Sanity Makes a Comeback...Unless You're Ohio

The Big Dance known as March Madness rolled on Friday night, but the clock has struck midnight for several Cinderellas. 10-seed St. Mary's, the little school that surprised Villanova, was steamrolled by 3-seed Baylor, 72-49. It wasn't even close at halftime when the Gaels only scored 17 to the Bears' 46 points. St. Mary's has completed its deepest run in the modern tournament era while Baylor is going to its first Elite Eight. Baylor is a compelling story in this tournament and one of the few underdogs remaining. Seven years ago, the Baylor basketball program was a shambles after Carlton Dotson murdered teammate Patrick Dennehy and the coach at the time was caught in a scandal of his own. Quite the mess for a university that is backed by the Baptist church. The current coach, Scott Drew, has led this team to the regional final when they were the preseason pick for 10th place in their conference. Instead, they'll be one of two teams representing the Big 12 Conference (the other is Kansas State) in the Elite Eight.

The other Cinderella sent packing was Northern Iowa. After having beaten the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks, Northern Iowa gave perennial power Michigan State a run for its money, but in the end, the banged-up Spartans prevailed, 59-52. The difference-makers were point guard Korie Lucious and head coach Tom Izzo. Lucious hit a key turnaround jumper with 91 seconds left and Izzo proved why he's one of the game's best coaches. Working with a depleted lineup, Izzo is making his seventh Elite Eight appearance, fifth most amongst active coaches. Northern Iowa's Ali Farokhmanesh, whose clutch 3-pointers were key in UNI's tournament wins over UNLV and Kansas, shot 1 for 6 from 3 point range. He also missed some key free throws at the end of the game, but his Panthers will be remembered for stunning Kansas. Here are the highlights (courtesy CBS):



While Izzo's team was battling Northern Iowa in St. Louis, college basketball coaching icon Mike Krzyzewski led his Duke Blue Devils over the injured Purdue Boilermakers, 70-57 in Houston. Purdue kept the game close at halftime, but Duke pulled away in the second half. One can say it wasn't a fair fight as Purdue was without star Robbie Hummel, who tore his ACL in February. Duke's trio of Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith was too hot to handle in the second half. Highlights below (courtesy CBS):



But the game of the night was in St. Louis, as the sixth-seeded Tennessee Volunteers upset the second-seed Ohio State Buckeyes. The game was close to the very end, but Bruce Pearl and the Volunteers will finally go to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history and got payback after OSU knocked Tennessee out of the tournament in 2007. Ohio State stud Evan Turner scored 31 points, which was as many points as OSU put up in the entire second half. For the Buckeyes to have won, it needed somebody other than Turner to step up. Tennessee had four players with 10+ points compared to Ohio State's two. Tennessee has had a rocky season, rife with academic and legal issues, but as ESPN analyst Steve Lavin put it, "Bruce Pearl is a crisis-management expert". Tennessee has been a "giant killer" of sorts this season, beating Kansas and Kentucky during the regular season, then Ohio State last night. Highlights a plenty below (courtesy CBS):

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Today's games should be excellent. First, the Butler Bulldogs try to make the Final Four a homecoming but they have to beat a very good Kansas State Wildcats team (4:30 ET, CBS). This game is the West Regional Final in Salt Lake City, so crowd advantage is slightly favoring K-State. Then, what may be the game of the tournament, the Kentucky Wildcats take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the East Regional Final in Syracuse (7:05 ET, CBS). The Mountaineers were viewed by many as 1-seeds, even though they were slotted as a 2-seed while Kentucky has dominated during its tournament run while other 1-seeds have fallen.

Syracuse Shocked Amidst Tourney Course Correction

Photo courtesy of OregonLive.com/AP.

The NCAA Tournament resumed last night and for the most part, was pretty predictable, amid a few surprises. The twelfth-seeded Cornell Big Red sprang burst onto the scene with big upset wins over Temple and Wisconsin, winning in convincing style. Their average margin of victory in the first and second round was 15.5 points. Unfortunately for them, they faced the steamroller known as the Kentucky Wildcats and lost 62-45 to the top-seeded favorites from the Bluegrass State. Despite the lop-sided defeat, Cornell's squad has just finished the best season in school history. As for Kentucky, the pre-season expectations were a national title, and they're one step closer.

Photo courtesy the Idaho Statesman/AP.

