The Selection Committee took a lot of heat nine days ago, especially from the self-aggrandizing Billy Packer, for including four teams from the Missouri Valley Conference and only selecting four teams from the ACC, a perennial power conference. So what did the MVC teams do? #11-seed Southern Illinois didn’t put up much of a fight against #6-seed West Virginia, but the Mountaineers odd style of play gives a lot of teams problems. #10 Northern Iowa played #7 Georgetown to a five-point loss, which proved they belonged after the Hoyas went on to dismantle Big Ten champion Ohio State. The other two teams? They’re in the Sweet Sixteen.
#7-seed Wichita State (the MVC champ) blew out Seton Hall before upsetting #2-seed Tennessee. I actually predicted the Shockers to make the Sweet Sixteen because I knew they were good and that the Volunteers were vulnerable. But the most surprising MVC team has to be #13-seed Bradley, who dispatched the #4-seed Kansas (who had just beat Texas in the Big 12 final) and went on to upset the #5-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers. Given those matchups, I’m guessing that no one but Bradley alumni had the Braves in the Sweet Sixteen.
How did the ACC do? Duke won two games to keep their consecutive Sweet Sixteen streak alive at nine. When you think about it, this is a phenomenal record considering how many top seeds go down in the first two rounds of the tournament every year. Boston College survived a huge scare in the first round, taking two overtimes to beat Pacific. In the second round, they looked better, dispatching a feisty Montana team in Salt Lake City. North Carolina looked young and inexperienced, losing to George Mason in one of the bigger upsets of the second round after almost dropping their first round game to Murray State. North Carolina State shrugged off a four-game losing streak, upsetting a hot California team in the first round before getting drilled by Texas in the second.
What does this all mean? Three things: (1) the Selection Committee got it mostly right, (2) the mid-majors are for real and (3) there is tremendous parity in college basketball. The power conferences get so much attention that their best young players often leave early for the NBA while the mid-major players tend to get more four-year players. This results in a lot of matchups in the NCAA tourney between experienced small or mid-major schools and inexperienced power schools. Need proof? Just ask the coaches of Kansas, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Michigan State and North Carolina what they think.
This parity also resulted in some great basketball this weekend. Here are a few BIG rewards that I’d like to give out:
BIGGEST INDIVIDUAL CLUTCH PERFORMANCE
With all due respect to Jermaine Wallace’s shot to lift Northwestern St. over Iowa, Chris Lofton’s shot to avoid an upset against Winthrop, Darrel Mitchell’s 24-footer to lead LSU past Texas A&M, the biggest clutch performance was Craig Smith’s in the first round. Boston College trailed, 74-72, with 4.2 seconds left in the first overtime. Smith, a 66% free throw shooter, went to the line to shoot two free throws. With the season on the line, Smith calmly drained both attempts and forced a second overtime, in which the Eagles dominated. It’s one thing to heave a desperation shot to win a game, but it’s a tremendous feat to succeed under the pressure of going to the free throw line in the waning seconds of a game. Throw in the fact that Smith is just average from the stripe and you have your biggest clutch performance thus far.
BIGGEST SURPRISE TEAM IN THE SWEET SIXTEEN
George Mason deserves a lot of praise for defeating both Michigan State and North Carolina this weekend, but the biggest surprise has to be the Bradley Braves, who upset both Kansas and Pittsburgh to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The key has been Marcellus Sommerville who scored 39 points and collected 13 rebounds over the first two games. Braves’ center Patrick O’Bryant had a huge game against Pitt, having his way against a Panther front line that was in foul trouble the entire game en route to a 28-point, seven rebound performance.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
One could make an argument for Kansas, Iowa, Ohio State or Tennessee. But this award goes to North Carolina, who was one of the hottest teams in the nation over the second half of the season. Since January 28th, Roy Williams’ young team was 12-2, with wins over Arizona at home and a huge road win at Duke. In my tournament countdown, I said that Williams’ had one of the most difficult coaching jobs ahead of him as he tried to keep his young team focused and playing well. Unfortunately, he made a rare coaching mistake late in the game against George Mason that may have cost his team a win.
“If I’d coached better, that would have helped us out a heck of a lot,” Williams said. “The score was 54-51 [with 3:02 to play] and David [Noel] made a 3 to tie it up. We called a timeout, and I looked up at the clock and it still said 54-51. In my mind, I knew something was wrong. I called a press, and we didn’t do a very good job. It was a bad call on my part.”
North Carolina put George Mason to the line and was never able to tie or take the lead again. The Tar Heels are young and talented and if the group stays together over the next couple of years, they’ve got a great shot at cutting down the nets.
