Chad and the panel look back at the First and Second Rounds of the tournament, and preview all of the Sweet Sixteen and potential Elite Eight action coming up this week. We discuss what our favorite games have been so far, along with the biggest surprises and who we like going forward…
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…
For a recap of yesterday’s 2nd round in the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE
Yesterday’s update on the 2017 Coaching Carousel centers mainly around 2 schools – Washington and Syracuse. The initial move was a bit of a surprise – Mike Hopkins will move from head coach-in-waiting at Syracuse to take the full-time gig at Washington. He does have some roots out on the West Coast, and it will remain to be seen if he can recruit blue-chip talent like Lorenzo Romar and also improve on the win totals that have been lacking in Seattle for the past 5-6 seasons.
Not long after Hopkins moved to UW, Syracuse and Jim Boeheim worked out a contract extension beyond next season – that was when Boeheim was originally scheduled to retire and Hopkins would take over the Orange at that point in time.
Brad Brownell will also be retained as head coach at Clemson for another year, although you have to get a feeling that his leash will be a short one if the Tigers have another rough year like they did this season.
As far as the NIT yesterday, 3 more teams advanced to the quarterfinals. Both Georgia Tech and Richmond advanced with wins at home over Belmont and Oakland, respectively. TCU-Iowa went overtime and the Horned Frogs came away with their biggest road win of the year with a 94-92 win against the Hawkeyes.
(4) CENTRAL FLORIDA at (1) ILLINOIS STATE (7:00 PM, ESPN). The Redbirds are the only #1 seed remaining in the NIT after Syracuse, Iowa and California have been eliminated. They literally have a tall order in front of them with Tacko Fall and the UCF Knights coming into town tonight.
(7) AKRON at (6) TEXAS-ARLINGTON (8:00 PM, ESPNU). This game is literally a Bracket Buster with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals of the NIT. While Akron had the higher-seed upset with their win against Houston, the Mavs probably had the higher-profile upset thanks to their win at BYU last week. This may well be the game of the day among the 4 NIT games.
(6) BOISE STATE at (2) ILLINOIS (9:00 PM, ESPN). This will be the first game that Illinois will be playing with new head coach Brad Underwood in attendance (Jamall Walker will serve as interim head coach during the NIT games) – they will only get one chance at a first impression against a Boise State team that already got roadkill at Utah last week.
(8) CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD at (4) COLORADO STATE (11:15 PM, ESPN2). The Roadrunners already have an upset of Cal in this postseason and are about to go from sea level up to mile-high elevation in the Front Range. They will also be playing a Colorado State team that is more motivated for the NIT than Cal appeared to be last week.
LOYOLA at COASTAL CAROLINA (7:00 PM). The Greyhounds of Loyola already have a road win against George Mason under their belts, but they will have to travel outside of the Beltways to take on a Coastal Carolina team that beat Hampton in their CBI opener.
UTAH VALLEY at RICE (8:00 PM). The Wolverines were one of two teams from the WAC to win their CBI openers, and they will again hit the road to take on an improving Rice squad. The Owls beat San Francisco to advance to this point while Utah Valley won at Georgia Southern to get to this point.
GEORGE WASHINGTON at ILLINOIS-CHICAGO (8:00 PM). While the Colonials got a close win over Toledo by 4 points at home last week, they will now have to hit the road to take on a Flames team that had an even closer shave at home against Stony Brook before coming away victorious.
UMKC at WYOMING (9:00 PM). The Front Range will play host to another postseason game thanks to Wyoming’s 10-point win over Eastern Washington last week. They will play UMKC – the Roos beat Green Bay last week for their first postseason victory in their program’s D-I history.
SAMFORD at LIBERTY (7:00 PM, Facebook Live). Samford advanced to the 2nd round with a 4-point win at home over Canisius last week. They will play a Liberty team that had a somewhat easier time against Norfolk State last week in the John McLendon Classic. No trophies at stake tonight – just a spot into the CIT quarterfinals.
