Chaos tears up brackets
Next two weeks sure to provide more tumult
All the talk before the NCAA tournament began was how wide open it was, how all kinds of craziness could ensue. No one, though, imagined this. Top-seeded Wichita State is history, along with its undefeated season. Three double-digit seeds are on their way to the Sweet 16 while two No. 2s are back home, moping on the couch. Duke went down, and the entire country fell
in love with North Dakota State, Mercer and THE University of Dayton.
And there are still two weeks to come.
“It’s tournament time, and no one wants to go home,” Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminsky said after the Badgers overcame a 12point halftime deficit Saturday night to beat Oregon and reach the Sweet 16.
“You’re doing whatever you can to stay in.”
Though the biggest takeaway from the first weekend was a raucous reminder that, when it comes to the NCAA tournament, nothing is guaranteed — except Warren Buffett keeping his $1 billion — here are a few other lessons learned:
MATCHUPS MATTER MORE THAN SEEDS
Not to take anything away from Dayton, but it got an assist from the selection committee with both of its upsets. Ohio State was seeded sixth, five spots ahead of the Flyers, but limped into the tournament with three losses in its last six games — two of which were really, really bad. Syracuse was a No. 3 seed, but it, too, was playing on borrowed time after losing five of its last seven entering the NCAAs.
Drawing teams such as those makes for a much easier road than seeing, say, a fourth-seeded Louisville that is playing as well as anyone right now. Or an eighth-seeded Kentucky, which is finally living up to the potential that made it the preseason No. 1.
DEFENSE IS KEY, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS OFFENSE
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: Defense wins championships. But at this time of year, everyone has good D. You need to score and preferably have a few folks who can do it.
Take Wisconsin’s comeback win against Oregon. Yes, the Badgers put the brakes on Oregon’s fast break in the second half. But Wisconsin is moving on because it finally found a way to penetrate inside and also get some clutch threes.
So if you want to predict who might end up in Arlington, Texas, look for teams with dependable — and varied — offenses.
“A lack of offense keeps you from winning a championship,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who knows a thing or two about titles. “You’ve got to have great offense to win, and you’ve got to really execute and make free throws, do smart things.”
PARITY IS ALIVE AND WELL
Just as there’s no dominant team this season, there’s no conference that’s far and away better than everyone else. The Southeastern Conference, where basketball is primarily played to pass the time between football seasons, is send- ing as many teams (three) to the Sweet 16 as the Big Ten.
“There really aren’t upsets anymore,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said after his Crimson pulled off what everyone else would consider an upset in the second round for a second year in a row. “There may be some surprises, but I just think when you’re looking at seeds and if you’re playing this time of year, you’re probably a pretty good basketball team.”
As for Mike Krzyzewski’s ridiculous criticism of the Atlantic 10, the conference has a team still playing (Dayton). Same as Coach K’s conference.
THERE STILL IS NO CLEAR FAVORITE FOR THE TITLE
All of the surviving top seeds had issues in the early rounds, as did the other trendy picks — Louisville, Michigan State, Wisconsin. While it’s true a tough game can make a team better, all it has done this March is create confusion.
But that’s OK. If confusion gives us two more weekends like the one we just had, no one will be complaining.