NCAA Tournament never stopped being crazy over the weekend
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sixteen teams remain in the NCAA Tournament, and Kansas State is one of them.
The Wildcats team that was picked eighth in the Big 12 preseason poll, went into the final couple of weeks unsure of its NCAA Tournament status, and played two games in the South Region without allconference player Dean Wade, won a Sweet 16 date in Atlanta with Kentucky.
This is not the Wildcats team Kentucky expected to meet in the tournament. That was going to be Arizona in the second round. But those Cats got trounced, another one of the strange twists and improbable story lines that became the norm over the tournament’s first weekend.
Kansas State’s first regional semifinal since 2010 and second since 1988 won’t get much national mention, not with 98-year-old Sister Jean cheering on Loyola, Nevada’s comeback for the ages against Cincinnati, or No. 16-seed UMBC’s historic triumph over tourney top-seed Virginia spotlighting the first weekend.
The craziness continued Sunday night when a second-top seed, Xavier, blew a late lead and fell to Florida State. If you’re adding at home, the Sweet 16 will be played without nine of the top 16 seeds.
For the first time a Sweet 16 region will be conducted without a top-four seed. The South survivors are fifth-seeded Kentucky, No. 7 Nevada, ninth-seeded Kansas State and No. 11 Loyola, Ill. The lost favorites: Virginia, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Arizona. A whiff for the selection committee but high drama throughout the weekend.
The Wildcats had a role in all this, not taking down a top-four seed but playing a bit of a spoiler on Sunday, putting the kibosh on the Retrievers’ feelgood story with a grueling 50-43 victory over UMBC.
The struggle was mighty because defensive intensity on both sides was superb and legs had to be a bit drained. The clock ticked for nearly 3 minutes in the second half with the score 34-33.
That was more explainable for the Retrievers. No way the players got normal rest after logging what
will take place alongside the greatest upsets in sports history.
“It captured our country and beyond, and beyond from a sporting perspective” UMBC coach Ryan Odom said. “It was really, really neat to see.”
The school bookstore, which sells about 250 items per week, moved more than 4,600 after the victory. No Retrievers game will be televised without a mention of the accomplishment. Odom will jump on coaching vacancy lists at bigger-budget programs.
That story and others amplified the allure of the tournament, even as it deals with the FBI investigation into alleged payoffs for recruits. The most recent revelation occurred over the weekend and involves North Carolina State, which was issued a federal subpoena related to the investigation.
Similar news figures to continue, dripping through the tournament and the Final Four. We’ll shake our heads, roll our eyes and feel a deep sense of sadness about the state of sport.
Then the games will return and we’re back to watching glorious action like 11th-seeded Loyola twice burying jumpers with only a tick or two remaining, or Michigan freshman Jordan Poole finishing off a perfectly operated
play for the buzzer-beating, 3-pointer to beat Houston.
Everyone moaned about their busted brackets as popular picks Arizona, Virginia, Michigan State and North Carolina fell. But don’t tear them up. You might have the best of the worst.
Cheers if you had Kansas State getting to the second weekend and don’t live in the Little Apple. The Wildcats said they were prepared for UMBC, and how couldn’t they be? As Bruce Weber reminded, the Retrievers beat by 20 points the team that won the ACC regular season and tournament, and that league started the NCAA Tournament with the most teams.
Weber even met with his players after the UMBC-Virginia game to remind them of this. But Sunday Kansas State fell behind 7-0 and didn’t score until 6 { minutes into the game. The Wildcats looked to have a case of the jitters. Plus perimeter shots weren’t falling.
Points came once K-State started to go inside, and the defense remained strong throughout. The Wildcats played two excellent offensive teams here and held them to a combined 102 points.
On a weekend when nothing seemed to hold to form, Kansas State fell back on the most reliable part of its game, and got to where many seeded above them did not ... to the second weekend.