And just when I thought that this would be the tournament where no one
would be upset... enters Norfolk State.
Friday's Scores (Second Round)
#15 Lehigh def. #2 Duke 75-70
#6 Cincinnati def. #11 Texas 65-59
#11 North Carolina State def. #6 San Diego State 79-65
#8 Creighton def. #9 Alabama 58-57
#7 Florida def. #10 Virginia 71-45
#3 Florida State def. #14 St. Bonaventure 66-63
#3 Georgetown def. #14 Belmont 74-59
#1 North Carolina def. #16 Vermont 77-58
#15 Norfolk State def. #2 Missouri 86-84
#9 Saint Louis def. #8 Memphis 61-54
#13 Ohio def. #4 Michigan 65-60
#10 Purdue def. #7 Saint Mary's 72-69
#1 Michigan State def. #16 LIU-Brooklyn 89-67
#12 South Florida def. #5 Temple 58-44
#10 Xavier def. #7 Notre Dame 67-63
#2 Kansas def. #15 Detroit 65-50
After a Thursday full of predictability, I don't think that anyone could have saw what happened on Friday coming. While North Carolina State upset San Diego State, I don't think that most people truly viewed that as an upset. Moreno Valley, California product and leading Florida State scorer Michael Snaer had an "off game." Snaer finished w/ zero points, four rebounds, and an assist in 23 minutes of playing time. Thankfully for him (and all die hard Seminole supporters), Bernard James picked up the slack by accounting for 19 of FSU's 66 points & 9 of their 29 total rebounds.
Alabama vs. Creighton provided some excitement as well for the fans in Greensboro. After blowing an 11 point second half lead, the Crimson Tide simply disintegrated down the stretch. After poor clock management left only 2.4 seconds on the game clock, Trevor Releford had his three point attempt denied by Josh Jones and Creighton was able to escape w/ a one point victory.
South Florida, one of my sleeper teams, picked up a surprise victory over Juan Fernandez & Temple. Victor Rudd Jr. & Anthony Collins scoring 17 points respectively highlighted an athletic Bulls team victory. They will now face 13th seeded Ohio in the round of 32. Ohio won its second tournament game in three years last night as they upset Tim Hardaway Jr. and #4 seeded Michigan.
Missouri, one of the more popular picks to advance to the final four, was in action against 15th seeded Norfolk State. 15 vs. 2 match ups are supposed to be tune up games for second seeds. Did Missouri play a bad game? No. The Spartans shot 52.7 % from the field, made 13 three pointers, and committed less than 10 turnovers. Still, Norfolk State's Kyle O'Quinn stole the show. The 6'10" senior from Jamaica Queens, NY grabbed 14 rebounds along with pouring in a game high 26 points. Although he missed two clutch free throws that gave Misssouri a chance to win, his hustle, emotion, and effectiveness made all of the difference. After Phil Pressey, or as Marv Albert would call him "Pressley" had his potential game winning shot bounce off the rim, Norfolk State celebrated in the middle of the court. Tiger fans looked on with stunned looks on their faces.
In an upset that was anticlimactic, Lehigh defeated duke in Greensboro to become only the sixth 15 seed ever to defeat a second seed, and the second in a span of only about three hours. Ryan Kelly's injury gave Duke less of a perimeter threat, but Lehigh deserves all of the credit in the world. C.J. McCollum destroyed the Blue Devils for 30 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds. Despite Duke rallying in the end, the Mountain Hawks held on for a hard fought and shocking 75-70 victory over Duke.
No comments:
Post a Comment