On the eve of the Sweet Sixteen, let’s take a quick look back at how we got here.\u00a0 Jam-packed into not even 90 hours, there were 1950 game minutes of hoops\u00a0this weekend, most of\u00a0which Doogan and I (with a lot of help from friends, booze, and modern technology) got to see.\u00a0\u00a0They all blend together, but there are some things that stuck out to me during the weekend.<\/p>\n
Most Impressive Team:<\/strong>\u00a0 Cornell<\/em> Least Impressive Team:<\/strong>\u00a0 Georgetown<\/em> Least Impressive Surviving Team:<\/strong>\u00a0 Baylor<\/em> Most Heartbreaking Loss (tie):<\/strong>\u00a0 Maryland and Texas A&M<\/em> Best Coached Game:<\/strong>\u00a0 Michigan St. vs. Maryland, second round<\/em> Best Played Game:<\/strong>\u00a0 Richmond vs. St. Mary’s, first round<\/em> Worst Played Game:<\/strong>\u00a0 Texas vs. Wake Forest, first round<\/em> Worst Officiated Game:<\/strong>\u00a0 Villanova vs. Robert Morris, first round<\/em> Best Late-Game Possession:<\/strong>\u00a0 Murray St. vs. Vanderbilt, first\u00a0round<\/em> Worst Late-Game Possession:<\/strong>\u00a0 Murray St. vs. Butler, second round<\/em> Biggest Morons:<\/strong>\u00a0 The Selection Committee<\/em> On the eve of the Sweet Sixteen, let’s take a quick look back at how we got here.\u00a0 Jam-packed into not even 90 hours, there were 1950 game minutes of hoops\u00a0this weekend, most of\u00a0which Doogan and I (with a lot … Continue reading
\nWith all due respect to N. Iowa, who\u00a0beat Kansas, and Kentucky and Syracuse, who blew out both opponents, we are looking for a team that won two games impressively against two good teams.\u00a0 With that criterion, it was narrowed down to St. Mary’s and Cornell.\u00a0 We gave the edge to Cornell because they were never even threatened in either round.<\/p>\n
\nThat was absolutely embarrassing.\u00a0 Yes, Vandy, Temple, and Notre Dame got hit with upsets, but they at least lost to some really good double-digit seeds.\u00a0 Georgetown got absolutely hammered by the 9th place team in the MAC.<\/p>\n
\nThis is most certainly a survive-and-advance tournament, so technically Baylor was just as impressive as Kentucky or Syracuse, who waltzed into the Sweet 16, but the Bears struggled in the first round against 14-seed Sam Houston St. and then barely survived 11-seed Old Dominion.\u00a0 Granted SHSU can really score and ODU was under-seeded at 11, but still, with a shot to get to the Regionals in your home state, you would think that the Bears would win a little more comfortably.\u00a0 Then again, they hadn’t won a tournament game since 1950, so any win is a good win.<\/p>\n
\nBoth teams lost on last-second shots in the second round with more than just a Sweet 16 appearance on the line.\u00a0 Maryland watched UNI knock off Kansas, which opened up a much easier route to the Elite Eight.\u00a0 Then, they watched as Kalin Lucas went down with injury early in the second-half, but they eventually watched as Cory Luscious (Lucas’s replacement) hit a buzzer-beating three to beat them.\u00a0 Texas A&M got the draw of a Hummel-less Purdue in the second round, but blew a late lead in regulation and then in OT to lose.\u00a0 It was devastating to A&M because their regional is in Houston, where it would be basically a home game against Duke in the Sweet 16.\u00a0 Oh, and I had $10 on A&M to make the Final Four at 18-to-1.\u00a0 So, I know the pain.<\/p>\n
\nAnyone who reads anything I ever write about college basketball probably knows my irrational love affair with Tom Izzo’s coaching abilities.\u00a0 You may also know how much I usually dis<\/em>like Gary Williams.\u00a0 But, watching this game, particularly in the second half, really shows you why these guys are so successful.\u00a0 Izzo had injuries to Chris Allen and Kalin Lucas.\u00a0 Plus, they had a hobbled Delvon Green.\u00a0 Yet, Izzo was able to brilliantly use the bench and different matchups to win the game.\u00a0 Williams, on the other bench, may have had the talent advantage, but his team was falling out of it time and time again.\u00a0 Williams was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT in his use of timeouts.\u00a0 Usually, I don’t really think that timeouts do all that much to quell runs, but Williams nearly won this game by himself from merely his choice of timeouts and set plays.\u00a0 It was\u00a0a clinic.<\/p>\n
\nThis\u00a0game made basketball into an art form.\u00a0 Both teams are so well-coached and so prepared.\u00a0 Both teams played solid, fundamental basketball.\u00a0 The only difference was that St. Mary’s has a legit big man and they are well-coached and disciplined enough to take advantage of him.<\/p>\n
\nI have never been so uninterested in a 1-point overtime NCAA tournament game.\u00a0 And, I even had money on it!\u00a0 This game was a pretty pathetic display of two teams that have way too much talent to be this incredibly bad.\u00a0 I don’t want to think about it ever again.<\/p>\n
\nThis was an absolute joke.\u00a0 Yes, the officials were not the reason Robert Morris lost–it was more the fact that they just stopped playing offense with about 6 minutes left–but they certainly didn’t help.\u00a0 These calls were absolutely ridiculous and made it basically impossible for the outmanned 15-seeded Colonials to pull off the big upset.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMurray St. coach Billy Kennedy called an gutsy inbounds play and\u00a0watched as his unselfish seniors improvised\u00a0around some good\u00a0Vandy defense, got the ball to the play’s third option, Danero Thomas, who drained an 18-footer at the buzzer to beat the Commodores.<\/p>\n
\nNot even 48 hours after a phenomenal buzzer-beater, Murray St. could not have looked any worse on a potentially game-winning possession against Butler.\u00a0 Down 2 with the shot-clock off, the Racers never even got off a shot, as their season ended 2 points shy of the school’s first-ever Sweet 16 appearance.<\/p>\n
\nAgain, I hate ripping the Committee, but they did such an abysmal job at seeding this year, that I have to bring it up again.\u00a0 Notre Dame a 6-seed?\u00a0 N. Iowa a 9?\u00a0 Cornell a 12?\u00a0 Now, yes, some of the underseeded teams played their way into the Sweet Sixteen anyway, but some did not.\u00a0 BYU was a 7-seed, but got screwed by facing a tough K-State team in the second round and now they’re done.\u00a0 If Temple had gotten the 3-seed it deserved, they probably would have won any of those 3\/6 pods.\u00a0 If Richmond and\/or St. Mary’s had gotten the seeds they both deserved, they might be facing each other THIS Thursday instead of last Thursday.\u00a0 Thanks, guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"