March Madness, Day 2: Evening Edition
Up until about 5:45 or so today, the men's NCAA tournament was pretty flat. Yeah, Oakland knocked off Kentucky, and Duquesne won their first game in over 50 years, but aside from that? Honestly, not a whole lot of magic. St. Peter's got obliterated by Tennessee, and even the other upsets we saw (Oregon, NC State) weren't really compelling.
The NC State story is entertaining as hell, but they'll be favorites against Oakland on Saturday (for the first time in their run), and even if they make it to the Sweet 16, they'll likely face Marquette and that's probably where the story ends. Remember, the Wolfpack are only here because they won five games in five days. This is not a good team!
Oregon are actually under-seeded, so I can see them being competitive against Creighton, but again: Creighton are a legitimately good team. They're one of three teams to beat UConn this year! So, like NC State, I'm skeptical of them making a deep run, simply because of the luck of the draw.
And then...Yale knocked off Auburn. This is literally the only place where Yale would be considered underdogs, let's be honest with ourselves. They probably have a future deputy assistant Treasury secretary on their playing roster, probably a few future Fortune 500 C-level officers.
But here? Here, no one expected them to win. I lost track of how many people compared 2024 Auburn to 2023 UConn. And in fairness, they were dominant in winning the SEC title last week. But not tonight!
Which is how Yale's now playing SDSU for a shot at a potential Nutmeg Classic. That's right: if they beat the Aztecs on Sunday (unlikely, but hey, so was a win against Auburn!), there's a potential Sweet 16 clash against Connecticut for Constitution State bragging rights!
I'm going to be at Yale tomorrow, as it turns out, so I'm avidly curious to see how the campus is reacting.
OK, on with the games.
Alabama 82, Florida State 74 (W): Solid game. I'd picked FSU in my women's brackets, but I thought this game could've gone either way. It was basically all even going into half-time, but about halfway into the third quarter, the Crimson Tide turned it up a notch, and though FSU got it to 74-72 with 2:20 left in the game, Alabama closed it out going away. They'll play Texas on Sunday.
Baylor 80, Vanderbilt 63 (W): Yeah, this wasn't that close of a game. Vandy did get the Baylor lead down to 7 about halfway into the third quarter, but they seemed to just run out of gas, and Baylor raised the level of play, and that was that.
Texas A&M 98, Nebraska 83 (M): For about 10, maybe 12 minutes in the first half, this was a close, entertaining game. I was digging Nebraska! They've got a player, Keisei Tominaga, who's nicknamed the "Japanese Steve Curry"! Dude was all set to be a March Madness cult figure. And then...the Aggies ran the Huskers out of the gym.
(In a weird coincidence, the Aggies' women's team played the Husker women as well)
Iowa State 93, Maryland 86 (W): Wow, what a comeback by the Cyclones. They trailed Maryland by as many as 20, but freshman Audi Crooks was outstanding: 18-20, for 40 points (!), and Iowa State gutted out the win.
Purdue 78, Grambling State 50 (M): Well, that's one hurdle down for the Boilermakers. Grambling was game early on, but Zach Edey pulled down 21 boards in addition to scoring 30, and that was basically that.
Oregon State 73, Eastern Washington 51 (W): An easy win for the Beavers. Raegan Beers shot 8-11 from the floor for 19 points, and there was no point at which Oregon State was sweating bullets.
Alabama 109, Charleston 96 (M): This game wasn't anywhere near as close as the final score indicates. The Tide led by as many as 30 points in the second half, before a late Cougars flurry cut it to 13. Mark Sears scored 30 to pace Alabama. This is a fun, chaotic team. I don't think they're a national title contender by any means, but they can basically score at will, and on any given night, they can run you out of the gym. I could see them going on an Elite Eight run.
Colorado 86, Drake 72 (W): This was a tight game in the first half, but Colorado pulled away in the third quarter. Aaronette Vonleh keyed the win for the Buffaloes with an 18 point, 10 rebound double-double.
Kansas State 78, Portland 65 (W): K-State got out to a 25-10 lead after the first quarter, then grimly held on to stave off the upset. And I mean it was a bit of a white-knuckle ride, man.
Stanford 79, Norfolk State 50 (W): Stanford kicked off their tournament with a fairly straight-forward win here.
Nebraska 61, Texas A&M 59 (W): Unlike the men's game, this one was a thriller. The Huskers led by as many as 15 late in the third quartern, then A&M came all the way back to tie it with 15 seconds to go on a 27-12 run. Two free throws at the end iced the win for Nebraska.
Houston 86, Longwood 44 (M): A blowout from beginning to finish. About as good a cure for whatever hangover Houston might've had after getting blown out in the Big 12 title game.
James Madison 72, Wisconsin 59 (M): The Dukes are legitimately a good basketball team. At no point in the second half did it feel like JMU were going to blow this game, even though a bunch of their players were in foul trouble with five minutes left.
Utah State 88, TCU 72 (M): Boy, oh boy, Utah State worked the Horned Frogs. This TCU team was good, but they were run off the court. Utah State is going to give Purdue problems on Sunday.
Grand Canyon 75, St. Mary's 66 (M): I feel for the Gaels. They finally knocked Gonzaga off their perch in the WCC, they were primed to make a run in the tournament depending on the draw, maybe even crash the Final Four.
And then the selection committee gave them a date with Grand Canyon, which (like Oregon) was under-seeded. GCU are honestly a top-30 team. They should be a 10-seed, maybe even an 8- or 9-seed. Giving them a 12-seed was frankly ridiculous. Is this an upset? Sure; it's the first tournament in school history, and St. Mary's was an excellent team. But it's not a shocker. Don't be surprised if the Lopes beat Alabama on Sunday.
OK, that was entirely too much basketball to watch over 12 hours. I feel like I'm hoops-drunk. See y'all on the flip side on Monday.