March Madness Day 2, Part 3

St. Louis 61 - Memphis 54
Upset #1: 9 over 8. Memphis played the way most assumed Missouri would, lots of ball pressure and plenty of dribble penetration. St. Louis was able to match them pretty well in the athleticism department (well, except for their coach, Rick Majerus) and in the end they stepped up their defense to choke off the penetration. When that happened Memphis took too many tough 3's that didn't go in, while Saint Louis was able to execute their offense.

Ohio 65 - Michigan 60
Upset #2: 13 over 4. Ohio did a good job taking Michigan out of their comfort zone. When Michigan only shoots 30% from behind the arc, they're going to struggle. Combine that with Ohio shooting over 50% from the field, and you get the upset we saw. Charles Barkley just made a terrific point: usually the difference between David and Goliath is quality big men. But the teams losing today are guard-oriented, jumper-oriented. When the jumpers don't fall, these teams are extremely vulnerable. And that's what happened. These teams were vulnerable, and the Davids stepped up and took the game.

Lehigh 75 - Duke 70
Upset #3: 15 over 2. Wait what???? There are teams you aren't shocked lose to vastly lower seeded teams. Missouri? Not a huge shock. Michigan? They haven't been a top seed for awhile, okay. Duke? What??? The most striking thing about this game? Duke was NOT more athletic than Lehigh. Lehigh! From the Patriot conference! They were able to match Duke's athleticism. This gave Duke fits on the offensive end, and their futility on that end overrode their as-usual strong defense.

There is one downside here, I can't make my yearly Patriot League joke. There aren't many conferences the Ivy League can turn up its nose at when we're talking about athletics, so I usually get my shots in where I can. Instead, let's all point and laugh at Duke. Eat it, Duke.

Purdue 72 - Saint Mary's 69
Upset #4: 10 over 7. When you're giving up penetration like that, it's tough to win. Kudos to St. Mary's for rallying and briefly taking the lead, but in the end Purdue was able to get better looks. Purdue is a good story because of 5th-year senior Robbie Hummel, who lost the end of two seasons ago and all of last season to ACL injuries. Two years ago Purdue was in the running for a top seed, and then Hummel got hurt towards the end of the year. They ended up a 4-seed and lost to eventual champion (and top seed) Duke in the Sweet 16. Hummel's missed his team's last two trips to the NCAA tournament, so it's nice he gets to enjoy his stay this year.

Before today, 4 #15 seeds had won their first round matchup over #2 seeds.
Today, 2 #15 seeds beat #2 seeds in the first real round of the tournament.