As I stuck on truTV on Friday night and soaked up the replays of Florida Gulf Coast’s Chase Fieler taking alley-oop dunks from Brett Comer, I was reminded that it isn’t just the great basketball that makes the NCAA tournament special. It is the other moments as well. It is the sight of Florida Gulf Coast senior Sherwood Brown reveling in the moment. When he started at the school, they weren’t even eligible for the tournament. But with his career reaching his fourth year, he was going to make sure he sucked up every moment. He shook hands with the announcers. He went into the cheerleaders and grabbed a group hug. And in the locker-room, his team celebrated as a family.

Meanwhile, the dejection on Georgetown head coach John Thompson III’s face was equally dramatic. I thought his words were so appropriate. “I told these guys, no matter what people write about you, no matter what happens, I am proud of you.” And he is exactly right. People are going to act like Georgetown failed because the big name brand school with all the resources lost to the small school just joining D1. But this was still a tremendous season. This group of players with no seniors and losing a key starter to academic eligibility still made tremendous strides this season. I was still proud to watch them play this season, even if they were the Goliath knocked off the mountain-top.

And that is truly the beauty of the NCAA tournament. All these teams, win or lose have had tremendous seasons. The X’s and O’s are great. The bracket busters are great. The buzzer beaters are great. But ultimately, the window is short. The moment of opportunity is fleeting. And win or lose, the drama of it all coming to an end is always great theater.

Reckless Abandon

Ole Miss used great strategy against Wisconsin. They used full court pressure, not to cause turnovers, but to make the Badgers waste clock. And while that may seem counter-intuitive, (why slow down a slow team even further?), it worked. The Badgers didn’t have their normal time to probe for good shots. And with Mississippi also switching between man-to-man defense and zone defense to confuse the Badgers even further, Wisconsin had to settle for more bad shots than usual. The Badgers ended the season with a horrific shooting performance. Jared Berggren was 2 of 10, Ryan Evans was 2 of 8, Ben Brust was 2 of 9, Traevon Jackson was 2 of 10. And that was easily enough for a hot Ole Miss team to advance.

In the locker-room, the interview with Ben Brust said it all. In near tears the sophomore noted that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to end for his 5 senior teammates. They were his brothers. They were the only team to beat Michigan and Indiana twice. They had put in too much work, and too much effort to see the team lose without putting up a fight.

Meanwhile, despite Mississippi’s Marshall Henderson’s horrific 1 for 11 start, his coach never chided him. He simply said, “This is your half, take advantage of the moment.” And Henderson responded with 5 of 10 second half shooting.

Indeed this was probably another take-away from Friday. The unbridled teams win in the tournament. Florida Gulf Coast played without fear and Marshall Henderson wins by playing with reckless abandon.

On Friday Illinois played with reckless abandon as well. Freed from the dreaded Big Ten defensive teams that deny fast-break points at all costs, the Illini played like the aggressive team John Groce tried to build early in the year. (I.e. when the team started 12-0 and took three point shots without fear.) I heard a lot of criticism of Illinois taking 31 threes in the game because it opened the door for Colorado to come back, but I completely disagree. Illinois isn’t a great half-court team. They don’t have big guys who can score around the basket. And they aren’t a great passing team. The truth is, they are never going to get a better look than an open three in transition. And on Friday, those threes proved that more often than not in the NCAA tournament, ruthless aggression wins. (Of course those transition threes would not have been possible with great half-court defense. Illinois’s first half steals showed it most dramatically, but when Illinois’ DJ Richardson drew a 5-second closely guarded call in the second half, that might have been the biggest defensive possession of the game.)

The Day's Shocker

Style clashes were everywhere. We had bruising Villanova, going up against the 4-guard lineup of North Carolina. Wait, is that right? Had these teams actually flipped their rolls? Was it true that Villanova actually dominated the points in the paint 38-16 in this one? And yet North Carolina still won.

