NCAA Tournament: First Round Randomness
Jermaine Wallace’s game-winning three-pointer to beat
Iowa was easily the best shot in the first round and could possibly be the
most memorable shot of the tournament. But the most memorable moment
of the first round took place five minutes after Albany lost to UConn.
Albany played brilliantly and passionately and, despite the loss, every fan
in Philadelphia was literally singing their praises long after the final
buzzer …
On the topic of UConn, Marcus Williams is clearly the
leader of the Huskies. Rudy Gay might be a number one draft pick, but
Williams always ends up taking the big shots. He’s probably the best point
guard in college basketball…
They are awful defensively and Derek Raivio needs to
shoot the ball better, but Adam Morrison just will not allow Gonzaga to
lose…
LSU’s Tyrus Thomas played 19 minutes against Iona, yet
still managed to rack up nine points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Glen
“Big Baby” Davis had 22 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks. Incredibly,
Thomas is just a freshman and Davis is just a sophomore…
Call him overrated or call him underrated, but Gerry
McNamara won’t be forgotten in Syracuse (or Scranton) for a very, very long
time…
Monmouth coach Dave Holloway set-up the perfect game-plan
for stopping Villanova’s four-guard offense and his kids had no sweat left
after pushing so hard on the defensive end. But their offense during the
first ten minutes of the game was the worst I’ve ever seen in the NCAA
Tournament…
Think Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are re-thinking their
arguments against the mid-majors? Wichita State decimated a Big East team
and Bradley knocked off Kansas. No one with a straight face can still rip
the MVC…
As I pointed out in the
March Manifesto,
inexperience is a killer in the tourney. That said, Kansas is going to be
awesome next season…
Its too bad Pacific couldn’t pull off the upset over
Boston College. Christian Maraker is an outstanding player and no one
outside of the UOP campus is going to remember him.
Speaking of anonymous stars, the only people who know
about BC center Shaun Williams are NBA scouts and all the people who watched
the second overtime of the Pacific-BC game …
The 34-point outburst by Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp
against Montana was the most underappreciated performance of the first
round. That’s because Montana won the game and Nevada’s Nick Fazekas is the
only national name on the team. But even to those in the WAC, Kemp’s numbers
were unexpected. He only scored 20 points three times in the Wolfpack’s
previous 20 games…
Jordan Farmar and Aaron Afflalo make up the best
backcourt in the tournament, but the best player on the floor when UCLA
crushed Belmont was freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. That’s scary
news to everyone else in the Oakland Regional…
The Tennessee-Winthrop game looked really ugly on the
surface. And while it wasn’t pretty from an offensive standpoint, both teams
gave everything they had on the defensive end…
Two years ago, Kentucky was the region’s top seed and
lost to a ninth-seeded UAB team. Yet the Wildcats somehow managed to beat
this year’s ninth-seeded Blazers after Kentucky had one of their most
disappointing seasons in recent memory and entered the tournament as an
eight-seed…
If you’re looking for a reason why George Mason beat
Michigan State by ten, don’t blame it on the fact that Shannon Brown went
2-for 11. The Spartans got crushed on the boards and they didn’t defend, two
of the staples of Tom Izzo-coached teams. Those are actually the same
reasons Michigan State struggled throughout the season …
