Sorry for the late posting of the standings, but yesterday I had to do some actual work.
Phew! Somehow we made it through the opening weekend, with some of us more successful than others. Those that rested on Kentucky, Baylor and Tennessee have previously been disappointed. More disappointment followed yesterday, as champions Auburn, Illinois and Wisconsin will not be making the trip to the Sweet Sixteen. That leaves us with these champions: Auburn, ARIZONA, Baylor, DUKE, GONZAGA, Illinois, KANSAS, Kentucky, Tennessee, TEXAS TECH, VILLANOVA, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin.
Illinois was a particularly disappointing loss, since I just added them as a champion in the last update! Their best player, Kofi Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn) was held so much in check that Houston must have been made of penicillin. (Yeah, that is a bad joke, but I really have been saving that one up all year for their ultimate tourney loss).
Duke and Arizona survived really close battles, otherwise we would be shy additional 1 or 2 seeds. Did the closeness of the games show vulnerabilities in these teams, or will the battle-testing make them tougher? We shall see.
With the dismissal of Auburn and Wisconsin we had to potential bonuses in the second round. Nobody was prescient enough to select both Iowa State over Wisconsin and Miami over Auburn. But, we did have entrants select each of those teams. Ten picked Iowa State over Wisconsin, and nine selected the Hurricanes. With that, Jeff Plamondon of Lincoln, Rhode Island, Edith Pecan of West Palm Beach, Florida, Braeden Helland 1 of Jacksonville, Florida, Dawn Lamb (Colbie) of Delray Beach, Florida, Jamie Toole of Springfield, Illinois, Steven Usma 3 of Miami, Florida, George Fox 3 of West Palm Beach, Florida, Dawn Lamb of Delray Beach, Florida, and Steven Usma 4 of Miami, Florida have the Co-Selections of the Day.
Another favored team that lost, the Illinois Fighting Illini lost to Houston in a 4-5 matchup. Illinois lost primarily because of a lack of scoring punch from its guards, even though the Illini start three guards in their lineup. Trent Frazier, Da'Monte Williams, and Alfonso Plummer - and primary backup Andre Curbelo - combined to score 16 points. This hasn't always been a problem for Illinois.
The 1989 Illinois Fighting Illini advanced all the way to the Final Four behind a three-guard lineup led by Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, and Steven Bardo. These high-powered, high-flying guards were joined in the rotation by the uber-athletic Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle, Larry Smith and J.P. Bowman. Nick Anderson, who would ultimately come to define choking in the NBA, was the leading scorer, with Kendall Gill filling it up and second on the team in steals, and Bardo, the floor general, not only scoring, but passing, playing defense, and doing whatever the team needed to win. These guards garnered plenty of awards and honors, with Nick Anderson winning the NCAA regional Most Valuable Player award, and Steven Bardo winning the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Illinois earned a 1 seed that year, and started the tournament playing 16th seed McNeese State winning 77-71 with the three guards scoring 33 points. Incidentally, the team was led by Kenny Battle's 18. In the second round Illinois defeated Ball State 72-60, with Anderson, Gill and Bardo combining for 43, led by Anderson's 24. In the Sweet Sixteen, Illinois defeated Louisville 83-69, with the trio scoring 49 to advance to the Elite Eight where they played Syracuse. The guard trio scored 42 to outpace the Orangemen of Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens, Sherman Douglas and Stephen Thompson to advance to the Kingdome in Seattle. In the Final Four, the Illini ran into the buzzsaw that was Glen Rice, who scored 28, while the guard trio for Illinois only scored 35 as Michigan prevailed 83-81. Michigan would go on to win the title defeating Seton Hall 80-79.
In 2005 Illinois advanced one round further, making it to the NCAA Championship game paced by a three-guard lineup of Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head. The three were the top three scorers that year for the Illini, paced by Head's 15.9, Brown's 13.3 and Williams' 12.5.
Ilinois, the 1 seed in the tournament, defeated Farleigh Dickenson in the opening round 67-55, with the trio scoring 40 of the 67 points. In the second round, Illinois defeated Nevada 71-59. The guards only scored 31 as the team was paced by James Augustine's 23 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There, Illinois played Milwaukee, defeating them 77-63. Dee Brown and Deron Williams each scored 21 and Luther Head chipped in 12. In the Elite 8, Illinois beat the Arizona Wildcats 90-89 to advance to the Final Four in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis as the guards scored 57 points. Illinois defeated the Louisville Cardinals 72-57, being paced by Luther Head's 20, with Williams and Brown chipping in 13 collectively. The Illini's magical run ends in the finals, falling to North Carolina 75-70, despite the 50 collective points scored by Illinois' starting guards. In the end, Most Outstanding Player Sean May had too much size, and scored 26 with 10 rebounds. Illinois finished the season 37-2.
And even though Illinois could not win a title in 1989 or 2005, the one thing that could not be said is that its guards had problems scoring.
Back to 2022.
Players of the Day
5. Jordan Miller, Miami - It isn't his actual statistics that were important, but rather his defense on Jabari Smith.
4. Taze Moore, Houston - 21 points and 7 rebounds as Houston defeated Illinois.
3. Kevin Obanor, Texas Tech - Following up his last year's run to the Sweet Sixteen with Oral Roberts with 15 points and 15 rebounds as Texas Tech defeated Notre Dame.
2. Isaiah Wong, Miami - 21 points 6 rebounds in Miami's upset of Auburn.
1. Christian Koloko and Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona. 28 points/12 rebounds and 30 points/8 rebounds collectively, as Arizona narrowly avoided being upset by TCU.
Stats of the Day
2. Kevin Obanor of Texas Tech had 7 OFFENSIVE rebounds!
1. With Texas losing to Purdue, Chris Bears just narrowly missed by the second coach to defeat one school with 3 separate schools, having previously beaten Purdue as the head coach of University of Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas Tech. This leaves Tubby Smith, who defeated UCLA with three different schools.
Best Social Media Posts
1. From Tim Reynolds on Twitter: "Hurricanes v. Cyclones in the Sweet 16. Send Jim Cantore for the greatest weather event in sports history."
Now, back to the pool. Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida remains the leader, with Day Yi of Forest Hills, New York still hanging in second place. When you review the standings, keep in mind I will be adding things like each bracket's champions during the week prior to the beginning of the Sweet Sixteen, so you will all have more information to gauge your possibilities of winning.
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