Eleventh-seed Washington Huskies have been dogged by the national media this tournament in regards to the current state of West Coast basketball. They surprised Big East stalwart Marquette and defeated third-seed New Mexico, but couldn't defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers, who won 69-56. The Huskies lead by two at halftime, but the Mountaineers exploded for 42 points in the second half. West Virginia will move on to face Kentucky Saturday night in a battle of top-seeds in the East region. The winner moves on to Indianapolis and the Final Four.

Despite being a small school, Xavier has been a known college basketball destination for years. The Musketeers took on the Wildcats of Kansas State in a thriller that went to double-overtime. The highlights speak for themselves (video courtesy CBS):



While Xavier fans will no doubt take a while to forget this loss, fans of the Kansas Jayhawks must be fuming. To have your team, the number one overall seed, lose to a little-known school in the second round, then have your biggest rival head to at least the Elite Eight and possibly a national title, that's gotta be embarrassing.

But the biggest surprise of the night was the West region's top seed, Syracuse, falling to unheralded five-seed Butler. Butler has been a factor in several past tournaments, but this year was favored to be knocked out in the first round by the prognosticators, mainly because of their designation as a five-seed. (Seems like every March Madness, a 12 seed knocks out a 5, so this year, people had Butler pegged as a first-round loss. This year, only one 5 seed lost in the opening round, Temple lost to Cornell). Here are the highlights (courtesy CBS):



Butler, a liberal arts school in Indianapolis with a student population of about 4500, will face Kansas State in the West Regional Final Saturday night in Salt Lake City. The winner goes on to the Final Four, which happens to be in Indianapolis this year. As for Syracuse, this game cannot be labeled a disappointment, since they were without center Arinze Onuaku, the team's glue. Had Onuaku been on the floor, the game would have likely been very different.

Tonight's games include Tennessee vs. Ohio State, Duke vs. Purdue, Northern Iowa vs. Michigan State, and Baylor vs. St. Mary's. Some great storylines continue tonight as UNI and St. Mary's try to continue their improbable runs, Purdue tries to get to a home-state Final Four, and one of the top players of the country, Ohio State's Evan Turner, laces up against Bruce Pearl's talented Vols.

March Madness Jumbo Post

The notorious Cameron Crazies at Duke University basketball games. Photo courtesy the LA Times / Getty Images.

March Madness (aka the NCAA Tournament) begins tomorrow and it seems like everyone's got a bracket. President Obama filled his out today. Last year, he correctly predicted the North Carolina Tar Heels to win, but then again, so did most people, myself included. This year, most people are picking the Kansas Jayhawks, and with good reason. The Jayhawks' guard tandem of Sherron Collins and Xavier Henry is one of the best in the country. Add in center Cole Aldrich as the defensive stopper in the middle plus the tournament's number 1 overall seed, and Kansas has the makings of a championship run.

So who else could take the title, if not Kansas? Kentucky is the runner-up in most people's brackets. The Wildcats, led by freshmen sensations John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, have been near the top of the polls all season, but will the lack of tournament experience hurt Wall, Cousins, and Co.? Of the other number 1 seeds, Syracuse, and Duke, I'd give the edge to Duke, due to the experience of guard duo Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith.

Here are the teams I'm watching for in this year's tournament:

The Mountaineers' DaSean Butler holding the Big East trophy. Photo courtesy of NY Daily News.

West Virginia (No. 2 East seed): WV probably should have been the number 1 seed in place of Syracuse, but they're the 2 seed instead. The Mountaineers won their first Big East title this season and are riding the clutch shooting of Da'Sean Butler. Second, West Virginia is not a traditional power like Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, and Kentucky are, so it'd be nice to see a team win the national title for the first time, and WV has the tools to do it. For more on WV, here's a good article by ESPN's Dana O'Neil.

Florida (No. 10 West seed): Gators coach Billy Donovan returns to the tournament after a 2-year absence. Donovan was previously covered here on FTRS. While I doubt the Gators will get by BYU in the first round, it's interesting to see Donovan return to March Madness.

Tennessee senior Wayne Chism. Photo courtesy of "The House that Bandy Built" blog.

Tennessee (No. 6 Midwest seed): Coach Bruce Pearl is one of the best in the country, but the Volunteers haven't been able to put together a deep run. Full disclosure: a good friend of mine is from Tennessee.

San Diego State (No. 11 Midwest seed): The Aztecs are looking for their first-ever tournament win. SDSU is one of the few bright spots in what was an atrocious year for West Coast basketball. They'll play Tennessee in the first round. It doesn't hurt that a few friends have or are currently attending SDSU.

To see my bracket, click here. My Final Four are: Kansas, West Virginia, Baylor, and Kansas State.