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First two rounds at the 2008 NCAA Tournament Produce a major upset in Every 6 Games
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
The first two rounds of 2008 NCAA College Basketball Tournament highlight how far parity has come in the men as at least one major upset occurred every 6 games (8 major disorders and minor annoyances three in 48 games). The major disorders include:
# 10 seed Davidson beat # 2 seed Georgetown 74-70
UMBC breezed past Georgetown 66-47 before running in this year's new media darling, Davidson, who turned # 7 Gonzaga in Round 1, 82-76, behind the 8-3-10-pointers by Wildcat guard Stephen Curry who finished with 30 points in the second half and a total of 40.
Curry returned to where he left off Against Georgetown, dropping 30 points (25 in the second half) and adding five assists, three steals, three rebounds and turnovers NO. Curry is the son of Dell Curry, a former Virginia Tech star, All-American and NBA, showing that the gene pool is important.
With two major surprises in his first two playoff games NCAA, Davidson has drawn attention. The Wildcats now face down on # 3 Wisconsin Badger and his tenacious defense. Wisconsin could only get another 30-35 points and win Curry anyway.
# 13 Siena # 4 Vanderbilt 83-62 turns
Siena had its moment of glory as appeared on Kenny Hasbrouck and Tay Fisher added 30 other 19 with 6-of-6-3 pointers to stun Vanderbilt and become the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team to reach Round 2 of the NCAA tournament since Manhattan in 2004. Then # 12 Villanova quickly sent home again in Round 2 Siena, 84-72.
West Virginia # 7 becomes # 2 Duke 73-67
Duke just did in the round 2 with a last second shot that allowed them to sneak past # 15 Belmont 71-70 before meeting West Virginia. The mountain is regarded as the Duke Blue Devils had no place in the tournament. The glory days of Coach K and his Blue Devils are decreasing as more athletes are leaving earlier in the NBA, for years manager K was able to convince their top players to hang around campus longer.
# 13 San Diego uses overtime to Tame # 4 Connecticut 70-69 and # 12 Western Using Kentucky overtime Tame # 5 Drake 101-99
Speaking of rooting for the underdogs. pull-up jumper with 1.2 seconds De'jon by Jackson left in overtime gave the San Diego Toreros their first win in four tournament appearances. How many of you actually knew the nickname of San Diego before his victory on Connecticut?
Ty Rogers draining a 3-pointer with three defenders in his face and no time on the clock to give Western Kentucky Hilltoppers an impressive win over Drake Bulldogs. The poor Bulldogs fell 16 points, but came back to lead 99-98 with 5.2 seconds left, then Tyrone Brazelton (who had a career high 33 points) ran up the field, kicked the ball to Rogers, who was not willing to settle for a tie with three defenders in his face and no time clock.
Victories like this are why the NCAA tournament March Madness is the best organized, best run, most competitive and exciting playoff games in sports today. To put the icing on the cake, # 12 Western Kentucky # 13 San Diego eliminated 72-63 in round 2.
# 12 # 5 Villanova beat Clemson 75-69
Villanova, who has more victories as lower-seeded team in the tournament than any program since 1979, followed by 15 in the first half, but returned to win 21 points behind Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher 17. The Villanova Wildcats then eliminated Siena 84-72 to advance to the Sweet 16. Very clever work of the Wildcats.
# 11 # 6 Kansas State upset Southern California 80-67
In the battle of the freshmen playersMichael tent Beasley of Kansas State and OJ Mayo of Southern CalKansas State won as Beasley scored 18 of his game high 23 points in the second half and finished with 20 in May. Kansas State then got his lunch handed Wisconsin the second round, 72-55, as the Badger defense took K-State school.
The minor discomfort among nearly three equal teams saw # 9 Texas A & M beat # 8 Brigham Young 67-62, # 9 Arkansas beat # 8 and # 86-72 Michigan State beat Indiana 5 # 4 Pittsburgh 65-54. No big tickle the knee.
Two parties # 2 Tennessee was closed survive # 7 Butler 76-71 in the Old Testament, and # 3 Stanford to sweat against # 6 Marquette 82-81 in OT.
There were really only 5 explosions in the top 48 games No. 4 on the state of Washington # 13 Winthrop 71-40 (31), # 1 # 9 UCLA 71-58 at Kent State (41), # 3 # 6 in Louisville Oklahoma 78-48 (30), and No. 1 North Carolina # 16 on Mount St. Mary's 113-74 (39) and Arkansas over # 9108 to 77 (31). A team needs to win to level 30 for me consider a blowout.
