Wegs Pool Contest: Standings After Sweet 16

The Sweet 16 gave us some great games to watch. Gotta love this tourney.

Sweet 16 Recap

West Region

• Purdue Out Tipped Texas – The 11 Seed Longhorns have been a great surprise this year. They won 3 games in 5 days from First Four to the Sweet 16. They have some stud players, and have played better on D.
  • 2 Seed Purdue has that experienced team with an offense that can score on anyone. In this one, it was nip/tuck the entire game. Despite a turned ankle during the game, Tramon Mark was great in this game for Texas, he scored 29 points (shooting 11 of 15 from the field) including 5 of 7 from deep.
  • Yet, the Boilers were able to get Texas in foul trouble, and that led to putting Texas big man, Matas Vokietaitis, on the bench for spurts. In the end, Purdue up by 3 in the final 19 seconds saw G Dailyn Swain drive the lane, go up, hit the layup and foul out, Purdue big man, Oscar Cluff for a 3 point play to tie it with 11 seconds to go. Purdue’s star guard, Braden Smith held for one shot, drove the lane, put it up, missed, but F Trey Kaufman-Renn (20 points, 8 rebounds) tipped the ball in with just under a second left. The Texas shot was long, Purdue won, 79-77. Purdue returns to the Elite 8 in the West.
• Arizona Just Too Much – 4 Seed Arkansas entered the game with the tournament’s leading scorer, frosh super guard, Darius Acuff. No one has had an answer for Acuff, but 1 Seed Arizona was the 1 Seed for a reason – size, guard play and depth, while the Razorbacks only play 7 guys.
  • Arizona is such a good team. They do not shoot a lot of 3s, but they hit 3 of 4 in the first half, plus shot a scorching 64% from the field to build a 54-43 lead at the half “holding” Acuff to 11 points. More importantly, the Razorbacks only shot 2 of 12 from deep.
  • In the 2nd half, it was a no contest. Arizona opened it up over 20 in the 2nd half. 6 players scored in double figures for Arizona in the 109-88 route. Arizona has the talent, now can they finish the job. Tommy Lloyd reaches his first Elite 8 as a head coach.

South Region

• Hawkeyes Win Rubber Match – 9 Seed Iowa was not the bell of the ball in the Big Ten, but after the improbable win over 1 Seed Florida, here they are. 4 Seed Nebraska had never gotten this far before, so what would win out?
  • In the first half, the scoring was torrid. For a game that had a 131.5 Total, both teams shot at a good clip. Both teams combined for 89 points in the half alone.
  • In the 2nd half, Iowa was able to dial up the D. When F Pryce Sandfort (25 points, 5 rebounds) hit a triple to give Nebraska a 65-62 lead with 6:15 to play, they would not score again until 58 seconds left in the game – by then Iowa held the lead and controlled the last minute at the foul like winning, 77-71. It did not help when Nebraska only had 4 players on the court during a full court press inside of a minute leading to an easy throw ahead layup. The Hawkeyes only allowed 25 points to the Huskers in the 2nd half and still shot 51.9% and scoring 20 points off of 8 Nebraska TOs led by guards, Bennett Stirtz and Tate Sage’s 39 who combined for points. Iowa reaches the Elite 8 for the first time since 1987 – wow!
• I-L-L-I-N_I!! – 3 Seed Illinois is the biggest team in NCAA basketball, so you know they are going to be tough inside, but 2 Seed Houston is no joke. This was going to be a slugfest in Houston.
  • The first half was an all time low scoring affair – 24-22!?! These teams were stuck on 14-14 for like 5 minutes. Still, the Illini took the lead to the half by outrebounding the tough Cougars, but allowed Houston to close the gap late to only be down 2 in a low possession game.
  • In the second half, it took just one run for Illinois, a 14-0 stretch where Houston went stone cold, and an easy stat is Houston only shot 2 Free Throws in the game (2 for 2). The Cougars all year struggled scoring in the paint, and the Illinois length seemed to bother them. Late, Houston made a push and were helped by some missed free throws by G Kylan Boswell, but he made enough to keep the advantage and 65-55 win. Illinois gets to the Elite 8 for the 2nd time under HC Brad Underwood (2024). This time they get to face a familiar foe.

