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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.
Second Round Recap: Monday, March 20
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.