The four-day whirlwind of whittling the boys’s NCAA event subject from 64 right down to 16 is full.
And, like at all times, “second-round Sunday” delivered the products.
Oh, there have been some blowouts. Purdue, Duke and San Diego State barely even broke a sweat in securing their spots within the Candy 16.
However Alabama-Grand Canyon and Houston-Texas A&M greater than made up for it with chaos that fairly effectively defines March Insanity.
Who have been the largest winners and losers of the day, although?
13 years in the past, Shaka Sensible and VCU’s “HAVOC” took the world by storm, going from First 4 to Closing 4 within the inaugural version of the 68-team March Insanity.
The 33-year-old, second-year head coach appeared destined to develop into the subsequent massive factor in males’s school hoops.
Nonetheless, the NCAA event giveth and the NCAA event taketh away.
Over the subsequent 12 years, Sensible led his groups—be it VCU, Texas or Marquette—to the Dance 9 occasions, however by no means for very lengthy. After profitable 5 video games in his first tourney, he gained three video games in these 9 journeys mixed, not as soon as reaching the Candy 16 and getting a Rick Barnes-like status for not having the ability to win in March.
Lastly, although, that drought is over after the 81-77 victory over Colorado.
It was a incredible recreation, as appears to be the case each time Kevin Harlan is on the mic. (I, too, miss Gus Johnson, however Harlan has been unimaginable, as at all times.) Marquette could not miss within the first half, however Colorado refused to go away, briefly taking the lead with round quarter-hour remaining and making it a tie recreation with 4 minutes to go.
In the long run, it was simply an excessive amount of Tyler Kolek.
He missed Marquette’s remaining six video games earlier than the event with an indirect damage, nevertheless it was a small worth to pay to have him on the market at full energy for 40 minutes towards the Buffaloes. Kolek had a handful of ugly turnovers (six in complete), however he went for 21 factors, 11 assists and 5 rebounds in main the Golden Eagles to victory.
Kolek both scored or assisted on each level Marquette scored within the remaining eight minutes, except David Joplin’s game-sealing free throws. Even on these, although, he sort of acquired the help, receiving the inbounds cross and getting unfastened to empty some clock earlier than Joplin was the one getting tagged in that recreation of sizzling potato.
Now, Sensible and his “you both love him or hate him” sideline antics will go up towards NC State within the Candy 16.
Each single time Zach Edey is doing his utterly unstoppable factor—so, you recognize, roughly twice every week for the previous 4 months—they arrive out of the woodwork on social media.
You realize who “they” are.
“He isn’t good, he is simply massive!”
“He is throwing elbows and committing fouls on each play!”
“Nicely, possibly if Purdue wasn’t enjoying 8-on-5 on a regular basis…”
It is tiresome, actually, and comically unoriginal.
Edey is legitimately probably the most unstoppable power in males’s school basketball since Shaquille O’Neal was eviscerating backboards greater than three a long time in the past. However in the event you point out on social media that it is fairly unimaginable Edey amassed 21 factors, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks within the first half towards Utah State, prepare for the cacophony of excuse-hurling nonsense that at all times comes with the territory of complimenting what will be the back-to-back Nationwide Participant of the Yr.
Does Edey get away with some fouls? Completely. So does each single heart within the nation whereas attempting to determine place within the publish. It simply stands out a bit extra with Edey as a result of he is 7’4″ and the primary participant your eyes are keyed on each time Purdue has the ball.
If, nevertheless, you desire a whistle each single time Edey initiates contact within the lane, you higher be OK with that changing into a two-way avenue and opponents working out of gamers frequently. As a result of whereas Edey attracts about 4 occasions as many fouls as he commits, you recognize darn effectively he’s really getting fouled at extra like a 10-to-1 ratio, as there’s simply nothing you’ll be able to legally do to sluggish him down.
Two or three years in the past, sure, he was kind of “simply massive.” Nonetheless, he has gotten smarter, higher, stronger, extra agile and simply usually sensational.
Chapel Hill’s North Carolina Tar Heels and Raleigh’s NC State Wolfpack took care of enterprise on second-round Saturday, leaving it as much as Durham’s Duke Blue Devils on Sunday to make sure an entire heck of quite a lot of curiosity in subsequent weekend popping out of the “Analysis Triangle.”
And earlier than it even acquired to halftime of Duke’s matchup with the Dukes of James Madison, it was a foregone conclusion that every one three ACC faculties can be having a joyous few days of Candy 16 buildup.
It was a quite cruel drubbing of a Cinderella hopeful. JMU’s greatest star, Terrence Edwards Jr., picked up two fouls lower than two minutes into the primary half, and issues spiraled uncontrolled in a rush.
