1. What to make of the Big XII
The easy reaction is to say the conference was overrated. That's far too simplistic a reaction to one day of a single-elimination tournament. Nonetheless, it wasn't good. Iowa State had been playing with fire for awhile and they finally got burned. Poor shot selection and getting out hustled is a recipe for losing to a 14. As for Baylor, their loss will sting for a long time blowing a 12-or lead with just under 3 minutes left. A lot of people will criticize Scott Drew and maybe he deserves it but this team overachieved all year. Georgia State is a pretty talented team. They've underachieved in my eyes but yesterday erases that.
2. Texas
Brian picked the Longhorns to go to the Final 4 at the start of the year. I thought they were good enough to usurp Kansas. We were both wrong. No offense to Butler who is a well-coached and Godoy team, Texas should beat them. Forget seeding, Texas has the better players. I'm not sure Rick Barnes is going to get fired but if I were Texas, I'd give it a long look. He's been there a long time and had lots of success but it can get stale. The basketball team will always take 2nd to football and some would say 3rd to baseball but it's an attractive job in a great city and has all the resources you need. If I'm Shaka Smart, I look at where I am and realize that the ceiling at VCU is unfairly low because of Power 5 arrogance (I'll get to this later). Worth a look.
3. SMU - UCLA
UCLA is in position for back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances after beating the Ponies and seeing Iowa State upset. The story of the game is the goaltending call. Whatever side of the call you come down on, it doesn't matter much to me. There seems to be a lot of assumption that cost SMU the game. It certainly didn't help but they also blew a 9 point lead with 6+ minutes left and had two really good looks to win it.
4. The Coin Flip Games get Flipped
8/9 games to me are the toughest to pick. Yesterday certainly backed that up as Cincinnati overcame a late 7 point deficit to beat Purdue in overtime and NC State took advantage of an LSU collapse. That game went to script. NC State, man, it's always interesting with the Wolfpack.
5. Mid-Major Strut
We touched on the two big upsets of yesterday earlier but let me say this, the difference between mid and big majors isn't nearly as big as the Power 5 wants you to think. The Power 5 would love to shutout all mid-majors because it means more money for them and that's all the tournament is about. For people complaining about the schedules of mid-majors? Get lost. No school wants to play these teams if they're any good, afraid of that loss on their schedule and a loss in general. The committee has an easy out by referencing SOS every year knowing Murray State can't get those games and knowing they'll never have the SOS. And if you think they had those games and went 0-5 out of conferemce like UCLA and still ran the table in conference like the Racers would get in, you're wrong. It's a crooked game and why I'll be cheering for those teams today.
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