March Madness 2nd Round Re-Cap

On Saturday and Sunday, the remaining 32 teams of the NCAA tournament faced off with trips to the “sweet 16” for the winners. In the Midwest the #1 seed Louisville took on an ultra confident Siena team that hit 2 buzzer beaters to get by Ohio State in the first round. In this game Siena had a ton of confidence in the beginning of the game and stuck with Louisville. But in the end Louisville was too much for Siena and the Cardinals won 79-72. In the second game of the Midwest, Arizona and Cleveland State, fresh of their huge upsets battled it out. #12 Arizona led for most of the game and came away with the easy victory 71-57. In the third game Dayton took on Kansas. Dayton played a very sloppy game and couldn’t hit many shots only because of this they only scored 43 points. This left the door wide open for #3 Kansas and they took the win and advanced on a 60-43 victory. The last game of the Midwest was the best. USC and Michigan State met up and played a great game. Down the stretch coach Tom Izzo showed why he is one of the best coaches in the game today. He kept his Spartans calm and collected and #2 Michigan Sate edged out # 10 USC 74-69.

In the west region, #1 UCONN beat up Texas A&M and won 92-66. In the second game in the west, Purdue and Washington played in the battle of the #4 against #5 seeds. In an unbelievable game Purdue was up by two points and Washington had the ball with under a minute remaining in the game. On that possession both of Washington’s guards had shots blocked by Jujuan Johnson who had 22 points and the #5 Purdue Boilermakers upset Washington 76-74 to advance to the Sweet 16. In the third game Missouri took on Marquette. With less than 6 seconds in the game, Missouri’s English came of the bench and hit two free throws to put Missouri up two. On the inbounds pass, Marquette’s Lazar Hayward stepped over the baseline which gave the ball back to Missouri and cost Marquette a chance to move on. #3 Missouri won 83-79. In the last game of the west, Memphis learned from their close call in the first round to Cal State Northridge. #2 Memphis controlled the tempo of this game against Maryland throughout. They wound up taking care of Maryland 89-70.

In the East bracket, #1 Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State played a great game. Oklahoma State played basket for basket with Pittsburgh but the #1 seed was too much to handle. DeJuan Blair dominated the inside at the end of the game and lead Pittsburgh to an 84-76 victory. The second game had Xavier playing a bracket buster team in Wisconsin. In the first round, Wisconsin upset Florida State and was looking to continue the magic against Xavier. Xavier played a solid game all around and Wisconsin couldn’t hit the jump shot. #4 Xavier won 60-49. In the third game, # 3Villanova dominated both sides of the ball and crushed UCLA by 20 points 89-69. In the final game of the east, Duke and Texas faced off. The game was close throughout but # 2 Duke found a way to stop A.J. Abrams at the end of the game and took home the victory 74-69.

In the final bracket, the South, #1 North Carolina pulled away from LSU late. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington both had 23 points for the Tar Heels. UNC won 84-70. In the second game, #12 Western Kentucky and #4 Gonzaga played a back and forth game. With 0.9 seconds left, Goodson made a lay-up to give Gonzaga a 2 point lead. They held off a last second heave by Western Kentucky and won 83-81. In the third game, #3 Syracuse controlled the game against Arizona State and beat them by 11 points. In the last game of the 2nd round Blake Griffin showed why he is the player of the year. #2 Oklahoma beat down Michigan 73-63


Sweet 16 Predictions


#1 Louisville vs. #12 Arizona- Louisville
#3 Kansas vs. #2 Michigan State- Michigan State
#1 UCONN vs. #5 Purdue- UCONN
#3 Missouri vs. #2 Memphis- Memphis
#1 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Xavier- Xavier
#3 Villanova vs. #2 Duke- Villanova
#1 UNC vs. #4 Gonzaga- UNC
#3 Syracuse vs. #2 Oklahoma- Oklahoma

Josh Jakers

NYchalktalk.com