TENNESSEE-MARTIN at CAMPBELL (7:00 PM, Facebook Live). For the 2nd straight round, Buies Creek will play host to another postseason contest for Campbell. The Camels have won 5 out of their last 6 games that include a win over Houston Baptist in their CIT opener. UT-Martin beat a tough UNC-Asheville team in their opener 89-75, but that was in the friendly confines of their home arena.
WEBER STATE at TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (8:00 PM, Facebook Live). Despite a mid-February slump, Weber State has won 4 out of their last 5 games, and that includes a win against an improving Cal State-Fullerton team in their CIT opener. Corpus Christi is another team that overcame their shortcomings in their conference championship game with a decisive win against Georgia State in their CIT opener.
Yesterday, the final 8 spots of the Sweet 16 were filled out in the East, South and Midwest Regions (the West was already accounted for on Saturday night). The Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC each have 3 teams remaining, the Big East has 2 teams remaining, and the ACC and West Coast Conference each have 1 team remaining.
Recap – Indianapolis
The magical postseason ride for Michigan continues thanks to their come-from-behind 73-69 victory over Louisville. For Louisville, it may not be as surprising when you consider that almost all of their wins of note came at home this season. Michigan also started slowly in terms of winning noteworthy games outside of Crisler Arena, but their winning streak is now at 7 games going back to the Big 10 Tournament and their regular season finale at Nebraska. They will play Oregon in the Midwest Regional in Kansas City on Thursday.
Kentucky and Wichita State went back and forth for most of their game yesterday, but a pair of blocked 3-point shots on back-to-back possessions by the Shockers allowed Kentucky to escape with a 65-62 victory. They will advance to play UCLA in the South Regional in Memphis in a regular season rematch where UCLA came out victorious in Lexington.
Recap – Tulsa
Kansas and Michigan State have had occasional matchups early in the season as part of the State Farm Champions Classic, and yesterday’s game was competitive for the first 25 minutes. Kansas blew it open midway through the 2nd half and coasted to a 90-70 victory. They will meet Purdue in a de facto home game in Kansas City in the Midwest Region on Thursday night.
In the nightcap, things were setting up for a typical USC comeback – Baylor jumped out to a 10-point lead and USC was able to take the lead in the 2nd half with about 5 minutes left to play. However, a back-breaking 4-point play by Manu Lecomte put the Bears up for good at the 4:30 mark and they would never trail again en route to an 82-78 victory. Thanks to chaos in the East Region, the Bears are the highest remaining seed and will play South Carolina in the East Region at Madison Square Garden Friday night.
Recap – Greenville
North Carolina looked like they might breeze in this game early on after jumping out to a 30-13 lead late in the 1st half, but Arkansas was able to gradually chip away at the lead and actually led 65-60 with 3:30 remaining in the game. The Tar Heels didn’t panic and closed out the game with a 12-0 run in the final 3:30. North Carolina will move on to the South Region in Memphis and will play Butler on Friday.
While North Carolina survived an upset bid in Greenville, Duke was not so lucky against South Carolina. They led 30-23 at the half, but the Gamecocks scored a whopping 65 points in the 2nd half and they advanced to their first-ever Sweet 16 with an 88-81 victory over the Blue Devils. Sindarius Thornwell showed why he was the SEC Player of the Year with a game-high 24 points last night. South Carolina will play Baylor Friday night in the East Regional in New York.
Recap – Sacramento
While Rhode Island was able to jump out to a 49-38 lead at the beginning of the 2nd half, Oregon also gradually chipped away at the Rams’s lead and Tyler Dorsey hit a pair of clutch 3s late in the game – one to tie the game at the 1:40 mark and another to take the lead for good with under a minute to play. With a 75-72 win in hand, the Ducks move on to Kansas City and will play a red-hot Michigan team in the Midwest Region in Kansas City.
