There were 14 upsets over the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 14! For the first time in history we have a 15 seed in the Sweet 16, and aside from the #1 overall seed, this 15 seed looks like the best team in the tournament. With a fun weekend in the books, let's go back and figure out what the Hell happened.
Before we get into the upsets, there were a couple games with great finishes.
Marquette 59 Davidson 58
Look at the Davidson-Marquette game as the model for an underdog not knowing what to do when they are winning. Davidson was up by 7 with 1:30 left in the game and lost. Davidson just let the game come to them while Marquette got their head outta their ass and started attacking/hitting 3 pointers to come back and steal the game 59-58. Also, not to beat a dead horse, but these kids are going to remember this awful last possession for the rest of their lives.
Gonzaga 64 Southern 58
Southern and the Bulldogs were tied at 56-56 with with 3:22 left in the game. Unfortunately for the underdog, they didn't make another field goal.The #1 ranked team in the country barely squeaked this one out, but it shouldn't have been this close. There's going to be some changes in selecting #1 seeds in this tournament next year.
On to the Upsets..
Round of 64
# 9 Witchita St 73 # 8 Pittsburgh 55
# 12 Oregon 68 # 5 Oklahoma St 55
# 12 California 64 # 5 UNLV 61
# 14 Harvard 68 # 3 New Mexico 62
# 12 Ole Miss 57 # 5 Wisconsin 46
# 9 Temple 76 # 8 N.C. State 72
# 13 La Salle 63 # 4 Kansas St 61
# 15 Florida GC 78 # 2 Georgetown 68
# 10 Iowa St 76 # 7 Notre Dame 58
# 11 Minnesota 83 # 6 UCLA 63
Round of 32
# 12 Oregon 74 # 4 Saint Louis 57
# 9 Witchita St 76 # 1 Gonzaga 70
# 15 Florida GC 81 # 7 San Diego St 71
# 13 La Salle 76 # 12 Ole Miss 74
As MLZ has written about before, this is probably one of the most wide open NCAA Tournaments in history. To me, the most dominant teams in this tournament have been Louisville, Oregon, and Florida Gulf Coast. Those 3 teams have also been the most fun to watch. Fortunately for everyone we get to see the Louisville-Oregon match up this Friday at 7:15 in Indianapolis. As for Florida GC, they get a date with in-state rival Florida, also on Friday night, at 9:57 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (side note, bet the under in this game, college basketball games played in big football arenas lead to low scoring games... trust me).
Also thanks to these upsets, we will get either #9 Witchita St or #13 La Salle in the Elite 8. It's just been that type of tournament. We still have 3 #1 seeds, 3 #2 seeds, and 3 #3 seeds remaining so the ending of the tournament is gonna be great, or blowout city until the Final Four. The majority of the underdogs were knocked off in the round of 32, but for Witchita St, La Salle, Oregon, and Florida Gulf Coast, the dream is still alive and.......
