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If you ever wondered about the deterioration of college basketball then trying to watch some of yesterday’s games should jolt you into reality. Many of the games were unwatchable as either both teams suck at offense or the refs allow a football game on defense away from the ball. We’re not asking for NC State-NCCU fouls or no defense, but allowing the hockey matches to go on off the ball is making for really crappy games.
If you haven’t watched the NBA in recent years then you may have missed how the NBA doesn’t have is a bunch of uncalled hacking fouls like college basketball, despite the rule changes. The Association decided it was going to take rough play out of the game and forced the referees to enforce those rules. College ball tried that this year, but as the season went on, the calls slowly reverted back to the same old same old. Schools like UVA and St. Louis benefitted from the rugby rules and it just goes to prove that the NCAA doesn’t have the ability or the stomach to reign in its referees and hold them to a given standard.
Let’s quickly turn the page from yesterday’s action to today’s action. The following is a consolidation of interesting facts and observations (some originally from people we follow on Twitter) regarding Saturday’s results and Sunday’s games to be played:
=====>>>>> I don’t like Syracuse. I mean, I can’t stand them. I have disliked them since an obnoxious yankee moved to my hometown in the early 80s and couldn’t shut up about “The Cuse” (which, of course, his parents didn’t even attend). I mean, I dislike Syracuse so much that there are probably going to be some times when I may pull of UNC over the Orange. (We’ll have to see about that.) With this said, I’ve always appreciated the Orange’s relative underperformance in the NCAA Tournament. So, when No. 11 Dayton upset No. 3 Syracuse on Saturday night in the Round of 32, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim became the first coach in history to have six NCAA tournament losses to double-digit seeds. By contrast, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is 15-0 in NCAA Tournament vs teams seeded 12th or worse. Coming into the game, Boeheim was one of six coaches with five losses to double-digit seeds along with coaches Mike Brey, Mike Krzyzewski, John Thompson III, Bob Knight, and Bobby Cremins. As for teams, Syracuse is now tied with UCLA and Oklahoma for the most losses to teams seeded 11th or worse in NCAA Tournament history.
=====>>>>> Less than 4% of ESPN’s brackets had Archie Miller’s Dayton Flyers advancing to the Sweet 16.
=====>>>>> Most of America agreed that Iowa State was going to advance over UNC-CH today…that was until the Cyclones’ lost their starting power forward Georges Niang to a broken foot in Friday’s game. Niang was one of the top players in the Big 12 this season averaging over 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists a game on 47% shooting. ISU’s offense runs through Niang; and the Cyclones do not have a ton of depth at the position on their roster. Compare the classic Carolina luck to that of ‘NC State Shit’ and you will cycle into despair.
=====>>>>> Here is an interesting stat from ESPN — since 2001, the Atlantic 10 is 5-5 vs the ACC in NCAA Tournament games. Before that, the ACC was 12-0 vs A-10 in the Tournament. St. Louis’ win over NC State and Dayton’s big win over Syracuse was big for the A-10.
=====>>>>> Want another way to look at the A-10? After all of Shaka Smart’s promotion the only team that remains for the conference is Dayton. In fact, their regular season Champion, St. Louis, experienced their LARGEST DEFICIT OF THE ENTIRE YEAR against NC State on Thursday night and then again experienced it on Saturday vs Louisville. Hard for me to imagine how ‘tough’ the conference is when the ACC’s 7th place team can hand their champion their largest deficit of the year and the ACC’s 9th place team (FSU) defeated beat the A-10?s 2nd (VCU) & 4th (UMass) this year.
=====>>>>> I found the statistic in the following tweet fascinating. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues today and negatively impacts Arizona and Virginia.
The history from 2006-2013: Six 1 or 2 seeds won their 1st-round games by less than 10 points. None of those teams made the Final Four.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) March 21, 2014
As for today, you can click here to set the stage with key information, point spreads, etc.
12:15, CBS
(2) Kansas vs (10) Stanford
Announcers: Jim Nantz / Greg Anthony // Tracy Wolfson
Spread: Kansas -6
2:45, CBS
(1) Wichita State vs (8) Kentucky
Announcers: Jim Nantz / Greg Anthony // Tracy Wolfson
Spread: Wichita State -4.5
5:15, CBS
(3) Iowa State vs (6) North Carolina
Announcers: Marv Albert / Steve Kerr // Craig Sager
Spread: Iowa State -1.5
6:10, TNT
(11) Tennessee vs (14) Mercer
Announcers: Kevin Harlan / Len Elmore // Reggie Miller /// Rachel Nichols
Spread: Tennessee -8
7:10, TBS
(4) UCLA vs (12) Stephen F. Austin
Announcers: Andrew Catalon / Mike Gminski // Otis Livingston
Spread: UCLA -9
7:45, TruTv
(3) Creighton vs (6) Baylor
Announcers: Marv Albert / Steve Kerr // Craig Sager
Spread: Creighton -3
8:40, TNT
(1) Virginia vs (8) Memphis
Announcers: Kevin Harlan / Len Elmore // Reggie Miller /// Rachel Nichols
Spread: Virginia -6
9:40, TBS
(1) Arizona vs (8) Gonzaga
Announcers: Andrew Catalon / Mike Gminski // Otis Livingston
Spread: Arizona -7
