Future of the NCAA Tournament Decided Wednesday

BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday, the NCAA announced that it has agreed to a 14 year contract worth $10.8 billion with CBS and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.  The contract assures these networks exclusive presentation of the Division I Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament from 2011 through 2024.  The new contract will allow up to 4 games to be shown live across 4 national networks (CBS, TBS, TNT, truTV).

The other big story from the contract agreement is the decision about NCAA tournament expansion.  The NCAA committee unanimously decided to recommend expansion of the tournament by 3 teams to 68 teams, instead of the supposed 31 team expansion to 96 teams that was anticipated by many during this year’s NCAA Tournament (College basketball fans can now take a collective sigh of relief).  This preliminary decision will be reviewed at the April 29th NCAA Board of Directors meeting.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my analysis about the importance of yesterday’s decision by the NCAA.

A 96 Team NCAA Tournament (Part 2)

It now appears very likely that the NCAA tournament will expand to 96 teams in the near future.  The expansion could occur as early as 2014, or even as early as next season if CBS opts out of its $6 billion contract that grants the network exclusive broadcasting rights to the tournament.  (The first entry on this subject was posted on February 6th, 2010, entitled “A 96 Team NCAA Tournament”)

Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday after the NCAA Commissioners meeting that NCAA tournament expansion is “probable.”  NCAA Vice President for Basketball and Business Strategies Greg Shaheen gave hints in his press conference April 1st that the expansion may occur.  He stated that a majority of the 88 NCAA championships had been expanded in the past 10 years, and that it is not outlandish to imagine the NCAA expanding in the near future.

In a word, the expansion is ridiculous.  It is solely about the money, and if someone else would like to give me another reason why the NCAA is doing this, I would love to hear it.  And don’t say that the expansion is to get deserving teams like Virginia Tech and Illinois into the tournament, because that is just not true.  If that was the case, then the tournament could have been expanded to 68 teams to get those final few “snubs” into the tournament.  There would be four play in games instead of one, and each of the 16 seeds would be filled in this manner.  It would actually strengthen the tournament field while allowing bubble teams into the tournament.  If there were to be an expansion, that is exactly how it should be done.  But that isn’t the case.  Simply for the money, he NCAA wants to expand to 96 teams, which would require byes for the top 32 seeds and would ensure an extra round of 32 games played by seeds 33-96.

The fact is, the tournament will be completely diluted by the expansion to 96 teams.  This year, the selection committee was struggling to find 34 deserving teams for at-large bids.  With 96 bids, the bubble will almost cease to exist, and the University of Phoenix will have a good opportunity to make the tournament.  In all seriousness, consider some of the teams that would have made the NCAA tournament under the 96 team system.  These teams are all rated from 75th-85th respectively in the RPI: Northeastern, Illinois State, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech, Portland, Wright State, Fairfield, St. Johns, IUPUI, Morehead State, and Weber State.  More than half of these teams would make the NCAA tournament.  Sounds scintillating and spectacular, doesn’t it.  Isn’t this why we fill out our brackets in anticipation each year?  To see who is going to win the Weber State vs. Northeastern game?  If not, then get ready for it, because that is what it will become.

Not only will the tournament be a waste of time in the first (pseudo) round where not everyone plays, but the regular season and conference tournaments will be rendered unimportant as well.  Why should San Diego State play its heart out in the Mountain West Championship Game when, instead of being  a team that needs to get the conference auto bid to make the tournament, the Aztecs are a lock for the tournament because of so many extra bids?  Why should Saint Mary’s play hard against Gonzaga when the Gaels would be guaranteed a bid and would have nothing to play for in the conference tournament?  And in terms of the regular season, why should Louisville have to lay everything on the floor against Syracuse (twice) when that game doesn’t really matter under the new system, and the Cardinals just need to play decent and not have too many bad losses to make the tournament?  The answer is that these teams wouldn’t and shouldn’t have to play hard, because their NCAA tournament berths are all but set.  In order to add another 31 games to the NCAA tournament, the NCAA has made the first 4 months of the season worthless by making the qualifying standards for the tournament so low.  Some tradeoff by the NCAA.

