2021 NCAA Tourney (Day One)

 Games I saw (some of): 

(15) Oral Roberts 75-72 (OT) (2) Ohio State

Hey, if you watched the game, this was not a surprising result, Oral Roberts really was the better team throughout. Max Abmas (29 pts) was a fuckin' badass (like a little Lou Williams out there) and Obanor filled it up and hit big shots, while the rest of the crew made plays (would've been a blowout if they'd made more jumpers). For the Buckeyes, I was impressed with Liddle and Walker, but for some reason all the offense ran through Washington, who was not getting buckets down the stretch (7-21 FGs in 43 mins). If Oral Roberts has anything left in the tank then Florida is in trouble because these guys can score and control the game. (Yeah, I had the Buckeyes in my Final Four, so....yeah...bracket is shot)

(9) Wisconsin 85-62 (8) North Carolina

The Tarheels just had no offense at all, while the Badgers were their usual selves: a solid D and an offense that makes no mistakes. Wisconsin probably shot a little better than usual, not sure they were actually this much better than UNC.

(10) Va Tech 70-75 (OT) (7) Florida

I generally thought Va Tech was the better team.  About 10 mins left, Fla finally got Castelton going down low and Tech didn't have an answer for him. That turned the momentum and Florida should've won in regulation, but Tech did well to get the game to OT. But in OT, Tech just ran out of gas. Florida is fine, but nothing superior--Oral Roberts is gonna give them a match.

(13) North Texas 78-69 (OT) (4) Purdue

I only caught the last few minutes of regulation and all of the OT. Purdue, as happens to the 'big boys' in this tourney, just thought they could coast on how they've played all year long, instead of adapting to a new challenge. North Texas plodded along down low and controlled the tempo late to hold off the Boilermakers (who were basically playing a home game). 

(13) Liberty 60-69 (4) Oklahoma St

I kept waiting for OSU to take off but they never really did. Liberty hung around and kept the Cowboys nervous throughout. Concensus #1 pick Cade Cunningham did virtually nothing until the last 10 mins, then he finally appeared, but even then Liberty did not go quietly. Not sure what to make of their next match with Oregon St (can they blitz Ok St the way the blitzed Tennessee?).

Games I saw (pretty much) none of:

(16) Drexel 49-78 (1) Illinois

(16) Hartford 55-79 (1) Baylor

(15) Cleveland St 56-87 (2) Houston

(14) Colgate 68-85 (3) Arkansas

Score was much closer throughout the game, Arkansas must've run away with it late. 

(14) Morehead St 67-84 (3) West Virginia

(11) Syracuse 78-62 (6) San Diego St

Never close. Syracuse piled on points all the way through.

(9) Georgia Tech 60-71 (8) Loyola-Chicago

(12) Winthrop 63-73 (5) Villanova

(11) Utah St 53-65 (6) Texas Tech

(12) Oregon St 70-56 (5) Tennessee

Oregon State got out to a big lead and held it throughout/ 

(10) Rutgers 60-56 (7) Clemson

Day #1: Big-12 (4-0) looking like the dominant conference, while the strongest regular season conference, the Big-10 (3-2) was only so-so impressive. ACC (0-4) got smoked, SEC (2-1) plodded along and the Pac-12 (1-0) hasn't gotten started yet.  

Day #1 MVP: Max Abmas (Oral Roberts)