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| Michigan Freshman, Jordan Poole getting chased by Mo Wagner after his well executed buzzer beater play drawn up by John Beilein (Photo credit: chatsports.com via espn.com) |
The best of mornings to everyone on this
Day 4 of The Madness of what has been yet another historic and epic 1st
and 2nd rounds. The thing is that not just for the die-hard college
basketball fan, but for the common sports fan that just tunes into March Madness,
the NCAA Basketball Tournament ALWAYS delivers!
I would be remised to not mention the utter
Madness shattering win of the #16 UMBC Retrievers over #1 overall seed Virginia
due to the short attention span of the 24-hour news cycle. With the short attention
span, it now demonstrates of the new school historical relevance of UMBC’s win
because after the 24-hour media frenzy of the win, we are still talking about
it!
Yesterday’s Madness was highlighted with 2
tight game endings starting with Loyola-Chicago having another game clinching
shot with 3 seconds left to surpass Tennessee in a well played 63-62 win. This
was the second straight game for the Ramblers of Loyola-Chicago with
end-of-the-game drama. Have they expended their Madness karma or do they have a
longer Cinderella run in them? They play the winner of the Nevada-Cincinnati.
Nevada could surprise Cincy today.
To close out Day 3 was a very well executed
play for Michigan freshman, Jordan Poole hitting a buzzer beater three to get
past a pesky Houston team. Michigan Head Coach, John Beilein is an absolute
March Madness wizard!!! His post game interview was indicative of how much he
loves his players and how much his players reciprocate it. Also, his
explanation of the play showed how he is a coach’s coach and player’s coach. He
prepares as best he can and enjoys these moments when they come while
weathering the bad beats when they inevitably come. It is an absolute pleasure
watching him coach and his Michigan Wolverines battle every March.
Villanova had a tale of two dominant halves
with Dante DiVincenzo scoring 18 points in the 1st half and Mikal
Bridges taking the baton scoring 22 of his 23 points scored in the 2nd
half in their 81-58 beat down of Alabama. DiVencenzo was absolutely everywhere
in the 1st half with his barrage of 3’s, steals and charges. Bridges
was en fuego from 3! Just unconscious!
Alabama came out sharp with future lottery
pick, PG Collin Sexton leading the sharp offensive possessions until those sets
became NBA-style isolation plays for Sexton with the other 4 guys stationary.
This made it easy for Nova to defend and mixed with the barrage of treys, well
then there was the result we got for the first game of Day 3.
Villanova looks so complete right now with
Outhet Player of the Year candidate, PG Jalen Brunson running the point and big
men Omari Spellman and Eric Paschall showing their versatility hitting key
jumpers with great hustle on 50-50 balls. The three’s are falling in bunches
for Villanova so hopefully the other facets of the Wildcat game stay sharp as
the high 3-pt percentage may regress back to the mean.
Duke manhandled Rhose Island 87-62 in the
second game of the day. This led to the Insanity Report Staff thinking that
with the huge influx of Madness the night before with UMBC’s historic win, that
the balance in the Madnessphere might resort to chalk results for the
favorites.
Duke has made a very impressive mid-season
adjustment playing their 2-3 zone full time. The Insanity Report Midwest
Breakdown mentioned Duke’s early defensive woes. The switch to the 2-3 zone has
been successful for Coach K as the defensive weaknesses of horrible helpside D
and guarding the dribble penetration are hidden through great rotations and
Syracuse zone principles.
Kentucky was just way too athletic for the
Buffalo Bulls today in their 95-75 win further adding some truth to the balance
in the Madnessverse theory.
Gonzaga’s 90-84 win showed many holes in
Gonzaga’s game from shoddy free throw shooting, a rusty performance by Johnathan
Williams and shaky nerves at the end of the game from a still developing
Killian Tillie. But Zach Norvell Jr.’s 28 points was an impressive display of timely
three’s and dangerous drives to the hoop. Although not a perfect game by
Gonzaga by any means, it was still an improvement from their opening round game
vs. UNC-Greensboro. If Gonzaga continues to find their peak, then they may very
well get some winnable matchups leading to a trip back to the Final 4.
Florida lost a tight game vs. the scrappy
and athletic Texas Tech Red Raiders by a score of 69-66. They had 2 clear looks
at the buzzer to tie the game but couldn’t convert. The frustrating thing for
Florida Gators fans is that Florida has shown many times this season that they
are capable of the being the best team in the nation with unstoppable offensive
possessions, but they just can’t get on the consistency train. The Gators lack
minor tangibles especially on defense with lazy aspects. These small tangibles
add to their potential not being realized this season.
KU held off a stud performance by Seton
Hall senior, Angel Delgado and his 24 points, 23 rebounds to outlast the
Pirates 83-79. Kansas has had a shortened bench all season with severe lack of
depth in the front court. By outlasting the talented front court of Seton Hall
gives KU some promise to go further in their bracket for possible games vs.
Duke or Michigan State. This would be epic.
These first 3 days have been epic. It’s
been an absolute thrilling ride and having one more day still to go is a treat.
Will UMBC continue their Cinderella run or
will they be totally spent from the past 48 hours of the media frenzy following
their historic win vs. Virginia?
Stay tuned. A historic opening 2 rounds of
March Madness will conclude today.
