All Things NCAA Tournament!

The NCAA Tournament, along with the Super Bowl, is probably one of the two most anticipated sporting events of the year. There is a reason the stock market slows, thousands call in sick and we get to read all of the dollar figures the tournament supposedly costs our employers in lost work. I say garbage to that nonsense, but that is an argument for another day. If we cannot enjoy the NCAA Tournament than what can we enjoy? The opening weekend of the 2010 NCAA Tournament did not disappoint as it was one of the most exciting opening four days in some time. Kansas’ loss to Northern Iowa Saturday night highlighted the madness in “March Madness” and reminded us all of why we love this time of year.

If you missed any of my previous coverage, check it out and let me know what you think. You can see my Selection Sunday piece here and my original bracket selections here. I ran a running diary of all the action on Thursday here and a recap of day one and day two. Finally, check out my piece on what appeared to be a replay of so many of Pitt’s early exits from the tournament here.

Let's get on to all the different thoughts I had while watching the games this weekend and looking ahead to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. Let’s call it the special edition, NCAA Smorgasbord!

• Have to start with what everyone is talking about and that is Northern Iowa’s shocking upset of Kansas in the 2nd round. In one pool I am in, all 137 entries had Kansas advancing to the Sweet Sixteen and 110 entries (over 80%) had Kansas in the Final Four. Nationally, somewhere between 40-45% of the country had Kansas as their National Champion, including our President. Needless to say, this loss was a shocker to everyone that is not a friend or family member of a Northern Iowa player and sent many brackets up in flames.

• What shocked me was Kansas’ total lack of urgency until it was too late. With seniors Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins coming back this season for the sole purpose of winning a championship, much the same way Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson did for North Carolina last year, one would think that Kansas would be ready everytime they stepped on the floor. That was not the case Saturday night as Kansas looked somewhat disinterested in what was going on until they found themselves in a desperate attempt to rally back in the closing minutes. When Ali Farokhmanesh drilled that three with 35 seconds left Aldrich, Collins and the Jayhawks’ dream of a National Championship went down with it.

• Speaking of that three pointer, at the time the kid shot it, I was thinking the same thing as most people, “no, no, no, yes!” As I thought about it more afterward, however, I believe it was a great shot and not a dumb play whatsoever. Had Farokhmanesh not shot it there, Kansas would have played defense for the entire possession and had a chance to get the ball back down only a point with ten seconds or more left in the game. The way Northern Iowa was struggling with Kansas’ pressure, there is no way they get off a shot as good as that one and quite possibly would have turned the ball over even sooner. Give credit to Ali Farokhmanesh for a wonderful and gutsy shot.

• Northern Iowa’s run just might not be over either. They will take on Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen without their star Kalin Lucas who ruptured his Achilles tendon in the Spartans’ dramatic win over Maryland on Sunday. Tom Izzo, quite possibly the best coach in the game, stopped himself from calling time out on the Spartans’ final possession allowing Corey Lucious to play hero and hit a three at the buzzer to advance Michigan State. I hate when coaches call timeouts in that situation, giving the defense a chance to set up and take away your best options. Maryland players were frantically trying to challenge shots, which allowed Lucious to get off a wide open look from the top of the key. It was another great win and coaching performance in Tom Izzo’s storied career.

• Ohio State fans have to be feeling pretty good today. The only thing that will stop them from advancing to the Final Four would be their own poor performance. Neither Tennessee nor the winner of Northern Iowa and Michigan State sans-Lucas can match the talent of the Buckeyes. If Evan Turner finds his shot that was missing in the first two games, I expect Ohio State to cruise into the Final Four this weekend.

