NCAA Basketball Men's Tournament Second Round Recap

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Depending on who you are a fan of, the past five days have been pretty exciting as far as college basketball goes. Oh, who am I kidding, even if the team you were cheering for was out in the first round, it was still awfully exciting.

I spent a good portion of my weekend sitting in front of the TV flipping back and forth through multiple games. It is crazy how that first round of 64 can have games playing back to back to back across four different TV networks. You almost need a command center with a dashboard and six displays just to keep track of it all!

When I left you on Friday morning we were halfway through the first round and just getting ready to start the second half later that day. Major upsets had already reared their ugly head and brackets were already starting to fracture across the globe.

As of Friday morning, my brackets were still pretty intact, but that definitely isn't the case as we look towards the Sweet 16 in two days.

Darling of previous years and 10 seed Loyola Chicago along with their "mascot" Sister Mary Clarence (wait, that was Sister Act wasn't it?) were sent home by 7 seed Ohio State.

In fact, things were looking like they were going to fall the way you would expect (seed-wise) Until Miami(FL) came along with their 10 seed and upset 7 seed USC.

Then, things got even more juicy when play-in team and 11 seed Notre Dame beat 6 seed Alabama. Roll that tide on home Bama...

I was really hoping 13 seed Chattanoga would get a Cinderella win over 4 seed Illinois and they almost did only falling short by one point. It was a heart breaker of a game.

Altough they fell short, the upsets weren't over with 11 seed Iowa State taking down 6 seed LSU and 9 seed TCU beating 8 seed Seton Hall.

I'd like to mention that the Michigan State game against Davidson was much closer than I wished for. They pulled out the victory, but it was only by one point. This didn't give me a lot of hope heading into their second round matchup against Duke.


If anything, the second round was even more exciting than the first round. Hard to believe I know, but it is true.

Things got going on Saturday with shockers being thrown at us right and left. 8 seed North Carolina knocked off 1 seed Baylor to bust what I can only imagine were quite a few brackets. Especially given the fact that Baylor was the returning champion from the tournament last year.

Not to be outdone, 11 seed Michigan took out 2 seed Tennessee in what was a pretty exciting game even if it didn't turn out the way I was hoping. There is a good chance you have likely seen the aftermath of the game where Michigan coach Juan Howard is hugging and "consoling" one of the Tennessee players. That's right, the very same coach who threw a punch at another coach towards the end of the regular season.

This little display of sympathy by him doesn't impress or fool me at all. He very well knew the cameras were running and as far as I am concerned he is still a piece of trash. Well done to his players for perservering despite his many shortcomings.

In the final surprise upset of Saturday, 15 seed St. Peter's who took out Kentucky aimed their sights on another team from that state and beat 7 seed Murray State in pretty spectactular fashion.

I think it should be noted that 9 seed Memphis almost came away with the win over 1 seed Gonzaga. Thankfully (for my bracket anyway) the Zags came away with the win.

That brings us to Sunday.

Houston which is a 5 seed beat 4 seed Illinois which I am honestly pretty happy about. Don't get me wrong, it is sad to see so many Big 10 schools falling out of the tournament, but there was a player on Illinois whose attitude just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think that kind of behavior should be rewarded, so I am glad he won't be advancing. Sorry for the rest of the team though.

7 seed Ohio State also packed their bags to go home after a loss to 2 seed Villanova. Sadly, my 7 seed Michigan State Spartans just couldn't hang against 2 seed Duke. To be fair, I think they kept the game a lot closer than people thought they would. Towards the end they took a lead that it looked like they might hold onto until the end, but sadly that wasn't to be.

I hope they can build on this experience and carry it with them into next year. If they can, I think they will be a force to be reckoned with.

There were two what the heck games on Sunday that need to be pointed out. 11 seed Iowa State beat 3 seed Wisconsin, and 10 seed Miami (FL) beat 2 seed Auburn. Talk about bracket busters. There is a good chance many people had one or two of those teams going a little further than the second round. Myself included.

TCU took 1 seed Arizona to overtime, but the Wildcats ultimately came out on top.

It drives me nuts that Michigan is one of the only two Big 10 teams left in the tournament. This just goes to show how getting hot at the right time can make a huge difference. I was going to make a couple of charts to illustrate how big of a deal it can be, but you will just have to trust me since this is getting so long.

The Sweet 16 is set with games starting on Thursday of this week. Along with my bracket I will likely be doing some online betting. I pulled in a bit of money this past weekend on some 4 leg parlay's that fell in my favor.

Who is your money on?
(4) Arkansas over (1) Gonzaga?
(11) Michigan over (2) Villanova?
(3) Texas Tech over (2) Duke?
(5) Houston over (1) Arizona?


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Well. The easy answer for me is Gonzaga over Arkansas. I think the Zags are quicker and bigger inside. I think they will probably try to stop Timme (Memphis held him to 25-in the second half) and that Holmgren will have a big game. If they can make a few free throws it should go pretty easy.

I think Jay Wright out coaches Juan Howard by a significant margin. Villanova moves on.

I actually picked Michigan State over Duke so I have to think Texas Tech is the better bet. That "win one more for Coach K" only plays in the media.

My bracket says Arizona to the final, but I think it's not as clear cut this weekend as it was when I made that choice originally. Samson is a great coach and Houston is really rocking it right now.

Speaking of coaches and stuff: Look for Arizona to be really good next season. A full year of Tommy Lloyd will make them look a lot like Gonzaga with possibly even better recruits. Scary thought.

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I have Gonzaga going all the way this year on both of my brackets. I was impressed by Houston too. They looked really good the other day against Illinois. There was a time when Illinois had one of the top scorers in the country. I really hope Nova wins. I have even less respect for Howard now than I previously did and I agree with you, Duke looks pretty beatable. MSU almost did, they just need to figure out the sloppy play that has plagued them the past five years or so.

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Looks like SEC is overrated in basketball this year.

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Big 10 as well once again...

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I mean, they did get 9 spots. That's too many imo.

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(Edited)

That's my point, nine spots and only two of them are left in the Sweet 16. Despite their success Michigan shouldn't have been in there. I honestly am not sure Michigan State should have even been.

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I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan beats Villanova, but I kind of doubt they will.

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