March Madness is finally upon us, and we here at RTC are here to make everything a little bit easier for you. From the First Four until One Shining Moment, we’ll be dropping daily tidbits of knowledge regarding the teams in each region.

South Region

• Though he’s usually not mentioned in the same breath as coaches like Bill Self, Mike Krzyzewski, or Rick Pitino, Florida coach Billy Donovan is working his way towards greatness.
• Much of Florida senior Scottie Wilbekin‘s impact has been made in crunch time. Wilbekin’s emergence as “a closer” will pivotal for Florida down the stretch.
• As the number one overall seed, Florida is looking to avoid being Dayton’s next upset victim.
• Dayton entered the tournament as the team that had a puncher’s chance to take out its in-state rival, but now it is no longer “flying under the radar.”
• Dayton shouldn’t be considered a “giant killer.” The Flyers believe that they should be here.
• Teams that make unlikely NCAA Tournament runs usually have a guy or two that can carry the team, but Dayton is different. With 11+ guys in the rotation, the Flyers have serious depth.

West Region

• Though he has yet to reach a Final Four, Arizona coach Sean Miller is “knocking again” on its doorstep.
• Arizona has size, athleticism, and length, but point guard TJ McConnell was the “final piece to the puzzle.”
• Arizona coach Sean Miller once showed off his dribbling skills as a nine year old at Wisconsin, and now he’s going up against one of the assistants coaches of that team, Bo Ryan, with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
• On his father’s birthday, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan hopes to honor his late hero by reaching his first Final Four.
• This year’s Wisconsin team has one of the best offenses Madison has ever seen, but can the Badgers break through one of the best defense’s in the country tonight?
• Wisconsin seven-footer Frank Kaminsky’s emergence has been crucial to Wisconsin’s Elite Eight run. Kaminsky went from 4.2 points per game and 1.8 rebounds per game to 13.7 and 6.2 respectively.

East Region

• Virginia went down to Michigan State last night, but with the consistency that coach Tony Bennett is building, there will be more to come for the Cavaliers.
• The emergence of Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson were crucial to Michigan State’s win over Virginia last night. The two combined for 22 of Sparty’s last 33 points.
• Up by two with 1.1 seconds left, Michigan State’s Gary Harris was told to intentionally miss his second free throw and to force Virginia to throw up a prayer. Though coach Tom Izzo was met with some resistance with from his assistants, his decision paid off, as the Cavaliers’ heave came up short.
• UConn came up big against Iowa State last night, but surprisingly, it wasn’t Shabazz Napier who led the way. Junior forward DeAndre Daniels led the Huskies with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
  
• As UConn keeps advancing,are Shabazz Napier’s comparisons to UConn great Kemba Walker ever going to stop?
• Iowa State senior DeAndre Kane spent only one season in Ames, but his legacy and this season won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Midwest Region

• With the game already in hand for Kentucky, Louisville All-American Russ Smith tried to end his college career with a wide open dunk. Unfortunately for Smith, he missed in what was a fitting end to the game.
• With its back against the wall, Kentucky, particularly the freshmen, rallied to send the ‘Cats to the Elight Eight.
• Louisville won’t defend its national title, as Kentucky grew up in front of our eyes last night and pulled out a tough victory against the Cardinals.
• Michigan turned the ball over on four out of its last five possessions, but the Wolverines were still able to hold off a furious Tennessee rally.
• Going up against a tough Tennessee frontcourt, Michigan senior Jordan Morgan proved the doubters wrong again, as he went for 15 points, 7 rebounds, and took a game-saving charge with six seconds left when the Volunteers had a chance to win it.
• Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes was called for a charge in the final seconds, but USA Today’s Chris Chase thinks that the refs messed up the call.

Griffin Wong (51 Posts)

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2014 at 1:49 pm by Griffin Wong and is filed under 2014 ncaa tournament, tidbits. Tagged: feature, ncaa tournament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.