That was shocking. But it was not nearly as shocking as the news that UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad might actually be 20 years old. That’s right, Muhammad might have pulled a Danny Almonte and faked his age in order to look extra dominant against his competition, and improve his NBA draft stock. Muhammad will still certainly be a top lottery pick in this year’s draft (since it is one of the weakest drafts in recent memory), but I have to think teams will think twice about drafting someone who would lie about something like that for all these years.

And we also learned that sometimes depth does matter in the NCAA tournament. I thought that with all the TV timeouts that teams couldn’t get tired out. But with UCLA’s Travis Wear and Tony Parker each picking up 3 first half fouls, UCLA was forced to keep its five other rotation players in the game at all times. And you could tell at the end of each half that UCLA simply had no energy defensively. They started the game playing lock down defense against the Gophers. But at the end of the first half, the Gophers got whatever they wanted dumping the ball into the paint. Low scoring back-up centers like Elliot Eliason and Maurice Walker dominated. And in the second half, Andre Hollins could pretty much take an exhausted Larry Drew at will. Minnesota caught almost no breaks this season playing in a rugged Big Ten. But UCLA was indeed the perfect first round draw as many experts expected.

Hot and Cold

The real story of the day was the back-and-forth scoring runs. 2013 has been the year when no team has handled success well. Whenever a team looks dominant, it tends to follow that up with its worst performance of the season. And thus perhaps it was not surprising that Friday was the day of hot and cold play.

-Temple led NC State 38-22 at halftime, only to see NC State cut the lead to 74-72 with 2 seconds left. Temple held on for the victory.

-La Salle led 44-26 at halftime, only to see Kansas St. take a 60-58 lead with 6 minutes left in the second half. Again, La Salle put the game away in the final minutes.

-Illinois led Colorado 37-21 at halftime, only to see Colorado take a 44-39 lead in the second half. Illinois then ended with a run of its own to win 57-49.

Finally, Georgetown took an 18-11 lead on Florida Gulf Coast. But FGCU went on a 41-15 run to take 52-33 lead. Then Georgetown had a run to cut the lead to 72-68 before FGCU sealed the game with free throws at the end.

Coaching Questions

After a day like Friday, we could start to question the pedigree of a number of coaches. We could ask how Bo Ryan can post such great margin-of-victory numbers during the regular season each year, but never follow that up with a Final Four run. We can ask what the string of losses to teams seeded 10+ in the tournament really mean for John Thompson III. But in both cases, I think we need to cut these coaches some slack. Bo Ryan never had a true point-guard this season, so for his team to go out with an offensive swoon, shouldn’t really be criticized. His team over-achieved this year. Similarly, John Thompson III’s teams massively over-achieved. It has been clear since November that the offensive weaknesses would likely cause the Hoyas to bow out in the NCAA tournament at some point. There is a reason JT3 won the Big East coach of the year award, and it is because this 15 over 2 match-up was not nearly the mismatch it looked like on paper.

No, the coach that most concerned me on Friday was NC State’s Mark Gottfried. His inability to get his team to buy in on the defensive end is a huge concern. NC State is rarely going to have as much offensive talent as they had this season. And in the newer, stronger ACC, it may never be the preseason pick to win the league again. But without some commitment to teach defensive fundamentals, NC State will never match its fanbase’s rabid expectations.

And perhaps that is why I should end where I began. A day like Friday is as much about ending as it is about winning moments. It is hard for me to believe that NC State senior Richard Howell’s career is over. The hardworking rebounder didn’t earn playing time until later in the career because he was often over-shadowed by more skilled players. But his hustle and grit, made NC State an incredibly fun team to watch the last two seasons. Scott Wood was one of the all-time great three point shooters in the ACC. And in a league with the ACC’s history, that is quite a compliment. And in a blink of an eye, their college basketball careers are over. To see NC State go down in the first round, without a single NCAA tournament win has to go down as one of this season’s biggest disappointments.

