Friday was another great night of NCAA Tournament basketball, but let’s start the review with two ACC stories.
First, as expected, Georgia Tech has hired Troy’s Scott Cross. He’s a quality coach, but you hope he’s negotiated for better resources. There’s no reason whatsoever why a school in Atlanta shouldn’t be a huge factor in recruiting Georgia and the surrounding states.
Secondly, the Hubert Davis drama swirls on. UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts told WRAL that no changes have happened yet, but that an evolution
is happening. That was supposed to be evaluation, but it could go either way, couldn’t it?
A number of former players have expressed concerns. Tyler Hansbrough said he wasn’t surprised. Joel Berry said he had “mixed emotions.”
Ty Lawson posted this on X: “Wtf!!!!! We were up 10… I go workout and come back to an L!!!!! What happened?”
We’re sure Davis has his supporters, but they’re not very public. The general sentiment seems to be that he’s got to go.
That should be clear soon, one way or another.
On to the basketball games.
Nolan Smith’s Tennessee State is out, bowing to Iowa State, 108-74. No surprise there, but the most significant news is an injury to Cyclone Joshua Jefferson. Apparently, it’s a knee sprain, and it’s not clear yet how long he’ll be out.
Johnny Dawkins and his UCF Knights gave UCLA a tough game before losing, 75-71.
Meanwhile, former Jon Scheyer assistant Jai Lucas led his Miami Hurricanes to a victory over Missouri and former Blue Devil Mark Mitchell, 80-66.
In other news of the day, UConn’s Tarris Reed had a historic game, scoring 31 points and grabbing an astonishing 27 rebounds. That’s the sort of game we might have seen decades ago from Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Maurice Stokes, or Elvin Hayes.
And UConn needed all of it to get by Furman. That game was quite close until the last 2:00 minutes, and only a few mistakes and bad breaks kept a massive upset at bay, Reed or no Reed.
So: could he do it again?
Probably not.
First, he did it against a SoCon team, and second, it’s way, way, past his normal levels.
Florida and Prairie View were tied at 15-15…and then the Gators just exploded. Florida outscored Prairie View 45-6 by halftime. The final margin of 59 is the largest ever by a 1 seed over a 16 seed.
Clemson gave Iowa a good run, but fell, 67-61. The Tigers really had a remarkable season. They lost so much from last year and well exceeded expectations.
Virginia struggled a bit before overcoming Wright State, but game one jitters and all of that. They came through in the end.
Arizona beat LIU senseless, as expected, but one Shark, Eddie Munyak, got in and scored his first points all year on a long three. That was a beautiful moment.
Congratulations to Purdue’s Braden Smith, who broke Bobby Hurley’s career assist record in the Boilermakers’ 104-71 win over Queens. That’s a huge deal.
Jacari White had a big game off the bench with 26 points.
Kansas struggled against Cal Baptist, which surprised us. Darryn Peterson had 28 while Tre White had 12, but no one else got to double figures. Melvin Council scored just 4 points in 31 minutes.
Alabama knocked off Hofstra, but it wasn’t that easy. Hofstra made a very good impression.
Kentucky got a miracle shot to beat Santa Clara, and it left Herb Sendek, normally pretty stoic in public, fuming: he tried to call a timeout before Otega Oweh hit a truly great three-pointer. Sendek was absolutely fuming, but there’s nothing to be done.
When Kevin Willard left Maryland last spring, the fans were so sick of him, they might have packed his bags for him.
On Saturday, during the in-game interview, he made a joke about firing all his assistants that could follow him around for a while. Willard is getting a reputation for being, at least in public, a jerk. People who know him won’t care, but recruiters will know what to do with that.
Utah State won, 86-78.
Miami hit a wall of reality against Tennessee, as the Vols defense held the explosive Miami offense to just 56 points and 35% from the floor. The RedHawks were totally outclassed.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 20 points by halftime. It was basically an onslaught. Yet, Tennessee was oddly vulnerable, coughing the ball up 16 times against a bad defensive team. Something to keep an eye on.
The half-brother of Miami’s coach, Travis Steele, coaches Akron, and the Zips are out too, zapped by Texas Tech. John Groce had a good year too, but not quite as amazing as Steele’s.
We thought that Northern Iowa might give St. John’s trouble, but that didn’t happen at all. The Johnnies cruised, but it wasn’t what you might expect. UNI had just 6 turnovers and didn’t shoot that well, but you could imagine a closer game.
On Saturday, things open with Saint Louis vs. Michigan. Louisville has a tough draw with Michigan State, and Duke takes on TCU at 5:15.
Texas A&M and Houston play next, followed by Texas and Gonzaga. VCU gets Illinois, and then Vandy and Nebraska play.
And in the nightcap, we’ll see if High Point can pull another stunner when they get Arkansas.
So we’ll take Saint Louis, Michigan State, Duke, Houston, Gonzaga,Illinois, Vandy, and roll the dice with High Point.
Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line
