Whew! That's me still catching my breath from a ridiculously intense four days of college basketball (there was a European-inspired holiday in there too, I think). Saturday, day one of the second round of the NCAA tournament, was by far the wildest and most pulse-pounding day so far - especially considering that I have Texas A&M in the Final Four in my Facebook bracket.
But even for those of you who picked Ohio State to represent the South in the Final Four and didn't really care who won the A&M-Louisville game in Lexington, Saturday offered up plenty of thrilling match-ups, including two overtime games going on at the same time.
But once all the end-of-game buzzers had sounded, the excitement didn't really produce too many big surprises. That fact, ironically, is perhaps what's most surprising thus far about the 2007 tournament. There were no significant upsets in the second round, and the lowest seed to advance to the Sweet 16 was the seventh-seeded University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Runnin' Rebels. This represents the first time since 1995 that not a single double-digit seed has advanced to the round of 16.
There weren't any upsets of the George Mason-over-North Carolina caliber - which happened in the second round last year - meaning we're left with a Cinderella-less tournament and a relatively bland third round of action on Thursday and Friday. Every tournament follower (and enlightened bracket filler-outer) knows to expect the unexpected, but this year, the expected is almost exactly what we got.
With no George Mason-esque Cinderella tale for me to sound off on, here are a few less intriguing but still-worthy-of-our-attention storylines.
Where art thou ACC?The Atlantic Coast Conference sent a conference-record and league-high seven teams to the Big Dance this year, and now just one squad is still alive - UNC. Failing to win a single game were Georgia Tech and Duke, whose mediocrity even I underestimated - and I'm one of the biggest Duke haters anywhere. At least Georgia Tech fell to a talented UNLV team that went on to knock off second-seeded Wisconsin in the next round. But the Blue Devils losing to VCU, a team that lost to such powerhouses as Toledo and Appalachian State in the regular season? Come on now. You'd really be hard-pressed to find a table at the Ratty with more than one or two people that could tell you what VCU stands for. (It's Virginia Commonwealth University.)
But, seriously - don't worry, Duke fans. I'm sure Greg Paulus's career average of 9.1 points per game will get you to at least the second round next season.
Okay, enough Duke-hating for now, and back to the ACC's struggles. Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia and Maryland were all eliminated in the second round. The Terps, Cavaliers and Hokies were all doomed by their opponent's shooting prowess from beyond the arc. Butler and Southern Illinois - which, as one of my friends pointed out, shows up as "So Ill" on the CBS scoreboard - both nailed 12 shots from three-point land against Maryland and Virginia Tech, respectively, and Tennessee knocked down 11 against Virginia.
All three of those ACC teams, by the way, made just 17 three-pointers combined. Focusing so much on points-in-the-paint play might work in the regular season and the ACC tournament, but it's clearly a weakness in tournament play where less physical, small-conference teams with more spread-out offenses can more than compensate with superior perimeter shooting.
Three - Florida, Vanderbilt and Tennessee - of the six Southeastern Conference teams that made the tournament, meanwhile, are still alive.
Upsets that should've been, but weren'tTwo nail-biting finishes came from games that really should have been upsets but weren't. Both Illinois and Xavier had their tickets to next round essentially punched, but neither could put their opponent away. Illinois led Virginia Tech by 10 with just over four minutes left in its first round game but just couldn't find the basket in the last 4:28. In an incredible comeback, the Hokies scored the last 12 points of the game to advance to the second round. Illinois' failure to finish deprived us of a 12-over-5 upset for the first time since 2000.
In a game that had even more bracket-busting potential, Xavier led No. 1-seeded Ohio State 61-52 with just 2:54 left to play. After the Buckeyes cut the lead to 61-59 with 9.3 seconds left, Xavier's Justin Cage had a chance to ice the game from the free-throw line. Only one of his shots fell, giving Xavier a three-point lead and Ohio State a chance to complete its miraculous comeback. For what is sure to remain one of the best shots of the tournament even once a champion is crowned on April 2, the Buckeyes' Ron Lewis hit a long three-pointer with just two seconds left to force overtime. Xavier barely put up a fight in the extra period, and Ohio State's national championship hopes, along with tens of thousands of fans' brackets, stayed alive.
Picks
Not that these will do you much good at this late stage, but here are my picks for the rest of the tournament:
Final Four: Florida, Kansas, Georgetown, Texas A&M
Championship game: Kansas over Georgetown
Alex Mazerov '10 still can't believe that Texas lost to USC. His bracket is finished.
