Bracket Breakers

If your bracket didn’t blow up in the first two rounds of the tournament I’m sure it took a turn for the worse over the weekend. All four number ones had a shot to move on in the NCAA tournament. They made the elite eight portion but three of the teams stumbled and had to book flights home for the season and not to Houston where the Final Four will be played out.

Oklahoma took care of UO on Saturday, as in Oklahoma bested one seeded Oregon eliminating the Pac 12’s final entry in the big dance. Sooner ‘do it all’ player of the year candidate Buddy Hield scored 37 points against the Ducks making threes from everywhere.

It must have felt like throwing a beach ball in a swimming pool for the senior. I’ve seen him play and when things are going good he is unstoppable.

Oklahoma big man Ryan Spangler is the only Gonzaga recruit that is still left playing in the tournament. Spangler played his freshman year in Spokane but transferred to be closer to his Oklahoma home.

Kansas was listed as the overall number one seed for the entire tournament but when the committee placed number two seed Villanova in the same bracket they may have made it the most difficult road to the Final Four.

The Wildcats certainly could have been a one seed in the tournament and had they won the Big East tournament they most likely would have been.

A tight game throughout, the Wildcats pulled away late by making free throws and forcing the Jayhawks into shooting tough shots and of course rebounding the misses. Villanova and Oklahoma no doubt earned their trip to Houston.

The Syracuse Orange are certainly the surprise team of the tournament. They defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Friday after GU had a lead late. But the Bulldogs became tight and missed opportunities and turnovers took their toll. Early in the game Syracuse had trouble finding their range but when they did late in the second half their momentum was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.

The 63-60 loss was devastating to this group of athletes. They worked hard to get to the tournament and win their first two games and were on the verge of eliminating Syracuse if only a couple of shots would drop.

But when the pressure mounted they became a bit tight and good shots were tough to find and drives often ended in Syracuse steals.

It was tough to watch but as a Zag fan you have to appreciate how far this team has come in the last month. Before talking about next year let’s appreciate this year.

Syracuse would then face former WSU Coach Tony Bennett and his one seeded Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia started out very slow and they were down early against the vaunted 2-3 zone of Syracuse. But after the first media timeout they started hitting 3s and they would lead by double digits to start the second half.

The Cavaliers had a nice lead in the second half but Syracuse started pressing similar to their game with Gonzaga. This time it looked like Virginia was breaking the press and they were in two-on-one situations but they didn’t always score and they turned the ball over on several occasions and Syracuse took advantage.

They whittled the lead down and were confident in their shooting while Virginia tightened up and their shots weren’t falling and the Orange gobbled up the rebounds.

It is amazing how momentum can take over a game and how a better team can wilt under the pressure while the underdog plays loose without a care in the world and all of a sudden the horn sounds and the underdog is playing on.

I believe this was the fourth time these two teams have played and this was the only win for Syracuse. Go figure.

The only remaining number one seed was the North Carolina Tar Heels and they handled the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame did own a victory over the Tar Heels but that game was played earlier in the season on the Fighting Irish’s home court.

So if you had Oklahoma versus Villanova and North Carolina against Syracuse in your bracket you must be quite proud. Either that or this was the 25th bracket you’ve filled out in the past two weeks!