16.) This has the chance to go down as one of the better wire-to-wire tournaments. To me, the last two great tournaments were 2013 and 2010, both won by unremarkable (in terms of pro talent) #1 seeds in Louisville and Duke. They had tons of upsets, lower seeds reaching the Final Four (Butler in 2010, Wichita State in 2013), good late-round games, and an exciting National Championship Game. My personal bar to cross in 2005, and while the 2016 tourney has a lot to do to match that '05 one, it definitely hit the marks on the first weekend.
15.) 24 hours later, I'm still not sure how Northern Iowa lost that game. Maybe it was just cruel karmic payback for their lucky win against Texas in the 1st round. How can a team lose after holding a 12-point lead with 45 seconds to go? How can a team make that up without even fouling. How can a team screw up four different in-bounds plays? The only two games in my memory that compare were nowhere near close in terms of time to make the comeback, but the larger stakes make them memorable. First was the '05 Elite Eight game between Illinois and Arizona, where Illinois made up a 15-point deficit in four minutes. Second was Kansas's 9-point comeback in the last 1:45 against Memphis in the '08 Title Game. Still, those are in the realm of possible. 12 points in 45 seconds is not.
14.) I want John Calipari to apologize for that bizarre rant on ESPN on selection Sunday for getting a #4 seed, or at least say that Indiana was as badly underseeded. Over the years, I've kind of grown to accept, if not even like, Calipari's brazen way of working the system. He knows he's not educating kids, he's building a monster. Still, they weren't that great this year. They deserved a #4 seed, and losing to a beatable #5 seed kind of proves that. Still, this is the first time when making the tournament Calipari has left before the Elite Eight since 2004. End of a remarkable run for Coach Cal.
13.) The dual-finishes of Northern Iowa - Texas and St. Joseph's - Cincinnati was about the perfect way to end a 1st round. Normally, apart for the few giant upsets (and we got those too this year, with a #15, #14 and #13 winning), the first round has tons of upsets and sloppy play. But that pair of two games, both ending after midnight out east, was a great way to whet all our appetites for the second round on. Obviously, I felt bad for Texas, but I felt even worse for Cincinnati. That kid will always know if he was .001 seconds quicker in his jump, they go to overtime. What a dreadful way to lose.
12.) I always love the random alpha dogs that show up and make March great each ear. Obviously, Buddy Hield is leading the pack, especially after that much-needed 29 points in the 2nd half in the 2nd round. He's the best pure scorer in the field right now, and he's been great through two games. However, let's pour one out for two guys who lost admirably. First, Steven Walkup was just a boss in both those games - specifically the 1st round upset of West Virginia. He was almost equally as good against Notre Dame. Not sure I like that two of the best Cinderella stories were eliminated by power-conference teams winning in dramatic fashion. The other player I want to pour one out for is Deandre' Bembry, who has just all the swagger, with the hair, to the name, to the hangin' apostrophe. Everything about him just screamed East-Coast BOSS.
11.) In another way to compare this tournament to 2005 (my personal favorite March Madness ever, and I would argue the best in terms of wire-to-wire brilliance), I don't know why they gave a random #1 seed to a Pac-12 (then Pac-10) team. In '05, it was Washington State, led by Brandon Roy. A lot of people were surprised when they were given the #1 seed out West. That year, they put the team most thought should be the 4th #1 seed (Wake Forest - led by Chris Paul), and that team promptly lost in the second round. Just like this year the #5 overall seed was Michigan State, who lost in the first round. Anyway, Oregon has been remarkably un-impressive in its 2nd round win, and I really fear for them against Duke.
10.) Hard to believe this is Maryland's first Sweet 16 since 2003!? I realize they haven't always had the best of teams during that era, and moved on from the Gary Williams era, but how quickly the momentum from their back-to-back Final 4 teams in '01 and '02 fizzled out. Yet, to me, it is even funnier that the year they finally break through is one that has been thoroughly underwhelming for their fans. This team was #2 preseason, and was Top-5 for much of the first couple months. They had such high expectations and failed to really impress. Well, now they get their chance to show the promise they had in the preseason by taking on the #1 overall seed.
9.) It is fun that nearly every year the talking heads and Bracketologists yell about one team or the other and generally that team often ends up doing quite well. The most noted example was Jay Bilas almost losing his lungs yelling about VCU's inclusion in 2011, and then the Rams went out and reached the Final 4. This year, it was probably Tulsa that got the most derision, but there was a lot for Syracuse, who did really poorly when Boeheim was out. Well, now they are in the Sweet 16 with two really impressive performances.
