Mt. Pleasant, IA- The Sweet 16 saw half of the games decided by two possessions or less, the Elite Eight watched the #1-overall seed lose on an ill-fated pass turned into a near-half court buzzer beater, while the Cinderella hopefuls will have to wait another year. Another March, another year of madness on the hardcourt for the NCAA men’s tournament.
What Happened
Where to start with the insanity? The East Region saw #5 St. John’s push #1 Duke to the brink of upset after splashing 13 three pointers, but the Blue Devils supplied the physicality, racking up 13 more rebounds, shot over 50% from the field, and made 11 more free throws to walk away with an 80-75 victory.
Despite the loss, St. John’s Rick Pitino inked a new deal to become the second highest paid coach in the Big East conference.
#2 UConn nearly watched their season come to an end twice in the past four days. The first time was in the Sweet 16 when #3 Michigan State came storming back in the second half to tie the game at 44 and keep it neck-and-neck until Tarris Reed Jr. iced the game with a pair of free throws for a 67-63 final.
Then in the Elite Eight, the Huskies scored the first two points of the game; Duke responded by holding the lead for nearly 39 minutes and even leading by as many as 19 at one point in the game. Yet, UConn clawed their way back into the game and forced a Cayden Boozer turnover that turned into a Braylon Mullins 35-foot three pointer with three-tenths of a second remaining to win, 73-72.
Before that shot, the Blue Devils had an 89.6% of chance of winning the game. Instead, UConn is heading to the Final Four.
Waiting for them there from the South Region will be #3 Illinois after the Fighting Illini tossed #2 Houston aside, 65-55, in the Sweet 16. #9 Iowa, this year’s Cinderella story, was fresh off of upsetting #4 Nebraska in a 77-71 classic to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.
Not a bad first year at the helm for Hawkeye head coach Ben McCollum. Yet, the magic ran out after shooting nearly 60% from the floor in the first half, as Iowa connected on just six field goals in the second half to fall to Illinois, 71-59. It’s their first trip to the Final Four since 2005.
So, #2 UConn will take on #3 Illinois on Saturday, April 4th, at 5:09 pm.
The East Region nearly saw #11 Texas pull off another upset as the Longhorns knocked down 11 three-pointers, but Trey Kaufman-Renn kept #2 Purdue in the dance after tipping in a loose ball at the buzzer to win the game for the Boilermakers, 79-77.
Unfortunately for Purdue, they ran into #1 Arizona, who had trounced #4 Arkansas, 109-88, in the Sweet 16 and kept that momentum rolling into the Elite Eight, bouncing the Boilermakers, 79-64, despite Purdue holding a seven-point lead at halftime.
#2 Iowa State was clearly missing their All-American Joshua Jefferson in the Sweet 16 of the Midwest Region, as the Cyclones struggled to make a shot and was dominated on the boards by #6 Tennessee in a 76-62 thumping.
#4 Alabama was favored to win at just one moment in their contest against #1 Michigan: 16:16 left in the first half leading 11 to 2. That percentage was only 52.7% to paint the picture of confidence for the Crimson Tide as they loss to the Wolverines, 90-77.
In the Elite Eight, Tennessee led 16 to 15 midways through the first half; the Wolverines proceeded to go on a 21 to 2 run and never looked back as they led 48 to 26 by halftime. A 27-point performance by Yaxel Lendeborg put the icing on the cake of a 95-62 laugher in favor of Michigan.
So, #1 Arizona will face off against #1 Michigan on Saturday at 7:49 pm.
Bracket Analysis
Now, looking at our brackets let’s take care of the big swings. 22 of our brackets picked Duke to win the championship and an astonishing 39 had the Blue Devils in the championship game. Additionally, eight brackets had the Cyclones winning the title, while three picked Houston and two chose Purdue.
On the bright side for some of you, Arizona was picked to win in 12 of the brackets, seven brackets chose Michigan, and one selected UConn. In fact, five brackets had Illinois in the Final Four with another advancing UConn to the Final Four.
Some of the standouts of the Sweet 16 included Jakin Bunnell, Dan Cook, Terry McWilliams, Lauren Donnolly, and Scott Fedler guess six of the game games correctly. The impressive picking for Cook moved him from 33rd to 8th and McWilliams soared from 38th to 10th place.
However, the most impressive climb belonged to Janel Fedler, as she was just one of two brackets to select three of the Final Four teams and vaulted up 39 spots to be ranked 7th heading into the final three games.
Speaking of picking three of the Final Four teams, Mat Wilson is also holding on to one of the two brackets that has a chance of predicting the correct championship matchup with the other one belonging to Jeniffer Krogmeier. Now, Krogmeier went perfect on the first day of the tournament but currently sits in 44th place; nevertheless, her maximum score would be good enough for 3rd place if Arizona beats UConn in the national championship.
All this to say, the game to watch for KILJ’s Bracket Challenge, sponsored by The Press Box, will be Arizona and Michigan. The winner will truly shake up the standings and position some brackets for one last move to their spot on the podium.
Standings
- Mat Wilson: 182 Finals Prediction: UConn (winner) vs Michigan
- Jakin Bunnell: 180
- Joseph Koller: 178 Finals Prediction: Duke (winner) vs Arizona
- Alan Buckert: 176 Finals Prediction: Arizona (winner) vs Duke
- Karen Brimhall: 174 Finals Prediction: Arizona (winner) vs Duke
- Georgie Alter: 174
- Janel Fedler: 174
- Dan Cook: 172
- Zach White: 170
- Terry McWilliams: 170
More
Stay tuned to KILJ for an update on the standings after the Final Four.