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Championship Week Day 4 Rewind: March Madness Starts Early
Championship Week was absolutely wild on Day 4. This daily rewind relives a day that kicked off March Madness a week early.
March 12, 2016
Championship Week was absolutely wild on Day 4. This daily rewind relives a day that kicked off March Madness a week early.
Hey, did anything interesting happen in college basketball on Friday?
If the games on Friday didn’t get your adrenaline pumping, just turn off the TV and go bridge jumping or go tickle a lion – whatever it is you need to do to get your heart rate up. For the rest of you, you can only hope you see something like Friday again over the coming weeks.
We had buzzer-beaters, game-winners that didn’t quite beat the buzzer, and major shakeups when it comes to the NCAA Tournament seeding. And the weekend is just getting started.
Strap in.
What we learned Friday
We’ve been saying for a while now that Oklahoma was vulnerable if a team holds Buddy Hield in check, and West Virginia proved it in a 69-67 win that saw Hield harassed into just 1-of-8 shooting and a total of six points. The Mountaineers managed to hold Hield under double-digits for the first time all season, and the fact he could only squeeze off eight shots is a testament to WVU’s smothering defense.
But it’s the one that doesn’t show up in the box score that everyone will be talking about. Hield’s halfcourt heave, the one that banked in at the buzzer that could have given Oklahoma a one-point win save for one catch—the ball was on Hield’s fingertip for a moment too long.
Fans complain about instant replay and the way it disrupts games, but in this instance the system worked perfectly. The officials got the call right, and even though it would have been a heck of a memory had the shot counted, the bottom line is it didn’t. Once upon a time, Hield’s miracle could have been the stuff of legends, the kind of shot that was argued over for decades.
Instead, the replay system made the right call, and the right team was awarded the victory. West Virginia forced the other Sooners to beat the Mountaineers, and OU’s supporting cast couldn’t pull it off. End of story.
Indiana became the first No. 1 seed from a power conference to take the weekend off when it lost a 72-69 stunner to Michigan. The Wolverines are now pretty much a lock for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, while IU’s dreams of a No. 2 or even a top seed are dead in the water.
IU held a five-point lead with two minutes to play, but the Wolverines scored nine points in the final 110 seconds of the game, the last three coming on a Kam Chatman triple with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. Neither team could put together a run, and the Hoosiers’ turnovers were a huge issue all game. They came IU from getting any traction, and Indiana allowed Michigan to hang around for too long.
The win for Michigan was huge. The loss was disturbing for Indiana because it brought out all the issues that hurt IU early in the season. The Hoosiers let UM get to the rim almost at will—Michigan scored 36 points in the paint—and Indiana’s 15 turnovers led to 22 Michigan points.
Indiana hasn’t been great away from Assembly Hall vs. quality opponents this season—only two of IU’s six wins over RPI top 50 teams came away from home, and one of those was on a neutral court—which is disturbing considering none of the games in the NCAA Tourney are going to be played in Bloomington.
Xavier’s hopes at a high seed took a huge hit when the Musketeers lost, 87-83, to Seton Hall, a team that was already headed to the NCAA Tourney but really solidified its chances with the upset. Most worrisome for Xavier is the fact the Seton Hall controlled the game almost from the opening tip, and Xavier had to rally just to make it competitive late.
The Musketeers have been striving to gain some respect all season, and even though they have owned a top-5 ranking for a while now, there still has been the feeling the team has only thrived because it plays in a relatively weak conference. Losing to Seton Hall won’t do anything to help XU’s reputation, and now the Musketeers are looking at a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the tourney come Sunday.
We said yesterday that nobody wanted to play Notre Dame at this point in the season, but we were wrong. North Carolina clearly wanted to play the Fighting Irish, and the Tar Heels dominated Mike Brey’s team from the opening tip.
UNC wasn’t about to fall to the same fate that visited Duke on Thursday. A 24-0 run late in the first half and into the second half overwhelmed Notre Dame and led North Carolina to a 78-47 win. The Tar Heels did all they could to prove they deserve a No. 1 seed, and there’s a chance they’ll meet that goal if they don’t have a hiccup Saturday.
Connecticut scored a typical four-overtime win over Cincinnati that featured a three-quarters court 3-pointer to force that final extra session, and the Huskies’ 104-97 victory showed just how dangerous UConn can be in March. Freshman Jalen Adams’ three at the buzzer to close the third overtime is obviously the star of the show, but the fact he came off the bench to score 22 points says something about UConn’s depth.
Cincy, meanwhile, fell victim to a lack of offense, which is odd to say about a team that scored just short of 100 points. The bottom line is beyond junior guard Troy Caupain, the Bearcats were mostly ineffective and shot the ball poorly, problems that have plagued the team all season.
What to watch for Saturday
Don’t sleep on Saint Joseph’s-Dayton in the Atlantic 10 semifinal a 1:30 p.m. ET. The Flyers have been up and down of late, but they have a chance to right the ship and can do so vs. a Hawks team that hasn’t been great down the stretch. St. Joe’s had to rally to beat George Washington Friday, and if Dayton wants anyone to take it seriously in the postseason, it needs to handle its business Saturday.
When Maryland takes on Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. ET, it will feature a Spartans squad that looks like it has a clear path to the Big Ten Tournament title. MSU is hungry because it knows it can still grab a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Spartans beat the Terps in their only meeting this year, scoring a 74-65 in in East Lansing.
Maryland, meanwhile, wants to build some momentum for the Big Dance, and beating Michigan State would go a long way toward stabilizing the Terps.
You don’t get much more fun than West Virginia taking on Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament final at 6 p.m. ET. Kansas split the two meetings this season, falling at the Mountaineers Jan. 12 but winning at home Feb. 9. The rubber match will see WVU try to bounce back from the emotional high that it rode after knocking off Oklahoma, and this game will be a test of the Mountaineers’ poise. KU, meanwhile, squeaked by Baylor Friday, and it has to get back to playing efficient offense if it is going to cut down the nets Saturday night.
Finally, the marquee game of the night is No. 4 Virginia taking on No. 7 North Carolina for the ACC Tournament championship. Both of these teams could be looking at a No. 1 seed when the Selection Committee calls the brackets on Sunday, but Virginia is the team with the most to gain right now.
The Cavaliers won the only meeting between the two clubs this year, and UVA is riding a five-game winning streak. Beating UNC a day after knocking off Miami would give the Cavaliers a lot of confidence and likely would push them to a top line. UNC, meanwhile, could already have that line locked up, but going into the NCAA Tournament on a high note is a huge motivator for Roy Williams’ guys.
