So Long, Cinderella

Thursday and Friday's Sweet Sixteen action saw the demise of the four remaining Cinderella teams.

#9 Northern Iowa, #10 Saint Mary's, #11 Washington, and #12 Cornell all failed to reach the Elite Eight.

Northern Iowa put up the biggest fight, taking Michigan State to the wire, and eventually losing by 7.

Washington also fell honorably, giving West Virginia fits early in the game. The Mountaineers were eventually able to overcome and win by 13.

Saint Mary's and Cornell, however, were chewed up and spit out by Baylor and Kentucky, respectively.

Saint Mary's started the second half down 46-17 and only managed to make up 6 points on the way to a 72-49 loss.

Cornell was similarly pounded by Kentucky, losing 62-45.

In 2002 #12 Missouri became the lowest seeded team to ever enter the Elite Eight (in the modern 64 team tournament era).

#11 George Mason destroyed brackets nationwide in 2006 after entering the Elite Eight. #10 Davidson rode Stephen Curry there in 2008.

2010 seemed prime for another Cinderella run, what with the enormous amount of upset games occurring early in the tournament.

It looks like we'll have to wait till next year when underdogs all over the country once again try on the glass slipper.

Another Game.... Another Last Second Shot

Milwaukee native Korie Lucious comes up big for the Spartans! I guess Izzo is happy he didn't finish his timeout call!

Top Seed Kansas Hits The Showers Early

The number 1 overall seed Kansas Jayhawks were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament yesterday by an unlikely opponent, the 9th seeded Northern Iowa Panthers.

The Jayhawks' opening basket and the 2-0 lead that followed lasted just 56 seconds. It proved to be the only time Kansas lead Northern Iowa.

Early in the first half the Panthers took an eight point lead, and maintained at least a 4 point lead for the rest of the half. Northern Iowa went into the half up 36-28.

In the second half the Panthers quickly built upon their lead, going on top by 12 at one point, the largest lead Kansas had surrendered to this point in the tournament. 

Kansas, however, was the overall number 1 seed for a reason.

With around five minutes to play Kansas went on a run, pulling the scoring-gap to within three points by the three minute mark.

With a minute to play, Kansas made a basket to make the score 63-62.

UNI responded in monumental fashion.

Ali Farokhmanesh brought the ball down the court for Northern Iowa, found himself left alone, and drained a three-pointer to put the Panthers up four points.

Kansas guard Sherron Collins was called for an offensive foul on the next possession and UNI was able to connect on one of the free throws. 

After another missed basket and foul for Kansas, Farokhmanesh sealed the game by hitting two free throws, making Marcus Morris' buzzer-beating three-pointer irrelevant, the final score 69-67 in favor of the Panthers.

This game was a huge upset, as Kansas was heavily favored to go deep into the tournament. The top ESPN analysts all had Kansas in the final four, and many of them picked Kansas to win it all. Sports Illustrated had Kansas as their champion.


Kansas becomes the first number one seed to lose before the sweet 16 since 2004, when both Kentucky and Stanford fell in the round of 32. This also marks the 13th time a number one seed has fallen in the second round, the third time it has happened to Kansas.


Northern Iowa becomes the first Missouri Valley tournament champion to reach the sweet 16 since 1979 when the  Indiana State Sycamores, led by the now NBA Hall-of-Famer Larry Byrd, went there and beyond, eventually losing in the National Championship to Michigan State.


Farokhmanesh's huge three at the end of the game was not the first big shot he has hit in this tournament. In the first round, UNI was tied with UNLV with just seconds to play. Farokhmanesh nailed a deep three to win it for the Panthers.


In the first two games of the tournament Farokhmanesh has amassed 33 points, and has hit 9 threes out of 19 attempts, none bigger than the game-changing threes to end both tournament games.

Personally, I would love to see this underdog UNI team keep rolling - forget my bracket (which is still in decent shape despite the Kansas loss).


UNI's next challenge will be decided today when #4 Maryland and #5 Michigan State square off.

2010 NCAA Tournament, Round 1: Madness Indeed!

When I first saw this year's NCAA Tournament bracket, I couldn't help but think this was one of the weakest fields of 65 I have ever seen, with the absences of teams such as North Carolina (last year's champions), Connecticut, Memphis and Virginia Tech.

Despite this seemingly skimpy playing field, the first round of March Madness was one of the most thrilling and exciting in recent memory.

Three games went into overtime, with one of those heading to double overtime.

Nine games were decided by five points or less, and 10 games saw the lower seed advancing to the round of 32.

Here's some observations from the first round:



Newcomers


The Southern Conference Champion Wofford Terriers and SWAC Champion Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions made their first ever NCAA Tournament appearances.

Ark-Pine Bluff won the play-in game against Winthrop and earned the right to take on #1 seed Duke, who proceeded to quickly diminish any hopes of a second tournament win for the Golden Lions, beating them 73-44.


#13 Wofford, in its first tournament appearance, drew the 4th seeded Wisconsin Badgers.

In a game that was much too close for my liking, Wofford fought back from a ten point deficit to take their first lead of the game with around five minutes left.


Jon Leuer, however, proved to be too much for the Terriors.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, Leuer hit a baseline jumper to put the Badgers up 51-49. After a Terrior turnover Leuer was fouled and hit both free throws to seal the victory for the Badgers.




Major Upsets

#14 Ohio over #3 Georgetown

Georgetown looked great heading into the tournament. They lost in the Big East Tourney Championship Game on a shot by West Virginia's DeShaun Butler in the closing moments of the game.

Ohio, on the other hand, had a losing conference record this season and was seeded ninth in the MAC Conference Tournament.

Despite the daunting challenge, Ohio came out with guns blazing. Armon Bassett dropped 32 points as the Bobcats toppled the Hoyas in convincing fashion, 97-83, wreaking havoc on brackets all over the country.

The win was the first tournament win for Ohio since 1983, when as a 14 seed they knocked off the third seeded Kentucky Wildcats.

#13 Murray State over #4 Vanderbilt

Danero Thomas. You had probably never heard of him before this game.

Expect to see his game-winning shot over and over in future March Madness commercials.

The inbound play that led to Thomas' winning shot was intended for the Racers' star Isaac Miles. Instead, Thomas, the third option on the play, received the pass and proceeded to shock Vanderbilt, 66-65.

This upset marks the second time in three years that Vanderbilt stumbled in the first round as a four seed. (In 2008 they lost to Sienna)



Close Call

#2 Villanova over #15 Robert Morris

Villanova needed overtime to put away the Colonials.




Scottie Reynolds, Villanova's star point guard, shot abysmally from the field the entire game, going 2-for-15 (13%).

He made up for it in the closing minutes of the game by drawing fouls and sinking his free throws, as the Wildcats went on an 11-3 scoring run to end regulation and force overtime. Reynolds made 15 of 16 free throw attempts on his way to 20 points.

Nova escaped becoming just the fifth 2 seed ever to lose to a 15 seed in tournament history.