The last ticket to the Sweet 16 was punched by UCLA – the first 26 minutes of the game were relatively even until the Bruins took the lead for good with back-to-back 3-point shots by Lonzo Ball at the 13-minute mark. The Bearcats never got closer than a 5-point deficit the rest of the way and UCLA won 79-67. They will play Kentucky in the South Region in Memphis on Friday night.
For other news, notes and previews of other postseason games – CLICK HERE.
While the first round of the NCAA Tournament was mostly free of upset carnage, the second round games would not be spared. Villanova and Florida State were the main victims yesterday, and even Florida surprised Virginia with the margin of victory in that contest.
Recap – Buffalo
West Virginia got off to a fast 10-0 start against Notre Dame in the first game of the day and were able to keep the Irish for getting no closer than 3 points for most of the day. They beat the Irish 83-71 and will take on Gonzaga in the West Region in San Jose next Thursday.
The biggest surprise from yesterday again involved Villanova. They reverted back to their old ways of stumbling in 2nd round games, and fell victim to a baseline runner by Nigel Hayes in the closing seconds of their 65-62 loss to Wisconsin. The Badgers move on to the East regional in New York and will face Florida on Friday.
Recap – Salt Lake City
The most controversial game took place in the game between Gonzaga and Northwestern. The Wildcats were in the process of cutting a 20-point deficit down to 5 points late in the 2nd half. However, on the ensuing Northwestern possession, a Gonzaga player stuck his hand through the rim and blocked Northwestern’s shot. Not only was goaltending NOT called, Chris Collins would get a technical for Northwestern after protesting the no-call. It completely changed the complexion of the game and allowed Gonzaga to survive with a 79-73 victory. The NCAA did concede in a written statement that there was a blown call. It was actually funny to see Collins’ facial expression in the postgame press conference while a moderator read the statement prior to Collins’ comments on the game.
In the nightcap, Arizona was able to hold off a late Saint Mary’s run and escaped with a 69-60 victory. While this denied us a potential Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s rematch in the West Region final, it does give us a Xavier-Arizona rematch from the Sweet 16 two years ago.
Recap – Orlando
If it weren’t for the Wisconsin win over Villanova, Xavier’s domination of Florida State would easily have ranked as the biggest upset of the day. The Musketeers were used to getting out to decent leads at halftime but lost a number of games this season after giving up a scoring run to the opposing team to the start of the 2nd half. This was a complete role reversal where Xavier extended their lead to 25 points and never let the Seminoles show any semblance of competitiveness in the final 20 minutes of the game. As mentioned earlier, Xavier’s reward is a trip to San Jose next Thursday to play Arizona in the West Regional.
As happy as Xavier fans were, Florida fans had to be even more elated. They played Virginia relatively even for the first 10 minutes of the game (it was a 13-13 tie at that point) and allowed the Hoos only 26 points in the game’s final 30 minutes. The Gators will advance to the East Regional in New York and will play Wisconsin on Friday.
Recap – Milwaukee
10-0. That is Butler’s record as the higher-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament after their 74-65 win over Middle Tennessee last night. The Blue Raiders got within 3 points at the 4-minute mark in the 2nd half, but never got any closer after a 3-pointer from Butler’s Andrew Chrabascz with 3:29 remaining in the game. Butler moves on to the South Regional in Memphis and will play the winner of today’s North Carolina-Arkansas game.
The best game of the day from an entertainment standpoint was the finale between Purdue and Iowa State. The Boilermakers led by as many as 19 points with 14:30 to play, but the Cyclones went on a 34-13 run to take a 2-point lead with under 3 minutes to play. Purdue never panicked and were able to reclaim the lead on the ensuing possessions. Despite a missed free throw in the closing seconds, Purdue got an offensive rebound and were able to hit 2 final free throws to seal an 80-76 win against Iowa State. Purdue advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 7 years and will play the Kansas/Michigan State winner in the Midwest Regional in Kansas City on Thursday night.
