Three Key Takeaways.

1. Vanderbilt Struggles To Close. The Commodores led by as much as 18 in the second half, but struggled to close out against a game Harvard team late. The Crimson used a 14-3 run over 2:30 to get back within five late, but an ill-timed turnover killed the momentum. Still, for a Vanderbilt team with a history of losing opening round NCAA Tournament games, their performance down the stretch was not confidence-inspiring. In the final five minutes, they turned the ball over three times and missed three free throws while Harvard hit clutch shots. Now that the Commodores have that NCAA win under their belt, maybe they’ll finish stronger in the future.
2. Too Much Size and Athleticism. At one point in the middle of the second half, Vanderbilt’s Jeffrey Taylor picked the pocket of a Harvard guard, leading to a breakaway on which he threw down a massive, soaring dunk. And throughout the game, Festus Ezeli blocked shots, rebounded and scored above the rim, while being able to step out and challenge shots away from the basket. While these types of athletes may not be typical for Vanderbilt, they were certainly the difference today.
3. Six-Point Swing. At the start of the second half, Harvard junior forward Kyle Casey blew a dunk that led to a Vanderbilt breakout, on which John Jenkins pulled up and hit a three-pointer in the process of getting fouled. The made free throw turned it into a six-point swing in the Commodore favor, a total that could have made the pressure on Vanderbilt even tighter in the end-game.

Star of the Game.  John Jenkins, Vanderbilt. Jenkins was the one guy to finish the game with confidence, knocking down game-sealing free throws on top of his effort in the meat of the game. The final line says it all: 27 points, six boards, three assists, and three three-pointers in helping the Commodores earn their first NCAA Tournament win since the 2007 Sweet 16 team.

Sights & Sounds. Despite the fact that Albuquerque’s own Lobos were playing during this game, The Pit was mostly full during action, and with plenty of locals among the crowd. While Vandy and Harvard each had chunks of the fans in the crowd, there were quite a few people in the crowd wearing New Mexico shirts keeping track of the game in Portland by phone or word-of-mouth. The score was announced regularly throughout the game, to nervous reaction from Lobo fans, but once the final was announced, The Pit exploded in approval.

Wildcard. Harvard’s sophomore wing Laurent Rivard had a busy day, not only having to shadow Taylor throughout the game, but also providing a big scoring threat for the Crimson. Rivard hit six increasingly improbable three-pointers (the last a fall-away, shot-clock-beating dagger in Jenkins’ face) that helped keep the Crimson in the game.

Quotable. Jenkins on Rivard: “I hadn’t seen somebody get that hot in a long time.  He was making them from everywhere, no matter how deep they were and the shot clock going down, it was money.  So it was very impressive.”

What’s Next?  Vanderbilt will face Wisconsin Saturday in what should be a heck of a game. They will need to close with a lot more confidence and they will need to do a better job on the glass in order to advance to the Sweet 16.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Steve Alford Can Coach. Dan Monson went with some trickery during what could have potentially been the game-winning play down the stretch, using a play called “Iowa” to try to get a late three — it’s named after the Hawkeye State because Monson said in the press conference afterward that he had stolen it from Alford while the Lobo coach was at Iowa. When another coach is stealing your plays and admitting to it, that’s a pretty good indication of coaching acumen alone, but it was also obvious in how New Mexico handled the 1-3-1 zone that Long Beach threw at them. Monson said that they did that because the Lobos hadn’t seen much of it before, but they consistently handled it and found the open man in the creases of the zone (most notably, when Kendall Williams nailed a huge three from the wing to give New Mexico its lead back). 
   