The South Regional regional but not an upset in Round 1 and the East Regional was the only region without an upset in Round 2.
North Carolina is scary. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the country, have a 34-2 record this season, claiming four titles in the NCAA tournament, have been in 16 finals, which 4s 39 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Oh yeah, Tyler Hansbrough is a competitive guy, bad.
The Tar Heels do not have, of course, play # 4 Washington State defense. It should be interesting.
Here are the Round of NCAA Tournament March 2008 Sweet 16 pairings:
West Regional: # 1 # 12 Western Kentucky against UCLA – Thursday (March 27) and # 3 # 7 Xavier against West Virginia – Thursday (March 27)
Eastern Region: # 1 North Carolina # 4 vs. Washington State – Thursday (March 27) and # 2 # 3 Tennessee against Louisville – Thursday (March 27)
Midwest Regional: # 1 # 12 Villanova over Kansas – Friday (March 28) and # 3 # 10 Wisconsin vs. Davidson – Friday (March 28)
South Regional: # 1 # 5 Memphis against Michigan State – Friday (28 March) and # 2 Texas vs. Stanford # 3 – Friday (March 28)
2008 NCAA Tournament Results Round 1:
Midwest Regional: # 1 Kansas eliminated # 16 Portland State 85-61 # 2 # 15 Georgetown eliminated UMBC 66-47 # 3 # 14 Cal State Fullerton eliminated Wisconsin 71-56 # 4 Vanderbilt was upset by # 13 # 5 Clemson 83-62 Siena was upset by # 12 Villanova 75-69 # 6 Southern California was upset by # 11 Kansas State 80-67 # 7 Gonzaga was upset by # 10 # 8 UNLV 82-76 Davidson eliminated # 9 Kent State 71-58
West Regional: # 1 UCLA eliminated # 16 Mississippi Valley State 70-29 # 2 Duke eliminated # 15 # 71-70 Belmont eliminated # 3 Xavier 14 Georgia 73-61 # 4 Connecticut was upset by # 13 San Diego 70-69 in OT # 5 Drake was upset by # 12 Western Kentucky 101-99 OT # 6 Purdue eliminated # 11 # 7 Baylor 90-79 West Virginia dropped 10 # 75-65 # 8 Brigham Young Arizona was upset by # 9 Texas A & M 67-62
East Regional: # 1 North Carolina eliminated # 16 Mount St. Mary's 113-74 removed # # 2 Tennessee 15 American University 72-57 # 3 # 14 Louisville 79-61 Boise State eliminated # 4 Washington State eliminated # 13 # 5 Notre Dame 71-40 Winthrop eliminated # 12 George Mason 68-50 # 6 Oklahoma # 11 San Jose eliminated 72-64 # 7 Butler 81-61 eliminated # 10 South Alabama # 8 Indiana was upset by the # 9 Arkansas 86-72
South Regional: Memphis # 1 # 16 Texas-Arlington eliminated 87-63 # 2 # 15 Austin Peay eliminated Texas from 1974 to 1954 # 3 # 14 Cornell 77-53 Stanford eliminated # 4 Pittsburgh 13 Oral Roberts eliminated # 82-63 # 5 Michigan State eliminated # 12 # 6 Marquette 72-61 Temple eliminated # 11 # 7 Kentucky 74-66 Miami (FL) eliminated # 10 St. Mary's 78-64 Mississippi State eliminated # 8 # 9 Oregon 76-69
2008 NCAA Tournament Results for Round 2:
Midwest Regional: # 1 Kansas eliminated # 8 UNLV # 2 Georgetown 75-56 was defeated Davidson 74-70 # 10 # 3 # 11 in Wisconsin eliminated Kansas State 72-55 # 12 # 13 Villanova 84-72 Siena eliminated
West Regional: # 1 UCLA eliminated # 9 Texas A & M 70-29 # 2 Duke was upset by # 7 West Virginia 73-67 # 3 # 6 Xavier eliminated Purdue 85-78 # 12 Western Kentucky # 13 San Diego eliminated 72-63
East Regional: # 1 North Carolina eliminated # 108-77 2 # 9 Arkansas Tennessee eliminated # 7 Butler 76-71 OT # 3 Louisville eliminated # 6 # 4 Oklahoma 78-48 Washington State eliminated # 5 Notre Dame 61-41
South Regional: Memphis # 1 # 8 Mississippi State eliminated 77-74 # 2 # 7 Texas eliminated Miami (FL) 75-72 # 3 # 6 Marquette 82-81 Stanford eliminated in OT # 4 Pittsburgh was upset # 5 Michigan State 65-54
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