NCAA Tournament Round 3, Day 2

Posted: Monday, March 25, 2013 by Travis Cody in
4

Major upset Saturday as 9 seed Wichita State took down 1 seed Gonzaga.  12 seed Oregon also advanced over 4 seed Saint Louis.  The other 6 games saw the favored seed survive and advance.

I've been bothered by some of the difficulty teams have had inbounding the ball.  4 seed Syracuse nearly gave their game away against 12 seed California because they couldn't get the ball safely in bounds.  Then Cal gave it back by making a mistake on the inbound play.  14 seed Davidson had an upset within reach, but couldn't get the ball inbounds against 3 seed Marquette, allowing the Golden Eagles to steal the game back on a last second shot.

There have been other examples of the inability to get the ball in bounds throughout the tournament, costing teams possessions.  Let's hope the remaining field has gotten the message.  Be prepared and value every opportunity with the basketball.  Good defense can beat you, but preparation can cancel out a defensive advantage.

And sometimes all of the fundamentals and all of the preparation and all of the conventional wisdom just doesn't mean anything.  Sometimes a team just goes off.  That's what 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast has done.  They've just gone off.  They worked hard and they prepared, and then they went out and laid waste first to 2 seed Georgetown and then to 7 seed San Diego State. 

The Eagles from Florida Gulf Coast are the first 15 seed since the field expanded to 64 to make it to the round of 16.  They are joined by 12 seed Oregon and 13 seed LaSalle.

2 Ohio St beat 10 Iowa St
1 Indiana beat 9 Temple
1 Kansas beat 8 North Carolina
3 Florida beat 11 Minnesota
15 Florida Gulf Coast beat 7 San Diego St
13 LaSalle beat 12 Mississippi
2 Miami beat 7 Illinois
2 Duke beat 7 Creighton

Let me leave you with this thought.  Some teams break under the weight of expectations while others seize the opportunity to flourish. 

4 comments:

  1. Starting to get down to the hard games.

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  1. CRASH the sound of my two brackets! LOL

  1. I'll be honest, I didn't expect the 'Zags to go much farther in the tournament. Truly.

    I have to smile over the FGCU win. Gotta love those Cinderella teams!