Is your bracket busted yet?
Thursday's Scores (Second Round)
#4 Indiana def. #13 New Mexico State 79-66
#6 Murray State def. #11 Colorado State 58-41
#8 Kansas State def. #9 Southern Mississippi 70-64
#4 Louisville def. #13 Davidson 69-62
#4 Wisconsin def. #13 Montana 73-49
#3 Marquette def. #14 BYU 88-68
#1 Syracuse def. #16 UNC-Asheville 72-65
#5 New Mexico def. #12 Long Beach State 75-68
#5 Vanderbilt def. #12 Harvard 79-70
#1 Kentucky def. #16 Western Kentucky 81-66
#12 VCU def. #5 Wichita State 62-59
#7 Gonzaga def. #10 West Virginia 77-54
#3 Baylor def. #14 South Dakota State 68-60
#8 Iowa State def. #9 Connecticut 77-64
#2 Ohio State def. #15 Loyola (Maryland) 78-59
#11 Colorado def. #6 UNLV 68-64
If you were looking for a day of March Madness buzzer beaters, game winners, and "One Shining Moment" shots, then maybe you shouldn't have watched the NCAA Tournament yesterday. Dominating the headlines were "questionable" calls by referees, blowouts, and predictable results. Only one game was decided by three points or less, and a lower seed triumphed only twice. About three hours into last year's tournament, there had been two game winners, including Louisville being upset when a Morehead State prayer was answered. But, through it all, the first day of the 2012 dance brought drama nonetheless.
Let's start with the Syracuse/UNC-Asheville game. Up at halftime by four at halftime, the Bulldogs had the city of Pittsburgh on its side, hoping to be the first ever 16 seed to upset a #1. Once Syracuse caught up and took the lead, Asheville still wouldn't go away. J.P. Primm's game high 18 points helped keep Asheville in it. Then, with just over 35 seconds remaining, a ball that clearly (as proved by instant replay) went off of the Orange's Brandon Triche, was called out on Asheville. The game was never the same after that, and the Orange went on to win by seven. However, the Bulldogs can't completely blame their hard fought loss on the men in striped shirts. The Orange dominated the offensive glass for numerous second chance points. If UNC Asheville was simply able to grab a rebound when they had a chance to extend the lead, maybe the Bulldogs could have escaped with what would have been the biggest upset in college basketball history.
Just a quick piece of advice: If you make seven brackets like I did, don't have a twelve defeating a five in five of the seven brackets. Along with 18 & 13 for Drew Gordon, Greenwood & Wlliams made an impact in this game with two threes respectively. They were the five seed for a reason, and evidently I forgot to acknowledge that.
UCONN is talented, so what happened? They are well coached, so why are they making a second round exit a year after winning the title? Iowa State is a very good team, led by Chris Allen & Royce White, but why did UCONN collapse so greatly this season? It is still mind boggling when you think of it. A team with two potential top ten draft picks earning a disappointing 9 seed and exiting after one game? With no chance of playing in the NCAA Tourney next year, will Calhoun need to build from the ground up starting in 2013-14?
Colorado impressed me, and I believe that their athleticism could give an inconsistent Baylor team some trouble as well.
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