12 Mar19 - Qualifications

Volume XVI, No. 20 - 12 Mar19

Qualifications

Candidates were vetted (conference tournaments) prior to being invited. Invitees have been put through Qualifications (preliminary NCAA rounds). Now, it's time to determine the champion from the remaining few who have proven themselves worthy of consideration.
     Only six of the Elite Eight survived through to the Sweet 16. [S1]Kentucky had no worries (and even showed improved offensive flow with 24p7a from pMarquis Teague) in its @87-71 win over [S8]Iowa State (despite 23p9r4a from fRoyce White). [E1]Syracuse did show some slight vulnerability -- the zone defense allowed [E16]UNC-Asheville to relax and hang around for an endplay before the Orange won 72-65 (aided by bad calls and terrible shooting from pMatt Dickey[1-for-13]); [E8]Kansas State's 7-0 cJordan Henriquez(14p17r) had his way in the paint, but a 33-0 edge in bench scoring more than made up for it in a 75-59 'Cuse win). [M1]North Carolina handled [M8]Creighton easily, @87-73 (despite 20p9r from tDoug McDermott); but no sooner did 7-0 cJohn Henson return from a wrist injury than pKendall Marshall(18p11a) fractured his wrist and his status is questionable for the rest of the tournament. [W1]Michigan State rolled past [W16]Long Island in the 2nd Round (behind xDraymond Green's triple-double(24p12r10a); but couldn't shake [W9]St. Louis in Round 3, hanging on to win 65-61. [E2]Ohio State pounded [E15]Loyola(Maryland), 78-59, thanks to 31p12r from cDeShaun Thomas; but needed everything it had to put down the challenge of [E7]Gonzaga -- pAaron Craft(17p10a) dominated counterpart gKevin Pangos and cJared Sullinger made big plays at crunch time to turn a 61-61 tie with 4 minutes left into a 73-66 Buckeye win. [M2]Kansas looked like a team of leftovers in Round 3 as [M10]Purdue led for 37 minutes until gElijah Johnson(18p) saved the day in the Jayhawk's 63-60 win (thwarting a Sweet 16 curtain call for tRobbie Hummel[26p9r]).
     [W2]Missouri's PGGBF lineup was bound to get it in trouble against a team with a quality big man, but who knew it would come right away in the form of cKyle O'Quinn(26p14r) from [W15]Norfolk State as the Tigers went down 84-86 in a 2nd Round shocker. NSU had made noise early on, beating Drexel and taking Marquette to the wire in the PARADISE JAM preseason tournament, and had a gap lead in the MEAC midway through before stumbling and rallying to win the tournament -- but turning its first ever NCAA appearance into a #15/#2 2nd Round upset was spectacular. [S2]Duke's @70-75 loss to [S15]Lehigh was perhaps more stunning, especially coming at its coveted Greensboro Pod (but the Blue Devils also lost three times at Cameron this season) -- they had no answer for pC.J. McCollum(30p6a6r) and at their worst, gAustin Rivers(19p1a;5/14fg) dominates the ball too much. (It took 26 years to have four #15/#2 upsets and we got two inside of three hours on Friday!)

Only two of the six BCS tournament champions made it past the first weekend. Missouri[BIG 12t] was stunned by a 1BC team. [E5]Vanderbilt[SECt] played solidly, holding off [E12]Harvard, 79-70, in the 2nd Round (as bJohn Jenkins had 27p6r); its 3rd Round matchup with [E4]Wisconsin was a tough draw, as the Commodores fell, 57-60. [E3]Florida State[ACCt] had to rally to beat [E14]St. Bonaventure, 66-63, in the 2nd Round and then lost 56-62 to [E6]Cincinnati in an epic finish. Much maligned [S11]Colorado did upset [S6]UNLV in the 2nd Round, but was handled by [S3]Baylor, 80-63 (as the Bears won going away behind 27p;9/12 3s from gBrady Heslip).
     [W3]Marquette ran past [W12+b]BYU, 88-68, and matched [M6]Murray State's relentless pace, 62-@53 in Louisville, (as bJae Crowder averaged 21p15r in two games). [W4]Louisville hung on, 59-56, against [W5]New Mexico. [W4]Indiana got up off the deck, down 54-59 with 4 minutes to go, to snatch a 63-61 win (on fWill Sheehey's baseline jumper) over tough [W12]VCU. [W7]Florida turned in two dominant performances: 71-45 over [W10]Virginia and 84-50 to end Norfolk State's dream.
     MM [W10]Xavier upset [W7]Notre Dame, 67-63 (behind 25p from gTu Holloway), and had to rally from down 15 to valiant Lehigh before winning 70-58 (behind 25p12r from cKenny Frease). [M11]N.C. State was on the Bubble last week; but wins over [W6]San Diego State (79-65) and [W3]Georgetown (66-63) have the Wolfpack on to the second week. Down to the final possession before winning the MAC tourney, 1BC [M13]Ohio University added two BCS wins (65-60 over [M4]Michigan and 62-56 over [M13+b]South Florida) to give us a Jack Dawson Sweet 16 team (and four teams from the state of Ohio)!