Expected Wins in the Field of 64

Once again, I’m tracking the expected wins in the field of 64 using the Pomeroy Rankings. San Diego St. increased its expected wins by 0.61 by knocking off Oklahoma. (See Own Game.) And its odds increased another 0.54 because Georgetown lost and because San Diego St.’s 15 point win increased their Pomeroy Ranking slightly. (See Other.)

Overall the large number of upsets today meant that most teams gained from the other results. But when Miami advanced in the East that lowered expectations slightly for Marquette. And when Duke advanced that lowered the odds slightly for Louisville.

While the NCAA Tournament has cachet all its own, one way of looking at the Tournament is through the lens of the NBA. While the lottery guys get plenty of buzz leading into the Tourney, I like to spend more time on the players on more middling teams for the first few days since it is less likely that their teams survive long enough to evaluate them further.

On that note, here is the day-by-day:

Thursday

Headline games:

Pittsburgh vs. Wichita State (1:40 PM Eastern)- This game makes the list primarily because of Steven Adams. The big man from New Zealand has not produced as much as many of us hoped during the season but has the chance to show his potential this weekend. The Shockers rebound well enough to challenge him and I am intrigued by Carl Hall.

Memphis vs. St. Mary’s (2:45 PM Eastern)- While Memphis has a slew of intriguing athletic question marks (Adonis Thomas, Joe Johnson and DJ Stephens are just three of them), St. Mary’s has Matthew Dellavedova. Matthew stands out as an unusual draft prospect because of his age (22) and subpar athleticism for his position but has the shooting stroke and basketball IQ to stick in the league longer than expected. We will learn a ton about everyone in this game. 

Other games to watch:

Syracuse vs. Montana (9:57 PM Eastern)- Michael Carter-Williams vs. Will Cherry. My bet is that one of them will massively help his draft stock in this game.

Oklahoma State vs. Oregon (4:40 PM Eastern)- Marcus Smart will have his hands full with future prospect Dominic Artis. We’ll see how Le’Bryan Nash handles the spotlight as well.

Michigan vs. South Dakota State (7:15 PM Eastern)- Senior sensation Nate Wolters gets the chance to show his value against a Michigan team full of potential NBA players (Trey Burke, Glenn Robinson III, and Tim Hardaway Jr among them).

UNLV vs. Cal (7:27 PM Eastern)- Anthony Bennett and Allen Crabbe will be the headliners but I am focused on how UNLV matches up on defense.

Friday

Headline game:

UCLA vs. Minnesota (9:57 PM Eastern)- After the injury to Jordan Adams, this could be our only chance to see lottery pick Shabazz Muhammad in the Tourney. Kyle Anderson, Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams are three other likely pros worth keeping an eye on.

Other games to watch:

Wisconsin vs. Ole Miss (12:40 PM Eastern)- Marshall Henderson. That is all.

North Carolina vs. Villanova (7:20 PM Eastern)- Despite deeply disappointing this season, UNC has plenty of NBA talent in the form of James Michael McAdoo, Reggie Bullock and PJ Hariston. Each of those guys needs to make an impression over the next few weeks in order to rehabilitate their stock.

Creighton vs. Cincinnati (2:45 PM Eastern)- One of the best potential tests for Doug McDermott makes this one particularly fascinating.

San Diego State vs. Oklahoma (9:20 PM Eastern)- Jamaal Franklin has been underappreciated by the national college hoops media but has a chance to make his own statement on the opening weekend. If the Aztecs can get past Oklahoma, a potentially star-making meeting with Georgetown looms.

Pac-12 Semifinals

#1 UCLA defeated #4 Arizona, #3 Oregon defeated #10 Utah

Today’s Pac-12 recap will consistent entirely of Bill Walton quotes:

“So many things in this tournament defy rational thought.”

“If you’ve ever thought you were too small to play basketball, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.”

I can’t type what Walton said about the Arizona vs UCLA game because he spoke for a solid two minutes. Suffice to say, Bill Walton was happy it was a good game and happy that UCLA won.

