FSU was the Big South tournament champion Winthrop Eagles.  Winthrop had traveled cross-country back in November to win a game at St. Mary’s, but the rest of their wins had come against teams in the bottom half of the NET rankings.  It would certainly be a tall order for the Eagles to just stay close with the Seminoles in this game.

Florida State appeared to come out ready to play, taking the early lead and then putting together a 9-0 run late in the first half to head to the locker room seemingly in control, leading by a score of 40-29.  Florida State apparently forgot to bring their game back out of the lockers, as Winthrop pounced early with a 15-4 run to suddenly tie the game at 44 just over 5 minutes into the second half.  The next 10 minutes were back and forth until back-to-back 3-pointers by Winthrop’s Charles Falden turned a tie game into a 6-point Eagles’ lead.  Florida State kept trying to fight back the rest of the way, but every attempt was promptly answered with a Winthrop basket.  In the final minutes, the Eagles were a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw stripe to seal the major upset, becoming the second 15-seed to win their first round game and ousting the mighty Seminoles from the Big Dance by a final score of 91-85.  Hunter Hale led the way with 19 points for the Cinderella victors.

Final Score: (15) Winthrop 91, (2) Florida State 85

SECOND ROUND – EAST REGION – TAMPA, FLORIDA

(10) UCLA vs (15) Winthrop

The game was supposed to be the battle of Florida between the Gators and the Seminoles.  Instead, 10-seed UCLA was battling 15-seed Winthrop for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 in New York City.  With the two in-state teams gone, the arena was only slightly more than half-full instead of packed to capacity.  However, that did not matter to either of these teams.  UCLA was looking to add another win to their late season surge and prove to their fans that Mick Cronin had this program heading back towards its days of glory.  Despite having brought Cincinnati to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 9 seasons, Cronin had only once advanced to the Sweet 16 with the Bearcats, and was now looking to do so in his first year at the helm at UCLA.  Winthrop, on the other hand, was looking to become only the second 15-seed ever to make it past the second round.

Pat Kelsey’s Eagles came out strong in the first half, which was back-and-forth until a late run by Winthrop put them up by 10 points, 45-35, at the break.  After having played such a strong second half against Florida State in the first round, it appeared that Winthrop might indeed have a magical run in store this season.  Instead, this game ended up being almost a mirror-image of the Winthrop-Florida State game as UCLA came out red-hot in the second half and tied the game less than 5 minutes into the second.  The game remained tight until the Bruins put together a 9-0 run with just under 5 minutes left to play to turn a 63-63 tie into a 72-63 lead.  A pair of 3-pointers in the final minute kept the final score close, but UCLA made their free throws late and hung on to win 87-83 and punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 in Madison Square Garden.  Jalen Hill was named player of the game with his double-double for the Bruins, and Mick Cronin had finally found a way back to the second weekend of the Big Dance.

Final Score: (10) UCLA 87, (15) Winthrop 83

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to continue with the First and Second rounds of the NCAA Tournament as we take a look at the third of four pods in the East Region.  Albany, New York was the site for this pod which was headlined by the Big East co-champion Seton Hall Pirates.  The Pirates had an amazing 2019-20 season, but would need to find a way to get past Eastern Washington and then the winner of an intriguing Penn State-NC State game to advance to the Sweet 16 in New York City.  Who would move on?  It is time to find out!

FIRST ROUND – EAST REGION – ALBANY, NEW YORK

(6) Penn State vs (11) North Carolina State

The success of the Penn State basketball team this season was one of the many great stories of the 2019-20 season.  The Nittany Lions had not been in the Big Dance since 2011, yet surged out to a strong start and finished the year tied for 5^th place in the Big Ten and with an overall record of 21-11.  Of course, 4 of those 11 losses came in their last 4 games heading into the Tournament, so it was definitely time for Penn State to turn things around.  Their first round opponent was an NC State team that was among the final few teams to receive an at-large bid into the field.  The Wolfpack had been sent to the First Four in Dayton to playing defending national runner-up Texas Tech, and defeated the Red Raiders by ten points to move on to the Round of 64.