The Dukes had among the finest three-point defenses within the nation heading into the sport, however the Blue Devils emphatically modified that in going 14-of-28 from distance. Freshman Jared McCain was unconscious from the perimeter, going 8-of-11 by himself. Tyrese Proctor was additionally feeling it with 4 three-pointers.
Eight minutes in, Duke was up by 15.
At halftime, it was 22.
The ultimate margin was 38.
It was each bit the ugly standalone recreation that the earlier Purdue-Utah State recreation was.
Duke’s victory marks the fifth time in event historical past that every one three Triangle faculties made it at the very least so far as the Candy 16.
The final time it occurred was in 2015, when Duke gained the nationwide championship. Earlier than that was 2005, when UNC gained all of it. Duke made it to the Closing 4 when it occurred in 1989 and went to the 1986 title recreation the opposite time all three lasted at the very least till the regional semifinals.
So, which one (or ones) will probably be making it by way of to Phoenix, too?
Possibly just a little Duke-NC State showdown within the Elite Eight?
Powerful to say whether or not anybody actually believed that the Mountain West Convention had surpassed the Atlantic Coast Convention within the males’s school basketball hierarchy, nevertheless it undoubtedly was a factor that got here up lots over the previous few months when it seemed like we may very well be headed for a six-bid MWC and a three-bid ACC.
The Mountain West did find yourself getting yet one more bid than the ACC and had an emphatic First 4 opening assertion with Colorado State destroying Virginia by 27.
Since then, although, the leagues have gone in exact opposite instructions, together with the ACC’s Clemson pummeling the MWC’s New Mexico virtually as badly because the Rams trounced the Cavaliers.
Clemson went on to upset Baylor within the second spherical, bringing ACC groups not named Virginia to an ideal 8-0 within the NCAA event.
The Tigers by no means trailed the Bears, however at the very least this one supplied some late drama with Clemson darn close to choking away a 61-46 lead. Baylor had an opportunity to tie it up on the free-throw line with 36 seconds remaining, however freshman Ja’Kobe Walter missed a pair earlier than the Tigers salted it away.
(How about Clemson’s Chase Hunter going for a season-high 21 factors towards New Mexico and 20 towards Baylor? What a positive time to start out enjoying your greatest basketball of the yr)
In the meantime, Utah State acquired demolished by Purdue, leaving San Diego State because the league’s final greatest hope, per typical. Previous to the Aztecs’ nightcap towards Yale, the Mountain West was simply 3-5 general on this yr’s Dance.
Granted, 3-5 is best than most years. There have been a number of multi-bid 0-fors from the MWC in recent times, with the league sitting at 30-64 all-time within the NCAA event heading into SDSU-Yale.
They have just a little methods to go to catch the ACC’s 483-251 file with 15 nationwide championships.
However, hey, it was a enjoyable few weeks of poking the bear, proper?
Of all of the outrage that got here from Choice Sunday, maybe the loudest and most justified was that of everybody who was blown away by the notion that the Huge East was deemed solely a three-bid league.
To not defend the choice committee’s determination there, however talking as a bracketologist, that is actually not a consideration. They did not take a look at the Mountain West as an entire and say “alright, effectively that is a six-bid league,” nor did they arrive away from the Huge East event considering there have been solely three groups value a darn enjoying in that occasion.
Convention-based stuff is sort of coincidental, because it’s simply the person resumes and metrics that matter.
All the identical, solely three Huge East groups felt outlandish.
Nonetheless, it appears these three groups felt a accountability to hold the league’s status by at the very least every making it into the Candy 16.
Creighton did so in double-overtime style Saturday. Marquette started the day on Sunday with a dramatic win over Colorado. Lastly, Connecticut made it an ideal 6-0 for the Huge East with a 75-58 win over Northwestern that was by no means remotely unsure.
The Huskies really let up in an enormous method within the second half, which Danny Hurley will certainly have one thing to say about to his guys for the subsequent few days. They took a 22-point lead into halftime and prolonged it to 30 earlier than letting Northwestern outscore them 31-18 the remainder of the way in which.
However now, for the primary time shortly, we are able to head into the Candy 16 speaking about the opportunity of a repeat nationwide champion.
2022 champ Kansas misplaced within the second spherical final yr. 2021 champ Baylor did the identical in its try to go back-to-back. 2019 champ Virginia was instantly eradicated within the first spherical of the subsequent event. It’s a must to return to 2015 Duke reaching the 2016 Candy 16 to search out the final time we have even come this near a repeat champion.
