End Round 2 Update

Hoopsters:

A great day of roundball on Sunday, capped off by a terrific Arizona-Oregon game, left us with 16 Sweet teams in this Madness that is March, and a new pair of  leaders in Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool. Simon Cat and MamaBruce grabbed the lead heading into the Sweet 16 with 56 points each, followed by NoNova at 54, Abigail Cat at 53, and two players (Winner winner chicken dinner and Megless) tied at 52. We then have a logjam at 51 with seven players – Drift, Sissy, Whit’s Picks, Danno 1, Oliver Cat, Seal Cat, and Thomas Cat (meow). Head to the site for complete standings heading into the Sweet 16.

Izzo tanks the Pitino family reunion

The potential Rick Pitino vs. son Richard Pitino matchup was not to be in this tournament, as Richard Pitino’s New Mexico squad ran up against Tom Izzo’s Michigan State, no strangers to March success. Sparty took control down the stretch and won by 8 on Sunday, so the elder Pitino will be reppin’ the family, and Arkansas, the rest of the way.

Dookies look solid

Pool veterans know that I have no love for the boys in blue from Durham, but they looked very good on Sunday, breezing to a 23-point win over 9 seed Baylor, setting up a Sweet 16 matchup with Caleb Love and Arizona. Love knows a little something about Duke, as he began his career at Duke’s arch-rival North Carolina before transferring to Arizona. That should be a good one this week. 

Conference Call

The SEC is clearly the class of this March Madness (as they were during the regular season), as they had 14 teams make the big dance, and a record seven teams advance to the Sweet 16 (the previous record was six teams, by the ACC, in 2016. Not to be outdone, the Big Ten has had a pretty impressive tournament as well, as they had a record 9 out of 9 teams win in the first round, and have 4 teams (Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, and Maryland) in the Sweet 16.  Maryland advanced on a clutch shot at the buzzer by Derik Queen to get by Colorado State.

OK, we have a bit of a break as we head into the Sweet 16. I’ll be back at you late Thursday night with an update after Round 1 of the Sweet 16.

Jabin