The first round this March was light on Madness. Notice the relative calm? There were reasons.
No buzzer-beaters. Of the 32 first-round games, 20 were won by double figures, 12 by at least 20. Only four of the 32 ended up as one-possession games. The only last-second victory so far this week was the first game of the First Four.
Not many upsets. The top four seeds in each region went a combined 16-0 for the first time since 2017, and only two did not win by double digits. The biggest deficit any of the 16 faced was seven, and there were only 32 lead changes in their 16 games combined. Seven of those were in the Purdue-High Point contest.
Still, if you knew where to look, it was March. The good, the bad, the odd, the happy, the heartbroken.
The second round will have two Pitinos coaching, but only one ACC team. Duke is left to carry the flag after Clemson, Louisville and North Carolina were evicted, all three trailing by as many as 20 points. Where did yesterday’s ACC go?
No such problems for the Big Ten. All hail the new beast of the bracket as the conference went 8-0 in the first round. Take out Michigan’s three-point escape of UC San Diego and the other seven won by an average of 22 points. Meanwhile, the SEC wave of 14 was thinned with six losses, which means the Big Ten is now tied with the SEC with eight teams still going. Together, the two leagues account for half of the remaining field, and now they’ll start running into one another — Michigan-Texas A&M, Illinois-Kentucky and Tennessee-UCLA are in the second round.
Elsewhere, Kansas was one-and-done for the first time in 19 years and only the third time since 1981, a stunningly quick exit for a team that began the season No. 1.
“If I’m not mistaken, no matter what you do in life, there’s going to be some ups and downs and we just haven’t had very many downs, to be honest with you,” Bill Self said after the loss to Arkansas. “This year our roster was good enough to be competitive, but it probably wasn’t the roster it needed to be to be talked about in a way that the best teams in America are talked about.”
There were other notable numbers for various reasons. No. 11 seed Drake took out Missouri with four players who were in Division II last year. Auburn and Alabama State combined to take 51 free throws and missed 22 of them. Texas Tech put up an NCAA record 46 shots from behind the arc. Clemson scored 13 points in the first half against McNeese State and 54 in the second, nearly climbing out of a 22-point hole in the last eight minutes. But only nearly.
Chaz Lanier played the first NCAA tournament game of his life for Tennessee and produced 29 points on 11-for-22 shooting. Sixth-year player Khalif Battle finally got a chance to play in an NCAA tournament game and promptly scored 24 points to lead Gonzaga’s thumping of Georgia.
And Duke’s Cooper Flagg was back in action. Duke won by 44.
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There was the search for a good Cinderella story. McNeese, Drake and Colorado State are the surviving candidates, but the guy with a towel over his head in Cleveland Friday afternoon could have been a great.
Amarion Dickerson plays for Robert Morris. Most people didn’t know that but a lot more do now. With the 15th-seeded Colonials facing Alabama, Dickerson took the fight to the Tide with 25 points and big plays everywhere. He had six offensive rebounds while the entire Alabama team had five. He was eyeball-to-eyeball with the Tide every minute until he finally fouled out.
Alabama got by, 90-81, but the score sounds a lot safer than it was with seven minutes to go, as Robert Morris took a one-point lead and just missed an open 3-pointer that would have made it four. Alabama restored order but this was the one shocker that nearly happened, with Dickerson putting on a show in his hometown. He had come back to Cleveland for the chance of a lifetime and nearly pulled it off. But not quite.
“I’m grateful to go out there and have a good game,” he said. “But it don’t mean as much to me, obviously, with the result. I wish I could just play another game. That’s the only thing I’m really thinking about right now, just being able to play another game with the guys.”
He certainly impressed Alabama coach Nate Oats, not to mention Oats’ 15-year-old daughter Jocie.
“She’s a sweetheart,” Oats said. “But she goes, `Dad, I feel so bad for the other team. 3 (Dickerson) never came out of the game. He played so hard.’ I’m like, yeah, but somebody has got to lose, and it didn’t need to be us.”
But not SEC team kept good karma. There was one March continued to greet with brass knuckles. Vanderbilt was up 12 points in the second half against Saint Mary’s Friday but lost 59-56. The Commodores missed two shots at the end to tie.
“We’re on the tough side of it,” coach Mark Byington said. “The NCAA tournament, it’s such a great opportunity, and it’s something we cherish. There’s going to be a team that has that unbelievable feeling of jubilation and excitement, and we’re on the side of it with hurt. “
Just like 2007, when Vanderbilt was beaten, 66-65, in the Sweet 16 by a Georgetown off-balance bank shot with 2.5 seconds left. And 2010, stunned at the buzzer by Murray State. And 2011, upset by No. 12 seed Richmond by three points. And 2012, edged by Wisconsin by three. And 2017, the Commodores’ last appearance until Friday. That one was a 68-66 loss to Northwestern when Vandy’s Matthew Fisher-Davis lost track of the score, thought his team was down and not tied, and needlessly fouled a Wildcat with 15 seconds left.
No, the first round was not classic drama. But know what it did do well? Set up some tasty second-round matches.
Arkansas vs. St. John’s, meaning John Calipari vs. Rick Pitino Saturday, just like the good ol’ days at Kentucky and Louisville. They maintain they are not enemies. Not best chums, either. Pitino on the subject Friday: “I don’t think we have been to dinner one time in our lifetime. We’re both Italian, we both love the game. I think that’s where the similarities end.”
Calipari: “We both have big noses so that’s one. He has Gucci shoes and I have itchy shoes so we’re different there. We’re all going to be judged 50 years from now what we did and how we did it, but I hope years from now people will say they both got their teams to play hard at a competitive level. Do we do it different? Yeah, I guess. I am who I am. Like it or not, this is who I am and how I deal with kids. We’re all different with that.”
Houston and Gonzaga, with the Zags’ nine-year streak of making the Sweet 16 on the line. Gonzaga scored 89 it the first round and Houston gave up 40.
Saint Mary’s, with the nation’s fourth-best defensive average, against Alabama’s high-scoring Tide, who just broke 90 for the 19th time.
Purdue vs. No. 12 seeded McNeese State, with the Boilermakers trying to ignore the double-digit ghosts of recent upsets past; No. 13 North Texas, No. 15 Saint Peter’s, No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson.
Oregon and Arizona, two old Pac-12 comrades.
UCLA and Tennessee, who have met only once before and that was 48 years ago.
Drake or Colorado State, trying to make more trouble for higher seeds, this time Texas Tech and Maryland.
Tournament top seed Auburn, and the lineup of veterans at Creighton.
Connecticut and Florida, the last two repeat national champions. The Huskies won their 13th consecutive NCAA tournament game Friday but the 67-59 victory over Oklahoma was hard work and not the postseason breezes of the past two years. “The championship pedigree, it’s still there for us,” Dan Hurley said. “There’s a belief in the UConn jersey this time of year with the history of success.”
“Yeah, I think we’re a dangerous team. I think we’re a dangerous team because most people picked us to probably lose the first game. I don’t think many people will give us a shot in the second one.
Are the Huskies trying out for the Cinderella role? Probably not.
But there are other issues to address in the next two days. Finding out the first top-four seed to fall, and which Pitino will last the longest, Rick and St. John’s or Richard and New Mexico.
What the percentage of the Sweet 16 will be Big Ten and SEC? And if UConn’s three-peat bid can go another week. And of course, Cooper Flagg’s ankle, to now be tested against Baylor.
March is fully underway. Now everyone is waiting for some Madness to show up.
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