So in addition to lowering the playing quality of the regular season, the conference championships, and the first round of the NCAA tournament, what else could be wrong with the system?  The new system would also take away from what fans love most about the NCAA tournament…the upsets.  With byes for the top 32 seeds, teams seeded 33-96 are at a severe disadvantage to advance far into the NCAA tournament.  Directly following Championship Week, the teams seeded 9-24 in each region would need to play 3 games in 6 days to advance to the Sweet 16, and 4 games in 8 days to advance to the Elite 8.  Consider Cornell, Saint Mary’s, and Northern Iowa, all of whom advanced to the Sweet 16.  Under the new system, these teams would have played their first games on either Thursday or Friday, then in the 2nd round on Saturday or Sunday would have played a completely fresh, higher seeded team (Temple, Richmond, and UNLV, respectively).  Then the teams would have needed to play the following Tuesday or Wednesday against a very high seeded team (Wisconsin, Villanova, and Kansas, respectively).  Would the tournament still have produced these 3 entertaining cinderella stories.  I find it VERY difficult to believe that the extra game in a 6 day span would not have affected these lower seeded teams on their Sweet 16 runs. 

To further this point (and yes, I wrote about this in my Feb 6th entry), consider the 1985 Villanova Wildcats, who pulled off arguably the greatest upset of all time to beat Georgetown in the National Championship Game 25 years ago yesterday.  It was an absolutely unbelievable story which no one associated with college basketball will ever forget.  The scene of Ed Pinckney and Rollie Massimino celebrating like little kids after the game is inspiring to all.  The question is, would Nova have won the National Championship under this new system?  There is little or no difference between the resume of an 8 seed and that of a 9 seed.  Villanova, the 8th seed, played Dayton, the 9th seed in the first round, and that easily could have been reversed.  Let’s say that Nova was instead the 9 seed, and had to play the region’s 24th seed before advancing to play Dayton, the 8 seed.  Nova only beat Dayton by 2 points when the team was fresh, so who knows how the team would have played with tired legs.  Then, if the team beat Dayton, it would have had to come back 3 days later to play top seeded Michigan, who had played 1 less game in that 6 day span than Villanova.  Would Villanova have been able to overcome this severe disadvantage to defeat the mighty, top seeded Wolverines?  Maybe, but maybe not too.  Maybe the Wildcats would have been too tired and too sore from playing an extra game in a period of 6 days to defeat Michigan.  Maybe the best cinderella story in the history of college basketball never would have happened.  And  by this reasoning, maybe another cinderella story of the Villanova caliber could never occur again.  Is that good for college basketball?  I can not see how that could be. 

By my count, this means that the regular season, conference tournaments, first round of the NCAA tournaments, and cinderella stories that emerge later in the NCAA tournament would all be ruined by this new system.  Not to mention the STUDENT-athletes that advance far into the tournament would miss upwards of 2 weeks of class, whereas now most students miss only about 1 week.  So, just to clarify, what was the reason to try to switch the tournament system when it was at the height of its popularity among fans, players, and coaches.  Oh, that’s right, the money, just the money.  As John Feinstein said in his Washington Post article today, ”It makes cents, but no sense.”  The NCAA is going to make a lot of “cents” by expanding the NCAA tournament.

April 1st, 1985: A Game to Remember

April 1st, 1985.  25 years ago to the day.  The 1985 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship was played in Rupp Arena, in Lexington, Kentucky.  The measley, woefully inadequate Villanova Wildcats were going to get crushed, embarrassed, and destroyed by the mighty Georgetown Hoyas, led by unstoppable center Patrick Ewing.  Georgetown was going to capture its 2nd consecutive National Championship and become the dynasty of the 1980s.  April Fools?