2. New Mexico’s Unsung Heroes. Drew Gordon had the best numbers on the winning team with an 18/13 performance, but it was some of the other Lobos who made the bigger plays down the stretch to ensure that New Mexico advanced to the next round. We’ll discuss Kendall Williams below, but the players who kept making big plays when the Lobos needed them were the unsung guys, also including the freshman Hugh Greenwood (12/4/4 assts) and Demetrius Walker (11/4). For New Mexico to advance any further in this Tournament, they will need to have that sort of consistent performance from players other than Gordon inside.
3. Casper the Ghost. We said at the half when Ware had only scored seven points that we felt he’d need to triple his scoring output for Long Beach State to win the game. He ended up with 17 points on 5-19 from the field, and his last several possessions were an unmitigated disaster. First, he missed a layup on a drive, then he missed a much-needed three from the corner. He then got lucky after a turnover led to a loose ball to put him on the line for two free throws (he made them), but then another missed layup finished his team off in the final 30 seconds. Ware had a tremendous career at LBSU, and you hate to see a guy go out like that, but Dan Monson’s team wasn’t going to win without him playing better.

Star of the Game. Kendall Williams, New Mexico. Williams ended up with 16 points and five assists in the game, but it was his defense on Casper Ware late that really frustrated the talented 49er guard, in addition to some timely buckets on the other end. With just under five minutes to go, Long Beach had just taken a one-point lead and had all the momentum — Williams’ response was to nail a wing three to give his team back the lead. He followed that up with a couple of foul shots a minute later, and a layup in the last 90 seconds that created a four-point cushion when Long Beach was surging again.

Quotable. Williams, when asked about his game-changing three with just under five minutes to go being the biggest shot of his career: “Hopefully I’ll have some bigger ones on Saturday.”

Sights & Sounds. Long Beach State’s Casper Wareshows how much it hurts to walk off the court for the last time in your uniform.

What’s Next? New Mexico advances to face #4 Louisville on Saturday in an interesting matchup that will be played above the rim by both teams. Both teams like to mix up defenses, with the Lobos effectively using a 1-3-1 against Long Beach today. We’d have to believe that this will be a tough, low-scoring affair with the key matchup being Peyton Siva vs. Kendall Williams.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Syracuse isn’t a Final Four Team…Even though Syracuse won the second half by 11 points and the game, I was not impressed. They didn’t perform like a#1 seed. They didn’t create separation, or go on any sustainable runs. This was really a 3 point ball game throughout. It is clear that the loss of Fab Melo is bigger than Jim Boeheim has made it out to be. He allowed the rest of their defense to free lance. Now that they aren’t able to do that, they really struggled to contain the 3-point shot and to get out on the fast break. I know Syracuse was credited with 13 fast break points, but that is small potatoes to what they normally do. I don’t see Syracuse beating the likes of a Vanderbilt or Wisconsin, let alone an Ohio State or Florida State. Where was Kris Joseph today? Where was Scoop Jardine for much of the game? Where was Dion Waiters in the second half? There are a lot more questions than answers.
2. Refs can change the game. UNC-Asheville had it down to a 3-point game with Syracuse shooting a 1 and 1 with less than 2 minutes left. Syracuse missed the free throw, but the refs called UNC-Asheville for a lane violation, leading to 2 more free throws. Then with a minute left and UNC-Asheville pressing, they gave the ball back to Syracuse after a loose ball foul call on UNC-Asheville that was clearly after the ball had already gone out of bounds off of Syracuse. Last but not least, the refs almost let Syracuse shoot 3 free throws for a 2 point shot at the end, but fortunately someone caught it. There are many plays throughout the game, but this missed calls came at a pivotal time for UNC-Asheville, and contributed to their comeback falling short.
3. Will there be Christmas in March? Syracuse clearly needs to filling a gaping hole that Melo left. That job fell to Rakeem Christmas today, and he didn’t step up in my opinion. Sure, he ended up with a couple blocks, 7 boards, and about a half dozen points, but he didn’t provide the presence they need. He was soft and got pushed off the boards and out of the paint, especially in the first half when UNC-Asheville went on several runs. If the job isn’t Christmas’ to fill, they are going to have to find someone else, because he isn’t going to provide the type of spark they need to make a deep run in the tourney.

Star of the Game. James Southerland, Syracuse. I am not sure there was a single star in this game, but I think the person who most helped Syracuse to win the game was Southerland. He hit all of his 3’s from the right side of the court in the 2nd half, and provided the spark they needed to get back in the game, and then take the lead. He was also a very efficient 6-8 from the field and 3-5 from long range. He also had 8 boards.