TODAY’S SECOND ROUND MATCHUPS
(7) MICHIGAN VS (2) LOUISVILLE (12:10 PM, Indianapolis, IN – CBS). This is a rematch of the 2013 national championship game and although the stakes aren’t quite that high, they’re still pretty damn high. Michigan really caught fire in the Big Ten Tournament and has been playing at a high level ever since. Louisville has been pretty solid throughout the year, but their biggest wins have come at home so this is hardly a shoe-in for the Cardinals.
(10) WICHITA STATE VS (2) KENTUCKY (2:40 PM, Indianapolis, IN – CBS). Wichita State won a defensive struggle against Dayton and to have any sort of a chance today they’ll need to get their offense cranking. Kentucky outlasted Northern Kentucky and had some offensive struggles of their own. This is a popular upset pick and whether or not it happens it will be fun to see what Wichita’s defense can do against Kentucky’s athleticism.
(9) MICHIGAN STATE VS (1) KANSAS (5:15 PM, Tulsa, OK – CBS). Had Michigan State played as well all season as they did in their First Round game against the Miami Hurricanes, they would not be on the #9 line. This is a program that has a history of advancing deep into the tournament as a lower seed and Kansas is having their own off-the-court issues, so an upset is not entirely outside the realm of possibility. Despite all their issues, Kansas is playing at a very high level.
(8) ARKANSAS VS (1) NORTH CAROLINA (6:10 PM, Greenville, SC – TNT). UNC absolutely trashed Texas Southern on Friday and as good as Arkansas is, they still appear to be overmatched in this one. I never want to say that an upset is impossible, but the Razorbacks will have to play their best game of the year to pull this off. This is also a rematch from their 2nd round matchup in 2015 where North Carolina came out a winner.
(11) RHODE ISLAND VS (3) OREGON (7:10 PM, Sacramento, CA – TBS). Oregon was a Final Four caliber team prior to losing Chris Boucher in the Pac-12 conference tournament. Rhode Island has played really well since the start of the Atlantic Ten Tournament and quite frankly should have been playing that well all year. If they had, they’d have done much better than a #11 seed. Having said that, had they played like this all year they probably end up as a #6 seed and end up in this game anyway. An upset is likely if Rhody plays as well as they have been, but don’t count Oregon out entirely because even though they’re not at full strength they’ve still looked pretty good.
(11) USC VS (3) BAYLOR (7:45 PM, Sacramento, CA – TruTV). USC beat a very good SMU team in the Round of 64 and denied us what would have been an intriguing regional match-up between two former Southwest Conference rivals. USC has been hot and cold this year and I don’t see them having quite enough to take down Baylor, but we’ll see how it comes out.
(7) SOUTH CAROLINA VS (2) DUKE (8:40 PM, Greenville, SC – TNT). DUKE AND CAROLINA ARE FINALLY MEETING IN THE TOURNAMENT!! Oh, wait. Wrong Carolina. Duke has been red hot since they began play in the ACC Tournament and South Carolina will really have to play over their heads in order to pull off the upset. Having said that, the game is right in their backyard (not to mention that any remaining North Carolina fans will be cheering for them) and the Gamecocks are coming off one of their more impressive showings of the year, so it’s not a given for the Blue Devils.
-#6 CINCINNATI VS #3 UCLA (9:40 PM, Sacramento, CA – TBS). Cincinnati had an incredibly impressive performance against a K-State team who had been playing pretty well. UCLA wrestled with Kent State a little bit but blew it open in the final ten minutes of their game. On the court this one should be interesting. We’ve got Cincinnati’s strong defense, and UCLA’s amazing offense. Cincinnati was able to score against Kansas State and they should be able to today as well. This is just a great match-up.
There was one major vacancy filled yesterday in the coaching ranks. In what was a surprising move, Illinois announced that Brad Underwood will be their new head coach to replace the outgoing John Groce. Jamall Walker will continue to serve as interim head coach during the NIT for Illinois, but Underwood is expected to be in attendance for Illinois’s next game against Boise State on Monday.
