How many more bullets can Pitt dodge?
Believe this stat: first time in Tournament history all the 1’s, 2’s and 3’s have survived to the Sweet 16. That’s kind of incredible.
SOUTH:
No. 3 Syracuse 78, No. 6 Arizona State 67. My proclomation comes true: James Harden has a bad game, Arizona State loses in The Tournament. Not the biggest of prognostications, but it was easy to see all year long. You have Pendergraph foul out with 10 minutes to go, and there’s no way the Sun Devils can beat a quality opponent on a neutral floor.
EAST:
No. 1 Pittsburgh 84, No. 8 Oklahoma State 76. Sam Young (32 points), again, proving he, not Fields or Blair, is the player who is the most critical to this team’s success. No way Pittsburgh reaches a Final Four unless he’s contributing greatly this week. Oklahoma State losing is a little surprising when you see it was perfect from the foul line, shot better from the field and made one less 3 than Pittsburgh. It came down to a few bad decisions on defense in the final two minutes that separated the teams.
No. 4 Xavier 60, No. 12 Wisconsin 49. A close one until Wisconsin couldn’t keep up with the bigs underneath. Xavier back in the Sweet 16 again. The argument can and should be made that, if Xavier wins over Pitt, it can claim to have the better decade in comparison to Gonzaga. Look for that post later this week.
MIDWEST:
No. 1 Louisville 79, No. 9 Siena 72. Alex Franklin held his own for Siena down low, and when the Saints took that 61-59 lead, we all had shades of George Mason three years ago, right? But Louisville, like all the other top seeds, escapes. The Cardinals are the better team, and the better team tends to get the bounces, provoke the extra foul and hit the tougher shots. Kenny Hasbrouck need to do better than 4 for 17 from the field. Great showing from Siena; hope to see this team back again next year.
No. 2 Michigan State 74, No. 10 USC 69. All told, this was a good season for USC. No one was really sure what to make of the Trojans, but Tim Floyd’s team ran off six straight and nearly stole this one. Taj Gibson fouling out so early could be blamed on Floyd keeping him in, but he didn’t contribute so much as is, so I don’t know how criticla that was. Spartans have now won two in The Tournament eight of the past 12 years. That’s about as successful as you can ask for in Division I.
No. 3 Kansas 60, No. 11 Dayton 43. Flyers get a win in this year’s Tournament, but this game will be gone from your memory by Wednesday. Cole Aldrich had the sixth triple-double (2o boards! Ten blocks!) in the great history of this Tournament. And only Shaq matched what Aldrich did.
No. 12 Arizona 71, No. 13 Cleveland State 57. Arizona burn you again this year like they have to me? Same old story: Wildcats overachieve when the seeding is low and expectations are zero; underachieve when the seeding is high and Final Four talk runs amock. Cleveland State (3-2) is still above .500 in March.
WEST:
No. 3 Missouri 83, No. 6 Marquette 79. Dominic James tried to give it a go, but instead, opted to feed his hunger by going Jerry Tarkanian on the cloth for the entire second half. James couldn’t score in 17 miutes on the floor. CBS didn’t give my area (Connecticut) as much as this game as it should have (keeping it on Louisville-Siena with eight minutes to go while ignoring this tight one with less than two minutes?). Despite getting outrebounded by 11 to Marquette (a huge shock to me), Missouri wrestled this one back in the final minute. Considering the team, history and circumstance, Tigers fans must be both shocked and congratulatory.
