March Madness Day 3, Part 1

Michigan 78, VCU 53
I was shocked by this game. Not so much that Michigan won, but I didn't see them blowing the doors off of VCU at all. VCU plays tremendous defense, and tends to force a ton of turnovers. So the biggest stat in this game? Michigan had one more turnover than VCU did themselves (12 to 11). That essentially meant VCU was not winning this game. Add in Michigan shooting 51.7% from the field versus VCU's 39.7%, and that's why this game wasn't close. In many cases in recent tournament past, great defense has overcome great offense. In this game, it was the reverse.

Michigan State 70, Memphis 48
This was big (MSU) versus fast (Memphis). For one half, fast stayed close, thanks to them shooting 50% from the field in the first half and Michigan State's attempts to play fast that frequently led to turnovers. But in the second half, Memphis went cold as Michigan State's defense and rebounding took over. Michigan State out-rebounded Memphis 41-25 on the afternoon, and it simply wore down the underdog Tigers.

It seems like the officials have made flagrant fouls a point of emphasis in this tournament, as every game seems to feature at least one video review of a foul to see if it was flagrant. In every case I've seen, they've determined it to be flagrant. Apparently, intent has nothing to do with whether a foul is flagrant or not, it simply needs to be "excessive contact". As a result, referees are tossing flagrant fouls around like candy, which is kind of annoying incredibly stupid. In the MSU-Memphis game, Memphis' big fouled a Memphis player hard to prevent a dunk. The MSU player in question is a big guy, so the foul looked rough. But it was a simple basketball play, kids are taught not to allow uncontested layups/dunks. If a basketball play like this is a flagrant, you're essentially telling the defense they have to allow the offensive player to score. That's (to borrow from Sir Charles) turrible.