Sights and Sounds. I haven’t been to a game where 90% of the fans are cheering against the favorite, but that’s exactly what happened today. It was amazing to see that the underdog was treated like the home team, and I look forward to seeing that type of treatment when there isn’t a clear favorite or home team in attendance. The crowd was the difference maker, and definitely helped boosted the confidence of UNC-Asheville.

What’s Next? #1 Syracuse advances to take on #8 Kansas State on Saturday. I wasn’t impressed with Syracuse tonight, but I was also not impressed with Kansas State. I think Kansas State should be a good test for Syracuse, but at the end of the day, I think Syracuse has too much firepower not to advance against the Wildcats. Kansas State is too one dimensional, and had a hard time hitting 3’s, so it doesn’t bode well against Syracuse. Syracuse needs to find an identity quick though if they want to last long this year.

By Steve Moore (@smoore1117)

We’re coming to you live from my living room, where days have been taken off from work, and the big-screen is flickering to life.

Of course, we missed the beginning of today’s action, due to my four-month-old son’s need to eat and have his diaper changed. He just doesn’t get it.

Anyway, while the RTC crew has things covered from the various arenas, I’ll take you through the best two days in sports in the same way as 99% of America: from the couch. We apologize in advance for the baby vomit smell or if the crying drowns out Verne Lundquist.

The plan is to focus less on Xs and Os, and more on the broadcast, announcers, commercials and coaches’ hairpieces. You know, the important stuff. If this works out, we’ll be back for a look at the night session later this evening.

And yes, I know I’m not Bill Simmons. I make way more money than him, anyway.

—

1:28 p.m.: We’re early in the second half of Murray State-Colorado State. I’ve been watching for a while, but had my hands tied with baby bottles and burp rags.

1:30: Love starting with Lundquist and Raftery. To be honest, I don’t have a problem with nearly any of the CBS announcing crews. But I mean come on, who doesn’t love Raftery. They both do a good job making it seem like they knew ANYTHING about either of these teams before yesterday.

1:31: Am I the only one who is bothered by these generic black/natural courts the NCAA insists on installing now at every site? There was something cool about immediately knowing which site you were watching. Every time they show “The Shot”, I take pride in recognizing the Spectrum floor. I could tell you instantly that Tyus Edney’s memorable dash was in Boise, because of the garish floor they had there. This just seems so sterile. It’s … it’s so … NCAA.

The NCAA Redfines Sterile

The Site of Edney's Magical Run

1:40: Colorado State can shoot threes, but I feel like this is going to just slowly drift away from them. Murray State should not have been a 6 seed anyway.

1:41: We now have a third game in progress, with Louisville/Davidson going on TBS. The last hour has been like watching a single game. Now is when it gets really fun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Not Just the Big Three For Marquette. In the first half, BYU had nobody who could contain Davante Gardner. The Marquette big fella scooped in 12 first-half points that all came from either attempts within five feet or free throws. We mention him specifically (he finished with 15/6) because his first-half performance was indicative of Marquette’s wise and efficient shot-selection on the day. Jae Crowder (10-20) was phenomenal, posting a 25 point/16 rebound performance enhanced further by the fact that he led his team with six offensive rebounds and pilfered five steals. Darius Johnson-Odom was his usual imposing self, as well (20/5), but Buzz Williams will laud his team’s effort from top to bottom; the Warriors had four players in double-figures (Todd Mayo added 10/6) and had six players pull down at least five rebounds.
2. Hump Day. As in, the 10-point one BYU just couldn’t get over. BYU improved their shot selection in the second half and, for the most part, played much better defense than they did in the first. Seemed like every time they’d string a few nice possessions together, Marquette would drill an open three. This happened on four different occasions when the Cougars were able to cut the lead to ten.
3. Your Turn, Kevin. No disrespect to WVU’s Kevin Jones, but Jae Crowder showed why he’s the Big East player of the year. The 6’6” senior was everywhere, playing the one, two, three, or four at any given time, talking like mad on defense, and being the leader they expect (and need) him to be.

