Wegs Pool Contest: From 68 to 16 – Round 2 Standings

Thank you all for your patience as I enjoyed Las Vegas a little too much for the first couple of rounds of the Tournament. There is no better place to watch it than Stadium Swim at Circa and all the other great venues while throwing dice at the tables. On to the write up.

First 2 Rounds Recap

East Region

• 1st Round
  • Duke Gets Pushed – It was not what anyone thought as 16 Seed Siena led the 1 Seed Blue Devils at the half in Round 1, 43-32. Luckily, the Boozers got it done with 41 combined points and Cam had 13 rebounds, as Duke were able to get past the scare by the Saints, 71-65 to advance.
  • Cardinals Hold Off Threat – 11 South Florida was a popular upset pick in the pool, but 6 Seed Louisville came out smoking with a 10 point halftime lead and built an 18 point advantage. The Bulls made it interesting down the stretch, but fell short of the upset, Louisville advanced, 83-79.
• 2nd Round
  • Duke Stomped the Horned Frogs – After another slow start, 9 Seed TCU seemed like they had a shot even leading early in the 2nd half, 40-38, but finally, the 1 Seed Blue Devils found their stride against the TCU D going on a 32-10 run that closed the door for a ticket to the Sweet 16, 81-58.
  • Johnnies Hold Off Comeback – 5 Seed St. Johns faced 4 Seed Kansas in a battle of great coaches and tough defense. In this team, it was not a pretty game to watch, if you liked Offense, but the Ds were duking it out all night long. St. Johns will lead at the half 34-26. What was interesting was the Jayhawks dared the Johnnies to hit 3, as they shot the most 3 point attempts in the first half in Pitino’s career. In the second half, the St. John’s D asserted itself forcing more and more TOs (16 on the game) and built a 14 point lead with 8:54 remaining. Kansas would respond. The Jayhawks D forced missed shot after missed shot, and they fought hard on the glass to get critical offensive rebounds to actually tie the game with G Darryn Peterson’s two FTs with 13 seconds to go. Then, with only 2 team fouls, Coach Bill Self instructed his team to let St. John’s inbounds the ball only to foul over and over again to limit the time. Finally, St. Johns got the ball to G Dylan Darling who was 0-4 shooting on the game, he drove the ball to the basket and finished with his right off the glass for the game winner, buzzer beater to win the game, 67-65. St. Johns advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1999.
  • Spartans Advance – 6 Seed Louisville needed to get past 3 Seed Michigan State to keep dancing. Well, like most Izzo teams, the D speaks for the squad, and despite shooting 37 triples in the game, Louisville shot 35.1% from deep and only got to the foul line 6 times (4 of 6). Junior F Coen Carr led the Spartans with 21 points, 10 rebounds in the MSU 77-69 win.

South Region

• 1st Round
  • VCU Eliminated Heels – 6 Seed North Carolina without Caleb Wilson was probably overseeded, but still led the 11 Seed Rams by 18 points with 12:29 left in the 2nd half. VCU turned to Soph G Terrence Hill, Jr. who filled it up hitting 7 of 10 from deep for 34 points and made a complete comeback for an 82-78 win to advance.
  • Gators Crush – 1 Seed Florida lost in the quarters of the SEC Tournament, so there was some doubt how they would play. Well, The Gators pummeled the 16 Seed Prairie View (who won in the First Four) scoring the most points in the 1st round, 114-55, more than doubling up the Panthers.
• 2nd Round
  • Huskers Win a Classic – After the 4 Seed Cornhuskers won their first ever NCAA Tournament win on Thursday, they faced the 5 Seed Vanderbilt Commodores. This one was fun. Nebraska led 39-32 at the half, but Vandy rallied in the 2nd half. Soph G Tyler Tanner was all over the court for Vandy scoring 27 points, 4 assists and 4 steals pushing his team to the lead late, 67-62 with 5:34 to play. Then, the Huskers scored 6 straight points to take the lead with 2:09 with the fans going wild. Next, AK Okereke rained a triple to take the lead back with 1:44 left. Nebraska’s Coach’s son, Sam Hoiberg answered with a layup to tie it at 70-70 with 1:20 remaining. Then, Tanner hit a driving layup to take the lead with 1 minute. Nebraska would answer with a Rienk Mast offensive putback with 37 seconds to tie. Then, after a Vandy miss, Braden Frager took the ball down the lane for a 2 point Nebraska advantage with 2 seconds left. Vandy took a timeout, inbounded the ball to Tanner, who took a couple dribbles, launched one off the backboard, front rim, back rim and out…..Nebraska won, 74-72 – their first ever Cornhusker Sweet 16.
  • Hawkeyes Shock The Champs – The 1 Seed Gators entered the game – bigger, play faster and were the defending Champs. 9 Seed Iowa could care less. The Hawkeyes spread the floor and drove through the vaunted Florida D at will. They shot 51% for the field and competed with the Champs on the glass. Iowa led 51-39 with 14:13 left in the second. Finally, Florida made a huge push outscoring the Hawkeyes 21 to 7 over the next 7 minutes to take the lead, 60-58. They even pushed the lead to 4, but Iowa never gave up. Cooper Koch hit a big 3 to take the lead with 4:17 to go, 66-65, then Florida took the lead back and up to 3, 71-68 after Xavien Lee hit a layup with 1:58 to play. The Hawkeyes answered with a layup from Bennett Stirtz to cut the lead to 1 with 57 seconds. Iowa would foul Florida G Isaiah Brown for 2 FTs, but he split them leaving 8 seconds left with Iowa down by 2 – Stirtz would get the ball on the move trailed by the Gator poor D, he drove found F Alvaro Fogueiras in the corner wide open for the go ahead 3!!!! The Gators had 4.2 seconds to go the full length of the court, but Lee’s dropoff pass to Haugh was mishandled. Iowa advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1999, 73-72 is the first huge upset of the last 2 years.

