Some Excitement, All Chalk
The first half of the Sweet Sixteen was established today with some exciting games, but, ultimately, with all the higher seeds emerging victorious.
Last Basket Wins
Indiana returns to tournament glory with a thrilling seat-of-the-pants victory over bracket-busting VCU. VCU’s Rob Brandenberg had a great look at a three to win the game just before time expired, but it bounced just short on the rim to give Indiana the victory in a game they never really controlled. As a long-time Hoosier, it is refreshing to see them back in the Sweet Sixteen. Their next opponent, however, will be a very tough out…
Blown Away
The Iowa State Cyclones were the ones hit by a tornado as Kentucky went on a furious scoring blitz in the second half to win going away. Among the number 1 seeds, Kentucky looks completely dominant so far. The Indiana-Kentucky match up will be a classic, but it will take a minor miracle for the Hoosiers to keep up on a neutral court, their early season victory over the Wildcats notwithstanding.
Fear the ‘Fro
The clash between Marquette and Murray State featured more hair and blocked shots per capita than any game in the tournament in a decade. The official box score says there were eight blocked shots in this game, but it seemed more like 80. Between the afro’d Edward Daniel and the dread-locked Jae Crowder there were 23 points, 4 blocks, 4 steals, 3 assists, and 27 rebounds! Marquette looks fierce, and with Mizzou out of the way, the door is wide open for them.
Highlight Reel
Brady Heslip poured in 27 points on 9 three pointers as the Baylor Fighting Highlighters advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by blinding the Colorado Buffalos with those hideous highlighter-yellow uniforms. I predict their next opponent will petition the NCAA to wear sunglasses on the floor.
Forensic Madness
Ok, I know I’ve ranted about this already, but this business of reviewing a video replay for minutes and minutes in an attempt to determine if a player grazed another player’s chin with his elbow is preposterous. All the air was let out of the ball and the room in the IU-VCU game as the officials took forever to decide if Sheehey should get a flagrant one. It’s worse than the replay delays in the NFL, and that’s saying a lot. There’s no place for this in basketball. Make the call. Move on.
Contest Update
So, with all the higher seeds winning today, the result in the contest standings is subtle. Conservative prognosticators plodded slowly and steadily up the standings, while riskier pickers remained stagnant or fell slightly. Tomorrow’s games will likely prove more dramatic with seven double-digit seeds in the fray. The Sweet Sixteen is guaranteed to include at least two of them, as two games involve double-digit seeds playing each other. There are some Scategories bonuses to be had tomorrow as well, so keep your eye on the standings.
Kasiah Hand continues to hold on to first place in the standings. Meanwhile, here are a few awards to keep things interesting.
- The Soldier On award goes to Shane “Soldiers can’t be wrong” Rose, recent U.S. Army enlistee and currently in 14th place. We salute you.
- The You Beginner Luck award, given in memory of Noriyuki “Pat” Morita of Karate Kid fame, goes to contest rookies Kristin Bidwell and Lucas Hendricks, both hanging around the top 10.
- The Remember The Tortoise Beat The Hare award goes to Wayne Murray, once in 141st but now sneaking steadily up the standings to 31st.
- The Spare Us Your Manifesto award goes to the enigmatic Uniblocker, currently in 100th place.
- The Maybe You Should Stay Behind The Curtain award goes to yours truly. I’m stuck in the mid 400’s.
More games, more commentary, and more awards tomorrow.
The Wizard of Whiteland