Sorry for the late post - but I did have work I had to do today (Damn depositions.) But finishing this up while actually watching basketball, so that is nice!
Well, the Sweet Sixteen is now halfway done, and we had some pretty good games last night. WE HAVE A NEW LEADER(S), but before we get started, I have to relay this story from one of the entrants in our pool.
Jody Cox of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was on vacation last week and as we all know, that was when our brackets were due. He and his family were on a Spring Break ski trip, or in the jungle, or Serengeti, or Australian Outback, who knows. [Ed. Note - I know, but it isn't my place to put his business out there.] But, he really, really wanted to enter the pool. So, being the bright, MacGyverish guy that he is, he drew his own brackets, took a picture and sent it to me so that I could timely receive his entry. Now, it is perfectly legible and I had no problem scoring his sheet. However, I found out in talking to him this week that he drew the brackets on a pizza box!!! That my friends, is resourcefulness and dedication!!! He is the Andrew Tate of our pool - without all of the criminality and horrible personality.
There are also some pretty interesting facts and statistics pertaining to the beginning of the Sweet Sixteen!
Purdue and Gonzaga - both in the Sweet Sixteen - have the most tournament wins without winning a national title at 46. Illinois has 44. [Spoiler Alert - 45].
The Illinois-Iowa State game is a matchup of KenPom's number 1 ranked offense (Illinois) and defense (Iowa State).
Duke hasn't beaten a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1994. They play the one-seed Houston Cougars in the Sweet Sixteen tonight.
San Diego State has more tournament wins the past two years (7) than in all previous tournaments combined (6).
Louisiana Tech won the first women's NCAA Tournament in 1982 over Cheyney State. The starting point guard for Louisiana Tech was Kim Mulkey. You can read some about here on this post from SINICKAL. (There's your F'in cite!) You can also find us making fun of here in last year's Final Four Chronicles, and possibly more this year if LSU makes the Women's Final Four.
The Connecticut-San Diego State game is the rematch of the 2023 title game; The Marquette-NC State game is a rematch of the 1974 NCAA title game. NC State won that game 76-64, behind the Most Outstanding Player David Thompson, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Some big basketball names in that tournament: Besides Thompson, Norm Sloan coached NC State and Tom Burleson was a standout, Al McGuire coached Marquette who had Maurice Lucas, and some featured players from outside that championship game included Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes from UCLA, Marvin Barnes from Providence, Campy Russell from Michigan and John Shumate from Notre Dame. Loaded!
But, due to the rules of the day, we missed the possibility of the greatest tournament championship game, if the ACC Championship game was any indication. See, back then only conference champions could participate in the NCAA Tournament, and NC State and Maryland were both in the ACC. At the time of the tournament, NC State was ranked number 1 in the country and Maryland was ranked #4, but was probably the hottest non-Wolfpack team in the country entering the ACC tourney. Being the number 1 seed, NCAA had a quarterfinal bye and dispatched Virginia 87-66 to make the finals. Maryland, with the conference's number 2 seed, ran through Duke 85-66 and North Carolina 105-85 to set up the most collosal of conference finals, which NC State won 103-100 in overtime. NC State qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and Maryland went home - as by far the greatest team to never even make the NCAA Tournament. But that score is just the start ...
As stated earlier, NC State was led by David Thompson, three-time ACC Player of the Year and 1975 National Player of the Year. His co-stars were Tom Burleson - the ACC Tournament's Most Outstnding Player - and Monte Towe, looking like polar opposites at 7'4" and 5'7" respectively. Future Baltimore Oriole pitcher Tim Stoddard also started on this team coached by Norm Sloan.
Maryland had its own assortment of star players, including 6 future NBA draft picks. It is even hard to say who "led" this team, but the six future draft picks included John Lucas, future Congressman Tom McMillan, Len Elmore, Mo Howard, Tom Roy, and Owen Brown. Maryland was coached by the legendary Lefty Driesell, who passed away this February.
This game went back-and-forth all night, with Maryland hitting 12 of its first 14 shots. NC State withstood that storm, and trailed only 55-50 at halftime. NC State had a four-point lead with just over 2 minutes left in regulation, but Maryland scored two late buckups to force overtime. Three lead changes in the extra frame occurred before NC State prevailed 103-100.
Most impressive state of this game is that both teams combined for zero turnovers in the second half and overtime. Let me say that for the people in the back: BOTH TEAMS COMBINED FOR ZERO TURNOVERS IN THE SECOND HALF!!! That is high quality basketball.
Of course, the following year the NCAA expanded the tournament and allowed at-large teams into the NCAA Tournament. Also of lasting import is the story that David Thompson could jump so high that he could take a dollar bill of the top of the backboard - and leave four quarters change! He also scored 73 points in a single NBA game, topped only by Wilt Chamberlain (100, 78, 73 two times), and Koby Bryant (81) and Wilt Chamberlain (78). [Luka Doncic also scored 73 in a game earlier this year.]
I know this is only NCAA Tournament-adjacent, but this is one of the three greatest basketball games ever, along with Duke-Kentucky 1992 (I can't believe I have to mention this - UGH!) and the 1992 US Olympic team's internal scrimmage chronicled in The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw.
Now, let's get back to the 2024 games.
The first early game was Clemson/Arizona, with the Clemson defeating Arizona 77-72. Clemson took an early lead, and although it kept seeming like the Wildcats were clawing back, they never could get over that hump. With 1:06 remaining in the game, Clemson called time out, and then ran a picture-perfect out-of-bounds play for a PJ Hall Dunk that not only ended the game, but showed that all Wildcats must have problem defending the out-of-bounds under the basket play. And, since I thought of this point as it happened, Guy Hughes of Lexington, Kentucky and Kevin Dick of Alexandria, Virginia have to suffer this thought with me now that I put it out there.
This is Clemson's first Elite 8 since 1980, when they were led by Larry Nance, who eventually went on to win the very first NBA Slam Dunk championship!
The second game was absolute annihilation: Connecticut over San Diego State 82-52. Some numbers from defending-champion UConn's run:
Then, Illinois beat Iowa State behind Terrence Shannon's 29 points, including two free throws with 6 second left to raise the lead to 5.
With a 3, 4 and 6 seed all advancing over a 1, 2, and 2 seed, we lost three champions last night, including Your Tournament Host. Our remaining champions are: ALABAMA, Auburn, Arizona, Baylor, CONNECTICUT, CREIGHTON, DUKE, Florida, Florida Atlantic, GONZAGA, HOUSTON, ILLINOIS, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, MARQUETTE, Michigan State, North Carolina, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, PURDUE and TENNESSEE. So, out of the 12 remaining teams in the tournament, entries have each of them as their champion, except Clemson.
Most entries had Connecticut in the Elite 8, and a surprisingly large number of entries picked Illinois into this weekend's game. There were 12 entries with the Crimson Tide into the Elite 8, but only 3 that had Clemson surviving this far. For that reason Kyle Henderson 1 of Fort Worth, Texas, Cheryl Spuhler of Acworth, Georgia, and Savannah Grace Pressly of Boca Raton, Florida all win the coveted "Pick of the Day"! Congratulations you three.
Players of the Day
Now, on to the rankings. You will notice a whole lot of Jacksons near at the top. In fact, the Jackson Five are all doing very well. I'll bet you can't find the 5th Jackson! (You can't - it's Staudt!) Anyways, as always, please check your scores and if you feel that a discrepancy exists, let me know.
Tournament Standings after Sweet Sixteen/Day 1