Star of the Game. Crowder, without question. BYU was led by Brandon Davies (19/12), but he left a lot of points at the free throw line (5-11). Crowder was the best player on the floor right from the tipoff.

Sights & Sounds. What in the world was going on with the slippage? For years we’ve been talking about players slipping on the floor decals of tournament sponsors, but this wasn’t decal-related. Four stoppages of play to wipe the floor, multiple players slipping, sliding, falling…did they sneak a hockey rink under the Yum! Center floor while nobody was looking?

Marquette Fans Appreciate a Balanced Effort From Their Warriors

What’s Next?  Marquette gets Murray State on Saturday. Marquette showed that it’s going to be a tough out in this tournament. They shot well (30-66, 45.5%), hit from range (9-20 from three, 45%), and absolutely owned the boards against the Cougars (48-32). Of the two winners today, Marquette would our choice to move on based on their opening performances.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Three-point barrage. Wisconsin turned to their bread-and-butter early and often on Thursday, taking advantage of a porous Montana perimeter defense to hit six of their first nine attempts from deep and ten of 19 for the game. Jordan Taylor led the way with three threes, but six different Badgers hit at least one from deep against a Griz defense that couldn’t find its groove. Montana started in a zone, but when that got exposed, they switched back to their more customary man defense – to no positive effect.
2. Ryan Evans wake-up call. Evans set the tone in the first half for the Badgers, scoring 14 points, grabbing six boards, and hitting six of his eight shots, including a three. And he made it look easy, hitting baseline jumpers and converting post moves inside. While he cooled considerably in the second half, Evans’ first half performance was a definite pick-me-up for a Badger team that turned the ball over and struggled defensively in the opening minutes of the game.
3. Jared Berggren beast mode. Berggren is best known as a pick-and-pop big man for Bo Ryan’s team, but on Thursday he showed off his interior defensive skills, blocking seven Montana shots, besting his previous career best by three. Given that Berggren only played 24 minutes, that works out to a blocked shot on roughly one out of every three Montana two-point field goal attempts.

Star of the Game. Ryan Evans, Wisconsin. Evans wound up with 18 points and eight boards and was the spark early for the Badgers. While Jordan Taylor was often responsible for finding those good looks for Evans (Taylor wound up with six assists), credit Evans for knocking down his open looks.

Quotable. Jared Berggren, Wisconsin on his shotblocking performance. “There were a lot of situations where I ended up picking up the ball handler, normally a smaller guard attacking the rim.  Probably could have done a better job taking away the lane lines.  I let him get to the rim a little too easy sometimes, but I was lucky enough to get a finger tip on a few of them to alter the shot.”

Sights & Sounds. The Wisconsin band is legendary, and they did not disappoint, but give credit to a Montana band who also had a few good lines in attempting to heckle Badgers players. A sample, to Evans: “The 80s want their hair back.” Evans had the last laugh though.

Wildcard. Late in the first half, Montana was still within five points and showed every sign of being able to stick around for awhile. But then, over the last three minutes of the first half and the first seven of the second half, the Badgers turned off the water for the Griz and turned the last twelve minutes of the game into a mere formality. When Wisconsin enters lockdown mode like that defensively and is hitting threes at a greater than 50% rate, they’re darn near unbeatable.

What’s Next?  The Badgers will face the winner of our next game in Albuquerque between Vanderbilt and Harvard in a game that, regardless of opponent, could be a textbook example of fundamental basketball. Depending on the outcome of the second game the Badgers will be facing a team with a vastly different amount of NCAA Tournament experience although each prior NCAA Tournament experience for the Vanderbilt players has been short-lived.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Davidson Failed to Capitalize. With about 11 minutes to go in the First Half, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino gambled by bringing his center, Gorgui Dieng, already with a couple of nasty blocks but also two fouls, back into the game. Within 30 seconds, Dieng had picked up his third foul and was headed back to the bench for the remainder. At the time, Davidson was within one point (16-15). Yet, even with Dieng’s defensive presence on the bench the remainder of the half, Louisville outscored the Wildcats 17-10 the rest of the way. This was a major missed opportunity for Bob McKillop’s team.
   
