NCAA Tournament: Second & Third Round Best Games, Players
With a few days to go before basketball resumes, the only thing we can do to quench our March Madness thirst is talk about what was and what is still to come in this year's NCAA Tournament. This is Ryan Mayer and I'm here with my colleague Bryan Altman to break down our favorite moments from the weekend and take a look ahead to the Sweet 16 in our first installment of the NCAA Wrap Chat.
Ryan: So Bryan, weekend one is in the books and we've got our Sweet 16 field set, what's your biggest takeaway from the first four days of this year's tournament?
Bryan: Well, the first thing I have to say is that the tournament has definitely lived up to the hype thus far. The Georgia State/Ron and R.J. Hunter story was one of my favorite sports stories in recent memory. Then you throw in all of the usual dramatics that we see in the first round like 14 seed UAB taking down Iowa State, the Tar Heels nearly being eliminated by Harvard, it's been quite a first week. Possibly the most excited I've been for a Sweet 16 in some time.
Ryan: Here's what I noticed this weekend, and it's for every year of the tournament. Your bracket is like your fantasy football team. Nobody actually cares about it but you. We all ask "So how's your bracket doing?" as a conversation starter but you have that one friend who posts a different Facebook or Twitter status every five minutes to the point where you want to immediately block them. Games wise I think from now until Tom Izzo stops coaching I'm just going to put Michigan State in the Sweet 16 without even looking at their opponents. He's been to 13 of the last 18 Sweet Sixteens. That's just ridiculous.
Who was your standout player from the first weekend?
Bryan: I think you hit on something important regarding the "how's your bracket" bit. The question is a setup in and of itself. Anyone who asks you that question is really saying "Please, please, please let me tell you about my bracket." It has to end and I thank you for starting the conversation. And really quickly on Tom Izzo, I took Georgia in the first round. Yeah. That's all I can say about that. But seriously, the man is a legend, he is a true man of March and I'm joining the "never pick against Tom Izzo" club..
And speaking of men of March, how could your standout player not be Jahlil Okafor at this point in time? Obviously Kentucky and Cauley-Stein have been special to watch, but Duke is rolling right now and if you watched Okafor against San Diego State you saw exactly why NBA teams are salivating over him. Not to mention he broke a Duke school record for most points in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament with 47 points and he's only miss six shots all tournament. SIX.
Ryan: Yeah Okafor is hard to argue with. Public Service Announcement folks, kid can play. He does things like this on the regular:
https://vine.co/v/OYtnIMbnuYPBy the way, if "point-center" becomes a thing, where 7-footers are regularly dropping assists like that, people our height should just give up all hope of playing basketball in the future and bow down to our 7-foot basketball overlords. I guess the best player is a loaded question because I love Okafor, WCS is nasty and ended another guy over the weekend with this dunk:
https://https://vine.co/v/OY6rBEm1dWn
RIP to that poor Bearcat. That will be replayed in perpetuity along with that DeAndre Jordan dunk on Brandon Knight a few years ago. But you know what, I'll take this a different route and say player that I was most entertained by in the first two rounds. R.J. Hunter. The kid shoots 30 percent from three this year and just doesn't care. He was firing from anywhere on the floor. That's just straight "heat check" territory.
What was the best game from the first two rounds for you?
Bryan: I'm going to have to piggy-back right off of you and give the nod to Georgia State vs. Baylor. The ruptured Achilles, the father/son dynamic, the number 14 seed against a 3, you couldn't pack this much drama into an episode of Days Of Our Lives. It was seriously that fantastic. And R.J. Hunter - dude was a stone-cold killer on that final shot. A 35-footer to end the Bears' season showed that he truly does have nothing but ice in his veins. Still, there were so many fantastic finishes and great individual performances. Troy Caupain's last-second layup against Purdue, Pat Connaughton's block and his corner three-ball against Butler in OT - this whole first weekend was honestly too much fun.
What games are you looking forward to the most in the Sweet 16?