Penn State was in a bit of a tailspin at the end of the season, and if that continued in this game, their season would be over.  Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, that is exactly what happened.  NC State jumped out early, building a lead as large as 13 points in the first half and taking a 49-39 advantage into the break.  The second half started out with more of the same, but Penn State finally put together a run and cut the lead down to 2 with just under 10 minutes left to play.   However, that was as close as they would get, as the Wolfpack took control again, extending the lead to as many as a dozen and only letting a couple of 3-pointers in the finals minute make the score look somewhat respectable.  The Wolfpack won 84-77 behind 25 points from Markell Johnson and advanced to the Round of 32 to await the winner of Seton Hall and Eastern Washington.

Final Score: (11) North Carolina State 84, (6) Penn State 77

(3) Seton Hall vs (14) Eastern Washington

The Seton Hall Pirates finished the Big East regular season in a three-way tie for first place, though they had actually been up by two games in the league standings before dropping their final two games heading into the conference tournament. Despite those late losses, the Pirates still had an amazing season and were certainly worthy of the 3-seed the Selection Committee had given them.  Their quest for a spot in the Final Four began with the Big Sky champion Eastern Washington Eagles.  The Big Sky had been a a tough three-way battle most of the season between EWU, Northern Colorado and Montana, but the Eagles had taken the regular season crown by a game and found a way to follow that up with the conference tournament title and automatic bid.  However, having to travel cross-country to Albany to battle one of the top teams in the Big East appeared to be a huge task for this team.

Seton Hall may have been the heavy favorite, but the Eagles came ready to play, hanging tough with the Hall the entire first half and heading to the break only down by four points.  When Mason Peatling nailed a 3-pointer with 10:37 left to play to give Eastern Washington a 56-54 lead, the upset alerts began to go off across the college basketball world.  The teams proceeded to exchange the lead for the next five minutes until a pair of shots by Myles Powell, one of which came from beyond the arc, pulled the Pirates out to a 7-point lead that they would not relinquish.  The Eastern Washington Eagles had played their hearts out, but at the end of the day Seton Hall was moving on with an 87-77 win behind 24 points from Powell and a double-double from Romaro Gill.

Final Score: (3) Seton Hall 87, (14) Eastern Washington 77

SECOND ROUND – EAST REGION – ALBANY, NEW YORK

(3) Seton Hall vs (11) North Carolina State

A spot in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden was on the line in the Big East vs ACC battle between Seton Hall and NC State.  The Hall had been given all they could handle in the first round from a tough Eastern Washington team, but Myles Powell and company had found a way to survive and advance to this game.  NC State had already won two games in the Tournament, having taken down a Big 12 team, Texas Tech, in the First Four and followed that up with a Big Ten team, Penn State, in the Round of 64.

The game was tight throughout most of the first half, though Seton Hall made a small push right before the break and was able to open up a 48-40 advantage.  The second half was a different story altogether.  Myles Powell, who finished the game with 29 points, was on fire after the break and the Wolfpack were simply unable to hang around close enough to make a run.  Seton Hall cruised to a 96-73 win and punched their ticket for a trip to New York City.

Final Score: (3) Seton Hall 96, (11) North Carolina State 73

HoopsHD continues its simulation of what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next it is time to continue with the First and Second rounds of the NCAA Tournament as we take a look at the second of four pods in the East Region.  The Maryland Terrapins and Butler Bulldogs entered the NCAA Tournament as the 4 and 5 seeds respectively in this portion of the East Region.  Both teams had ups and downs all season long, and it was time to see who would emerge from this group to battle Dayton in the Sweet 16.  Standing in both teams ways were a pair of very dangerous mid-majors — the Ivy League champion Yale Bulldogs and the Colonial champion Hofstra Pride.