“Oregon has major advantages in this game, size, speed, depth, quickness.”

Regarding the Dominic Artis injury, “It’s sad because like with Ryan Kelly, you put so much into it, and then things go wrong. But that’s kind of life.”

Dave Pasch breaks in with the news that UCLA freshman Jordan Adams re-aggravated a high school foot injury and is done for the season. Let’s turn this over to Bill Walton. “We need more details, can he have surgery tonight?” Dave Pasch, “Well it happened about 15 minutes ago, I’m guessing they are still trying to work these things out.”

“I love it when Kazemi shoots, I don’t care if he misses.”

“Kazemi has to understand that you don’t have to go back to Iran if you miss a shot.” This sounds borderline racist, but Walton saves himself by telling a story about how Hakeem Olajuwon felt that way when he first came to the US.

OK, this isn’t a quote, but 4:30 left in the first half of Oregon vs Utah, Tony Woods had one of the worst missed dunks of all time.

“This may be the fastest game ever played … in the history of the Pac-12 tournament … at the MGM grand” Dave Pasch, “This is the first year at the MGM grand.”

Dave Pasch, “What will the loss of Jordan Adams mean to UCLA tomorrow?” Walton, “Oregon isn’t going to feel sorry for UCLA. Put Norman Powell in. Don’t over think it. This is a basketball game. Nobody is going to feel sorry for UCLA. UCLA has every advantage known to man.”

“Back-to-back-to-back turnovers, come on guys, this is the semifinals, you are on ESPN!”

SEC Quarterfinals

#1 Florida defeated #9 LSU, #4 Alabama defeated #5 Tennessee, #10 Vanderbilt defeated #2 Kentucky, #3 Ole Miss defeated #6 Missouri

And Kennedy’s Ole Miss team has been to the NIT in five of the last six seasons. And in every season the Rebels have finished somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7 in the SEC. Mississippi’s team has consistently been on the bubble, but never been able to break through. Finally, this season Ole Miss broke through and finished 12-6. But it was a down year in the SEC, and they didn’t really earn many impressive victories along the way. Down double digits to Missouri, it seemed like Ole Miss was destined for another NIT finish that would likely cost head coach Andy Kennedy his job. And as he watched his team miss free throws down the stretch, you could imagine the thought bubble in his head. “Why don’t we ever have something break our way? Why can’t something good ever happen to this program?”

But in the final 6 minutes, something good did happen. Seldom used freshmen point guard Derrick Millinghaus, who played just 3 minutes in his last game, suddenly caught fire. He scored 11 points in the last 6 minutes, including a game-tying 3 and the go ahead basket with 1 second left.

And yes, Ole Miss got a few more breaks too. In a tie game, where Missouri had a chance to take the game’s final shot, the supremely talented Missouri forward Laurence Bowers had a complete brain freeze and threw the inbounds pass to no one. Were it not for that dumb mistake, Millinghaus wouldn’t have even had a chance for the buzzer beating win. But Andy Kennedy can rest assured, that for the first time in his career at Ole Miss, fate has smiled on the Rebels tournament hopes.

I’m not quite as optimistic as Joe Lunardi that Ole Miss is in the NCAA field. They still only have 2 Top 50 wins (both against Missouri.) And their head-to-head loss to Middle Tennessee is the kind of loss that can keep a team out of the field. But if Ole Miss can beat Vanderbilt on Saturday (in a game where they will be favored), Ole Miss will play for an SEC conference title. And if they win that game, Ole Miss can take the decision out of the committee’s hands.

In other news, Kentucky might be out of the NCAA tournament after a horrendous loss to Vanderbilt. When Ryan Harrow left NC State, the Wolfpack went from being an NIT team to an NCAA tournament winner. That might have been a red flag that Harrow was not a great chemistry player. And his early season off-court issues at Kentucky fueled that speculation. But with John Calipari at the helm, you certainly felt the Kentucky coach could get more out of the talented point-guard. But after a 2 for 15 shooting night against Vanderbilt where he racked up 4 turnovers and only 1 assist, Harrow appears destined for the NIT at his new school too.

