Now yesterday is what we have been waiting for all tournament. Two games to determine who goes to the Final Four. Two games with absolutely incredible plays and incredible players. Two games that went down to the wire; one in overtime. Two games featuring number 1 seeds; one advances, one goes home. What a phenomenal day of basketball.
The appetizer was Gonzaga and Texas Tech from Anaheim, California. This game had it all. Athleticism, big shots, and turnovers. Boy were there a lot of turnovers. And the stars showed up for both teams. For Gonzaga, first team All-American Rui Hachimura scored 22, Brandon Clarke had 18, and point guard Josh Perkins hit four three pointers - most of them in big spots. For Texas Tech, defense was the name of the game as they held Gonzaga - which averages 90 points a game - to just 69. Jarett Culver led with 19 points and 3 steals, and Davide Moretti is the first Italian to hit big three pointers since Manu Ginobili. Wait, you say Ginobili is Argentinian and not Italian? Well, you get what I am saying.
The play of the game, and of the tournament through that point in time occurred when human pogo stick Tariq Owens of the Red Raiders skied to block a Rui Hachimora three pointer from the right corner, and on his second jump managed to grab the rebound out of the sky to keep it from going out of bounds and saving it to Braonde Francis, who was subsequently fouled by Hachimora. Never mind that Owens had a full foot out of bounds after blocking the shot, thus making his save irrelevant, since he should have been ruled out of bounds. The referees missed that one as everyone - and I mean everyone - was simply astounded at the athleticism on the play. If you don't believe me, check out the play
here.
Although this play by Tariq Owens was more important, it is by no means the most spectacular play by Texas Tech in NCAA Tournament play. That play was made by Darwin Ham on March 17, 1996 in the second round against North Carolina. You can see that play
HERE.
Congratulations Texas Tech. See you in Minneapolis.
This game was huge as Gonzaga was a common final four pick, and a good number of entrants had them winning the whole tournament. None was more affected that
Measha Williams of Houston, Texas, who has the Bulldogs as the champion in two separate brackets that are currently in the Top 10.
The second game was even more amazing. Top seeded Virginia advances to the Final Four after securing an overtime victory over Purdue in Louisville. After leading for the majority of the second half, Virginia gave up the lead as Purdue rode red-hot Carsen Edwards and his 42 points - including 10 three pointers. Edwards set NCAA Tournament records for most 3 pointers in one tournament, most points in first 4 NCAA Tournament games and probably a ton more as well. But, Virginia has the ball down 3 when Purdue fouls Ty Jerome with 5.9 seconds left. This sends Jerome to the line to shoot 2 free throws. Jerome hits the first, then misses the second. Not being able to secure the rebound, Namadi Diakite taps the ball to the other end of the court knowing that his teammates would be the only ones there. The ball is recovered by Kihei Clark, who takes one dribble and passes the ball about half the length of the court back to Diakite, who immediately releases a shot at the buzzer, that goes in to send the game to overtime, which Virginia controlled. See Diakite's play,
here.
Those that have Virginia in the Final Four - or further - can rest a bit easier as the Cavaliers advance. See you in Minneapolis as well.
Alyssa Ave from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida suffered the worst from the Purdue loss as she had the Boilermakers as her champion. Welcome to the pool Alyssa - hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!
Not everyone suffered the heartbreak that
Measha Williams and
Alyssa Ave did. Doing particularly well yesterday were
Marcus Jackson of Reston, Virginia,
Ty Leatherman of Morehead City, North Carolina,
Steven Usma #3 of Miami, Florida,
Mac Kroesen of West Palm Beach, Florida,
Brittany Sosa of Orlando, Florida
and
Max Macon 1 of Jupiter, Florida all had BOTH Virginia and Texas Tech advancing. You all earn the "Pick of the Day".
Purdue's Carsen Edwards had a helluva tournament run, hitting 28 three-pointers, the most in a single tournament. He broke the record of 27 set by Glen Rice in 1989. Rice, who would ultimately be drafted 4th overall in the 1989 draft had enormous range. In fact, when in town for a pre-draft workout he put on such a shooting display that the assistant coaches claimed his range on three pointers was "out of bounds". Anyways, Rice started off the 1989 tournament strong, scoring 23 in a 92-87 first round victory over Xavier in Atlanta. Rice continued his hot shooting by scoring 36 in Michigan's second round victory; defeating South Alabama 91-82. Rice headed to Lexington for the regionals where he scored 34 in a 92-87 defeat of North Carolina, and then followed that with 32 in a 102-65 shellacking of Virginia. In the national semi-finals in Seattle, Michigan defeated Illinois 83-81 behind Rice's 28, and won the national championship against Seton Hall after Rice scored 34. Rice's 184 points are the most scored in a single NCAA tournament, and it should go without saying he was named Most Outstanding Player.
