March Madness Day 4: The End is Nigh'

 

I'm admittedly crawling to the finish line of the Four Greatest Days in Sports, having reached my saturation point sometime close to the Gonzaga/Memphis game last night.

 It feels a little bit like that Super Size Me documentary where the guy eats nothing but McDonald's for 30 days just to make a movie about it. Instead of quarter pounders and fries, I've been consuming basketball and not much else lately and it's probably already rewiring my brain chemistry and lowering my sperm count. 

No matter how much I love basketball, doing this for 30 days in a row would be unlikely to end well for me. I woke up this morning and decided that doing it for four days in a row didn't seem especially appealing either, so I took it easy today. There wasn't a single game that I watched start to finish, and while there were a few more upsets and it sounds like Michigan State/Duke was a great game, I don't feel like I missed all that much.

My viewing schedule from Sunday:

• Final 5 minutes of Houston-Illinois
• First half of Villanova-Ohio State
• Michigan State-Duke highlights
• Second half of Purdue-Texas
• Final 10 minutes of Arizona-TCU

What I missed:

• Texas Tech making me wish I'd picked them to go farther. After showing off a championship level offense on Friday, Texas Tech shows off their renowned championship defense in smothering Notre Dame 59-53. One key to a long run in the Tournament is the ability to win games in multiple styles. There is little time to scout, no one is immune to that one random game where the ball won't go in the hoop, there seem to be more matchup imbalances than in conference play. This makes me think Texas Tech can go far like in 2019--maybe even all the way this time.
• Big Ten crashes and burns again. You know there's some resentment around the other conferences when the Big Ten gets 9 teams chosen for the second year in a row. Last year the conference underwhelmed. Now we move to the Sweet 16 and it's happening again. MSU and Ohio State get a pass, they were underdogs in pretty tough matchups. Illinois barely snuck by Chattanooga the other day and got waxed by Houston. Conference champion Wisconsin stunk for the vast majority of their two games, and 11 seed Iowa State finished off what Colgate started. That just leaves Michigan and Purdue, and if I'm being honest, I need to squint pretty hard to see Michigan winning another game, as fun as this postseason run has been. 
• Auburn was who I thought they were. Auburn was ranked #1 in early February, but they just never passed the eye test for me. I only tuned in to watch them play 3 or 4 times during the season, but it seemed like every time I did they either lost or struggled mightily. With a vicious 46-29 second half surge, 10 seed Miami did to Auburn what I originally thought USC was going to them. On paper, this was a sizable upset. Seeing only the final score thought, can't say I was very surprised by this one. 
• Iowa State was not who I thought they were. As far as I was concerned, Iowa State was the least deserving team in the 68-team field this year. How could a team that finished four games below .500 in conference play and lost their first conference tournament game by 31 not only make the Big Dance, but even avoid the play-in game? It doesn't matter. The Cyclones are headed to the Sweet 16. That's why people make such a big deal about "the Bubble" and the last few spots every year. How you got in and whether or not you "deserve" it becomes irrelevant; once you're in, there's a chance to go on a run and completely change the perception of your season. Same for Michigan. Same for UCLA and Oregon State last year. Same for someone every year.

The Greatest Four Teams from Sunday:

• Houston-- With all due respect, Houston's trip to the Final Four last year was pretty flukey--playing double digit seeds in every game until getting blasted by Baylor in the semis. After watching them pick apart a very good Illinois team this afternoon, it's clear that a return Final Four trip would be no fluke at all. As I write this, Arizona is trailing by three to TCU under the four-minute mark. Whether or not the Wildcats survive this, Houston may now be the favorites to win the South region.
• Texas Tech--  The Red Raiders' defense is relentless. They held five opponents' point total in the 40s this season, and with their most recent grind out win against Notre Dame, have kept another nine opponents in the 50s. They also put up 97 in a first round win, so even if a game turns into a shootout, they've still proven capable of producing offensive firepower when needed. 
• Duke-- Michigan State played arguably their best game of the season on Sunday,  hitting 11 of 22 threes, taking care of the ball (their Achilles' heel all year), and Marcus Bingham more than holding his own against Duke's big men. Alas, even then Coach K did not have his career ended by Tom Izzo, though the Spartans made a strong case. This just speaks to the talent of Duke, not just soon-to-be top 3 pick Paolo Banchero, but top to bottom. When they fell behind by five with about five minutes left, Duke found another gear that less than a handful of teams left in the tournament are capable of.
• TCU-- Entering the tournament, the Arizona Wildcats had every reason to believe that this was the team to capture their first National Championship since the days of Miles Simon and Mike Bibby. 31-3 overall, Pac 10 regular season and tournament champions, a do-everything superstar in Bennedict Mathurin. All of those things are still true for Arizona, but after being taken to the brink by a nondescript TCU team in an overtime classic, the victorious Wildcats are counting their lucky stars and must be feeling very mortal right now. 

Sunday Recap

• Madness Level: 4 out of 10
• Arizona vs TCU in the nightcap was far and away the best game of the day. In the end, top seeded Arizona survives and advances, but it took a superhuman performance by Bennedict Mathurin to save their season against the 9th seeded Frogs. Win or lose, Wildcats fans will have nightmares involving Eddie Lampkin for years to come.
• Iowa State out-Wisconsins Wisconsin, Miami dominates Auburn, sending another two double digit seeds in to the Sweet 16.
• The Dukies took Sparty's best punch, but Coach K lives to coach another game. 
• My top takeaway from the day is that I'm very impressed with the Houston Cougars. 

• Buzzer Beater Chances: 0 out of 1
• This was bar none the craziest sequence of the day: Arizona's Mathurin hits a do-or-die three to tie the game at 75 with 15 seconds left. TCU brings it up the court, expecting to take the final shot. Arizona's defense sends the house on defense in the closing seconds, with a halfcourt trap that looks more like more like an all-out blitz. TCU's guard is pretty clearly fouled at the halfcourt bracket logo, but there's no call and the ball comes free with about three seconds left. Dalen Terry of Arizona sprints ahead of everyone and layup/dunks it...a few tenths of a second after the buzzer. No basket, and the game goes to overtime.

• Status of My Bracket: At least I have Arizona (barely)
• 6 correct picks, 0 misses, 2 no contest
• If I could go back and do it again, I would probably pick Houston to knock off Arizona next, but as it stands my champs are still alive.
• Got 10 teams into the Sweet 16, but only four that could make the Elite 8 and two that could make the Final Four. 
• If Arkansas upsets Gonzaga next week and Arizona keeps winnin, I'll have a good shot at glory in this year's family pool.

Thanks for following along with me during the Greatest Four Days in Sports. Time to recharge my basketball taste buds, and next Thursday we'll see whether the next four days of March Madness can be even greater.