Villanova, led by a fiery Italian coach in Rollie Massimino, pulled off arguably the greatest upset in the history of sports.  This team was too small, wasn’t skilled enough, and didn’t deserve to be on the same stage as Georgetown.  No one except the Villanova family, the players, and the coaches thought the team had a chance.  Jim Boeheim, coach of conference foe Syracuse, was the only coach interviewed who gave Nova any chance in the game.  Boston Herald columnist DG FitzMaurice said ” . . . in the spirit of humanitarianism . . . I must demand that tonight’s championship game be canceled. Just hold the coronation as planned, send the Villanova kids out for a hot meal, and God bless” (philly.com).  The “Villanova kids” were sent out alright, but as NCAA National Champions.  The team shot 22-28 from the field (78.57%) en route to a 66-64 win to capture the National Championship.  Nova was able to get Patrick Ewing in foul trouble very early in the 2nd half, and tied the mighty Hoyas in rebounding (17 for both teams).  Nova also was able to penetrate the Georgetown zone as well and consistently get to the free throw line, where the team went 22-27 from the line, only a slight percentage improvement (81.48) over the team’s field goal percentage (78.57).  Patrick Ewing knew he would walk off the floor for the final time as a Georgetown Hoya that night, but he was supposed to have a small piece of the basketball net in his hand.  Instead, Ed Pinckney had that piece of net in his hand, and longtime Villanova trainer Jake Nevin was wearing that net around his head.  It was Villanova’s first National Championship in Men’s Basketball, and was the first Final Four appearance since Jack Kraft coached the team in 1971.

For Villanova fans, this is the day we all wait for each year.  A day to celebrate the accomplishment by this tight-knit, team-oriented group of basketball players.  The team that was an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament and the team that was embarrassed by Pittsburgh in the final regular season game.  A day to celebrate a non-conventional coach that wasn’t always loved at Villanova, but the man who was able to get the best out of each and every player on the team.  A day to celebrate Ed Pinckney, Dwayne McClain, Gary McLain, Harold Pressley, Harold Jenson, Chuck Everson, Dwight Wilbur, Mark Plansky, RC Massimino, and Steve Pinone, the players who contributed to that April 1st National Championship victory.  A day to celebrate Al Severance, longtime head coach who led the Cats to the Final Four in 1939.  He died that morning in Lexington.  A day to celebrate Jake Nevin, who followed the team around for each game even though his health was failing.  The fieldhouse on campus was named in his honor the following December after his death.

It is simply a day to remember and celebrate what those men did for their own legacies and for the legacy of Villanova University.  April 1st, 1985, an April Fools Day that will live forever.

NCAA Tournament Rounds 3-4: What we Learned?

We learned that Butler is for real.  The Bulldogs beat the much more talented and athletic Big East and Big XII powerhouses Syracuse and Kansas State in succession to advance to the Final Four.

We learned the Gordon Hayward can really play with the big teams and players.  Hayward had a great year, but some (including myself) still questioned his ability to score consistently outside of the Horizon League.  He proved us all wrong by being the major factor that allowed Butler to advance to Indianapolis to play a virtual home game in the Final Four.

We learned that Tom Izzo is the new Mr. March.  If Reggie Jackson is Mr. October, then Tom Izzo can claim the title of Mr. March.  He has helped Michigan State advance to 6 Final Fours in the past 12 years, including the past 2 seasons.  This year’s journey was especially difficult, as the team was a 5 seed and advanced to the Final Four without the services of point guard and team leader Kalin Lucas for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games.  No one in recent memory has prepared his team better for the NCAA tournament than Tom Izzo.

We learned that freshmen, though talented, are still freshmen and can still be affected negatively by lack of experience in the NCAA tournament.  John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe were the leaders for the Kentucky Wildcats.  However, after a convincing win over Wake Forest in the 2nd round, the team went cold and could not make up for its inaccuracy and sloppiness.  The Wildcats almost gave Cornell the game in the Sweet 16, but Cornell could not hit jumpers with any effectiveness.  Kentucky did lose to West Virginia, who did make shots.  Kentucky committed too many turnovers (16), missed too many foul shots (55.2% from the line), and was too inconsistent from 3 point range (4-32).  Freshmen mistakes were far to commonplace for Kentucky in the regional semis and final.

We learned that initial predictions mean almost nothing.  Most analysts picked Duke as the first #1 seed to be eliminated, and expected Kansas to win the National Championship.  However, it was Kansas who was the first #1 seed eliminated, and Duke is now the only #1 seed remaining in the NCAA tournament.  Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, and Brian Zoubek have all played very well in the tournament, and look to lead the Blue Devils to a National Championship.

