2017 NCAA Tournament

April 5, 2017

Every year I look forward to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The fun of filling out brackets, the one and out intensities of the games and breakout stars.  It’s called March Madness and the results prove why.

In previous years most upsets take place in the first round. Aside from a couple of games, this was not the case this year. Wild card entry USC beats SMU. Number 12 Middle Tennessee beats number 5 Minnesota. This is when the madness began.

When picking winners you can usually count on all 1 and 2 seeds making it to the sweet 16. The first game on Saturday was the shocking upset of #1 Villanova to #8 Wisconsin. You would think #2 Duke would have easy road to final four. However, they lose to #6 South Carolina. At this point, the number one and two teams don’t reach sweet 16. In a last shot thriller #3 Florida beats Wisconsin then loses to South Carolina.  A #6 team reaches the final four.

When Michigan beats Louisville another number #2 doesn’t make it to the round of 16. Oregon squeeks by Rhode Island then shoots lights out to beat Michigan.  #1 seed Kansas cruises by Purdue by double digits then gets upset by Oregon. The break out star is guard Tyler Dorsey of Oregon. Against Rhode Island, 27 points on 9-10 shooting. In sweet 16 20 points with game winning layup versus Michigan. Led team past Kansas, 14 points 4-6 from three point range. The final four has a #3 seed.

Gonzaga had the easiest time getting to finals. The competition they faced seemed to the easiest path. It might have been different if #2 Arizona doesn’t get beat by #11 Xavier. It was great to see Northwestern win a game and put a scare in Gonzaga coming back from 18 points to get it close. Blown call turns 3 point into seven point lead.

There was only one bracket where there were no upsets although Kentucky almost lost to Wichita St. to reach the sweet 16. #1 N. Carolina beat #4 Butler. #2 Kentucky beats #3 UCLA. Then in what was probably the best game of the tourney. N. Carolina beats Kentucky by one in a back and forth game with several lead changes and ties.

Gonzaga’s luck continued. After disposing of #11 Xavier they faced the lowest seed remaining. S. Carolina had some solid upset buts all good things come to an end and lost by 4. Not a great difference although I felt this game was never in doubt. In the other match up every N. Carolina run was countered by one from Oregon. Despite Tyler Dorsey going 3-10 before fouling out they only trailed by one with 5.4 seconds and the clock stopped, N. Carolina at the free throw line. After the free throws there would have been enough time to get down and shoot a 3 to tie the game. They miss the first foul shot and you’re thinking Oregon may get in the paint to tie game or go for the win with a 3 pointer. When the next free throw missed the Tar Heels got the rebound. This scenario repeated itself with 4 seconds left with Carolina getting the rebound on the second miss. The first thing Oregon works on next season is how to block out on free throws.

The final game was a real stinker. Bad play, countless fouls long timeouts. It was slow and uneventful. Someone had to win and Gonzaga with their inflated record against mediocre teams and an easy path to reach the final. N. Carolina was most likely the best team they faced all year. The Zags kept it close for the first thirty minutes and lost to the better team.