Two great matchups:
Florida vs. UCLA (rematch of last year’s title game)
Ohio State vs. Georgetown (Oden vs. Hibbard)
Anyone care to chime in with some early smack talk?
I’m sticking with my original picks – Florida over G’Town in the final. My other two FF teams (Kansas and A&M) have proven unworthy.
The Tar Heels came back from a 16-point deficit behind some terrific offensive rebounding by Marcus Ginyard. Despite all of Billy Packer’s second-guessing, Roy Williams stuck with his gameplan and his team took advantage of a series of careless turnovers, bad shots and failed box outs by the Trojans to get back into the game. I’m not sure that I remember seeing a team look so good and so bad in the same game. (I’m talking about USC, but the statement could also apply to North Carolina.) Apparently, USC head coach Tim Floyd agrees with me, based on his own meltdown at the end of the game. He tossed some tickets onto the court, which drew a technical with under a minute to play. Packer berated him for the outburst, but the game was basically over.
Meanwhile, the Ducks dominated UNLV for most of the game, getting out to a 58-40 lead, but the Runnin’ Rebels rallied to a 76-72 loss.
For all the parity in college basketball, the Elite Eight are made up of four #1 seeds (Florida, Kansas, UNC, Ohio St.), three #2 seeds (Georgetown, Memphis, UCLA) and a #3 seed (Oregon). The SEC, the Big Ten, the Big Twelve, the ACC, the Big East and Conference USA all have one team remaining, while the Pac-10 has two teams.
Saturday and Sunday feature some great matchups. Expect all eight teams to lay it on the line with a trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance.
Boy, it really looked like G-Town was going down. After back-to-back-to-back dumb fouls (with the lead!) by the Hoyas, Vanderbilt jumped ahead by one point with 0:16 on the clock. During the three previous possessions, Georgetown (for some reason) refused to get the ball to Big East POY Jeff Green, instead electing to take off the dribble jumpers. But on the last possession, they got the ball to Green in the post and he delivered. He got away with a travel, but he delivered.
Florida outlasted a tough Butler squad. They continue to find ways to win down the stretch, but they don’t utilize Al Horford enough. If everyone declares for the draft, I think Horford is the third best prospect after Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.
Man, the Buckeyes just keep playing with fire. Down 20 in the first half, they stormed back early in the second and were able to sneak past the Volunteers to advance to the Elite Eight. You have to like the “sticktoitiveness” they’ve shown over the last two games, but if they get down big against Georgetown, Florida or Kansas, it’s doubtful that those teams will let them back in the game.
Two other top seeds – #1 Kansas and #2 Memphis – dodged bullets as well. If not for two blown (moderately contested) layups by Texas A&M, the Aggies would be facing the Buckeyes on Saturday. I thought this would be a 8-10 point win for A&M, but the Tigers showed some poise in crunch time despite having a regular season schedule where only six games were decided by fewer than 10 points.
Southern Illinois gave Kansas a great run, and it just goes to show how a stout defense will keep you in games. Hats off to Chris Lowery, who will probably get a few job offers after his team’s march into the Sweet Sixteen.
OK, aside from Saturday, the first weekend of March Madness was sort of “ho hum” when compared with years past. Hopefully things will pick up tonight. I preview the Sweet Sixteen to help you get ready for the games.
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