In the next few days, we will again learn, as we do every year, how long the week wait between the Elite 8 and Final Four is.  What to watch during the long week?  The NIT semifinals will be played tomorrow night on ESPN2, and the final will be played Thursday.

The Final Four is Set

The final 2 spots in the Final Four were decided today, as Michigan State beat Tennessee in a thriller, and Duke pulled away late to beat Baylor and advance.  This coming Saturday, Butler will face Michigan State at 6:07 ET, and West Virginia will face Duke at 8:37 ET.  The Final Four will be played in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.

My predictions:

In the early game, Butler and Michigan State will square off in what will be a battle of defensive minded teams.  Both teams have shown the ability to control the ball and the game itself in the most important moments of games.  In this game, I believe Butler will be able to feed off the home Indianapolis crowd.  The Bulldogs will be able to control the tempo, and will be able to score with more efficiency than Michigan State.  Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard lead a dynamic inside out offense, with 3 point shooters Shelvin Mack and Willie Veasley providing the fireworks from beyond the arc.

Butler will have to deal with Michigan State big men Delvon Roe, Raymar Morgan, and Draymond Green off the bench.  However, the slightly undersized Butler team has handled much bigger teams during the tournament and has still managed to advance.  The Spartans’ tallest consistent player is 6’8″ (Roe and Morgan), while Kansas State and Syracuse both have starters taller than those of Michigan State.  Therefore, I do not believe that Michigan State’s slight size advantage will dramatically affect the course of the game.  I think Butler will play strong defensively, and Michigan State will not be able to shoot well enough to keep up with the hot shooting of Butler.

Butler 57–Michigan State 55

In the late game, West Virginia will play Duke in a battle between traditional conference powers in the Big East and ACC.  Duke will look to control the perimeter, and West Virginia, albeit having success from the perimeter against Kentucky, will look to control the inside with its size and athleticism across its roster.  The premier matchups will be Jon Scheyer against Da’Sean Butler and Brian Zoubek against most likely Kevin Jones inside.  Will these Duke players be able to stay will Jones and Butler? And will Butler be able to quell the scoring power of Jon Scheyer?  The answers to these questions may ultimately determine the winner.

In addition, the game will hinge on West Virginia’s ability to shoot the ball.  West Virginia is one of the most inconsistent shooting teams in the country, but when the team is shooting well, almost no team in the country can control their mix of inside and outside effectiveness.  I think West Virginia will struggle initially to shoot in Lucas Oil Stadium because of the difference in depth perception in a football arena and a basketball arena.  Yes, I realize the team played in the Carrier Dome in regional semifinal and final, but the Carrier Dome situates the court entirely differently than Lucas Oil Stadium will.  In Syracuse the court stretches sideline to sideline in the endzone relative to the football field, whereas it will stretch from 35 yard line to 35 yard line in Indy, providing for a very different depth perception for players on an already inconsistent shooting team.  I do not think Duke will be affected as badly by this distraction because of its consistent shooting ability. 

 However, I do think that West Virginia’s inside presence will be the difference in the game.  Duke had trouble with Baylor’s big men today, and West Virginia’s big men are as big and arguably more talented than those of Baylor.  West Virginia will hit just enough outside shots to keep themselves in the game, and the Mountaineers’ solid defense will thwart Duke’s offensive attack.  West Virginia will control the inside and rebounding as it has done all  year.

West Virginia 68–Duke 62

The NCAA National Championship Game will be played on Monday night between the winners of these two games.

Final Four Update

Butler has just defeated Kansas State to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis.  Between this region, the West, and the Midwest region (Mich St. vs. Tenn), there will be 2 teams seeded 5th or higher that will advance to the Final Four. 

In the late game tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats will play the West Virginia Mountaineers in the East regional final.  Tomorrow, the Duke Blue Devils will play the Baylor Bears in the South regional final, and the Michigan State Spartans will play the Tennessee Volunteers in the Midwest regional final.

