Most of Friday’s NCAA tournament games were not that close.
Duke beat TCU by 23, Michigan took out Saint Louis by 23 also, Houston took out Texas A&M by 31, Michigan State handled Louisville by 18, and Illinois smacked Louisville by 21.
Advertisement
We’ll come back to those.
The other three games were really good: Texas knocked off Gonzaga, 74-68, Nebraska escaped Vanderbilt, 74-72, and Arkansas slipped by High Point, 94-88.
And that game was freaking amazing.
Arkansas is a very good team, but High Point? High Point is a fever dream. Those guys are an absolute blast to watch. They pushed Arkansas to the absolute limit, and if they didn’t have a transcendent talent in Darius Acuff, they would not have won this game.
It completely escaped us until quite late in the game, but Cam’Ron Fletcher started out playing for John Calipari at Kentucky, and had a chance to help take him out at Arkansas. Just wild. But it didn’t quite happen.
Advertisement
However, High Point coach Finn Clayman should be on UNC’s radar. He won’t be, but he should be. UNC is focused on getting a big-time coach, when a savant might be an hour and change away. At a minimum, he’s a dramatically better coach than Hubert Davis.
The Texas-Gonzaga game wasn’t as dramatic, but it’s still impressive: the Zags have made the Sweet 16 every year since 2015. Knocking them off is pretty impressive in its own right. But the Longhorns have peaked at exactly the right time. They’ll play the winner of Miami vs. Purdue, and either way, that’s a winnable game.
Finally, it’s impossible not to feel bad for Vanderbilt. They had a heck of a year, and to have that shot rim out like that? You just can’t get any closer. It’s impossible.
In the other games, it wasn’t really surprising that Michigan thumped Saint Louis. It was a fine season for the Billikens, but this was a bridge too far.
Advertisement
No surprise, of course, that Houston beat the Aggies, but was the margin a surprise? Perhaps. Kelvin Sampson and Bucky McMillan have radically different styles, and Sampson’s is more focused on smashing you in the face. That’s usually effective.
McMillan is just 42, and this is his first year running a major program. He’ll learn from this.
VCU pushed back against Illinois in the first half, but by the time this was over, Illinois was pretty terrifying. That’s a very interesting team. We haven’t paid much attention to the Illini, but are they a Final Four threat? Yeah, they are. They’ll have to get past Houston or Florida, though.
Louisville gave Michigan State more trouble than we expected, honestly, and their season ends with a loss, but it was an encouraging loss. We’ll see what they do in the portal, but this is a program to keep an eye on.
Advertisement
On Sunday, Miami and Purdue open things, and that’s going to be a good one. We’ll ride with Jai Lucas and the ‘Canes.
We’d be happy to take Iowa State over Kentucky before the injury to Joshua Jefferson. Actually, that’s a pick one should stick with, and it’s still possible that Jefferson plays Sunday. So we’ll take Iowa State. UK is just too inconsistent.
St. John’s and Kansas are really a tough call. We’ll go with the Johnnies for the same reason we took Iowa State: Kansas has been inconsistent for most of the season. Keep in mind, though, that St. John’s doesn’t shoot overly well and got most of its street cred in a very down Big East. So who knows?
We’ll stick with our ACC buddies Virginia against Tennessee, not least of all because Ugonna Onyenso is a freaking weapon. But we also think Ryan Odom is a heck of a coach.
Advertisement
We can’t see Iowa beating this Florida team. That’s just asking a lot. The Hawkeyes will try to slow them down, and may succeed to an extent, but Florida just has more talent.
You’d have to go out on a limb to take Utah State over Arizona, too. If anyone was willing to bet on Iowa or Utah State, well, good luck. If lightning struck, you’d make some good money. But don’t bet on sports. That’s stupid.
UCLA and UConn are much more interesting. Again, the Big East is so weak this year that it’s hard to get a grip on UConn and St. John’s real strength. Coaching is a huge part of it, obviously, but consider this: Tarris Reid had 31 and 27 Friday night, and still barely beat Furman. Odds are he won’t have that sort of a game against UCLA.
Could UCLA pull off an upset? We’d call this a toss-up, but given UConn’s erratic play, we could see it.
Advertisement
We’re pulling for Texas Tech just out of disgust for the sort of program Nate Oats runs. What a clown show. It’s UNLV in the Bible Belt.
Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line 11
