I pride myself on being straightforward and honest with you. I'm a straight shooter. No fluff. That's why, although it pains me to say, I must declare yesterday a snoozefest in the pantheon of Round of 64 Day 2 games. Now look, of course there was SOME theater but it was few and far between. Let's dive in:
-Loyola Chicago and Seton Hall provided 2 of the worst displays of basketball these eyes have ever seen. Jean went 1-8 from the line or something crazy like that. They shot around 30% from the field and couldn't hit layups. Just a nightmare game for Lucas Williamson. I feel for the kid. Obviously he's a better player than what he showed and he's a Loyola legend. But that game was appalling. Ohio State wasn't shooting that hot either from 3! If Loyola played just below average they would've been right in it. Then there's Seton Hall. True Detective Season 2 was horrid television, especially compared to Season 1. But you remember the scene where Vince Vaughn is laboring in the desert. Limping and wounded, no hope. That was the Pirates end to the season. Too many injuries, too disjointed of a season and the rumors of Willard taking off was impossible to overcome. TCU put them out of their misery. Seton Hall was the epitome of a dead man walking.
-The Big 12 is rolling. As I type this, Baylor is struggling with UNC but yesterday Texas Tech, Texas, Iowa State and TCU won. 3 dominated their games for the most part and Iowa State got an epic performance from Tyrese Hunter. Read his story if you aren't familiar. The Big 12 showed that they were one of the toughest conferences all year. Can they continue to show out in March?
-Miami squeeked by USC. The battle of the vacation destinations. I think both teams thought college basketball games only last 20 minutes. Miami dominated the first half while USC owned the second half. It came down to the wire as Drew Peterson mimicked Gordon Hayward's title game heave. This was one of the few fun games of the day. Did you know Miami is starting 3 6th year seniors?! It really is a retirement community down there.
-Notre Dame behind Cormac Ryan handle Alabama. First off, hug for Jahvon Quinerly. Hope he's alright because he suffered an injury early in this game and was done for the rest of it. Who knows how that changes the game but Alabama has been more unpredictable than Midwest weather. All year they played down to their competition and played up. Notre Dame is no world beater but I think a lot of people saw this coming. The surprise was Cormac Ryan becoming a flamethrower. It's fitting that he terrorized the Tide because he looks like the Scream mask.
-Illinois survives Chattanooga in the game of the day. Damn! I had the Mocs in the Sweet 16 and they were so close to winning this game. Led for 38 minutes and ended up losing. Kofi Cockburn was a beast but his free throws are TROUBLING. Credit Illinois for staying tough. Not easy when the entire world, especially your fanbase, is basically saying "ahhh here we go again" They rallied and escaped the upset. Mocs had a terrific look to win it but couldn't get it to drop. Illinois better bring it against Houston.
-Sparty ousts Davidson as they move on to their next North Carolina opponent, a lil program named Duke. Great game of hoop in Greenville. Luka "don't call me Erin" Brajkovic was playing like the A10 player of the year, Foster Loyer was trying to exact revenge on his old team and Bob McKillop tried to orchestrate another run. Simply wasn't enough. MSU turned on the jets late with a crucial 8-0 run to basically put the game away. Joey Hauser was lights out and Gabe Brown's senior leadership helped them along. Some questionable calls against Davidson late though. They had 2 fouls all half and then within a minute MSU found themselves in the bonus. Kinda fishy and a lame way to end the game but thems the brakes.
-Wisconsin takes down Colgate. Johnny Davis is a bad, bad individual. Colgate was awesome for the second straight year taking a good team down to the wire but the Badgers proved too much. It's why I was so concerned about Davis' health entering the tournament. If he's 100% they can definitely take down Auburn and they have a lovely path to get to that game. Also how the hell does a #3 seed Wisconsin get to play in Milwaukee? Lastly, someone get Matt Langel a power coaching job. The guy is a true wizard.
Get your dad to write you that birthday check, get ready for some catered food and gear up for awkward high school dancing. Some lucky teams are going to a sweet 16.