Another interesting statistic: With the Kansas State loss today, only 1 conference has more than 1 team remaining in the NCAA tournament.  That conference is the SEC, which certainly isn’t the conference most were expecting to have the most success in this year’s tournament.

***************************************************************************

UPDATE:  After West Virginia’s win over Kentucky, the SEC was reduced to 1 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament.  Now 6 conferences have 1 team remaining in the tournament: Big East (West Virginia), Big XII (Baylor), ACC (Duke), SEC (Tennessee), Big 10 (Michigan State), and the Horizon League (Butler).

What Happened to the Kansas Jayhawks?

Kansas was the #1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, but lost in the 2nd round to #9 seeded Northern Iowa.  How could this have happened to the top overall seed that was the favorite to win the National Championship?

First, and most importantly, Northern Iowa was just that good.  The Panthers hit an impressive 9 three-pointers, including 4 from Ali Farokhmanesh and 2 from 7 foot center Jordan Eglseder.  These 2 players led the Panthers with 16 and 14 points, respectively.  Farokhmanesh consistently hit outside shots and kept the Jayhawk defense on its heels, while Eglseder was an inside-outside threat that Cole Aldrich could not seem to handle defensively.  The Panthers did not just slip by a team that was struggling; this Northern Iowa team outplayed the Jayhawks for 40 minutes and showed that it can play with anyone in the country.

However, as well as Northern Iowa played, Kansas still had its problems.  Lets start with the play of Cole Aldrich.  Against small conference team like Northern Iowa, it is important to utilize big men.  Because most small conference teams have only 1 big man, as Northern Iowa did, if that player gets in foul trouble early, it is almost impossible for the team to respond.  That big man came in the form of 7 foot Jordan Eglseder, who scored 14 points and held Cole Aldrich to 13.  13 points isn’t poor production on Aldrich’s part, but Kansas did not seem to take the initiative to throw the ball inside to Aldrich consistently.  His points were spread over the course of the game, and he only took 8 field goal attempts, of which he hit 6.  With a 75% efficiency from the field, why didn’t Kansas try to get him the ball more?  Cole Adrich needed to be a bigger part of the Jayhawk offense, and an increased presence by Aldrich would have helped Kansas offensively, and would have limited the effectiveness of UNI’s Eglseder.

In addition, Kansas was horrid from 3 point range.  The Jayhawks shot 6-23 (26.1%) from beyond the arc, as Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor went a combined 0-11 from 3.  Sharpshooter Brady Morningstar played only 8 minutes and went 0-1 from 3 point range.  Kansas gave up a lot of points both by shooting poorly from 3 point range and focusing too much on the 3 point shot itself.

The 2 main problems with the Kansas Jayhawks in the loss to Northern Iowa were the amount of three point shots taken, and the poor percentage from distance.  23 shots from 3 point range is too much when the team has Cole Aldrich inside shooting 75% from the field on the day.  In addition, the poor shooting of senior leader Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor adversely affected the Jayhawks chances at a trip to the Sweet 16.  Finally, Northern Iowa just played well.  The team outplayed Kansas both inside and outside, and Ali Farokhmanesh and Jordan Eglseder were players that Kansas could not stop.  Therefore, Kansas did have several problems in this game, but Northern Iowa deserves the majority of the credit for the victory over top seeded Kansas.

NCAA Tournament Round 1: What We Learned

We learned that this is the year of the upset.  Only 2 years after the majority of higher seeds won and all four #1 seeds made the Final Four, there were 8 wins by double digit seeds in this year’s first round.

We learned that the Pac-10 was stronger at the top than we all thought.  Cal and Washington both won their games in which they were underdogs, and put the conference at a perfect 2-0 mark in the first round.

We learned that the Big East isn’t as dominant as we all thought.  The Big East went 4-4 and lost every one of its seeds above a 3, and lost a 3 seed itself in Georgetown.  Most Big East teams seemed to come out flat, make a late run, and either win at the very end or come just short.

We learned that the Atlantic 10 finally came down to Earth.  Losses by Temple and Richmond as favorites over automatic qualifiers lessened the supposed impact made by the Atlantic 10 on the college basketball landscape this year.  Xavier held the conference up with a win over Minnesota.