8.) Having a huge upset in the first round is always fun. The last two times a #15 beat a #2 it was truly memorable. First came Lehigh's amazing win over Duke (quick note, about that Lehigh team, they starred one Mr. CJ McCollum) which is fun because, you know, Duke. Next was Florida Gulf-Coast's win over Georgetown which was fun because of Dunk City. This time, though, it was a little sour. Not that Middle Tennessee State was a bad team, and they did hang with Syracuse for a bit, but it was just odd seeing a Tom Izzo team go down that early. They rarely ever lose to lower-seeded teams. They rarely lose to double-digit seeds (last time was George Mason in 2006). They should have been playing deep into March. That said, Michigan State has rarely made a deep run when everyone expected it, so expect them to be in the last 8 next year.
7.) This is now I believe Year #5 of the current TV format with CBS / TNT / TBS /TruTV splitting games, and I've really grown to enjoy it. It is a great advantage to being able to watch any game live. It is a bit distracting to see the scores up at top and not know if you want to switch or not, but it is just good to know you will never miss anything if you want. I also love how far they've taken the 'Boss Button' on the computer streaming, now to have a fake notes page if you are in class to go along with the fake powerpoint slide. Just great customer marketing. It is just great to hear those stats each year on how much money is lost in lack of production the first two days of the tournament.
6.) I still hate that they broke up the Verne Lundqust and Bill Raftery pairing to have Raftery join Nantz. I do like Raft's presence on the #1 team, making Nantz more enjoyable in general, but I'm sorry, you don't break up the Verne / Raft combination. They were so good together, which such amazing chemistry. It was one of the most pleasant broadcast experiences that I've ever listened to in sports. I still like both in their separate assignments, and I think Jim Spanarkel is a decent replacement for Raftery with Verne, but I would easily concede Nantz's spot as permanent #1 play-by-play if they pair him with the able Spanarkel and leave Raft and Verne alone.
5.) I've often sung the praises of the Inside the NBA folks, and while it is so easy to criticize the job they do in their college basketall coverage, I actually think Barkley and Kenny have gotten a lot better. Do they know the sport as much as Seth Davis, or Clark Kellogg? No, but they are at least trying now. In the early years of this experiment, Charles used to basically discount any underdogs chance and go with the more blue-blood team; a methodology he's luckily left behind. They've built some good chemistry with Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg. It isn't perfect. It isn't close to what they are on Inside the NBA, but they've improved their knowledge and command of talking College Basketball by orders of magnitude from 3-4 years ago.
4.) This would be the year that Gonzaga makes the Final Four, wouldn't it? They have had so many Top-4 seeds over the past decade and never so much as made an Elite Eight, but now they get a #10 seed, and then one of the weaker Virginia / Iowa State teams in the Elite Eight. They are probably underdogs against either, but Gonzaga has looked really impressive through two games (admittedly, so has Syracuse) and the opportunity is there. I don't think this is a unique thought. It was probably created the moment Middle Tennessee State knocked off the Spartans and opened up the bottom half of the Midwest Regional. I really hope they do it, if only because they would be the most ironic 'Cinderalla' Final 4 team ever.
3.) Kansas is really good. They were in cruise control against Austin Peay, and while UCONN made a decent run in the 2nd half to cut it to nine, the Kansas that played the first half and went up 44-24 was the scariest team in the nation. Bill Self has never had a great shooting team, but he has one now, and too his credit, he hasn't shied away from that even though he hasn't been one to adopt a three-point shooting mentality. They took a while to really get going, but the Jayhawks settled on a rotation, and are really benefitting from Wayne Selden's slow progression. He was the third bannana two years ago when Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid came on board, and his inability to match those two has really helped Kansas this year.
2.) In 2005, ultimate the two best teams in the country made the Final. Illinois and UNC were the two best all year, and the two best in March and staged a great final in April. To me, that was the best part of the tournament, that at the end, after all the ridiculous upsets and comebacks and craziness that March of 2005 delivered, we got a National Championship with the top two teams. If that does repeat, while 2016 Kansas and UNC don't have the firepower that 2005 Illinois and UNC did, they are the two best teams. And Man, the storylines. Since Roy Williams left Kansas, he's played the Jayhawks three times in the tournament. Once was a second round game two years ago (Kansas won), but the other two were big stakes. Twice, underdog Kansas teams beat UNC, first to make the National Title Game in 2008, beating UNC by 19 (they led 40-12 after 13 minutes), and then another Kansas win in 2012 in the Elite Eight. Nothing, though, would match this one if it were to happen.
1.) Finally, I just can't wait for this upcoming weekend. After Divisional Weekend in the NFL, this is the 2nd best Sports Weekend of the year, to me. It is just two games at a time on Thursday and Friday (solo games on Saturday and Sunday), all with high stakes. We get blue-blood teams and matchups (UNC - Indiana, Kansas - Maryland), one matchup of dueling double-digit seeds (Syracuse - Gonzaga). We get everything. Hopefully some drama and good play can be added. The great recent tournaments (2005, 2010) really had remarkable middle weekends, with buzzer beaters, close games, comebacks, good play. We can potenitally have that in what has been a flat (in terms of talent disparity) year across the Nation. As the great philosopher of our times, Bart Scott, once said, 'Can't Wait'