As for the NIT, there was only one game that took place yesterday. Ole Miss officially put Syracuse out of their misery with an 85-80 win over the Orange in the Carrier Dome. Terence Davis led the Rebels with 30 points on 6-for-7 shooting behind the 3-point arc. They will finally get a home game in the NIT against the winner of the Georgia Tech-Belmont game to be played later today.
In the lone CIT game of the day, UMBC held off a late St. Francis rally and won 87-79 in their 2nd round game at home. The Retrievers’ 3rd round opponent and location will be determined in the near future.
Today, there will be three NIT 2nd round games to be played – both the CBI and CIT 2nd round action will resume tomorrow night.
(7) BELMONT at (6) GEORGIA TECH (12:00 PM, ESPN). While both of the winners were seed-line upsets earlier in the week, Georgia Tech did get the benefit of a home game against an Indiana team that passed on hosting their NIT opener. They will take on a Belmont team that has at least shown more willingness to extend their postseason – they beat Georgia on the road earlier in the week. The winner will play at Ole Miss for the right to advance to the NIT Final Four.
(4) TCU at (1) IOWA (5:00 PM, ESPN2). The Horned Frogs won their postseason debut under Jamie Dixon at home last week – they defeated Fresno State to advance to the 2nd round. Iowa was able to beat South Dakota at home in their opener and face a stiffer challenge today (at least on the defensive side of the ball).
(7) OAKLAND at (6) RICHMOND (7:30 PM, ESPNU). While we were denied a rematch of the College Football Playoff between Alabama and Clemson at this point in the NIT, both Oakland and Richmond proved themselves worthy of postseason with their respective wins at Clemson and at Alabama. The Spiders will play host to Oakland tonight and the winner will play the aforementioned Iowa-TCU winner for the 2nd spot into the NIT Final Four.
Under The Radar Postseason News, Notes and Highlighted Games – Tuesday, March 21
For last night’s HoopsHD Report podcast recapping the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE
4 games were played last night in the NIT – this completed the second round and sets the quarterfinal matchups that will begin tonight. Cal-State Bakersfield’s surprising run continued last night with an 81-63 win at Colorado State. The Roadrunners are the eighth seed in their region and will move on to play UT-Arlington on Wednesday night. The Mavericks beat Akron 85-69; they have won both games by 16 points. Illinois State had a chance to host Illinois at home for the first time since 1920 with a win last night, but a costly foul with 1.4 seconds to go gave the Knights 2 free throw attempts in the closing seconds. They converted and move on to play an Illinois team that defeated Boise State 71-56 last night. UCF will actually host the Illini due to a scheduling conflict at the State Farm Center.
The CBI also had their 2nd round games take place yesterday. Both Coastal Carolina and UIC won at home against Loyola (MD) and GW to set up a semifinal game that will be played tomorrow night at Coastal Carolina. On the western half of the bracket, Utah Valley won their 2nd straight game on the road (this time against Rice) and will play at Wyoming on Wednesday – Wyoming beat UMKC 72-61 last night as well.
In the CIT, all 3 home teams won their 2nd round games. Liberty beat Samford 66-58, Campbell extended their surprising run with a 73-56 win at home over UT-Martin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beat Weber State 82-73 at home.
Yesterday’s major move in the 2017 Coaching Carousel involved Will Wade – he will move on from VCU to take the open job at LSU after spending 2 seasons with the Rams. He will be formally announced as head coach later today.
NIT
(6) RICHMOND at (4) TCU (7:00 PM, ESPN2). Fresh off of an overtime win over Iowa on the road, TCU will play host to Richmond (who beat Oakland at home) for the first spot in the NIT Final 4 at Madison Square Garden next week.
(6) GEORGIA TECH at (5) OLE MISS (9:00 PM, ESPN2). After a pair of road wins at Monmouth and Syracuse, Ole Miss finally gets to play host for one final home game this season. They will play a Georgia Tech team that had a fairly comfortable win at home against Belmont on Sunday.