A Sweet Sixteen full of Blowouts
The Louisville Cardinals defeated the 12th-seeded Arizona Wildcats by a score of 102-64. Though this margin was a tad excessive, it continued a trend in this Sweet 16 round. The Wildcats were overmatched, and the Cardinals were heavily favored to win, but instead of featuring excitement, it only increased my boredom.
Just the night before, Villanova slaughtered Duke, and Connecticut pulled away from Purdue. Now, I thought the Blue Devils would give the Wildcats a run for their money, especially since they boast one of the savviest coaches in college basketball, Mike Krzyzewski and fundamentally sound players. Yet, Villanova trounced them from the opening tip, dominating inside and out to take an early lead they wouldn’t relinquish. I underestimated the talent of the Wildcats entering this tournament, seeing as I picked them to lose to Virginia Commonwealth in the second round. They looked impressive—playing with the swagger of a champion– so much so that I wouldn’t be shocked if they made and won the title.
The Missouri and Memphis Tigers provided the lone excitement of the Sweet 16’s opening night. Throughout the season, Memphis has been acclaimed as the top defensive team in the nation. There performance against Missouri was beyond unorthodox. It was downright abysmal. Missouri found holes, plenty of them in fact, to turn an ordinary high scoring affair into a triple-digit foot race.
Each of Missouri’s starting five scored in double figures, led by guard J.T. Tiller’s 23 points and Leo Lyons 17 points and 12 rebounds. Missouri, surprisingly, over-matched Memphis athletically, scored at will. They held an early lead but, known as a defensive team as well, couldn’t hold the Tigers down long.
Led by freshman Tyreke Evans, Memphis chipped away from the double-digit deficit they were dealt early. They took advantage of Missouri’s poor defense and settled into an offensive groove. Evans led the show, but the margin was still too difficult to overcome, even though they whittled it down the four late. Evans, who will most likely enter the NBA Draft, following in Derrick Rose’s footsteps, did all he could to prolong his tenure with the school.
Missouri tried to cough up the lead in the closing minutes—missing free throws, committing careless turnovers—but the shots that have dropped all year for Memphis were not falling late. Evans finished with 33 points, and Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson added 19 and 18 respectively.
Though the Missouri-Memphis game wasn’t necessarily a nail-biter, it featured nearly two hundred combined points, which kept my interest. Even so, I was hoping for at least one edge-of-my-seat thriller out of the final four Sweet 16 games.
Louisville’s rout was a given, but Oklahoma’s overwhelming defeat of Syracuse was hard to fathom. The head scratching didn’t stop here, as I impatiently waited for the beginning of what I figured would be a well-matched, brutal battle between North Carolina and Gonzaga. I picked the Bulldogs, not only because I wished that Tyler Hansbrough’s career would end in tears, but because I thought they had really good chance of pulling off the upset. It turns out that this was wishful thinking, as I was forced to sit through the Tar Heels thrashing of my Elite Eight pick. It was ugly, but my respect for the NCAA Tournament was saved by the unexpected: the Michigan State-Kansas game was close.
Alas, a game that wasn’t over at the halfway point of the second half. These two teams have flown under the radar in this March of Madness, but are nonetheless at this juncture for a reason. The Jayhawks, though the defending national champions, were unrecognizable from last years’ team. They lost countless players to the draft, and are held together by freshmen and sophomores. Yet, the two players with experience, Sharron Collins and Cole Aldrich, willed the team to a lead against the Big Ten heavyweight Spartans. Down the stretch, Kansas coach Bill Self would call timeouts and scream out plays, his attempt to act like he was coaching didn’t fool me. Every play, including one he dubbed “5-up” was presumably code for “Sharron, why don’t you attempt to score while your four teammates stand motionless on the wings.” This is accurate, considering the ball rarely left the point guard’s hands. When it did, however, it was a nightmare for Kansas. Their five-point lead quickly vanished, while their one-man show backfired. Michigan State rattled off eight straight points, then forced Collins into miss after miss, including a crucial free throw with under a minute left, to keep their season alive.
Though the Sweet 16 as a whole was a letdown (I lost four of my Elite Eight picks), it’s hard to lose enthusiasm, especially since there is a chance that the upcoming for games will go down to the wire. Having said this, I am not counting on it, considering how jazzed I was for this two-day stretch only to be treated to blowouts galore.
