NCAA Tournament: Louisville and Columbus Pod Recaps
Louisville, Kentucky
The action in Louisville in the 2nd round began with a South Region matchup between #11 UCLA and #14 UAB. UCLA was coming off a first round win against SMU, but many held the opinion when the Selection Committee announced the field that UCLA should not have gotten in, much less as an 11 seed.
HIGHLIGHT: Back-to-back plays extend Bruins’ lead http://t.co/ofNCA7FgjN — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2015
The Bruins have now proved to the world that they belong in this tournament. While no one doubted their talent. they have just seemed unable to put the entire thing together. On the other side of the floor, UAB was more of a Cinderella team coming off of a huge upset – the biggest one of the tournament in my opinion.
UCLA handled UAB fairly easily, basically getting anything that they wanted. Tony Parker had a monster game, and Bryce Alford controlled the tempo, as they went on to rout UAB by a score of 92-75.
UCLA now is set up with a matchup with #2 seed Gonzaga, who will be a heavy favorite, but if the Bruins can play to their talent level, they may be able to give Gonzaga a run for their money..
The second battle in Louisville saw Kentucky, who breezed through Hampton in its first round game en route to, playing Cincinnati, who had squeaked by Purdue in an overtime thriller. The Bearcats entered the tournament with no signature win outside of NC State, and while they had some decent wins, they could not seriously have been considered a title-contending elite team.
They were also about to face a team considered one of the best to ever be assembled in college basketball, but they were able to keep it close for much of the game. In fact, Cincinnati held a small lead in the first half, but Kentucky went on a huge run to close the first half and never looked back. Cincinnati kept the close game with their physical style of play that in some ways appeared to get into the Kentucky players heads just a bit.
Kentucky, however was just too good.
That tremor you felt in Louisville was due to Willie Cauley-Stein. #MarchMadness #UKvsUC http://t.co/Q8guScl9aA
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2015
Aaron Harrison scored 13 points with most of those coming in the second half. When Kentucky needed a big shot, Harrison was their answer, as he drove the ball and hit big shot after big shot. What was impressive was their resolve in the midst of adversity.
If you look at the numbers, it looked like the game was much closer than the scoreline reflected, but it showed that Kentucky can win when the numbers do not look good in their favor. Kentucky shot 37% for the game, just 26% from three-point land, and 71% from the free throw line, and still won fairly easily. They were also outrebounded 45-38 for the game.
This result proved once again that Kentucky’s defense is #1 in the nation, and that they can win despite shooting poorly from the field. The Wildcats now move on to face the #5 seed, West Virginia, in the Midwest region.
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Columbus, Ohio
Columbus featured two fantastic games. The first featuring Midwest #5 West Virginia and #4 Maryland. WVU was picked by many to be an easy upset pick in the opening round against #12 Buffalo, and many felt that Maryland was a tad bit overrated as well. Remember the name Devin Williams. Williams had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and was a big reason why West Virginia pulled this out.
HIGHLIGHT: Alley-oop extends the Terrapins’ lead! http://t.co/y4nO42Moio
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 23, 2015
Also, you have to factor in the defense of West Virginia. They are not an incredible offensive team, but can boast of a fairly good defense that forced Maryland to commit 23 turnovers. 15 of those were steals. West Virginia is not a very tall team, but they crashed the boards and dominated the glass, and now face Kentucky on Thursday night.
The second game in Columbus was between Oklahoma and Dayton. Oklahoma was the favorite but Dayton came into the game ready to play. The Flyers were basically playing a home game in that their fans showed up and dominated the arena, and the rowdy atmosphere spurred Dayton to an early lead.
Oklahoma were able to work their way back into the game and eventually led the game due to their defense. They had three consecutive defensive possessions that produced Dayton turnovers which led to points.
Defensive stops spark Oklahoma #MarchMadness #GameChanger http://t.co/em7xNO7Yrl — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 23, 2015
In the second half, Oklahoma held Dayton scoreless for a 9 minute stretch. There are very few ways to win a college basketball game going scoreless for 9 minutes, and Dayton was unable to find that way. Oklahoma’s defense was locked in and eventually led them to the win. After gaining the lead with about five minutes to go. the Sooners would never give it up again, and are now moving on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 when Blake Griffin was in an Oklahoma uniform.
Oklahoma will now face Michigan State in Syracuse for a chance to go to the Elite Eight.