How did you make your March Madness brackets? More than a few opportunities for upheaval were offered by the NCAA tournament Thursday. The Kentucky Wildcats, a trendy Final Four pick, lost to the Saint Peter's Peacocks. The Iowa Hawkeyes, fresh off an impressive showing in a run to the Big Ten tournament title, fell to the Spiders.
New Mexico State upset Connecticut in the 12 vs. 5 game, North Carolina destroyed Marquette in the 8 vs. 9 game, and so on and so forth.
The panel of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway, and Joe Lunardi weighed in on Thursday's events and also peeked ahead at a Friday schedule that will bring much.
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Follow this link to get a full breakdown of the historic loss to the Peacocks.
The Hawkeyes don't consistently guard anyone and that's why they ruined my brackets again. Fran McCaffery had some good defensive teams in Iowa City. He has finished outside the top 75 in six of the last seven seasons. Three years in a row with a top-five finish in adjusted offensive efficiency is part of the run. In the regular season, those incredibly unbalanced teams can do great things, but they often fail to meet expectations in the playoffs. Some teams were great offensive teams and others were average defensive teams that made runs. You don't see a lot of great offensive teams with terrible defensive metrics. The Spiders had a few runs that changed the game and a strong finish to seal the win.
The sixth place finish in the Atlantic 10 was achieved by the city of Richmond. In the second round last year, the Hawkeyes gave up 95 points to Oregon. They lost to Tennessee in overtime in the second round. Iowa's defensive challenges create challenges in the playoffs.
Is there a positive for Iowa fans? I think a lot of elite transfers will believe they can do the same thing as Luka Garza and Keegan Murray did in McCaffery's offense. The top talents were not able to overcome the defensive challenges to help Iowa reach the second weekend for the first time under McCaffery.
It is easy to point to Iowa's poor defense as the reason the Hawkeyes are struggling in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament. Their offense is always superior to their defense, but it hasn't always been a fatal flaw. The defense was ranked in the top 35 at KenPom. Their defensive ranks were the same as last season, but since Feb. 1, Iowa had a top-50 defense. It's enough to get past Richmond. There is some randomness to the exits.
Pick the winner of the games in the NCAA tournament from the Sweet 16 to the championship. The tournament challenge had a second chance.
Last year, the Hawkeyes had to play an Oregon team that had lost two of its final 13 games and didn't even play a first-round game after Virginia Commonwealth was forced to withdraw. Iowa has won one game in each of the past four NCAA tournaments, so it is not like the Hawkeyes suddenly become a different team in the Dance. I think those are some reasons for optimism. Going 1-2 in two NCAA tournaments with a Wooden Award winner and the second-best player in the country is pretty damning.
The tournament is unparalleled because March will do whatever it wants. The Iowa offense was held to its third-least efficient outing of the season, and the other two were road games. The Hawkeyes made six of their 29 3-point attempts. The last time Iowa tried that many 3s and made six or fewer was in January 2020 at Nebraska. We don't know the last time. We only know that the Hawkeyes have failed on this many attempts twice in the last 12 years. One of those times was in the NCAA tournament. March.
You can watch every Men's NCAA Tournament game live. March Madness is live.
According to KenPom, this edition of the Hawkeyes was fifth in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency. As soon as it connected on its first back cut, that went out the window. The old Iowa defense lacked basic awareness on inbounds plays and lacked floor balance. The Spiders might not be done, as their upcoming game with Providence seems even. What you see is what you get. There is a continuous loop.
In the NCAA Tournament, Nathan Cayo finished strong in the paint for the Spiders in a 67-63 win over Iowa.
It's not a blessed thing with a potential giant killer in Memphis in the second round. In November, with the preseason rankings in hand, Saturday could have been an Elite Eight or Final Four encounter. The focus of Georgia State is more important than the ability of the team to respond to the tigers.
I think I am with Monsieur Brackets on this one. It was a really, really slow start, but take a look at the final numbers for the man, who finished with 19 points, 17 rebound, 7 blocks, 5 assists and 2 steals. That was against a Georgia State team that was short-handed and lacking in size. We have seen this kind of thing done against stronger opponents. I'm really looking forward to seeing Holmgren go up against Duren and Memphis.
The biggest thing I learned was that when the opponent has a player taller than 6-foot-7 and he is in foul trouble, the team should not shoot 3-pointers. Timme and Holmgren combined for 51 points, 30 rebound, 7 assists, and 7 blocks against Georgia State. They dominated in the paint. The game might be closer than people thought because of how Memphis and Idaho looked in the first half of their games. It will be a big test for Duren.
I think we learned that a really good team can always end up in a battle with an underestimation in the NCAA tournament, but that is probably all it is. The team is prepared to compete with the top seed. Georgia State wouldn't leave Gonzaga alone for 30 minutes. The cold offense of Gonzaga was taken advantage of by the panthers. We had a typical 16 vs. 1 affair in the first round after the breathtaking run by Gonzaga. The last 10 minutes of the game showed me that Timme and Holmgren are a unique pair and that most teams don't have two big men who can challenge them. Georgia State experienced what the rest of the field could not.
The inbound pass was stolen by the man and he raced down the court to dunk the ball.
I like LSU, a 6-seed, and Iowa State, an 11-seed. Will Wade was terminated for cause last week after the release of a notice of allegations against the school. It feels like one of those situations where either the Tigers come out motivated after all the emotions they have experienced in recent days or they just fall flat. They will face an Iowa State team that is susceptible to volatility.
Seven of Iowa State's 12 losses this season were by 12 points or more. In their past 20 games, the Cyclones are 8-12. They have victories over Iowa, Memphis, Texas and Texas Tech. Izaiah Brockington could become a household name with a big performance in this one. It is intriguing to me because there is no idea what to expect from either team.
Virginia Tech vs. Texas. The Hokies won 13 of their final 15 games and carved up defense after defense down the stretch of the season. The Longhorns lost their last three games before the NCAA tournament and have been up and down all season. The Longhorns defense hasn't been as good as previous Chris Beard-coached teams, and that will be tested against Virginia Tech, which shot at least 42.9% from 3 in three of its four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament games.
I want to see how LSU responds to Will Wade being fired. The teams tendencies to turn the ball over and miss shots will make it a boring game, but the storylines are interesting.
Loyola Chicago vs. Ohio State. Even though the NCAA's own NET rankings think this one is a toss-up, never mind the seeds. Will the Ramblers make another run under Drew? Will the loss to Oral Roberts in the round of 64 be forgotten by the Buckeyes? Lucas Williamson and his teammates will have a real test on their hands when they face E.J. Liddell. We will get answers to all of the above right away, because this one is tipping off in the early window on Friday.
Can't wait for Michigan State and Davidson. The clash of styles between the Spartans and the Cats is one of the reasons for the coaching match up. Foster Loyer, Davidson's star guard, is going back up against his original team, with which he barely played a single minute.
Regardless of the outcome, the winner of this game has an excellent chance to beat Duke on Sunday.
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