Despite Tennessee’s improved play late in the season, they too seemed destined for the NIT. Watching the talented Jarnell Stokes in that game, I was thinking how much his draft stock has slipped because of his presence on a bad team. And it made me wonder. Has enrolling in college early ever worked out for a player? Andre Dawkins enrolled early at Duke and has often struggled for playing time (before leaving for an off-court issue this season.) Kadeem Jack has never panned out for Rutgers despite his athleticism. Even Hollis Thompson, who enrolled early at Georgetown and posted great numbers, was never drafted to the NBA after entering the draft early last year. It would seem that taking the unconventional route and enrolling early hasn’t worked out for many players.

Big East Semifinals

#5 Syracuse defeated #1 Georgetown, #2 Louisville defeated #6 Notre Dame

Georgetown led 11-6 early. The Hoyas zone offense has been dominant this season because Otto Porter is so dangerous catching the ball at the top of the free throw line, and the hot start seemed like more of the same. Meanwhile Syracuse seemed to have its normal variety of missed shots early in the game and everything seemed on track for a repeat of the first two match-ups which Georgetown won easily.

But then two things changed. First, Baye Moussa Keita started playing much more aggressive post defense. With Rakeem Christmas benched, Keita became extremely active in preventing Otto Porter from catching the ball at the top of the key or passing into the post. Second, the Orange started hitting some outside shots. Trevor Cooney scored 10 points in the first half, including 3 huge jump shots, which forced Georgetown to abandon its zone defense. The Hoyas had been cheating off Cooney in the earlier match-ups, but with that possibility out the window, Syracuse’s offense was back to functioning perfectly.

Syracuse built a 12 point lead, and it seemed that much like the two Georgetown wins, this might become a laugher. But for some reason Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams didn’t want that to happen. His crazy late turnovers, missed free throws, and dumb fouls gave Georgetown a chance to tie in regulation. And then he drove down the court and took an off-balance shot at the end of regulation instead of getting the ball to James Southerland who had set a Big East Tournament record for three pointers made.

The Orange eventually prevailed in OT thanks to Keita’s shockingly perfect free throw shooting and a crazy dunk by CJ Fair. But the last second desperation three by Georgetown ensured the Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry ended with a bang and not a whimper.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame never once made it to the finals of the Big East tournament while in the Big East, and I think we know why. The Fighting Irish are a jump shooting team, and asking them to make jump shots for a multiple nights in a row (against the best defense in the country) was simply asking too much. Jerian Grant had some nice assists, but it never felt like the Fighting Irish actually had a chance to upset an elite Louisville team.

Big Ten Quarterfinals

#1 Indiana defeated #8 Illinois, #4 Wisconsin defeated #5 Michigan, #2 Ohio St. defeated #10 Nebraska, #3 Michigan St. defeated #6 Iowa

Iowa built a comfortable 47-35 lead on Michigan St. with 9 minutes left, but like so many games this season against Top 50 teams, Fran McCaffery’s squad failed to execute in crunch time. Aaron White’s remarkable pop-up three (hit the rim, went 10 feet up, then somehow came down in the net) provided momentary hope, but a late foolish foul when Iowa was hoping to play straight-up defense led Fran McCaffery to slap the scorer’s table in anger. And you could just feel Iowa lose it at that point. There is no doubt this has been a heart-breaking season for Iowa, but a head coach can’t show his team emotion like that. I was willing to defend McCaffery for his earlier chair throwing incident, but I’m starting to wonder whether he has the emotional stability to win in the Big Ten. The league has so many good coaches that every team will have their ups and downs. And you have to be able to inspire confidence even when things do not go well.