• Before we go into the rest of the regions, there are two non-basketball related items I wanted to touch on. First, CBS’ coverage was absolutely terrible over the weekend in my opinion. There were too many instances where we were left watching blowouts while a close game was being played deep into the second half. Even worse, there were great games going on in the second half while we were stuck watching the first half of another game. And where was the split screen when two great games were near the end at the same time?!? In Pittsburgh, we hardly saw any of the Texas-Wake Forest, Michigan State-Maryland or BYU-Florida games. Three great games that came down to the wire or overtime and all we got to see was the final seconds of each. I understand that we can buy the package to watch all the games, but that is only available to DirecTV customers. I am a DirecTV customer, but I like to get out and about to watch the games with friends, family, whoever. Besides, most of America is not a DirecTV subscriber. We can only hope that ESPN takes over the next contract and we have the ability to watch the game we want to watch when we want to watch it.

• Second, I think that the officiating has been excellent so far. I do not think there has been one instance where a call or the officiating was the story of a game. The lane violation in the Michigan State-New Mexico State game is the only call I have even heard discussed, and the correct call was made in that instance. It is always a good thing when no one is talking about the officiating, but I wanted to give credit where credit is due, especially in such a thankless job.

• Kentucky looked like the team to beat destroying each of its first two opponents. The Wildcats also answered some of their shooting questions as John Wall and Eric Bledsoe went a combined 15-22 from three-point range. Yes, if Kentucky plays like that they will be nearly impossible to beat, but that is a big question when you are talking about a freshmen dominated team. The key for John Calipari’s boys will be consistency and maintaining this level of play for four more games.

• Kentucky’s hardest opponent might be in their own region and that is West Virginia. WVU has the length and athleticism to match up with Kentucky more-so than any team left in the tournament. The only real question is if the Mountaineers can score enough to keep pace with Kentucky. If the Mountaineers can get by a scrappy, talented Washington team, the Elite Eight match-up between Kentucky and West Virginia could be the best game of the tournament.

• I thought from the beginning that Duke had the easiest road to the Elite Eight and probably even the Final Four and nothing has happened that has changed my mind. The Dukies hammered Arkansas-Pine Bluff and California and should have no problem getting by a depleted Purdue squad before a match-up against Baylor or St. Mary’s with a Final Four berth on the line. Not exactly a murderer’s row of opponents for the Blue Devils.

• St. Mary’s has been one of the surprises of the tournament so far along with Cornell, Washington, and of course Northern Iowa. The Gaels will be in for a tough test, however, as Baylor has the size to match-up with Omar Samham down low (the leading scorer in the tournament so far with 61 points in two games) and the athleticism to challenge the St. Mary’s shooters on the outside. I think the slipper falls off for all four Cinderella teams this Thursday and Friday but if I had to rank their chances of winning, it would go Northern Iowa, then Washington, then St. Mary’s, and then Cornell facing a much too-athletic Kentucky team.

• Outside of Kentucky, Syracuse has been the next most impressive team in the tournament thus far. The Orange absolutely manhandled a talented Gonzaga team on Sunday on their way to the Sweet Sixteen. More importantly, Syracuse’s best player Wes Johnson looked healthy and explosive for the first time in at least a month, pouring in 31 points and 14 rebounds. Syracuse has two tough games ahead of them, though, with a very scrappy Butler team that just flat out wins basketball games and the winner of Xavier-Kansas State, two teams that are playing extremely well right now. The return of center Arinze Onuaku, who is expected to play this week after injuring his quadriceps in the Big East Tournament, would be a big boost for the ‘Cuse as they try to make their first Final Four since 2003.

• Lastly, as my original bracket like so many others has fallen apart, here are my predictions for this weekend’s action. Ohio State over Michigan State in the Midwest, Syracuse over Kansas State in the West, Kentucky over WVU in the East and Baylor over Duke in the South. That would give me three of my four original Final Four teams and an Ohio State team who I was very tempted to pick originally (and one who I picked to win the whole thing in some secondary brackets I filled out).

Enjoy the games this weekend everyone and let’s hope that the excitement from the first weekend carries into the rounds of sixteen and eight!