Ryan: The game (or games) I'm looking forward to the most are actually in the part of the bracket that is currently the most screwed up. The East region. The number 1 and 2 seeds are gone. We're left with 8/4 and 3/7 for the right to play for the regional title. Tom Izzo with one of his least talented squads against an Oklahoma team that seems to be living up to its seeding. Rick Pitino and Louisville having to bang bodies with an extremely physical NC State team? Those are fascinating to me. The rest of the regions I have a fairly good idea (at least I think I do, but my bracket to this point would say otherwise) of who will come out with wins (Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Gonzaga) but honestly who the heck knows what's going to happen in the East?
Bryan: Believe it or not I'm really looking forward to the Duke vs. Utah matchup this weekend. The Utes have been playing some solid ball, and so have the Blue Devils mind you, but Duke haven't played an opponent of Utah's caliber just yet in this tournament. That's not me saying they're on Duke's level, but I won't be the least bit surprised if they give them a serious run for their money. If I'm wrong, the Blue Devils clearly will have the easiest road to the Final Four this year. If they can breeze through Utah, I doubt Gonzaga or UCLA can put up much of a fight.
This might be fairly presumptuous of me but I'd bet my life savings that Kentucky takes down West Virginia so I'm already wondering whether Notre Dame or Wichita State can put up a fight against the Wildcats or if they have a wide open road to the Final Four as well. What do you think?
Ryan: Quick aside before I answer that, RIP to the seven-year run of having a double-digit seed in the Sweet 16. Last time we didn't have one? 2007. Cinderella has been sent home early this year. Now, as for Wichita State or Notre Dame vs. Kentucky. Of the two I give Notre Dame the better shot purely because of their three-point shooting ability. Now, the Shockers did show that yesterday against Kansas but Notre Dame has shown that ability all season while Wichita State has flashed at times but they're a middle of the pack kind of long distance team.
That said, I was hearing a lot of "Well Cincinnati laid the blueprint for how to beat Kentucky, who will finish the job?" this weekend. I'm sorry, what blueprint? Did I miss something? Kentucky did win by 13 right? They did hold Cincy to 51? I get it from a strategy standpoint. "All we have to do is hit threes and battle them on the boards." That's much easier said than done when you're facing a line-up of four 6 foot 10 inch or above dudes and the length they have on the perimeter. There's always a chance according to Dumb and Dumber, but how much of one? I'm still taking Kentucky 99 out of 100 times. (cue Little Giants "One Time" speech).
[youtube:"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khauvdb_f8A"]
By the way that's the speech I'd be using pre-game all day if I'm Kentucky opponents at this point.
Bryan: I love it, might need to channel a little Herb Brooks as well the way the Wildcats are playing. Still, I don't think they pull off the perfect season. Call me a dreamer, but I really think that somebody will find a way to beat Kentucky. I think that if Oklahoma can find their way into the Final Four against the 'Cats, they could be a prime candidate for an upset based on the requirements you listed above. Look at the Sooners' last game against Dayton, they were 9-18 from behind the arc and dominated the glass with Ryan Spangler and TaShaun Thomas for most of the night. They're my dark horse candidate right now to take this thing home.
Ryan: Interesting pick, the Sooners have definitely shown me something through the first weekend, but they'll have a tough task ahead of them with Izzo. The Kentucky debate is one we can continue to have next week, but for now let's bask in the glory that was last weekend and remember the best dunk of the tournament that didn't count.
Bryan: His reaction might be my favorite part - it's so obviously "are you serious, did you not see what I just did?"
Ryan: Brilliant. I love post-dunk celebrations. Well, that'll do it for me, we've got another good weekend set up for us Bryan. Can't wait to see what we get this week.
Bryan: That makes two of us - I think I'd be missing an opportunity if I didn't mention that we'll be continuing this throughout the weekend with our live blog coverage - http://sports.cbslocal.com/ncaa-live-blog/ - we'll be updating all of the action as it happens. Other than that, let's pick this back up on Monday and hope we predicted a little bit better in this article than on our respective brackets.
Ryan: Love the shameless plug. Great way to end this one. Bye for now folks, Thursday night can't come soon enough.
Be sure to check back in with us next Monday when we wrap up the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight and prepare for the Final Four.