FIRST ROUND – EAST REGION – GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

(5) Butler vs (12) Yale

With two of the three 12-seeds already having pulled off first round upsets, the Big East’s Butler Bulldogs were certainly not going to be taking the Ivy League champion Yale Bulldogs for granted.  Butler entered the game having won 22 times overall on the season, and finishing in 5^th place in the final Big East standings.  However, Butler had been on pace for much better things than that early in the season.  Six losses in February and March had caused the Bulldogs to slide down the overall seed list a few seed lines.  Yale had been close to dominant during the Ivy League season, although losing twice to Harvard and then having to play the conference tournament on the Crimson’s home court did make their fans a little uneasy.  Yale responded in a big way though, avenging their two prior defeats with a blowout win in the conference title game, earning the Bulldogs a spot in the Big Dance and in this Battle of Bulldogs against Butler.

Butler may have known that they needed to be playing their best basketball to win this game, but that did not necessarily help them much.  Yale used an 8-2 run to close out the first half to turn a tie game into a 37-31 lead at the break.  The second half saw things get even worse for Butler as Yale was able to extend the lead to 17 by the under-12 media timeout.  The Bulldogs of Yale did not let their foot off the gas pedal the rest of the way, and cruised to a 76-61 win and a spot in the Round of 32.  Paul Atkinson led Yale in scoring with 18 points, and his team was moving on to face the winner of the game between Maryland and Hofstra.

Final Score: (12) Yale 76, (5) Butler 61

(4) Maryland vs (13) Hofstra

The final first round game in Greensboro, North Carolina saw the Maryland Terrapins facing off against the Hofstra Pride.  Two current ACC teams, Virginia and Duke, had both failed to advance to the Sweet 16 out of the Greensboro pod in the West Region.  Now it was up to a former ACC (and current Big Ten) team to try to advance from this city.  First up for the Terps was the Colonial Athletic Association’s regular season and tournament champions, Hofstra.  The Pride entered the game with 26 wins, including a road win at UCLA, and the knowledge that they had the talent to potentially pull off the major upset.

The first half of the game saw Hofstra hanging tough with the Terrapins.  The Pride in fact built an early 8-point lead, but Maryland was able to fight back to take a narrow 40-37 edge into the halftime break.  Five minutes into the second period, the game was knotted up at 46 and the upset alerts bells were beginning to ring across the country.  Maryland was able to turn it up another notch, however, and a 23-12 run put them on top by double-digits.  The Terps never looked back and were able to cruise home to a 92-78 win and a berth in the second round against Yale.  Anthony Cowan has a monster game with 32 points while teammate Jalen Smith was nearly as dominant, scoring 20 points and pulling down a dozen rebounds.

Final Score: (4) Maryland 92, (13) Hofstra 78

SECOND ROUND – EAST REGION – GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

(4) Maryland vs (12) Yale

After defeating Butler in the first round, the Yale Bulldogs had their sights set on the Maryland Terrapins.  Maryland, a team that had tied for the Big Ten regular season title and entered this game with 26 wins on the season already, knew that they could not overlook the Bulldogs.  At stake for the winner was a berth in the Sweet 16 in New York City and a matchup with the 1-seed Dayton Flyers.  However, neither team was ready to think about Dayton yet when they took the court for their second round matchup.

Maryland had struggled for a half against Hofstra before turning up the intensity and running away with their first round game.  The first half script seemed to be the same against Yale as the Bulldogs used a late first half 10-2 run to propel themselves to a 41-34 halftime lead.  Unlike the first round game against Hofstra, however, Maryland never was able to get going in the second half.  The Yale Bulldogs led the game the rest of the way and won by a final score of 81-70.  Azar Swain scored 18 points and Jordan Bruner had a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double to propel head coach James Jones’ Bulldogs into the Sweet 16.  For Maryland, despite 25 points and 10 rebounds from Jalen Smith and 23 points from Anthony Cowan, the season was over.

Final Score: (12) Yale 81, (5) Maryland 70