Tournament Thoughts - Early Thursday

#4 Duke vs. #13 UNC-Wilmington:


Duke's Brandon Ingram is 6-foot-9 and only 190 el bees. That is not a lot of el bees for someone that tall.

Speaking of el bees I wonder if Sports anchor at WECT (in Wilmington) John Smist is at this game.

It's a shame that Grayson Allen acted like such a dick, he really is a fine player.

Hard to say this about a Coach K team but Duke often looks disorganized on defense. Like they don't know where to be or aren't giving the effort needed to get there quickly. When Duke has been upset teams didn't slow the game down on them (Lehigh scored 75 in 2012, Mercer scored 78 in 2014).

They have a lot of similar sized athletes, but many of them overlap or completely lack a position.

I don't put too much stock in the motivational abilities of a fiery halftime speech, but Duke certainly came out playing tougher defense than they had in the first half.

Chase Jeter is the name of the child Mrs. Poop would have had if she had married her first choice.

UNCW on the other hand came out a little too aggressive. Their big man CJ Gettys fouled out with 10 minutes left, putting Duke in the bonus.

Great job by the Seahawks as they continued to make shots and put the pressure on Duke. But Duke responded, and when they were able to break they press they got a bunch of easy baskets because UNCW's rim protector had fouled out.
Tons of fouls called on both sides. The refs called it tight, which will surely be controversial, especially on some of the block/charges that were questionable.
#8 Texas Tech vs. #9 Butler: Good game between two good teams. Exactly what an 8-9 game should be.

Tech got an early lead. Butler fought back. When Butler made 3s, they had the advantage, when Tech was going inside they had the advantage. Butler just got hot from the outside late in the game.

Tubby Smith taking his 5th school to the touranemt: Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and now Texas Tech. He won at least 1 game with the first three, not Minnesota or Texas Tech yet.

#8 Colorado vs. #9 Connecticut:

UConn always seems to have these huge shot blockers who can't do much else. Hasheem Thabeet immediately comes to mind. Hopefully no one wastes the second pick in the NBA Draft on Amida Brimah.

It looked like Colorado was going to run away with it but they started getting sloppy with the ball and over about a minute stretch UConn cut a 9-point lead to 2. In all, it became a 24-7 run over 8 minutes.

And then it was UConn's turn to try to lose the game, but the Buffs ran out of time. I thought there was a missed foul when Colorado stole the ball down by 3, but it wasn't called and UConn stole it right back.

#4 Iowa State vs. #13 Iona
Iona tried to make a game of it but Iowa State just had too much size. And talented big men.

I really think the Cyclones are a sleeper Final Four team.

#5 Baylor vs. #12 Yale

Those heady Ivy Leaguers once again giving fits to a more athletic team from a big conference.

Interesting story surrounding Yale. Jack Montague was kicked off the team after being accused of sexual assault. He says it was consensual and the school is using him as a "whipping boy" to show they are tough on sexual assault cases.

The only thing more pompous than an Ivy League a capella group, except for an Ivy League a capella group called The Whiffenpoofs.

Yale has Trey Phills, the song of Bobby Phills, the former Hornets guard who got killed while racing his car with David Wesley. Trey was only 3.

With 15 minutes left, trailing by 3 Rico Geathers yelled at Taurean Waller-Prince and Prince shoved him.

First major upset. Another for the Ivies! Yale vs. Duke is a pretty intellectual matchup.

#1 Virginia vs. #16 Hampton

Typical 1 vs 16 matchup. The fact the Virginia won in a blowout doesn't say anything either way about what the team will do in the next game and down the road.

Crazy scene with Tony Bennett nearly passing out during the game. He said he was just dehydrated and that seems right. He seemed ok when he returned for the second half.

#1 Kansas vs. #16 Austin Peay

Similar story, nothing to see here, move along.

#5 Purdue vs. #12 Arkansas-Little Rock

What a comeback by Little Rock, amazing shot-making by Josh Hagans. Maybe a little Curry-inspired there, better to take a shot from a few feet farther out than to get closer and be closely guarded.

When people talk about the importance of guard play in the tournament they are referring to what happened at the end of this game. Purdue couldn't get the ball up the court and into their offense.

Terrible job by Little Rock wasting two possessions with a 1-point lead. You have to continue to attack! Every time they got a lead they killed the whole clock on their next possession and got lousy shots. They also committed two fouls with less than a minute left in overtime. You gotta be smarter than that!

He missed them both!

He fell!

Normally to be a great game you want to have good plays at the end of the game, but this was still exciting because of all the great shots that got them to this point.

What a great way to end the opening session.

12 seeds are 8-6 in the last 4 tournaments. And that includes zero upsets last year.