We learned that slow, burn style, controlled offenses can backfire on teams.  These slow styles prevent more talented teams from putting their opponents away early, and allows these teams to stay in the game for much too long, and if the team is behind, doesn’t allow them to efficiently come back in the game.  Georgetown and Notre Dame learned these lessons the hard way, and Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Purdue came very close to incurring the same fate.

Finally, we learned (if we didn’t already know) that the NCAA tournament first round is the greatest spectacle in college sports, and spans the 2 best days of the entire year, followed only by Saturday and Sunday in the 2nd round.

NCAA Tournament First Thursday Recap

Wow, what a day.  I am still trying to catch my breath from the first day of the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Slightly over 12 consecutive hours of NCAA basketball brought us buzzer beaters, upsets, and upset scares that will define this year’s NCAA tournament.

Let’s start with the first slate of games, which tipped from 12:20-12:30.  Florida played BYU in a double overtime thriller that included end of period stops by BYU that kept the Cougars in the game and allowed the team to eventually win the game in double overtime.  Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars and refused to let them lose after Florida mounted a late comeback to force overtime.

Also, Villanova played 15th seeded Robert Morris in the early slate.  Robert Morris came out with intensity and enthusiasm, and Villanova came out flat.  Turnovers, unnecessary fouls, and missed open shots highlighted an extremely frustrating day, to say the least, for Villanova players and fans.  The Cats were down 8 points with just under 4 minutes remaining when Scottie Reynolds singlehandedly put the team on his back.  He missed only 1 free throw on the day and attacked the rim with both intelligence and agression, which allowed him to draw many fouls and put him on the line.  Last minute attempts by both Nova and RMU went begging, and the game went to overtime.  Nova came out much more aggressively in the overtime period and took a convincing lead early in the period, but Robert Morris cut the Nova lead to 3 before Reggie Redding hit 1 of 2 free throws (after a very stupid decision to waste 2 extra seconds by holding the ball and getting fouled instead of scoring an uncontested layup).  Then RMU hit a 3 to cut the lead to 1, Nova hit 2 free throws, and Robert Morris missed a last second 3 pointer off the back iron which would have tied the game.  Nova escaped and won a thriller, 73-70.

In the 3rd game of the afternoon slate, Notre Dame played Old Dominion, winner of the CAA.  The Irish and Monarchs played a slow, burn style offense, as Notre Dame seemed to dictate the pace of the game.  However, Old Dominion was content to hang with the Irish, stay in the game (as usually occurs when a team plays a burn style offense), and then try to win at the end.  This is exactly what the Monarchs did.  Old Dominion took the lead with under 5 minutes remaining, and held off Notre Dame to win 51-50 after Notre Dame missed several 3 point attempts to tie the game, but instead made a tip in at the buzzer to lose by 1 point. 

There were 4 games in the 2:30-2:50 time frame.  Murray State and Vanderbilt led this slate of games, and may have been the best game of the day.  Murray State held a 3-5 point lead for the majority of the game, until the final 5 minutes when Vanderbilt mounted a comeback and took the lead.  The teams proceeded to trade the lead back and forth, until Murray State forward Danero Thomas hit a 17 foot jump from the foul line extended as time expired to win the game.  Murray State had claimed the first big upset of the tournament, and there were certainly more upsets and big finishes to come.

Baylor played 14th seeded Sam Houston State in what would also become an unexpected thriller.  The teams traded the lead back and forth all game, and the game was tied at 55 with under 4 minutes remaining.  Only at this point did the Bears come to life, and outscored Sam Houston State 13-4 to end the game and escape with a 68-59 victory.

Kansas State played North Texas in a game that was only close for about the first 10 minutes.  The Wildcats handily beat 15th seeded North Texas 82-62.

Finally, Richmond played St. Mary’s in the 7-10 matchup that was delayed almost an hour by the Villanova Robert Morris thriller.  This was one of the most interesting games in the first round because it posed 2 smaller conference teams at a similar talent level.  The 1st half proved to be a tight, well played half, as the teams were tied at 36 after the 1st half.  St. Mary’s took control early in the 2nd half and refused to give it up, as the Gaels led the Spiders by more than 15 points towards the end of the 2nd half.  Richmond mounted a slight comeback, but simply did not have enough time or firepower to come back.  St. Mary’s won 80-71 and moved on the play Villanova on Saturday.