Glen Rice went on to play 15 years in the NBA, earning an All-Star nod 3 times, including the All-Star game MVP in 1997. He was second team all-NBA in 1997 and third team all-NBA in 1998. He won the NBA' three point contest in 1995 and more importantly, he won an NBA title in 2000 with the Lost Angeles Lakers.
Virginia survived, but we lost Gonaza and Purdue, leaving four possible champions remaining. Our champions - with the 8 remaining champions in bold are:
Duke, Florida
, Florida State
, Gonzaga
, Houston,
Kansas, Kansas State,
Kentucky, Michigan
, Michigan State, North Carolina
, Purdue
, Syracuse
, Tennessee,
Villanova,
Virginia.
We are guaranteed to lose one of our champions today as Duke plays Michigan State from Washington, D.C. in our late game. In our early afternoon matchup we have a battle of the SEC as Auburn takes on the Kentucky Wildcats in Kansas City.
And for now - good luck in your brackets tonight. Each of today's games are worth 8 points.
For those that view all of the standings and do not just look for your own name - WE HAVE A NEW LEADER.
Marcus Jackson of Reston, Virginia vaults into the lead. Congratulations, for now. Let's see what happens today. We also have a battle for last place, which is currently occupied by
Cubbie Kroesen of Port St. Lucie, Florida, but 7 of our bottom 9 still have their respective champions alive. Who knows what could happen.
Feel free to double check your scores. Let me know if you see a discrepancy. Otherwise, enjoy the start of the Sweet Sixteen.
1 - Marcus Jackson - 110 -
Virginia/Duke
2 - Ty Leatherman - 109 - Duke/Virginia
3 - Measha Williams #3 - 108 - Gonzaga/Virginia
4 - Carolyn Fowler - 106 - Gonzaga/North Carolina
Steven Usma #3 - 106 -
Kentucky/Duke
6 - Mac Kroesen - 105 - North Carolina/Duke
7 - Justin Yung - 101 - Gonzaga/Virginia
8 - Melanie Scherr - 100 - North Carolina/Duke
Measha Williams #2 - 100 - Gonzaga/Virginia
10 - Max Marion #2 - 99 -
Duke/North Carolina
Brittany Sosa #1 - 99 - Duke/North Carolina
12 - Matt Hopps - 98 - Duke/North Carolina
13 - Steven Usma #4 - 97 -
Duke/Kentucky
14 - Max Macon #2 - 96 - Tennessee/Michigan State
15 - Chris Kroesen - 95 - North Carolina/Michigan State
16 - Bill Ganoe #1 - 94 - North Carolina/Duke
Steven Usma #1 - 94 - Duke/North Carolina
Measha WIlliams #1 - 94 - Gonzaga/North Carolina
19 - Colonel Kareem Montague - 93 - Virginia/Duke
Ashley Poer #2 - 93 - Virginia/Michigan State
21 - Carolyn Fowler and Jane Reynolds - 92 - Kentucky/Michigan State
Debbie Igdaloff Nieman - 92 - Duke/North Carolina
23 - Philip Kroesen - 91 - North Carolina/Duke
Max Macon #1 - 91 - Virginia/LSU
Barkley Sosa - 91 - Kentucky/LSU
Steven Usma #5 - 91 - Virginia/Gonzaga
27 - Katie Kollmeyer - 90 - Tennessee/
Duke
28 - Dan Barsky #2 - 89 - Duke/North Carolina
Amy Zdrowak - 89 - Duke/Virginia
30 - Coby Kroesen - 88 - North Carolina/Duke
31 - Max Macon #4 - 87 - Duke/Houston
Sean McInerney - 87 - Duke/North Carolina
Dave Piasecki #2 - 87 - Florida/North Carolina
Annette Pritchard #2 - 87 - Duke/North Carolina
Pepe Sosa - 87 - Kentucky/Michigan State
36 - Duncan Merchant - 86 - Duke/Houston
37 - Brian Hinaman - 85 - Duke/North Carolina
38 - Scott Bieterman - 84 - Duke/Kentucky
Paul Cummings - 84 - North Carolina/Duke
Adam Jorgensen - 84 - Michigan State/Virginia
Dave Piasecki #1 - 84 - Florida/Kentucky
42 - Karen Katz - 83 - Gonzaga/Houston
Michael Litsey - 83 - Michigan/Virginia