East Region

• Duke Outmuscled Johnnies – 5 Seed St. John reached the Sweet 16 for the 1st time in this millenium, and they wanted to make the most of it against 1 Seed Duke. Two teams with high level defenses and some NBA talent on the court.
  • In the 1st half, St. Johns took it to Duke. The full court pressing D really threw Duke off for about 15 minutes, but in the final 5 minutes or so, Duke was able to get their bearings and take a lead. Still St. Johns led at the half, 40-39 – a virtual offensive explosion for both teams.
  • In the 2nd half, although the Johnnies built a 10 point lead in the first 5 minutes of the half – 55-45, Duke never quit. G Caleb Foster, who did play despite his injury, was great for a stretch – a couple of layups, a jumper and finding Boozer to pull Duke to within 3 with 12:34 left. From that point, the tide had turned, helped by G Isaiah Evans who led all scoring with 25 points. Duke also dominated the glass with 40 to 27 rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds. Down the stretch, St. Johns struggled to score, but F Zuby Ejiofor was able to get the led down to 2 with 14 seconds. However, Evans and Boozer hit 3 of 4 free throws to advance Duke to back-to-back Elite 8s with the 80-75 win.
• Huskies Beat Sparty – 2 Seed UConn had been highly touted all year, while 3 Seed Michigan State was firmly in the top teams shadow. Two great coaches faced off in Coach Izzo for Sparty and Coach Hurley for the Huskies.
  • In the first half, UConn dominated early, and even opened up a 19 point lead hitting shots easily in the first 10 minutes. Perhaps, Sparty was not ready for this game, but State closed on a 21-10 run to cut the lead to 8 at the half, 35-27.
  • In the 2nd half, Sparty opened up strong to actually take a lead at 10:06. However, UConn fought back. G Solo Ball made back to back big plays to extend the UConn lead all the way up to 7. With PG Jeremy Fears not quite right in the game, F Carson Cooper made an impact. He had 2 big dunks and 2 free throws to cut the UConn lead to just 1. Then, Senior F Alex Karaban, who has been on UConn forever, drilled a deep triple to stretch the lead to 4 with just over a minute to play. Fears was able to answer on Sparty’s next possession with a 3 of his own to make the game, 61-60. Next, C Tarras Reed (20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) drew a foul and hit 2 free throws with 44 seconds. On the next State possession, Fears was fouled with 2 shots with 32 seconds left. He made both for 63-62. It was UConn’s turn, Sparty fouled Karaban who hit 2 free throws. On the Sparty possession, they wasted a lot of time on the clock, missed a shot, Cooper got a rebound and went to the line for a 1 and 1 with 4.6 – he made the first, but missed the 2nd not sure if that was intentional, but UConn had a final 1 and 1 to ice the game up 65-63. Reed hit them both to push the lead to 4 out of reach. UConn advances, 67-63 to the Elite 8 again.

Midwest Region

• Wolverines Outscore Bama – 1 Seed Michigan has been a team to beat for months with size and depth, while 4 Seed Alabama just tries to outscore you.
  • Early on, Michigan allowed the Crimson Tide to play their game running up and down, as the pace was torrid. G Labaron Philon (35 points, 7 boards, 4 assists) was in his element scoring deep and at the rim, as Bama led, 49-47 at the half.
  • In the second half, Michigan finally tightened the screws. The bigs were grabbing rebounds, limiting Bama to one shot, and Yaxel Lendeborg took over with 23 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists as the Wolverines put down that rebellion limiting the Tide to just 28 second half points. That is the type of signature win Michigan needed to get to Indianapolis winning at margin, 90-77.
• Vols Represent – 6 Seed Volunteers were the last SEC team remaining, as 2 Seed Iowa State needed to continue playing connected ball.
  • In the early period, the Vols played as if they were the team to beat. They shot 51.9% from the field against a very tough Cyclones D mostly from contested 2 point shots. The Vols also dominated the glass 22 to 9, including 10 offensive boards at the break with F Joshua Jefferson not playing for Iowa State. Despite that the Cyclones were able to claw their way with points off of turnovers to trail by just 1, 34-33.
  • In the 2nd half, the Vols put the clamps on the Cyclones offense that really missed Jefferson. They pushed the lead to 14 with 12 minutes to play outscoring them 23 to 10 to start. The Cyclones needed to find some of that magic they had in the 2nd round. The Cyclones had their chances, but they missed 8 free throws over a 5 minute span that could have got them within striking distance. The Vols were able to keep them at bay and keep the SEC hopes alive for a title with some big shots and more offensive rebounds on critical possessions – almost doubling up Iowa State on the boards, 43 to 22. The Cyclones seemed to run out of gas, and the Vols stayed strong as they advance to the Elite 8 with their 76-62 win.

Wegs Pool Standings After the Sweet 16

We have a new leader who took some hits, but is in position to win it. The Elite 8 will see hopes continue to get thrashed. There is a hot race for the Shirt this year, too.

4 More games to go this weekend.

Wegs