2. Davidson Wasn’t Just Cold As Much As the Shots Weren’t There. Davidson came into this game not as an elite three-point shooting team, but the Wildcats were somewhat remarkable in that every starter had hit 34% or better from deep this season. None of the seven players who attempted a trey for the team surpassed that mark today. The team collectively shot 22% from beyond the arc, and it was clear very early on that Louisville’s game plan was to force dribble drives at the three-point line and dominate the paint with Dieng and Behanan inside. The strategy was successful.
3. Louisville’s Lack of Offense Is Clearly Their Fatal Flaw. No secret here, but it’s even more apparent when you see the Cardinals live. They just don’t have consistent scoring options but today there was a general feeling that they’ll just find a way to scrape enough points together to get the win. Louisville hit for only 40% from the field and a ridiculous 1-5 from three-point range. This won’t be a winning formula against more talented teams, perhaps as soon as the next round. And if Rick Pitino’s team comes up against a team that gets a big early lead, we have to believe that it’ll be lights out for the Cards.

Star of the Game. Chane Behanan, Louisville. Peyton Siva was good (17/6 assts), but it was Behanan who saved the day in the first half when Dieng was attached to the bench. In the last 10 minutes of the half, Behanan provided four points, a couple of offensive boards, an assist and a block while acting as a human wrecking ball inside the paint. He ended the game with a very nice dub-dub of 14/11 with six offensive boards and a lot of man-sized defense underneath.

Quotable. Rick Pitino, on an interviewer beginning a question about New Mexico, a possible opponent in the next round. “I know nothing about New Mexico.”

Sights & Sounds. The 10:40 AM PDT local start was not the best way to start a hyped pod of tournament basketball, but this mid-sized city of Portland represented well with a fairly full complement of people by the start of the second half. The early timing kept fans waiting for something on the court to excite them, but this wasn’t necessarily the game to make that happen.

What’s Next? Louisville advances to face the winner of #5 New Mexico and #12 Long Beach State in the next round, and either team would provide an interesting contrast with Davidson in that they are much more athletic and capable of putting points on the board to challenge the stout Cardinal defense.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Kansas State wins with experience. Kansas State has been here before, and it showed. They didn’t panic when they let Southern Miss back in the game twice. After Jordan Henriquez went to the bench with his fourth foul with more than six minutes left, they slowed it down, got the ball inside, and either scored on close shots or got to the line several possessions in a row. They shot 26-34 from the line, blocked 7 shots, and forced bad shots for Southern Miss at the end.
2. Batman and Robin came up big. Rodney McGruder had 30 points on 69% from the field as well as 4 steals. Jordan Henriquez came up with 15 points, 9 boards, and 6 blocks to completely stuff the stat sheet today. With him in the game, Southern Miss didn’t have a chance to get the ball inside.
3. Southern Miss’ bench kept them in the game. It is not often where you can say that your bench outscored your starters, but that was the case today for Southern Miss. Not only did Southern Miss outscore Kansas State’s bench 35-9, but they outscored their own starters 35-29. In the end it wasn’t enough to beat Kansas State, but without their depth, the game would have been a blow out.

Star of the Game. Rodney McGruder, Kansas State. McGruder not only led all scorers today with 30, but he carried Kansas State on his back from start to finish. It is safe to say that he had gotten in foul trouble, or struggled to make shots, that Southern Miss would be advancing, and not Kansas State. It was so obvious how dominant he was, that even the Southern Miss band was calling him the one man show every time he shot  free throws. If the stat line of 11-16 from the field, 2-5 from 3-point, and 6-8 from the line doesn’t read efficiently dominant, I am not sure what does.

Sights and Sounds. Even though the Consol Energy Center is where the Pittsburgh Penguins play hockey, you couldn’t have figured that out today. The Southern Miss band proved to me that not only can college kids play great music, but they can talk trash with the best of them although they may have crossed the line with some of their chants (like the one at Angel Rodriguez, which if true definitely did). The Southern Miss band started doing that during warmups if you can believe it.

