Thursday's Upsets, Outcomes, and Who to Watch for Today

With Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64 complete, we have already seen four upsets, three of them big.

To start, Wichita State also took out higher-seeded Pittsburgh though historically, #9 seeds have the edge on #8 seeds. I would say that it was not much of a shocker for the Shockers. The final in Salt Lake City was Wichita State 73, Pittsburgh 55.

San Jose seemed to favor the lower seed today.

Oklahoma State fell to Oregon 68 to 55 this afternoon. The Ducks got out to an 11 point lead in the first half with Damyean Dotson and Arsalan Kazemi taking charge. Dotson and Kazemi combined for 28 points on the game. In the second half, Oregon never dropped below a double-digit lead and coasted to a victory over the Cowboys.

Also at the HP Pavilion, UNLV was defeated by California. California had what some called “home court advantage” seeing as Berkeley is less than an hour drive from San Jose. The game was close until UNLV missed 15 consecutive field goals allowing for the Golden Bears to pull away. UNLV did start a comeback with about five minutes left in the second half but it was too little, too late. The Golden Bears down the Rebels 64-61 and will advance to take on the Syracuse Orange in Round 3.

But perhaps the most impressive win was that of the alma mater of our president. #14 Harvard took down NCAA Tournament top contender #3 New Mexico. Tonight’s win for Harvard marks the first NCAA Tournament win in Harvard’s history. The way to the 68-62 victory was paved by Wesley Saunders and Junior Laurent Rivard who combined for 35 of the Crimson’s 68 points. Rivard knocked down five 3-pointers compared to the entire Lobos offense who hit just three 3-pointers combined. While Harvard played well, they cannot take all the credit for this victory. New Mexico shot just 37.5% from the field including 3 for 14 from outside the arch. In addition New Mexico missed an unfortunate number of free throws, that number being seven which would have put New Mexico ahead of Harvard by one.

Look for these teams to have some additional confidence heading into Round 3 of the tournament. Wichita State will battle #1 Gonzaga, Oregon will take on #4 Saint Louis, California will try and squeeze the Syracuse Orange, and Harvard’s contest will be against Arizona.

For an outlook of the rest of yesterday’s games and a list of who to watch today, check below:

Today’s Games

#1 Louisville 79

#16 North Carolina A & T 48

#8 Colorado State 84

#9 Missouri 72

#4 Saint Louis 64

#13 New Mexico State 44

#6 Memphis 54

#11 St. Mary’s College 52

#3 Michigan State 65

#14 Valparaiso 54

#1 Gonzaga 64

#16 Southern 58

#6 Arizona 81

#11 Belmont 64

#5 Virginia Commonwealth 88

#12 Akron 42

#4 Michigan 71

#13 South Dakota State 56

#4 Syracuse 81

#13 Montana 34

#6 Butler 68

#11 Bucknell 56

#3 Marquette 59

#14 Davidson 58

Who to watch:

            #5 Wisconsin vs. #12 Ole Miss at 12:40 PM on truTV

#1 Indiana vs. #16 James Madison at 4:10PM on TBS

            #8 North Carolina vs. #9 Villanova at 7:20 on TNT

            #7 Notre Dame vs. #10 Iowa State at 9:45 on CBS

#6 UCLA vs. #11 Minnesota at 9:57 on truTV

               

For JMU Students on-campus students, the channels are as follows:

               

truTV 11-1

            TBS 27-1

TNT 28-2

            CBS 10-4

Please know that there is a viewing party at the Convocation Center at 3:45 PM.

Bracket, Upsets, and A Little Extra

Oregon over Oklahoma State

                Oregon received a lower seed than UCLA even after defeating them twice. In my opinion, Oregon deserved a higher ranking than they were given. Even Arizona was given a higher seed than Oregon and they did not make it to the PAC-12 final.

Iowa State over Notre Dame

                This game is going to be close. Notre Dame’s game plan is almost guaranteed to be to get the ball to 6’9” forward Jack Cooley which means as long as Iowa State can keep from fouling, they should have a good shot.  In the end though, the game is going to come down to foul shots and no one in this game is going to be better than Iowa State’s Tyrus McGee. He sinks about 7 of every 8 free throws and will be the difference maker in the game.

South Dakota State over Michigan

                If you do not know who Nate Wolters is, you soon will. As the nation’s fourth-leading scorer, Wolters will be controlling the pace of Michigan’s defense. Michigan typically preforms better when the pace of the game slows down. Michigan point guard Trey Burke stated this week that Michigan players better when the pace is slower but the Jackrabbits will rotate their bench players in often to keep the pace up. This game should be fast-paced and a fun one to watch.

Minnesota over UCLA

                Again, Lunardi ranked the Bruins too high. After a loss to Oregon, they should recognize that they weren’t playing at the level they needed and with injured Jordan Adams, the team is missing its second leading scorer, it’s going to be a tough battle for the Bruins.

A little extra

Also, as a shout out to my brother Owen, I agree with three of his first play-in game picks, the one I disagree with being of course James Madison versus Long Island University of Brooklyn. (You can see Owen's picks here.)

            Even without Rayshawn Goins for the first half, the Dukes still have CAA Tournament Most Valuable Player A.J. Davis and Senior Point guard Devon Moore along with young talent in Charles Cooke, Ron Curry, and Andre Nation. In addition, the Dukes may have senior Andre Semenov back for tomorrow night’s game. With this lineup, the Dukes may have what it takes to keep the game close into halftime.

           Once the second half begins, expect Goins to be aggressive to make up from his first half suspension which will boost the Dukes to a victory over LIU Brooklyn.

           Of course with all this, I am a little biased.