The Sweet Sixteen has finished, which means we are down to the Elite 8. Unfortunately for us, it was another set of completely dull games (with the exception of UCLA - Alabama, but more on that later.) Gonzaga annihilated Creighton, and if you didn't have Gonzaga then that is on you - as most people did. Florida State just couldn't keep up with Michigan, and that game was a big differentiator (is that even a word? I am keeping it because I like it.) UCLA pulled away from Alabama in overtime, but for a while this was an amazing game for awhile. USC was up 15 on Oregon at halftime and then coasted to the win - giving the Pac 12 3 Elite 8 teams!
What does this mean for the pool? Well, we lost two champions in Florida State and Alabama, leaving 4 remaining - Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston and Michigan; out are Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan State, Ohio State and Virginia. Baylor and Houston are in action today - and today's games are worth 8 points. Baylor - Arkansas is the most important of today's games for the pool, as Oregon State tries to play spoiler to those that have Houston marching on.
Most entrants received 8 points last night, with Gonzaga and Michigan. If you won 4 or 0 points (and yes some people failed to earn a point), you dropped in the standings. If you had 8 points, you moved up. Simple as that. Nobody in the entire pool selected UCLA (although Skip Laforte of West Palm Beach, Florida had Michigan State over Alabama, so he at least thought about a play-in winner advancing to the Elite), so no bonus points awarded. Not too many people had USC, so Jeff Plamondon of Lincoln, Rhode Island, Chris Igtiben 1 of Las Vegas, Nevada, Brittany Sosa of Orlando, Florida, Colleen Hamilton 1 of the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida area, and Shane Dogmillionaire Jernigan 2 of Denver, Colorado deserve credit for selecting USC into the Elite 8. However, they don't deserve the same credit as Day Yi 1 of Forest Hills, New York and Braeden Helland 4 of Jacksonville, Florida, who not only selected USC, but had both Gonzaga and Michigan as well, the only two entries to win 3 games yesterday. For this, they earn the coveted "Picks of the Day" award.
Because of the movement, we have a new leader - well, new leaders. We have a three-way tie for first. Matt Hopps of Quincy, Massachussetts, George Walks 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida and Day Yi 1 of Forest Hills, New York all sit at the top of the Leaderboard. And they each have selected a different champion meaning this race is far from over.
A different story at the bottom of the bracket, where one of tomorrow's games will determine who receives their money back. If Gonzaga wins, Sean McInerney of Atlantic Beach, Florida will finish at the bottom. If USC defeats Gonzaga, Bubba Zdrowak of Orlando, Florida will have the dubious distinction of last place. Other than Bubba having Gonzaga, those two entrants have no other chance for points for the remainder of the tournament.
No Social Media post of the day, since the day's games were mostly uneventful.
Players of the Day
6a/6b. Eugene Omoruyi and Chis Duarter, Oregon. Omoruyi was the day's leading scorer with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Duarte added 21 points with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. Both did it in a double digit loss, though.
5. Isaiah White, USC. White scored 22 point with 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 32 steals as USC coasted over Oregon.
4. Drew Timme, Gonzaga. Can you have a ho-hum 22-6-4 game? I think so.
3. Andrew Nembhard, Gonzaga. Socred 17 points with 4 rebounds and 8 assists, but did most of his damage in the first half as Gonzaga pulled away from Creighton.
2. Jaime Jaquez, Jr, UCLA. Triple J scored 17 points, had 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, but did most of his damage down the stretch as UCLA won in overtime.
1. Mike Smith, Michigan. The numbers were not huge (8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists), but watching his speed with the ball, the control of the offense, and how he hounded FSU on defense, you could see he was easily the best player on the Court.
Stats of the Day
2. Alabama shot 11-25 from the free throw line. Yes, 44% AS A TEAM. Herbert Jones was 2-7 from the charity stripe, and he shot 78% from the line for the season.
1. This is the first time ever that rivals UCLA and USC have made the Elite 8 during the same year since seeding began.
As for today's history of the tournament lesson, if Florida State had won, I was thinking just a write-up on the long history of their coach, Leonard Hamilton. That man is 72 years old, is the winningest coach in the history of two different universities, and won his first and only college national title as an assistant coach at Kentucky in 1978!!! (Another Kentucky reference ... I still got it!) But, then I remembered that I already did lesson on Leonard Hamilton in 2018. You can read that here.
Then, I was thinking that if Alabama won, I could do something on one or more of the best Alabama teams as it has been a while since they made the Elite 8, but then they couldn't hit any free throws.
So, today's history lesson is about a team I really had forgotten, the 2000-2001 USC Trojans, the last USC team to make the Elite 8, 20 years ago. That USC team had 3 future NBA players on its roster, Freshman guard Desmon Farmer, senior guard Jeff Trepagnier, and senior center Brian Scalabrine (more on him later). The team also had Sam Clancy, a 6'7" forward that actually led that team in scoring and rebounding. Clancy was on two rosters in the NBA briefly, but never made a team and never played a game, due to some injuries. Clancy has had a successful career overseas, AND IS STILL PLAYING!!! He is currently playing for Instituto Atletico Central Cordoba, where he has played since 2016.
In the 2001 tournament USC, like this year's tournament, was a 6 seed and received an at-large bid after a 21-9 season. USC dispatched the 11 seed Oklahoma State 69-54 in Uniondale, New York, before upsetting 3 seed Boston College 74-71 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. That Boston College team was led by future-NBAer Troy Bell, who averaged over 20 points a game. In the Sweet Sixteen in Philadelphia, the Trojans defeated the 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats 80-76, before falling to eventual champion Duke 79-69. USC's Sweet Sixteen victory deprived the world of a Duke-Kentucky Philadelphia re-match that everybody wanted to see. Kentucky led by Tayshaun Prince, Keith Bogans, Gerald Fitch and Jason Parker, likely would have defeated Duke, paced by Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Mike Dunlevy, Jr., Carlos Boozer, and Chris Duhon. (OK, maybe not).
But, the best part of this USC squad is that it gave us the immortal Brian Scalabrine. Scalabrine was a second round pick (number 34) by the New Jersey Nets, and played 11 seasons in the NBA with the Nets, Celtics and Bulls, having won a title with the Celtics in 2008. For most of his career, when he was not a rotation player, you could see Brian Scalabrine emphatically cheering on his fellow teammates as if their performance depended upon it. But, despite his end of the bench status, dude could still play. (And as an aside, all of these guys at the end of then bench that people love to say "suck", are better than 99% of the world.) To prove this, a radio station had a charity fundraising contest where for a donation you could play Scalabrine one-on-one to 15, by 1s and 2s. The contest lasted for the better part of a day. For the entire day, he gave up 7 points. THE ENTIRE DAY! Four of those points were scored by a guy that played at Syracuse, 2 points were scored by a guy that played JUCO, and the 7th by a guy that picked up his dribble and threw the ball backwards over his head.
Now, on to the standings. As always, feel free to contact me if you think your score is incorrect.