In the “dinner hour,” there was only 1 game played, as UTEP faced Butler.  UTEP, the 12 seed, looked to upset the Horizon League winner and move on to face Murray State.  UTEP took a 6 point lead into half, but Gordon Hayward and Butler took complete control in the 2nd half, and won handily 77-59.

During the night session, there were 3 buzzer beaters.  That’s right, 3 buzzer beaters in 8 games.  The nightcap was what highlighted the first day.  First, UNLV faced Northern Iowa in the 8 vs. 9 matchup.  The game was back and forth all game, until Northern Iowa guard and superscorer Ali Farokhmanesh hit an NBA length 3 point shot with 7 seconds remaining.  UNLV could not get a shot off in the final seconds of the game, and the Rebels lost 69-66 to the Panthers of Northern Iowa.

Kentucky took care of 16th seeded East Tennessee State 100-71 in a blowout.

The Marquette vs. Washington game was one of the most anticipated games in the first round.  Marquette took control of the game, especially early in the 2nd half, but then the Huskies crawled back into the game.  Washington forced a tie at 78 with 2:09 remaining.  The teams went back and forth without scoring until Quincy Pondexter hit a contested layup as he dribbled to his left with 1 second remaining.  Lazar Hayward (my pick for Player of the Year in the Big East) was just long on a halfcourt shot attempt which would have won the game.  However, the Huskies came back to shock the Golden Eagles 80-78.

In the final primetime game, Georgetown played 14th seeded Ohio, winner of the MAC conference.  Ohio played out of its shoes, as the team shot 58.2% from the field and 56.5% from 3 point range.  Georgetown simply could not keep up with the rampant shooting by the Bobcats.  However, the Hoyas were not without blame.  The Hoyas’ 18 turnovers gave Ohio a lot a momentum and opportunity, which carried the Bobcats through the game.

In the late night session, each of the games were interesting for either the entire game or the majority of the game.  Kansas played 16th seeded Lehigh, and the surprising and upstart Mountain Hawks answered each of Kansas’ runs until about the 10 minute mark in the 2nd half, at which point Kansas sprinted ahead and did not look back.  However, upset minded fans were kept enthralled for a large part of the game by Lehigh’s aggressive, run and gun style, and the team’s 3 point shooting success.  KU moved ahead late and won 90-74.

Wake Forest and Texas was an absolutely unbelievable game.  Two teams that really struggled down the stretch in the regular season played one of the most closely contested games of the 1st round.  Wake had the lead for the majority of the game, but Texas creeped back into the game late to force overtime.  Texas looked to put the Demon Deacons away with a 7 point lead in the extra frame, but Wake Forest would not give up.  The combination of scoring by Wake late in the extra frame and missed free throws by Texas put the Deacs down only 1 with 10 seconds.  Speedy guard Ish Smith raced down the floor, changed directions twice, and finally shot a twisting 15 foot jumper that fell to give Wake the 81-80 win.  What an unbelievable finish this game provided.  Wake will play Kentucky on Saturday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

Tennessee played 11th seeded San Diego State, winner of the Mountain West.  Tennessee controlled the game by retaining a 3-5 point lead for the majority of the game, but San Diego State mounted a mini-run in the last 5 minutes to cut the Tennessee lead to 1 point with 10 seconds remaining.  However, after Tennessee hit 2 free throws, the Aztecs misses a last second 3 point shot that would have tied the game and sent it to overtime.  The Volunteers jogged off the court victoriously celebrating to “Rocky Top,” and the team will return Saturday to play Ohio.

The final came of the night was between New Mexico and 14th seeded Montana, who won the Big Sky Conference.  The upset minded Grizzlies took a 1 point lead into half, after which New Mexico went on a run that put them ahead by double digits.  However, the Grizzlies slowly creeped their way back into the game, and Montana cut its deficit to 1 point at 1:44 remaining in the game.  Anthony Johnson did everything he could to keep Montana in the game, but New Mexico was simply too strong in the end, and the Lobos won 62-57.