Mango Merchant - 83 - Gonzaga/Virginia
Silas Nichols - 83 - North Carolina/Michigan
Allison Parker - 83 - Kentucky/Michigan
Robert Tanen #2 - 83 - Gonzaga/Virginia
48 - Alvaro Gonzalez - 82 - Duke/Tennessee
Max Marion - 82 - Duke/Virginia
William Pujals - 82 - Duke/North Carolina
George Walks #2 - 82 - North Carolina/Duke
52 - Alyssa Ave - 81 - Purdue
/Michigan
Matt Nieman - 81 -
Virginia/Gonzaga
Chad Phillips - 81 - Florida State/North Carolina
Kyle Sheehan - 81 -
Duke/Kentucky
Wes Wiggins - 81 - Gonzaga
/Virginia
57 - Jonathan Wasserman - 80 - North Carolina
/Duke
58 - Dana Mandelbaum
- 79 - North Carolina/Duke
Brittany Sosa #2 - 79 - Gonzaga/Virginia
Krystal Travers - 79 - Kansas State/Florida State
Harrington Wax III - 79 - North Carolina
/Michigan State
62 - Dan Barsky #1 - 78 - Gonzaga
/North Carolina
Jacey Fowler #1 - 78 - Villanova/
Texas Tech
Ashley Poer #1 - 78 - Duke/Tennessee
Rich Samuels #2 - 78- North Carolina/LSU
Steven Usma #2 - 78 - Virginia/Michigan State
Mike Zachary - 78 - Duke/North Carolina
68 - Glen Merchant - 77 - Duke/Houston
John Santucci - 77 - Kansas/Michigan
George Walks #4 - 77 - Duke/Virginia
71 - Jacey Fowler #2 - 76 - North Carolina/Florida State
Hilary Kroesen 76 - Kentucky/Gonzaga
Martha Kroesen - 76 - Gonzaga/North Carolina
Jason Spuhler - 76 - Duke/North Carolina
Jeremy Spuhler - 76 - Tennessee/LSU
76 - Arlene Amo Hopps - 75 - Villanova/Virginia Tech
Max Macon #3 - 75 - Gonzaga/
Kentucky
Annette Pritchard - 75 - Gonzaga/North Carolina
Cheryl Spuhler - 75 - Duke/Tennessee
Joshua Zdrowak - 75 - North Carolina/Michigan
81 - Jenna Finkelstein - 74 - Gonzaga/Tennessee
Eric Inge - 74 -
Duke/North Carolina
Samantha Sheehan - 74 -
Duke/Tennessee
84 - Scott Hansel - 73 -
Duke/Kentucky
Anthony LaPira - 73 -
Duke/Tennessee
Chris Petit - 73 - North Carolina/
Duke
Jane Reynolds - 73 -
Duke/Kentucky
George Walks #3 - 73 - Florida State/
Kentucky
Biscuit Zdrowak - 73 -
Virginia/Michigan State
90 - Sasha Moon - 72 -
Duke/Tennessee
Traci Sheehan - 72 -
Michigan State/Tennessee
Michael Spicer - 72 - North Carolina/Buffalo
George Walks #5 - 72 - Gonzaga
/North Carolina
94 - Bill Ganoe #2 - 71 - Gonzaga/North Carolina
James Garvin - 71 - Duke/Virginia
Jeff Pamondon - 71 -
Duke/Tennessee
Rich Samuels #1 - 71 -
Duke/Kentucky
Meredith Tanen - 71 - Gonzaga/
Virginia
99 - Josh and Katie Zdrowak - 70- North Carolina/
Duke
100 - Hannah Sosa - 69 -
Virginia/Duke
101 - Rachel Bornn - 68 - Duke/Kentucky
Edy Pecan - 68 - Syracuse/Kentucky
103 - Robert Hosmer - 67 - Duke/Virginia
Skip LaForte - 67 - Michigan State/North Carolina
105 - Jordyn Sheehan - 66 -
Duke/Tennessee
Robert Tanen #1 - 66 - Florida State/North Carolina
107 - Luis Briones - 65 - Duke/Villanova
Jean Calixte - 65 - Duke/North Carolina
Kingfish Rod Parham - 65 - Duke/Tennessee
George Walks #1 - 65 - Kansas/
Duke
111 - Griffey
Parker - 64 - Houston/Duke
Abigail Sosa - 64 - Tennessee/Duke
113- Tara Elliott - 63 - North Carolina/Duke
114 - David Olson - 62 - North Carolina/Duke
115 - Liz Carew - 61 - Kentucky/Duke
Hilary Kroesen #2 - 61 - Kansas/Marquette
Ira Schulteis - 61 - Duke/North Carolina
118 - Jessica Samuels - 60 - Virginia/Gonzaga
119 - Jennifer Armstrong - 59 -
Duke/Wisconsin
120 - Kline Kroesen - 58 - North Carolina/Michigan
121 - Katie Zdrowak - 56 -
Duke/Tennessee
122 - Keith Zdrowak - 48 - Duke/North Carolina
123 - Cubbie Kroesen - 47 -
Kentucky/Marquette
