Round 1 is in the books and chalk is your word of the day. The #1 and #2 seeds dominated as expected with only Alabama providing some drama against a determined Robert Morris team. In fact, all 16 top seeds advanced to the Round of 32.
The "big" upsets?
We lost (5) Clemson, (5) Memphis and (6) Missouri, although I am not sure they were all true upsets since Memphis was a Vegas underdog in its game with Colorado State. We also got (10) Arkansas beating that dog (7) Kansas setting up a Round of 32 clash between Rick Pitino and John Calipari. A great storyline and must see TV indeed!
Speaking of Pitino and Calipari, we are seeing some otherminteresting personalities and stories emerging from the 1st Round of this tournament. There is Amir Khan, the McNeese student manager with an NIL deal and a boombox hanging around his neck, rapping the team down the tunnel 1980s Queensbridge style. How about Kyler Filewich, the granny style free throw shooter from Wofford. I think the funniest thing about this storyline is that Kyler improved his free throw percentage from below 30% to just over 35% by shooting underhand.
And then there is my favorite story. It is Olivier Rioux, the Florida freshman. Olivier is a 7-9 Canadian, walk-on to the Gator basketball team who played at IMG Academy last year. The Guinness Book of World Records has listed him as the World's tallest teenager.
And there is a 7' 9" 18 year-old on their bench who will not play a second in this tournament!
Why? The Florida coaching staff has said that they want him to develop a little more in the weight room for a year.
I have argued with friends that this may be the most incredible story that I have ever seen in sports. Period. I am not being hyperbolic here. Think about it. How often do we see physical "freaks" in stature or athleticism in sports that do not play?
I thought of people like Mugsy Bogues, Wilt Chamberlain, Spud Webb, Shaquille O'Neal, Ralph Sampson, Victor Wembanyama, Manute Bol, Gheorghe Muresan, Yao Ming.
All are basketball players with unique physical and athletic traits. Some hall of famers, some just serviceable players. None with credentials as wild as Olivier's. This is fascinating to me, and I now love watching Florida basketball games just to watch the end of the bench for this giant to stand up and cheer.
How is he not playing?!
On to the tournament squares pool. Round 1 is done and we continue to see some really bad beats. My favorite from yesterday was the useless foul on an Alabama player Ismael Plet with 1.6 seconds left in its game against Robert Morris sending him to the line. He made one of two free throws to give Rob Jones his tournament leading 3rd win.
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