That is a brief recap of all 16 games of the first round of the NCAA tournament.  It was one of the best days I have ever seen in the tournament, and certainly the best first day of the tournament I have ever witnessed.  The remainder of the first round will be played Friday, March 19th.

Snubs

Here are some of the teams that I believe were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee:

Snub 1:  Illinois- The Illini were 19-14 this season, including a 10-8 record in the Big 10 Conference.  In addition, the Illini won 5 games against the RPI Top 100, including wins over Clemson (7 seed), Vanderbilt (4 seed), Wisconsin twice (4 seed), and Michigan State (5 seed).  The team also took Ohio State to double overtime in the semifinals of the Big 10 tournament.  2 early bad losses are the factors that hurt their resume most, but the big wins should have been enough to get the Illini in the tournament.

Team that Illinois should replace:  Utah State- The Aggies have 1 good win this year, and that was against BYU.  With almost no out of conference schedule strength (and no in-conference strength either), the Aggies do not deserve an at large bid.  With losses to Northeastern, Louisiana Tech, Long Beach State, Utah, Saint Mary’s, and New Mexico State twice, Utah State has no resume and doesn’t deserve to be close to the NCAA tournament.

Snub 2: Seton Hall- The Pirates were not directly on the bubble entering Selection Sunday, but the team is more than deserving of a bid.  The team has beaten Notre Dame, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Cornell this year, which are all tournament teams.  The Pirates have an impressive strength of schedule, and 7 of its 12 losses have come to ranked teams.  In addition, 11 of its 12 losses came against NCAA tournament teams.  The only loss to a non-tournament team was South Florida, who until 2 weeks ago was a bubble team.  4 wins against tournament teams, a 10-10 record in the Big East, no bad losses, and 11 of 12 losses against tournament teams.  That should be more than good enough, and the selection committee has to look past the fact that the Big East already has 8 teams in the tournament.  That statistic has nothing to do with anything, and Seton Hall got wrongly snubbed for this feeling among the committee.

Team that should replace: UTEP- The Miners haven’t beaten anyone this year.  The Miners haven’t beaten either an at-large touranament team or an automatic qualifier that would have been an at-large team anyway.  That is simply not good enough.  You have to beat somebody, and the Miners haven’t.

Teams that were NOT snubbed (contrary to the belief of some):

Team 1: Mississippi State- The Bulldogs had few big wins, as wins over Old Dominion and Mississippi twice highlighted the regular season for the team.  That isn’t enough.  Mississippi State made an impressive run through the SEC tournament, beating Florida and Vanderbilt before losing by 1 point in overtime to Kentucky in the final.  However, the lack of big wins puts the Bulldogs behind Seton Hall and Illinois in my book, although I do believe the team has a much better resume than Utah State and UTEP.  Therefore, in my tournament, the Bulldogs would be the first team out.

“But Mississippi State beat Florida in the SEC tournament and has a better record.  Why not put them in over Florida?”

Florida has a much better resume.  With wins over Florida State, Michigan State, Tennessee, and Mississippi State itself throughout the regular season, Florida is much more deserving of a bid than Mississippi State even considering the late win by Mississippi State against Florida in the SEC tournament.  In addition, the Gators had a much more difficult out of conference schedule than the Bulldogs.

Team 2: Virginia Tech- The Hokies have a good record overall and in conference, but a lack of out of conference schedule strength and a lack of big wins cost the Hokies.  The team has 3 wins over NCAA tournament teams and no wins over ranked teams.  That simply is not enough.  However, I still would have put the Hokies in over teams such as Utah State and UTEP, because the schedule strength for the Hokies is better than that of UTEP and Utah State.

Team 3: Rhode Island- The Rams haven’t played anyone either.  The team has only 1 win all year over a tournament team, which was against Oklahoma State.  Rhode Island didn’t convert in any of its opportunities against Temple, Richmond, or Xavier in the Atlantic 10.  That isn’t even close to enough, and the Rams do not deserve a bid.