Matt Painter has his young team refocused and rolling. Watch out!! they totally took Baylor out of the game in the first half enroute to their 10th straight opening round win. Four guys in double figures led by Grant is a trademark of this team. The win keeps the Big 10 undefeated.
Kudos to Scott Drew who got Baylor into the tournament this year after bringing the program back from the dead. Bad line, sorry. Curtis Jerrells showed why he is one of the best guards in the Big 12 with 27 points and 8 assists.
In Colorado, the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts got their wings clipped by a rugged Pittsburgh team. Once again it was defense that won out. Jaime Dixon has built this program on tough guard play and it was on full dispaly today. With Levance Fields healthy, the Panthers could be a threat in this tournament.
The biggest surprise so far was the route by UNLV of Kent State. The Rebels limited the Golden Flash to only 10 points in the first half anf forced 20 turnovers. The 10 points by Kent was the lowest since 2001 when Butler held Wake Forest to that score. Lon Kruger has done a wonderful job of mixing in four new starters and changing the toughness level of this team. They truley resemble their coach from his playing days.
Marquette disposed of a Kentucky team that many thought shouldn’t have made the field. I disagreed. Anyone who goes 12-4 in the SEC deserves to be in. And the Wildcats had a chance to tie with under 20 seconds, but turned it over. That’s kind of how the whole season went for them.
In the battle of perfect graduation rates, Stanford whacked Cornell. When you have twin 7′ it’s tough to lose.