What’s Next? Kansas State will take on the winner of Syracuse/UNC Asheville on Saturday. Frank Martin will need to give his guys some kind of pep talk because I wasn’t that impressed with Kansas State today. If someone figures out a way to shut down McGruder, they are in for a world of hurt. Kansas State needs more guys to step up, and they will need to do a more consistent job of playing lock down defense throughout the game, whoever they play.

By now, you have probably already seen the UPS ad featuring Christian Laettner‘s iconic shot in the 1992 Elite Eight to propel Duke to the Final Four (and eventually a repeat championship) over Kentucky. If you have not, you soon will, but the ad throws up a bunch of physics formulas and shows the play from beginning (the Grant Hill pass) to end (Laettner running around like a madman) in slow-motion and excruciating detail as part of their ongoing and irritating “Logistics” campaign. When we first saw it, we figured that Kentucky fans would not be pleased, but that they would get over it.

Don't Base Your Ad Campaign Around Laettner In Kentucky

It turns out we were wrong. At least one Kentucky fan was very unhappy with it. Now, all fan bases have their fans that get a little too emotional about things, but usually those fans do not have a platform to air their grievances. Enter Ernie Harris, a state Senator from Kentucky, a UPS pilot, a Kentucky graduate, and chairman of Kentucky’s Senate Transportation Committee. Harris has already voiced his displeasure to a UPS lobbyist in the state and while he stopped short of saying he would take any action against the company, which is trying to pass two bills in Kentucky, others do not appear to be quite as forgiving.

Gene McLean, a lobbyist, Kentucky fan, and former writer for The Lexington Herald, has already sent out e-mails to many of his friends and others in the legislature urging a boycott of UPS. For their part, UPS is defending the ad in their blog. We imagine in the long run this “controversy” will not have any effect on UPS in the state of Kentucky, but if you read some of the comments and how some readers do not understand that UPS is an international company and not just one that does business in Lexington you might change your mind.

H/T to Dennis Yedwab for pointing this out to us on Twitter.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Racers Win With Defense. From about the 10 minute mark of the first half, head coach Steve Prohm urged his players to crank up their intensity on defense. They obeyed. It changed the game. It’s often said that defense leads to offense, and even though (likely 1st-team All-American) Isaiah Canaan didn’t get his first bucket until almost 10 minutes into the first half, as the Racer defense clamped down, buckets became easier to come by. This continued into the second half, as the Rams were forced into turnover after turnover and Murray State capitalized.
2. The Best Laid Plans… Things really got bad for CSU when they made an increased effort to drive-and-dish in the second half. It worked the first time they tried it. It failed the next four, and the Racers scored off each turnover. It was in the Rams’ head at that point. Even open shots weren’t falling for them and the anxiety was obvious…which led to more missed shots, and more miscues.
3. Land of Canaan, Hornung of Plenty. Isaiah Canaan was the man with the most eyes on him to start this one, but the buzz in the place was largely about CSU junior Pierce Hornung as his rebound totals just kept climbing throughout the game. Looking forward to seeing more of him next year.

Star of the Game. I have to equivocate, here. Isaiah Canaan was excellent as expected (15/8), but we can’t just forget Pierce Hornung for Colorado State with a workmanlike 12/17 on 6-7 shooting. He got the biggest ovation of the night after fouling out.

Sights & Sounds. Murray State’s home gym, the CFSB Center, holds 8,600 people. The KFC Yum! Center holds 22,000. Colorado State filled a section, but between Murray State backers and Kentucky fans who had already taken their seats ahead of their game in the evening session, this was BETTER than a home game for Murray State.

What’s Next?  Murray State will get the winner of Marquette/BYU, but if you’re already talking up Murray State as the next Butler/George Mason/VCU, slow down. They were terrible from three-point range (5-17), only hit 50% of their free throws (13-26), were outrebounded (38-32), and only shot 39.2% (20-51). They only committed eight fouls the WHOLE GAME even though the defensive effort was commendable, and they only turned the ball over eight times, but they’ll have to clean things up considerably by Saturday if they want to move forward.