BCS teams parlayed 31 bids into 14 spots in the Sweet 16. The BIG EAST (10-5 overall plus 4 Sweet 16s) and the BIG 10 (9-2; 4 Sweet 16s) led the way while the BIG 12, ACC and SEC were only able to place 2 teams each in the second week (from 15 bids). With powers Murray State and VCU to go along with the upsetters, 1BC teams performed on par (6-16, 1 Sweet 16) with the Mid-Majors (6-15; 1 Sweet 16). Only the A-10 (3-3; 1 Sweet 16) performed well while the MWC, WCC, MVC and C-USA went 3-8 combined and were shut out of Week 2.

Way over yonder in the NIT, (1m)Washington and (3m)Oregon did their best to improve the PAC-12's reputation with a couple of home routs over BCS opponents (@76-55 over (4m)Northwestern and @97-76 over (6m)LSU, respectively); but (1w)Arizona did more damage, falling @54-65 at home to (8w)Bucknell out of the PATRIOT. Meanwhile, (3e)Drexel remains on point to prove it deserved into the Big Dance. C-USA was an all-out flop as (5s)Marshall fell at (4s)Middle Tennessee, 78-@86, and (6e)Central Florida fell 56-@81 to Drexel.
     Home teams were 6-2 in CBI, with Princeton breaking through 95-@86 at Evansville and Washington State winning 89-@75 at San Francisoc.
     Much the same in CBI where hosts went 19-5 in two rounds (with the notable exception of MVC/Indiana State falling at home to NEC/Robert Morris, @60-67).

Kentucky gets a shot at payback against Indiana as Wildcat Nation takes over Atlanta once again, and shouldn't be bothered by the Baylor/Xavier winner. Syracuse has it tough with Wisconsin first and then either Ohio State or Cincinnati (who beat the Orange in the BIG EAST tourney). North Carolina shouldn't need pKendall Marshall against Ohio U -- in fact, having to play at a slower pace should make its height advantage more of a factor than in an up-and-down game with pMarshall pushing the pace; but facing Kansas in St. Louis or N.C. State (who had the Tar Heels on the ropes in the ACC tourney before the refs bailed them out with bad calls/no-calls) won't be easy either way, even at full strength. Michigan State should handle Louisville, but the Marquette/Florida winner will be a tougher task. (I still like UK, OhioSt, UNC and MichSt to make it through to New Orleans.)
     Drexel may have to beat two PAC-12 teams in New York to take the NIT (if Stanford can make it through the West). BIG EAST quality should see Pittsburgh ultimately through in CBI. Fairfield is the best Team That Never Was in CIT.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Thursday, Saturday:

NCAA EAST REGIONAL Semis @ Boston MA

• [E1]Syracuse v [E4]Wisconsin
• [E2]Ohio St v [E6]Cincinnati (OH)

NCAA WEST REGIONAL Semis @ Phoenix AZ

• [W1]Michigan St v [W4]Louisville
• [W3]Marquette v [W7]Florida

Friday, Sunday:

NCAA SOUTH REGIONAL Semis @ Atlanta GA /GADOME/

• [S1]@Kentucky v [S4]Indiana (BG)
• [S3]Baylor v [S10]Xavier

NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL Semis @ St. Louis MO

• [M1]N Carolina v [M13]Ohio U
• [M2]@Kansas v [M11]NC State

Sat 31 Mar, Mon 2 Apr:

NCAA FINAL FOUR,NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP @ New Orleans LA /SUPERDOME/

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

NIT

Monday:

16s on-campus

• @ (1s)Tennessee v (4s)Mid Tennessee (TN)
• @ (2s)Miami-FL v (6s)Minnesota
• @ (3w)Stanford v (7w)Illinois St

Tuesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @ (1m)Washington v (3m)Oregon
• @ (3e)Drexel v (5e)Massachusetts

Wednesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @(1s)Tennessee/(4s)MidTennessee v @(2s)MiamiFL/(6s)Minnesota
• (5w)Nevada v (3w)Stanford/(7w)IllinoisSt

Tuesday week, Thursday week:

Semis, Finals @ New York NY /MSG/

• ([m]/Washington) v ([s]/Tennessee)
• ([e]/Drexel) v ([w]/Stanford)

CBI

Monday:

Qtrs on-campus

• (e): @ Pittsburgh v Princeton
• (w): @ Washington St v Wyoming
• (m): @ Oregon St v TCU
• (n): @ Penn v Butler

Wednesday:

Semis on-campus (re-seeded)

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

Finals on-campus (Best of 3)

CIT

Tuesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @ Oakland v Rice

Wednesday:

Qtrs on-campus

• @ Fairfield v Robert Morris
• @ Old Dominion v Mercer
• @ Utah St v Loyola Marymount

?Saturday?:

Semis on-campus (re-seeded)

Wednesday week:

Final on-campus