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.

First-Round Order Restored

UCSB's Justin Joyner and Ohio State's Evan Turner. Photo courtesy the NY Daily News.

I generally don't post on the weekends, but March Madness is in full swing. With the first round complete, Friday's games went about as expected. If Thursday was a day of chaos, Friday was mostly a snoozer. Top seeds Syracuse and Duke were on cruise control and Ohio State and West Virginia dominated in their second halves to beat UCSB and Morgan State, respectively. The expected upset of Cornell over Temple happened, while the popular picks of Siena over Purdue and Utah State over Texas A&M didn't. As for the Big East/ACC clash, the Big East went 1-1 (West Virginia won, Louisville lost) while the ACC went 3-2 Friday.

Here were the highlight games of the day:

Xavier's Dante Jackson. Photo courtesy the NY Daily News.

6 Xavier def. 11 Minnesota, 65-54
After a first half tie at 26, Xavier's Jordan Crawford took over, scoring 17 of his 28 points in the second half to lead the Musketeers to victory.

10 Missouri def. 7 Clemson, 86-78
This was a popular upset pick, so not terribly unexpected. The teams were tied at 39 at the half, but Mizzou went on a 47-point surge in the second, which proved to be the difference. Simply put, the Missouri Tigers had a balanced offense (four players with 10 or more points) and an aggressive defense, forcing 20 turnovers.

Gonzaga's Robert Sacre blocks Florida State's Derwin Kitchen. Photo courtesy the Merced Sun-Star / Associated Press.

8 Gonzaga def. 9 Florida State, 67-60
At halftime, this game looked like a Bulldogs blowout, but the FSU Seminoles came storming back, scoring 41 second-half points, mostly on the back of Deividas Dulkys, who was money from beyond the arc. However, the Gonzaga trio of Robert Sacre, Steven Gray, and Matt Bouldin proved too much for Florida State.

8 California def. 9 Louisville, 77-62
The Pac-10's second team to beat a Big East team in as many days (Washington surprised Marquette Friday), and Cal dominated for the bulk of the game. Louisville, known for being above average defensively, was down early 22-4. Not a good day to be Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who earned himself a technical that helped kill any chance of a Louisville comeback late in the second half.

Maryland's Greivis Vasquez blocks Houston's Aubrey Coleman. Photo courtesy the Annapolis Capital Gazette / Associated Press.

4 Maryland def. 13 Houston, 89-77
Probably the most entertaining game of the night with two up-tempo offenses going at it and CBS' Tim Brando making ridiculous calls (After a 3-pointer by Houston star Aubrey Coleman: "The bank is open late!") Maryland's Greivis Vasquez had a great second half, but it was Maryland's freshman forward Jordan Williams who had the career game. The Terrapins simply wore down Houston in the second half and made enough defensive stops to win.

10 Georgia Tech def. 7 Oklahoma State, 64-59
This was a predicted upset, but it was a tight game the whole way through. The Yellow Jackets were down 36-31 at the half, but held OK State's James Anderson, the nation's third-leading scorer, to only 11 points. Considering the seesaw season Georgia Tech had in the ACC, the win could be considered a mild surprise.

From left to right, Michigan State's Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen, and Delvon Roe. Photo courtesy ESPN.

5 Michigan State def. 12 New Mexico State, 70-67
The game of the night. New Mexico State was down big at halftime, but rallied back in the second until two controversial calls effectively decided the game. The first was a lane violation that was called correctly, according to NCAA officials postgame. That led to a 70-67 score, in favor of the MSU Spartans. The second call was atrociously bad, and where New Mexico State fans have a legitimate beef. The ball went out of bounds at 0.9 seconds, but it didn't register with the officials until 0.3 seconds, shaving off precious time and forcing a desperation three-point shot that didn't go in for NMSU. The officials should have been keeping an eye on the clock when the ball went out of bounds. Michigan State got out of a close one.