Cincinnati made short work of Missouri. The Bearcats were just too big and bullied Mizzou on the offensive end, and their brawn outdid Mizzou's speed and took Mizzou out of the game emotionally and mentally by a few minutes after halftime.
Gonzaga...wow. Granted St. John's is an entirely different team outside of Madison Square Garden, but that was impressive. Not the win, but the way they took it to SJ and dominated them. And it wasn't just one or two guys, but a full team effort at both ends that brought down the Red Storm.
And Michigan State's up and down season ends with a first round ouster after back-to-back Final 4 berths. And this looked like another snoozer, but, true to a Tom Izzo-led team, MSU never quit. They kept pushing and pushing, and finally showed the hard-nosed rebounding team they've always been, and took a 23-point defecit down to a 4 point defecit with 30 seconds remaining. They eventually got it down to 2 points, but were not able to get all the way to even, and 2 points was their final margin of defeat. I would never have continued watching this game, except for how much I enjoy and respect Tom Izzo's teams, and this time it paid off as this was the best game of the 4 late ones. Also noted from this game, good lord is UCLA's Smith a house.
Finally, Kansas State pressured Utah State out of their offense, and held on for the win. I almost picked this team to make the Final Four, and I'm very interested in the potential K-State-Pitt Sweet 16 matchup. I still don't buy Wisconsin as a real team, as real teams never get held to 33 points.
Usually only one of the two first days is actually filled with chaos and upsets. Today featured 3 upsets, but a 4 seed was one of them, so I'm not sure if we should expect more upsets tomorrow, or a boring day where the only upsets are of the 8-9 and 7-10 variety. Hopefully the former.
No comments:
Post a Comment