Sweet 16 Part 2 - The Empire Strikes Back
Hoopsters:
An extremely entertaining night of roundball, and lots of movement in our pool. Heading into the Elite 8 we have a 4-way tie atop the standings of Jabin’s March Madness Charity Pool.
Lynn’s Bracket, Abigail Cat, Wineguys, and Simon Cat are all atop the standings with 74 points. Winner winner chicken dinner sits alone in second at 73 points, followed by Drift, AndThenThereWasOne, Danno 1, and Thomas Cat at 72. Head to the site for complete standings after the Sweet 16.
Saturday and Sunday’s Elite 8 games are worth 4 points each, so it’s starting to get serious. Some really great matchups on tap for the weekend, and the games are worth 4 points each in the pool. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is decided yet.
It’s an SEC World, we’re just living in it
Friday night got off to a rough start for the SEC, as Ole Miss bowed out to Michigan State. But boy did they rally, and make history. With the Auburn and Tennessee wins, the SEC became the first conference ever to have a team in all four Elite 8 games (and an all-SEC Final Four is still in the cards). A pretty incredible accomplishment, and certainly validation that the SEC was the class of college basketball this year (breaking news, I know).
Vols win in front of Peyton, and Jabin goes on an unrelated rant
Tennessee won the “border war” against Kentucky, avenging two losses to the Wildcats during the SEC season. On top of that, it was in front of Peyton Manning, the Tennessee alum and HOF quarterback (I hear he does a few commercials as well). In an ironic twist, the game was at Lucas Oil Stadium, where Manning led the Colts during his NFL career. Don’t start with me on basketball games in football stadiums (I’ll save you the suspense, I’m against it). Can you believe the last Final Four played in a basketball arena was in 1996? (in the arena at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, which went by several names). It’s almost like the NCAA cares more about $$$$ than the fan experience. The only Final Four I’ve ever been to in person was in the Atlanta Falcons stadium. I understand Maryland beat Indiana in the championship game, but only because I read about it later. Yikes! Are you starting to understand why I relate to those Progressive commercials?
Danny Wolf haunts Auburn
Great nugget from the halftime crew during the Auburn-Michigan game. Remember the big upset from last year’s tournament, Yale over Auburn in the first round? Yale was helped in that upset by a young man named Danny Wolf. When Auburn suited up against Michigan Friday night, there was the same Danny Wolf wearing a Michigan uniform. Say what you want about all the transfers impacting the game, but this one was pretty cool. In the end, it didn’t matter as Auburn turned on the jets in the second half to keep an “All SEC” Final Four in the cards. Still alive are Florida (West), Tennessee (Midwest), Alabama (East), and Auburn (South).
Houston-Purdue
I don’t know about you, but I was rockin’ two screens for the late games on Friday night. Auburn-Michigan and Houston-Purdue? Yes please! I’m not saying the Houston-Purdue first half was close or anything, but there were 10 lead changes, and neither team led by more than 4 points. Wow! And of course it came down to the final seconds, when Houston pulled off a nifty inbound play with a pass back to the guy who inbounded the ball, and went in for the score with .9 seconds left. Just a great game.
Apologies to the selection committee?
One of the great traditions of March Madness in ripping the selection committee (usually because your team didn’t make it, or because a team you hate did). This year there was a little “dust up” about North Carolina making the First Four, even though the UNC AD (head of the seeding committee) recused himself. Puh-leeze. But despite all that, it looks like the committee did a pretty decent job with the seeding. Why, you might ask? Consider some of these nuggets:
All four #1 seeds made the Elite 8
The Elite 8 matchups are as follows: 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3. Per CBS recap show, that is tied for the lowest ever (2007).
If all four 1 seeds advance, that would be only the second time in tournament history. The first time was 2008, when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA all made the FF as 1 seeds.
Cinderella? “No soup for you!”
OK, so two fantastic matchups on tap for Saturday – top-seeded Florida against #3 Texas Tech in the West, followed by #1 Duke vs. #2 Alabama in the East. Doesn’t get much better than that, people, until maybe Sunday??? To quote the great philosopher Flounder from “Animal House, “ “Oh boy is this great?!!!”
Enjoy the hoops,
Jabin