Speaking of ups and downs, have the Michigan freshmen finally hit the wall? Dan Dakich kept harping on Glen Robinson, but Nik Stauskas was 1 for 8 from the floor. It really feels like the whole weight of this team’s success in on Trey Burke right now, and no single player, even a national player-of-the-year favorite, can do it all alone. But give Bo Ryan some credit. I usually feel like when the shots aren’t falling Wisconsin has zero chance to win. But the Badgers pounded the ball in the paint in this one, and found a way to overcome early cold shooting.

Big 12 Semifinals

#1 Kansas defeated #5 Iowa St., #2 Kansas St. defeated #3 Oklahoma St.

On a night with so many other compelling match-ups, these games fell into the background. But I thought Bill Self’s emotional outburst when Ben McLemore got a technical was a little over-the-top, much like McCaffery’s tantrum. I’ve seen some referees give truly bizarre technicals the last few days, and McLemore’s taunting incident was no worse than any of the others. Arizona’s Sean Miller and Richmond’s Chris Mooney actually appeared to have something to complain about with their technicals.

ACC Quarterfinals

#1 Miami defeated #8 Boston College, #5 NC State defeated #4 Virginia, #7 Maryland defeated #2 Duke, #3 North Carolina defeated #6 Florida St.

I am considering picking Duke to win the NCAA tournament, but from a bracket-picking perspective, this depends a little on the odds. If Duke is the overwhelming favorite, you are better off picking another team because this year really is wide open. Had Duke won this tournament, I feared the “Duke is perfect with Ryan Kelly” story might lead them to be the overwhelming NCAA favorite. But this loss ensures that won’t be the case. Instead people will nit-pick whether they deserve a 1-seed between now and Sunday and I suspect Duke will become a better bracket “bet” because of it.

Few teams in America have two players as good as Alex Len and Dez Wells, which makes Maryland’s 8-10 conference finish all the more puzzling. This team should be in the NCAA tournament field, but they likely have to beat North Carolina again on Saturday to do it. But this won’t stop Dick Vitale from saying they deserve to be in the NCAA field whether they win the game or not. “There isn’t a team in the country with two wins as impressive as Maryland’s pair of victories against Duke. I’d stack Maryland up against anybody.” You know it is coming.

Virginia’s season is clearly done. Had their game been close their might have been an argument, but they were not competitive thanks to a cold shooting afternoon from Joe Harris. As much as I like NC State in the NCAA tournament because of their offense, their defense has been poor all year. And with Richard Howell injuring his thigh on Friday, you wonder whether the Wolfpack can win without his dominance on the defensive boards. When you play bad defense, you have to at least clean up the rare misses. Howell was extremely gutty in his performance in this game, fighting through the injury and dominating on the glass, but I wonder if he will be able to sustain it.

Elsewhere, the injury to North Carolina’s PJ Hairston’s hand is also worth monitoring. According to Roy Williams, “His hand is torn up. It doesn’t look good.” His status is uncertain for Saturday.

MWC Semifinals

#1 New Mexico defeated #4 San Diego St., #3 UNLV defeated #2 Colorado St.

Doug Gottlieb’s NCAA tournament bracket advice is that San Diego St. cannot beat a team with two good forwards or a team that plays zone defense. Otherwise they are a great bracket pick.

UNLV’s Anthony Bennett has finally gotten over his shoulder injury, or so his first half performance against Colorado St. would suggest. Bennett hit a pair of devastating threes to give his team the early momentum en route to a 19 point evening.

A10 Quarterfinals

#1 St. Louis defeated #9 Charlotte, #5 Butler defeated #4 La Salle, #2 VCU defeated #10 St. Joseph’s, #6 UMass defeated #3 Temple

I think Derek Kellogg might be going a little too far when he tells his UMass team to go win this tournament for Chaz Williams, since this is the first time all season Chaz has been able to play in front of his family in New York. But so far the fastest little man in college basketball continues his amazing season. I am very much looking forward to see Williams attack VCU’s vaunted press defense on Saturday. Will his small size sneak between the traps? Or will his lack of size cause him to be a liability as he tries to pass out of those traps? Stay tuned.