2021 NCAA Tourney (Day Two)

 Games I saw (some of):

(12) Georgetown 73-96 (5) Colorado

G-town has a lot of nice looking athletes, they pass the bus test, but none of these guys can ball and there's little cohesion to them on either end. The buzz is that they're moving in the right direction, I'll have to take their word for it. As for Colorado, their PG controls the action, which carries forward into the next round, but G-town gave them so many wide open 3's that its hard to tell how well Colorado will adapt to their next opponent. Colorado was fine but really G-town just didn't offer much opposition.

(16) Texas Southern 66-82 (1) Michigan

In a normal year a veteran underdog like Texas Southern might've made some noise, but here they matched up with another veteran squad that came ready to play. I was impressed that the Wolverines went full court press from the beginning: Michigan is stumbling into the tourney after a really good regular season, they need to take every possession seriously. Tough defense leads to valuable offense and they scored well inside and out throughout the game. Felt bad for Texas Southern, they really balled out in the 2nd half, good showing but Michigan was not a good draw for them. Michigan suddenly looks dangerous again (after Ohio State and Purdue falter). 

(10) Maryland 63-54 (7) Connecticut

Frankly I thought UConn was the better team, the more complete team, but they didn't knock down shots and Maryland did. The Terps built a nice lead out of halftime and held it up. Maryland was okay, if they shoot like this again, they can hang with anyone.  I'd give the Terps a puncher's chance against Bama.

(13) Ohio 62-58 (4) Virginia

I picked this up after the last TV timeout: 3:40 mins to go, OU up 49-44. From then on, OU just straight housed 'em. UVA was getting buckets even, didn't matter, OU was getting shots or FTs, controlling the attack, eating up clock. They were fucking brilliant down the stretch, I was impressed by Ohio PG Preston (currently a high 2nd rd draft prospect, expect him to jump into the teens), he held it down in a very Jason Kidd-like way that was a joy to watch. UVA's natural dominance is also their weakness: they play for a low scoring game but against a slow down opponent their chances decrease and they've got nowhere to go. That said, they're always good, so I expect they'll be a #1 seed next year. As for OU: aw, hell yeah, they can beat Creighton. 

(11) UCLA 73-62 (6) BYU

Johnny Juzang! Dang, that kid was everywhere, making plays, knocking down jumpers, frisky on defense, man of the match. BYU marked Juzang out of the game for a while and went on a little roll but UCLA was the better squad throughout. BYU wasn't bad, they played physical and disciplined, if they'd had a stretch of raining 3's, they might've snuck a W. With a big time scorer like Juzang, UCLA can keep winning (not sure Alabama beats this team). 

Games I saw (pretty much) none of:

(10) VCU - (7) Oregon (VCU DQ'd for Covid)

(13) UNC Greensboro 54-64 (4) Florida St

UNCG kept the game close throughout but FSU's depth eventually led to reliable buckets down low. Are the Seminoles good enough to keep winning? Maybe, but this is one of those games where the deeper team just needed time to eventually win out, not sure that's gonna work in the next round. But Colorado (dangerous wings) v Florida State (dangerous down low) should be a fun match.

(14) Eastern Washington 84-93 (3) Kansas

Eastern Washington had a big crazy mountain man kid down low that was getting buckets when he wanted. Kansas just has too much depth, outlasted them but EW gave 'em a good game. 

(9) St. Bonaventure 61-76 (8) LSU

(12) UC Santa Barbara 62-63 (5) Creighton 

UCSB missed a tough one in the lane at the buzzer. Tough loss, this was a very even match, neither team was ever in control.  

(15) Iona 55-68 (2) Alabama

(11) Drake 56-72 (6) Southern Cal

(15) Grand Canyon 74-86 (2) Iowa

(9) Missouri 68-72 (8) Oklahoma

(16) Norfolk St 55-98 (1) Gonzaga

(14) Abilene Christian 53-52 (3) Texas

Great box score. Abilene had 20 offensive rebounds (only 19 defensive rebounds--not sure I've ever seen more off than def rebounds before); add in that Texas had 22 TO's and it leads to Abilene outshooting Texas 67-40 FGA. (Holy crap!) That said, Abilene shot 17-49 on 2pt FG's. (Holy crap!) My point is: Abilene Christian pulled out the good W, but they didn't even play particularly well. Texas really reached deep inside themselves to lose this game. Texas hit a long cold stretch late, took the lead right at the end but lost it on late FT's. Good W for Abilene Christian (but, uh....hmmmm...I think UCLA is gonna slice and dice this squad).  (And...oh yeah...I had Texas in the Final Four...bracket shattered). 

Day #2: Pac-12 (4-0), ACC (1-1), SEC (2-1), Big 10 (3-0), Big 12 (2-1)

Day #2 MVP: Johnny Juzang (UCLA) all over the place and getting it done; Luke Garza (Iowa) put up tasty numbers all across the box score; Jason Preston (Ohio) looks like the guy to keep an eye on for the rest of the tourney.