08 Mar24 - Product Placement

Volume XII, No. 21 - 08 Mar 24

Product Placement

The flood of games that form The Naismith Meteor Shower (i.e., the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament) make for sensory overload. Let's take a breath, step back and see exactly what happened. By and large, we've wound up with quite a strong Sweet 16. A couple of the more surprising absences (i.e., Georgetown and Duke) are directly related to the bogus homecourt advantage that is bestowed/not-bestowed by the Pod system. "It's-been-awhile" jitters may have contributed in other cases. In one case, a knee injury to the team's best player (Connecticut's pA.J. Price) was also a major factor.

The NCAA Selection Committee had explained that Duke wasn't placed in the Raleigh Pod (as they expected) because Georgetown was a higher seed (and therefore its preference came first) and couldn't play in Washington, DC because the Verizon Center is its home court. Georgetown's best available option was, in fact, Raleigh. At that point, Duke was too highly seeded to have its pod also placed in Raleigh after UNC and GTOWN had gone before it. That pushed the DUKE pod to Washington, DC. While the top 16 seeds have to fight for the right to get preferred placement in regions and pods, it's apparently a free perq for any teams seeded below that. ([5]Michigan State missed out on being placed in the Midwest Region (Detroit) because Wisconsin was already there and the Committee tries to space out teams from the same conference into different regions, although "everyone is an independent"). With more than four Pac-10 teams, [10]Arizona was able to be placed in the West (Phoenix) Region. [10]South Alabama, which lost its way into the tournament, got to play in Birmingham; [10]Davidson -- which lost to both North Carolina and Duke head-to-head -- was rewarded with a spot in Raleigh after all; [11]Kansas State stayed close to home in Omaha. It's not like Davidson was some 13+ seed that only had a David-and-Goliath's chance at winning a game -- they were nationally ranked in the final regular season polls. Anyway, they got the break and it was a huge factor.

In the first round, [2]Duke had to fight veteran 1BC [15]Belmont and a neutral crowd rooting for the underdog; the Blue Devils barely survived 71-70 thanks to a coast-to-coast drive by bGerald Henderson(21p7r). In Round Two, overlooked [7]West Virginia proved just how deep the Big East really was as Duke couldn't make any jump shots on tired legs in the second half as gJoe Alexander(22p) led the Mountaineers to a 73-67 comeback victory and a berth into the Sweet 16. Meanwhile, over in cozy Raleigh, [10]Davidson trailed for most of the game against [7]Gonzaga until gStephen Curry(40p) exploded in the last five minutes to claim an @82-76 win. Against [2]Georgetown in Round Two, the Wildcats again trailed most of the way until the last segment when 30p more from gCurry again saved the day. Now, a neutral-site crowd would have been pulling for them as underdogs, but that's still not the same as a partisan home crowd rooting for you exclusively from start to finish. So not only do they get the splash win that eluded them last year, but they're this year's Cinderella darlings and so far gCurry is The Player of the Tournament.

It has not been a good tournament for the Golden Child players, by and large. Of the GC-led teams, somebody had to win when cMichael Beasley(23p11r)'s Kansas State beat pO.J. Mayo(20p5a)'s USC @80-67 in Omaha. Oklahoma did beat St. Joseph's in the first round, but it was gDavid Godbold(25p) who led the way, not fBlake Griffin. The GC-LB combo tag teams all flamed out in the first round in games they reasonably expected to win: [10]Arizona [tChase Budinger(23p),pJerryd Bayless] simply couldn't handle [7]West Virginia and gAlex Ruoff(21p), falling 65-75; [8]Indiana [fD.J. White(22p9r),bEric Gordon] couldn't keep pace with [9]Arkansas and tSonny Weems(31p), losing 72-86; and [4]Vanderbilt [cAndrew Ogilvy(18p),bShan Foster] couldn't run with [13]Siena and gKenny Hasbrouck(30p), getting blown out 62-83. Not surprisingly, the GC players who joined already elite rosters fared the best. Both pDerrick Rose (17p7a9r vs [8]Mississippi State) of [1]Memphis and cKevin Love(20p and 19p11r in two games) of [1]UCLA survived through to the Sweet 16.

Of the "Power MM" teams, Drake, Butler, Kent State and Davidson -- all of whom dominated their conferences and entered the tournament on a roll -- only veterans Davidson and Butler fared well. [7]Butler crushed [10]South Alabama 81-@61 in Birmingham behind 20p from tPete Campbell and turned in a stirring effort with a late comeback to send the game with [2]Tennessee into overtime before falling 71-@76(OT). (The Bulldogs have had quite a two-year run, taking their program to a Top-10 ranking in the national polls.) "First-time-in-awhile" jitters were probably at work as [5]Drake trailed by 15 in the second half against [12]Western Kentucky before rallying to send the game into overtime before they fell 99-101(OT) on gTy Rogers' game-winning three-pointer. [9]Kent State trailed 31-10 at halftime against [7]UNLV and never recovered, losing 58-71.

Other than [15]Belmont giving [2]Duke a go, the veteran 1BC schools were no factor: [13]Winthrop could only hang with [4]Washington State for a half before losing 40-71. [13]Oral Roberts never posed any problem to [4]Pittsburgh in its 63-82 loss.

