Sweet 16 produces more drama
Four consecutive games on the first day of the men’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 meant college basketball fans could write off their Saturday and instead take a seat on their couch to watch the action from early afternoon to past midnight.
Like the first two rounds, the games produced more drama. A lower seed made some history. Bigger seeds trailed at halftime but rallied to avoid upsets and keep their title hopes alive. Another school advanced to a place it hadn’t been in 37 years.
Just another day in the life of the tournament.
A look at what we learned from all the action:
Finding other ways to win: Some days shots are not going to fall no matter how good you’ve been all season. In the tournament environment, opponents are going to try to take away what you do best and the pressure is greater. So you have to switch gears and adjust.
Baylor leads the nation in three-point shot percentage, but made just two in the first half against Villanova. So the Bears starting driving to the basket and playing more aggressive on defense. Their first 26 points in the second half came in the paint. The defense forced turnovers, and eventually, the shorthanded Wildcats wilted late.
Oral Roberts led the nation in threepoint shots made. The shots weren’t falling for the Golden Eagles in the second half, but they kept firing from long distance to no avail. They missed their last nine, including the potential buzzerbeater by Max Abmas.
Oregon State isn’t a Cinderella: That’s moniker is given to lower seeds that advance. The slipper doesn’t fit the Beavers, even though they’re just the second No. 12 team to make the Elite Eight. This is a quality team that won 10 games in the Pac-12 regular season, including three of their last four and then ran through the conference tournament.
Oregon State has earned its way, too. The road in this tournament included comfortable wins against Tennessee and Oklahoma State before handling the difficult challenge of Loyola Chicago.
That’s one Pac-12 school in the regional finals with at least one more guaranteed tomorrow. Their late-season success isn’t surprising because conference schools had less preparation time than normal due to coronavirus restrictions. With coaches having less contact during the summer, teams got a late start and took some time finding their way.
Sampson just wins, baby: Two things can be true at the same time: Kelvin Sampson has an uncomfortable history with NCAA rules and he is a great basketball coach. His work at Houston in the past seven years speaks to his ability to build a program as he did at Washington State and Oklahoma. He ran afoul of NCAA rules with the Sooners before heading to Indiana, where he again broke rules, leading to a show-case penalty and a move to the NBA as an assistant.
His return to college basketball with the Cougars started with an inauspicious 13-19 record in 2014-15. Slowly they progressed. By season four, there were 27 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth. The next season produced 33 victories and a trip to the Sweet 16. Now Houston is back in the Elite Eight for the first time since its last Final Four trip in 1984.
If the Cougars advance Monday, critics could point to the easy path this tournament with them facing doubledigit seeds in all four rounds. They can’t control that. Rutgers, Syracuse and future opponent Oregon State all come from Power Five leagues. Winning at this time against big schools is not easy. Don’t forget the Scarlet Knights nearly took out Houston in the second round before a remarkable rally late.
History does repeat itself: When Arkansas and Oral Roberts met in January, the Golden Eagles took a surprising, 10point lead at halftime. This time, the lead was seven, then eventually grew to 12. But the Razorbacks kept up the pressure and grabbed offensive rebounds. Eventually, like the regular season, they came back to beat Oral Roberts.
Once one of the elite programs, the Razorbacks are returning to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1995. The runner-up finish that year capped a run of three Final Fours in six seasons with the school’s only national title coming in 1994. They’re only three wins away from another championship, but the shooting will have to improve against bigger and deeper opponents, starting with Baylor on Monday.
The layoffs didn’t help: The tournament schedule we’ve been used to for years had to be trashed with the new arrangements for the bubble in Indianapolis. Usually, there are three or four days between the second round and the Sweet 16.
This year, there were five. Add to that the abnormal environment for players, and it is no surprise that many games started slowly.
Loyola and Oregon State managed just 40 points in the first half. Baylor and Villanova combined for 53, Oral Roberts and Arkansas, two of the high-scoring teams in the field, managed just 63 and Syracuse and Houston had 50.