The best way UConn dominated this week, although, it certain looks like we’ll be speaking about it heading into the Closing 4, as effectively.
Alabama vs. Grand Canyon was not a high-scoring affair, falling a mile wanting the over/underneath of 172.5.
However there’s fairly a positive line between a Virginia or Saint Mary’s snooze-fest that does not even sniff a 140 complete and absolutely the carnage performed at a breakneck tempo that transpired within the first recreation in Spokane on Sunday evening.
Bama-GCU featured 20 mixed steals, 17 mixed blocks and I will enterprise a guess with out checking the play-by-play log that there weren’t any shot-clock violations, because it felt like each groups have been lifeless set on attempting to stand up a shot with at the very least 20 left on the timer on each possession.
There have been a number of frantic sequences within the second half the place, after a lifeless ball was lastly whistled, a number of gamers simply fell to the ground in pure exhaustion.
It was this fantastically chaotic peanut butter and jelly sandwich combining Alabama’s uptempo, free-flowing 109-96 first-round win over Charleston with Grand Canyon’s powerful as nails, numerous blocks and dunks 75-66 first-round victory over Saint Mary’s.
No matter boredom you’ll have felt throughout the Purdue and Duke video games earlier within the day, this one made up for it.
GCU virtually pulled off the upset, too. The ‘Lopes led 58-55 with six minutes remaining however simply could not get something to fall from there. They missed their remaining 4 field-goal makes an attempt and had a number of giveaways down the stretch as Alabama toughed out a 72-61 win for the recollections.
With two minutes remaining in regulation and Houston holding an 81-69 lead, it was time to start out fascinated with what so as to add right here.
Possibly Kelvin Sampson as a winner for getting the Cougars again to the second weekend for a fifth consecutive event? It certain is outstanding what a constant contender he has constructed there after how disappointing that program had been for many years.
Or maybe one thing on Emanuel Sharp, who ended up scoring a career-high 30 factors for the No. 1 seed out of the Huge 12?
However as we contemplated, Texas A&M rallied, identical to it did again in 2016 in that historic second-round comeback towards Northern Iowa.
Whereas Houston embraced stall ball and tried to salt the sport away, the Aggies stored preventing, culminating in Andersson Garcia—he of eight made three-pointers in all the season—draining a game-tying triple on the buzzer to ship this absurdly bodily affair to additional time.
Houston darn close to ran out of men. Ja’Vier Francis, Jamal Shead, L.J. Cryer and Sharp all fouled out, leaving the Cougars with no selection however to place walk-on senior Ryan Elvin within the recreation within the remaining minute of additional time.
He hadn’t performed a significant second in all the season, so in fact he needed to shoot free throws in a three-point recreation with Houston’s season hanging within the stability. He was a bit robust on the primary one however hit nothing however web on the second to kind of seal the deal.
By some miracle, Houston survived 100-95.
After an everyday season by which AP Prime 10 groups routinely misplaced to unranked foes and after a Championship Week that was full carnage en route to 5 bid thieves, the pure assumption was that this may very well be one of many maddest Marches of all time.
As a substitute, we’re headed for a Candy 16 with extra chalk than a family-size bottle of antacids.
Each single No. 1 seed remains to be alive. (Although Houston certain did make issues mighty attention-grabbing towards Texas A&M.)
Each single No. 2 seed can also be nonetheless alive.
That alone is just a little ridiculous. In 12 of the previous 13 tournaments, at the very least two (and sometimes greater than two) of the highest eight general seeds failed to succeed in the Candy 16. The lone exception to that rule got here in 2019, when all eight gained their first two video games, together with the eventual nationwide champion who misplaced to a No. 16 seed the earlier yr—so here is you, Purdue.
Past those and twos, six of the opposite eight spots within the Candy 16 went to 2 No. 3 seeds, two No. 4 seeds and two No. 5 seeds.
The one actual surprises nonetheless standing are No. 6 Clemson and No. 11 North Carolina State. And whereas Oakland’s Jack Gohlke was adamant they weren’t a Cinderella after they upset Kentucky within the first spherical, these two ACC groups actually will not be a Cinderella.
The excellent news is the remainder of the event ought to be superior. There’s not a single “Meh, no matter” recreation on the docket for the subsequent spherical. All of them have the potential to be nice.
However the place’s the plucky underdog from a faculty that 99.9 p.c of individuals have by no means heard of earlier than?
How are we alleged to course of a Candy 16 the place it looks like each staff—sure, even NC State—has a professional likelihood to win all of it?
Thursday and Friday simply will not be the identical with out that no-name staff that everybody is pulling for.