And then there were 48 . . .
The evening portion of Thursday’s 16 second-round NCAA Tournament games provided us a healthy heaping of the thrills we’ve come to expect from the first week of the event.
Of course, there was one nail bitter of sorts in the afternoon in Pittsburgh when the University of North Carolina – the Asheville version – made things a tad painstaking for the East’s top seed.
The Orange – just two days after sophomore center Fab Melo was declared ineligible – trailed most of the first three quarters of the game before pulling in front and then hanging on to edge Bulldogs.
Coach Jim Boeheim’s team will have to play a lot better on Saturday to knock off a Kansas State team that had its own tussle to deal with before Kansas State was able to edge Southern Mississippi, 70-64.
While the starters shot about 35 percent from the field, Boeheim’s bench came through as it had so many times during the team’s first 31 wins, with forward James Southerland contributing 15 points and eight rebounds.
The only “seed upsets” to take place among the 16 games were No. 12 seed VCU’s 62-59 victory over No. 5 Wichita State in Portland (South Regional) and No. 11 Colorado’s 68-64 over No. 6 UNLV in Albuquerque (also in the South).
Wichita State was a popular choice to knock off Indiana (a 79-66 winner over New Mexico State later in Portland) in the third round on Saturday.
Well, now it’s Shaka Smart’s squad that will have the opportunity and its 29th victory demonstrated that the Rams – whose run from “First Four” participant and controversial at-large selection a year ago to the Final Four was nothing short of startling – were under-valued and under-seeded by the NCAA Championship (aka “Tournament”) Committee in Indianapolis last weekend.
And do you think the folks at the University of Illinois might be upping the “We want you as our next coach!” ante?
By the way – did Gregg Marshall did coach his final game with Wichita State or am I wrong to assume that the former Winthrop mentor has to be a strong candidate to move on to the University of South Carolina?
The University of Colorado Buffaloes, in their first season as members of the conference, continued to offer the sole argument against the “the Pac-12 was terrible” assumption of most of the college basketball public right now.
Coach Tad Boyle’s squad built a stunning 20-point advantage early in the second half and then held off a frantic rally by the team that became a national entity with its early-season victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Buffaloes will get another opportunity to restore a little more of the conference’s dignity with an even bigger upset of No. 3 seed Baylor – one of the four or five most talented teams in the country – Saturday.
There are still two-plus weeks of the season to go but Connecticut’s 77-64 loss to Iowa State Saturday night in Louisville pretty much guaranteed that the Huskies will go as the most disappointing/under-achieving team of the 2011-12 season.
The 2010-11 national champions returned most of the team that won that title – OK, there was one minor piece missing named Kemba Walker – and added future NBA players in Andre Drummond and Ryan Boatright.
Yet, the Huskies became the first defending championship squad to get knocked off in its first tournament game in the following season since the 1996 UCLA Bruins were shown the backdoor by the Princeton Tigers.
One has to wonder if – with his continued health issues and the program’s current ban from the tournament a year from now for academic reasons – this was Jim Calhoun’s final game as the program’s coach.
A look at some of the other Thursday individual standouts:
*Isaiah Canaan: Scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Murray State’s 58-41 victory over Colorado State, setting the stage for what should be a terrific third-round game between the No. 6 seed Racers and No. 3 Marquette Saturday in Louisville.
*Jae Crowder: Had 25 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and four steals in Marquette’s 88-68 throttling of the BYU Cougars. That was impressive!
*Kendall Williams: The 6-foot-4 sophomore from Southern California had 16 points, five assists and two steals and played terrific defense on Long Beach State’s Casper Ware (five of 19 from the field) to help New Mexico edge the 49ers 75-68.
*Peyton Siva: The Big East tourney champions got a big lift from the junior from Seattle who had 17 points and six assists during Louisville’s 69-62 win over Davidson. The Cardinals get New Mexico Saturday in Portland.
*Andre Roberson: The sophomore forward scored 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Colorado dominated UNLV under the backcourts (43-30) en route to its 68-64 victory against the Rebels in Albuquerque.
*Brady Heslip: The transfer from Boston College hit five 3s in Baylor’s 68-68 victory over South Dakota State. The Bears get Colorado Saturday in Albuquerque.
*Terrence Jones: Sophomore slump? Yeah, right. The Portland native scored 22 points and snatched 10 rebounds to help Kentucky slapped in-state opponent Western Kentucky around, 81-66, in Louisville.
*Royce White: The marvelous ball-handler (for his 6-8 size) had 15 points and 13 rebounds in Iowa State’s 77-64 win over Connecticut. He’ll likely be matched up frequently against Kentucky’s Terrence Jones or Anthony Davis Saturday in Louisville.
*Jordan Taylor: The senior point guard had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Wisconsin’s remarkably dominating performance – 73-49 – over a Montana team some had picked to upset the Badgers.
*John Jenkins: The oh-so-smooth jump shooter scored 27 points as Vanderbilt eliminated the Ivy League rep (Harvard), 79-70, and earn a spot in a third-round contest with Wisconsin Saturday in Albuquerque.
*Rodney McGruder: The Kansas State guard had 30 points as the Wildcats held off Southern Mississippi, 70-64, and put themselves into a third-round game with Syracuse Saturday in Pittsburgh.
*Jordan Hulls: The junior guard scored 22 points in Indiana’s 79-66 win over New Mexico State.
*Brandon Burgess: He was one of three Rams, with 16 points, to score in double figures in VCU’s 62-59 win over Wichita State to help his team get a third-round game with Indiana Saturday in Portland.
*Gary Bell and Kevin Pangos: The freshmen guards combined for 27 points in Gonzaga’s 77-54 punch out of West Virginia in Pittsburgh.
*Deshaun Thomas: The sophomore forward had 31 points and 12 rebounds while Ohio State was holding Loyola of Maryland at bay, 78-59.
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