2022 NCAA Tournament (Day Three)

Games I watched (some of):

(8) North Carolina 93-86 (OT) (1) Baylor

Fun game! The Tar Heels jumped out to a mighty lead thanks to a bust out performance from Manek (yipes! That kid was doing everything!). But when he got booted (meh, it was clearly a foul worthy of a technical but I thought a straight red card was not warranted), even though they were up by 25 (67-42, if I'm not mistaken) with less then 10 mins to go, UNC suddenly lost all shape, had no intensity on offense, kept getting unlucky calls, and Baylor stormed back to take the game to OT. But then, for whatever reason, Baylor couldn't keep the momentum. It's not uncommon to see a team come back, come close and then falter, but Baylor had this game won, I don't understand why they couldn't seal it. But great W for North Carolina. 

(9) Creighton 72-79 (1) Kansas

Good game, but I never thought Kansas was in any real danger. Creighton shot well and kept pace, pushing Kansas all the way. But Kansas had more talent, minimized turnovers and got it done. Actually, an impressive win for the top seed, I'd say, the kind of game that reminds the big dog that they need to keep working to win. I picked Kansas to win it all and I'm sticking with that. 

(11) Michigan 76-68 (3) Tennessee

Tennessee struck me as the better team but Michigan kept the scoring up and the Vols' offense became unreliable late. Good W for the Wolverines (5th straight Sweet 16). 

(15) St. Peter's 70-60 (7) Murray State

This was an even more impressive performance to me than beating Kentucky. I've watched enough Kentucky this year to know their weaknesses and I just assumed St. Peter's just settled on the right game plan. But St. Peters' ability to keep the lane open allows them to drive to the basket at will, while on the other end they clog the lane so effectively--they control both ends of the floor by doing the exact opposite, they're really pretty amazing. They make their opponents take hard shots and give them no chance at second chance opportunities, while opening up their own attacking options on the other end. If they can do this four more times, they can beat anybody (probably not Duke or Gonzaga but everyone else needs to be worried!). Good season for Murray State but they just couldn't get enough easy buckets to keep up. 

Other results:

(12) Richmond 51-79 (4) Providence

Looks like Richmond was never really in this match. 

(5) St. Mary's 56-72 (4) UCLA

UCLA played a well balanced game, kept the scoring up throughout, good W. 

(12) New Mexico State 48-53 (4) Arkansas

Hmmmm....not a lot of scoring in this one. Not sure what that portends for Arkansas. 

(9) Memphis 78-82 (1) Gonzaga

Tigers really made the Zags work in this one. Drew Timme took over down the stretch and sealed this for Gonzaga. This was a good test for the Zags and they overcame it, that's a good sign for their chances.