The Anti-Spoilers (who blew it in their own conference tournaments, opening the door for unworthy teams to get into the draw with automatic bids) followed suit with first-round losses as well. [7]Gonzaga played well enough but fell (on the road to [10]Davidson); [10]St. Mary's started well but faded against [7]Miamia9Florida) as gJack McClinton poured in 38p; and [10]South Alabama couldn't make use of the home crowd against a superior [7]Butler team. Tournament-savers [12]George Mason couldn't bring any magic this time around as they were blown out by [5]Notre Dame 50-68. But [12]Western Kentucky knocked off [7]Drake and then beat back party-crasher [13]San Diego 72-63 (behind 29p from gCourtney Lee) en route to a berth in the Sweet 16.

[12]Villanova proved itself to be bubblicious after all, as the "last team in" erased a 16-point deficit to beat [5]Clemson 75-69 and squelched the Cinderella hopes of [13]Siena 84-72 (thanks to 21p and 25p5a8r from gScottie Reynolds).

The most impressive teams so far are [1]North Carolina (with pTy Lawson getting healthier by the day), the only team to break 100 points (@113-74 over [17]Mt. St. Mary's and @108-77 over [9]Arkansas); [1]Kansas (@85-61 winners over [16]Portland State and @75-56 winners over [8]UNLV), [3]Louisville (79-61 winners over [14]Boise State and 78-48 winners over [6]Oklahoma), [4]Washington State (71-40 winners over [13]Winthrop and 61-41 winners over [5]Notre Dame) and [3]Wisconsin (who beat [14]Cal St-Fullerton 71-56 and [11]Kansas State 72-@55). [2]Texas looked good blowing out [15]Austin Peay 74-@54 and had a big lead on [7]Miami(Florida) but had to hang to win 75-72.

[1]UCLA struggled on offense and trailed [9]Texas A&M by 10 points before support from the homecrowd pod helped them rally to a @53-49 win. Similarly, [3]Stanford had its hands full with [6]Marquette but survived @82-81(OT) before a supportive Anaheim crowd that was treated to a spectacular duel in overtime between the Cardinal's cBrook Lopez(30p) and the Golden Eagles' bJerel McNeal(30p8r). [1]Memphis overcame 15-for-32 free-throw shooting to escape 77-74 over [8]Missisisppi State (and [2]Tennessee survived in OT against [7]Butler).

[5]Michigan State's neutral-site 65-54 win over [4]Pittsburgh stands alongside [7]West Virginia's win over [10]Duke as the best "unaided" wins of the first two rounds.

The NIT will be down to its Final Eight after Monday night. Only three road teams have been able to break through so far: [6]Akron winning 65-@60(OT) at [3]Florida State, [5]Maryland winning 68-@58 at [4]Minnesota, and [5]UAB winning 80-@77 at [4]VCU (joining the other Anti-Spoilers in a season-ending double-flop).

In the Can't Believe Itsa Tournament (CBI), the Final Eight reads like a "Who's Nobody" of this year's season. Only two of its top seeds survived the first round, Virginia and Bradley, while Washington and UTEP managed to lose at home.

As we hit the Sweet 16, UCLA seems to have the easiest path (in Phoenix) to the Final Four from here. North Carolina will have home-crowd support in Charlotte, but faces tough opposition including possbily Tennessee with lots of neighboring support as well. Kansas may have a bit of trouble in Big 10 country (Detroit) against Wisconsin. Memphis has a tough draw including possibly playing a road game against Texas in Houston.

(Right now I like UNC > UCLA + KANS + TX. After seeing Memphis look decidedly mortal, I think homecrowd support can push Texas past them, but a healthy gDarren Collison should make a big difference the second time around for TX-UCLA II, even in Houston. You've got to love the Tar Heels' 40-minute mindset this year after letting the Georgetown game slip through their fingers last year.)

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Thursday, Saturday:

NCAA EAST REGIONAL Semis @ Charlotte NC

• @ [E1]N Carolina v [E4]Washington St
• @ [E2]Tennessee v [E3]Louisville

NCAA WEST REGIONAL Semis @ Phoenix AZ

• @ [W1]UCLA v [W12]We Kentucky
• [W3]Xavier v [W7]W Virginia

Friday, Sunday:

NCAA SOUTH REGIONAL Semis @ Houston TX

• [S1]Memphis v [S5]Michigan St
• @ [S2]Texas v [S3]Stanford

NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL Semis @ Detroit MI

• [M1]Kansas v [M12]Villanova
• [M3]Wisconsin v [M10]Davidson

Sat 5 Apr, Mon 7 Apr:

NCAA FINAL FOUR,NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP @ San Antonio, TX

• (1/EAST) v (4/MIDWEST)
• (2/SOUTH) v (3/WEST)

NIT

Monday:

16s on-campus

• @ [m1]Ohio St v [m4]California
• @ [m2]Illinois St v [m3]Dayton
• @ [s2]Mississippi v [s3]Nebraska
• @ [s1]Virginia Tech v [s5]UAB

Tuesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @ [e1]Syracuse v [e2]Massachusetts
• @ [w1]Arizona St v [w2]Florida

Wednesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @[m1]OhioSt/[m4]California v [m2]IllinoisSt/[m3]Dayton
• @[s1]VirginiaTech/[s5]UAB v [s2]Mississippi/[s3]Nebraska

Tuesday week, Thursday week:

Semis, Finals @ New York NY

• (midwest) v (south)
• (east) v (west)

CBI (COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL)

Monday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @ [w3]Houston v [w4]Valparaiso
• @ [e1]Virginia v [e2]Old Dominion
• @ [m1]Bradley v [m2]Ohio U
• @ [s2]Tulsa v [s4]Utah

Wednesday:

Semis on-campus (re-seeded)

Monday week, Wednesday week, (if necessary: Friday week):

Finals on-campus (Best of 3)