NCAA 1st and 2nd Round Analysis - Teams

Since I was in Denver, I didn't get to see much of Thursday's 1st Round action outsie of the games in the Pepsi Center. However, I did get to see some of the other games in between the Denver matchups, and watched almost all of the rest of the 4 days of tourney action. And here's what I thought...

(P.S: I should preface this entry with a couple of notes. First, I'm not gonna talk about my brackets because right now, they're too embarrassing to go into. All of my Final Four teams are still alive, so I still have the potential to do well, but the 1st and 2nd rounds were not kind to me. Second, I am a die-hard Kansas Jayhawks fan...my dad graduated from there...so I will try and be as unbiased as possible, but know that I sometimes can't help it.)

1. Most Impressive Team?

North Carolina. The Tar Heels have absolutely obliterated their first two opponents. Granted, the overall #1 seed hasn't had the toughest of competition in #16 seed Mount St. Mary's and #9 seed Arkansas. Even so...UNC has averaged over 110 points per game (an astounding number no matter who the opponent is) and has a 35 point average margin of victory. Carolina is running on all cylinders offensively, playing better than they have all year. This team looks very scary right now, getting scoring from every key contributor on the team (National POY Candidate Tyler Hansbrough...Ty Lawson, who is looking like his pre-injury self at point guard...Wayne Ellington, UNC's deadliest shooter...and Danny Green, their spark plug off the bench.)

Other teams who have looked very solid: Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Washington State, Texas

2. Most Dissapointing Team?

This could go to a lot of squads, but I'm going with Vanderbilt. The Commodores were a very solid squad throughout the year, going 26-8 and averaging 80 ppg. That record included a 41-point win in the 2nd half of the season over #11 seed Kentucky and a 3-point win over former #1 ranked, and current #2 seed Tennessee.

They came into the tourney as a #4 seed in the Midwest, drawing #13 seed Siena in the 1st Round, no doubt a solid squad who can score in bunche themselves, but a team who only got in by winning their conference tourney.

So what happened in that 1st Round matchup? Vandy laid an absolute egg and lost by 21 points, 83-62. The Commodores never led, as the Saints jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and stayed on the gas pedal the whole way. Vandy only shot 41% from the field in getting their names into the record books, as Siena's win was the 2nd largest margin of victory for a 13 seed over a 4 seed since the Tournament expanded to 64/65 teams in 1985.

Other dissapointments include: UCONN, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh

3. Best Opening-Weekend Game

#5 Drake v. #12 Western Kentucky (W. Kentucky wins 101-99 in OT). This game is the epitome of what makes the NCAA Tourney the best 3 weeks on the sports calendar. Slim, Mitch, and I met up with some buddies at the ESPN Zone in Denver, where we ended up watching the 2nd half and OT of this game. All of us, except Slim, picked Drake to win this game in our brackets (Mitch had the most riding on it as he had Drake as an Elite Eight team).

Western Kentucky had a 9-point lead at halftime, and built that up to 16 at the Under-12:00 media timeout. The Hilltoppers were rolling, and everytime Drake would try to make a run, it seemed like WKU would hit a big bucket to push it back to double digits.

However, Drake finally showed why they dominated as a mid-major this season, and brought the game to within 1-point with just over 1:00 to play. The Hilltoppers Tyrone Brazelton then hit a jumper on thir next possession to push the lead back to 3, but in true Tourney fashion, the Bulldogs' Jonathan Cox knocked down a game-tying three to send it OT.

The OT session went back and forth. Western Kentucky was up 1 with 21 seconds to play, and after a series of blown lay-ups, Drake finally got fouled with 5.7 seconds to play, sending Cox to the line. He calmly knocked down both free throws, to put the Bulldogs up 99-98. Western Kentucky needed a basket to win, and boy, did they get it.

After Rogers hit that shot, most of the room let out a big groan, except for about 5 people, including Slim, who jumped out of his chair and to this day won't let us forget that he picked the Western Kentucky upset (Granted, Western Kentucky also won their next game against fellow cinderella #13 seed San Diego...a game Slim did not pick correctly, although almost no one in America did either).

But even if we were upset at the Hilltoppers at that moment, now, we're probably all Western Kentucky fans. After all, without these games, it wouldn't be March Madness.