West Region

• 1st Round
  • High Point First Win – The 12 Seed Panthers had made consecutive Big Dances, but no win to date. 5 Seed Wisconsin had slayed teams in the Big Ten all season. Well, this time, they were the hunted not the hunter. The Badgers jumped out to a double digit lead early in the first. However, the High Point squad was game. The Panthers shot 40, yes 40 triples in the game making 15 of them and were right with the Badgers all game long. Still, Wisconsin was up 82-78 with 1:07 to play in the game, but High Point’s Chase Johnston hit a triple with 55 seconds. Then, after an empty possession, Johnston drove the lane with 11 seconds and hit a bucket in traffic. The Badgers had not one, but 2 chances to win it, but they were blocked on the first one and turned the ball over on the seconds. High Point books their 1st ever tournament win, 83-82.
  • Aggies Get the Win – The Mountain West was not well represented this year with only one team, 9 Seed Utah State, but they showed why they were worthy as they overcame a 2 point halftime deficit and outscored 8 Seed Villanova 49-37 in the second half for a rather convincing, 86-76 win.
• 2nd Round
  • Longhorns Love 2nd Season – What a week for the 11 Seed Longhorns, they went from the Bubble to a tight win in the First Four over NC State to a win over 6 Seed BYU then to face 3 Seed Gonzaga. The thing about Texas is they are big and athletic, so even though they do not play great D metrically, they have what it takes to do it when they want to. They held the Zags to just 4 made 3 pointers in the game at 25% who averaged 83 points per game, while Texas held them to 68. Unlike against NC State, the Longhorns were able to handle the late pressure to win the game even after the Zags cut the lead to 1 with 39 seconds with a jumper by Camden Heide and a game ending dunk by Mata Vokietaitis in their 3rd win of the tournament, 74-68.
  • Razorbacks Survived – After an amazing performance in Round 1 by the 4 Seed Razorbacks, 12 Seed High Point looked to repeat the Power 5 team slaying. The Panthers did it again, but this time, they drove the lane over and over against the Arkansas porous D. Senior Rob Martin was great, scoring 30 points. However, the Arkansas Frosh G Darius Acuff was just a little better, after Martin tied the game at 83-83 with 3:19 – Acuff went on a mini-run – with back to back layups and a triple to get the lead to 7, 90-83, with 1:02 left. The Hogs advanced again to back to back Sweet 16s with the 94-88 win.

Midwest Region

• 1st Round
  • Kentucky Won A Thriller – 7 Seed Kentucky is not the powerhouse it has been in past years, but they made the Dance after a rocky start to the season. 10 Seed Santa Clara tried to make the most of their first appearance in 30 years. The game was an even matchup for sure, as the Broncos led by 2 at the half. Kentucky took a 7 point lead with 12:22 left, but Santa Clara would respond taking a 4 point lead after 15-4 run with 7:57. Back and forth they went – Allen Graves gave Santa Clara a 2 point lead with 1:31 to play, but after some empty possessions, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh drove the lane to tie the game with 10 seconds left. The Broncos did not call a timeout, took the ball down the court, kicked the ball to Graves who hit a 3 with 3 seconds to go – they started to celebrate, even though Coach Herb Sendek tried to call a timeout after the make to set the defense. Instead, Kentucky would inbound the ball up to Oweh who got the shot off just before the buzzer, OFF THE GLASS AND IN – to force OT!!! In OT, the Wildcats were able to wear down Santa Clara blocking back to back three attempts resulting in dunks to end the game, 89-84.
• 2nd Round
  • Vols Advance Again – 6 Seed Tennessee was not a strong finisher in the SEC, so even making it to the 2nd Round was in question against the 3 Seed Virginia Cavaliers. Someone forgot to tell the Vols, as they never trailed after the 8:06 mark of the 1st half. The Vols were able to shoot 19 of 25 free throws vs. 6 of 11 for Virginia in their 79-72 win and get to the Sweet 16.
  • Bama Rolls – 4 Seed Alabama may not typically play good D, but on Sunday, they limited the 5 Seed Texas Tech Red Raiders and took care of business holding the Raiders to 34.4% shooting. The Crimson Tide did their thing on O with 19 made triples in the 90-65 destruction of Tech. Alabama reaches their 4th straight Sweet 16.

Wegs Pool Standing after Round 2

We have about the same of participants as last year with 154 entries. No one did not enter picks. Round 1 was mostly chalk, but Round 2 was interesting with Texas and Iowa advancing to the Regional Semis. We did have one person pick Iowa (also their champion).

Take a break until Thursday. I’ll get another update out on Saturday.

Wegs