2008 Tourney Roundup: Day 1

The first round of the NCAA Tournament is always a strange collection of games. Inevitably, the majority of them are not going to be close. This is what happens when you match the UCLAs and Stanfords of the world against the MVSUs and Cornells. What makes the tournament what it is- and this was particularly obvious today- is when those games aren't close.

It doesn't matter that Duke ended up beating Belmont by 1. Short of Justin Hare's halfcourt heave going in at the buzzer, I can't imagine a more exciting finish than that. None of the other games were particularly memorable- the second closest margin of victory was Texas A&M beating BYU by 5- but can you really complain? On these first two days, it only takes one.

East
Notre Dame 68, George Mason 50
Washington St. 71, Winthrop 40

Those who thought George Mason to win the East at 300:1 was a brilliant wager aren't feeling too bright at the moment. GMU led 7-6 early, but a 17-0 ND run put this one away about before halftime. Luke Harangody had 18 although, strangely, he did not attempt a single 3. Staten Island legend Kyle McAlarney added 15, as the Irish held Mason to 33% from the field.

The Wazzu game was tied at halftime. The Cougars then went on a 38-5 run. Winthrop shot 30.8% from the field, and went 2/8 from the line. This was not surprising- their offense is 228th in the country. The problem was allowing Washington St. to shoot 59%. When your opponent's FG% is almost double yours, it's going to be difficult to emerge victorious.

Midwest
Kansas 85, Portland St. 61
UNLV 71, Kent St. 58

Kansas St. 80, USC 67
Wisconsin 71, CS Fullerton 56

Kansas shot 54% from the field and was 12/25 from 3. They're good.

The Beasley-Mayo showdown took a weird turn when Beasley picked up his second foul four minutes in. KSU's Bill Walker proceeded to take over the game, scoring 17 of his 22 in the first half. Beasley finished with 23 and 11, but this game would have been a lot different without Walker's huge first half. Mayo finished with 20, but was just 6/16 from the field.

South
Michigan St. 72, Temple 61
Pittsburgh 82, Oral Roberts 63

Marquette 74, Kentucky 66
Stanford 77, Cornell 53

The Michigan St. and Pitt games were never particularly close. That will be a very good game on Saturday. Not much to say here.

The last couple minutes of the Marquette-Kentucky game were extremely weird. Kentucky, down 7, twice fouled Dwight Burke (21/41 from the line this year) away from the ball. If this seems like a good strategy, that's because it is. The reason teams don't do this is that it's against the rules. It should have been called an intentional foul, with Burke going to the line and Marquette getting the ball back. Both times, it was called only a personal foul. I still haven't figured out what happened here. Regardless, it didn't effect the outcome of the game, and sets up the previously mentioned Marquette-Stanford matchup on Saturday.


West
UCLA 70, Mississippi Valley St. 29
Texas A&M 67, BYU 62

Purdue 90, Baylor 79
Xavier 73, Georgia 61

West Virginia 75, Arizona 65
Duke 71, Belmont 70

I wasn't kidding when I said MVSU is really bad. They shot 13/66 from the field (19.7%), and 1/14 (7.1%) from 3. They got outrebounded by 21. UCLA had 13 blocks. Strangely, there were only 18 fouls in the entire game.

X looked terrible in every aspect of the game early- turnovers, FTs, threes, Lavender's little floaters. Meanwhile, UGA was hitting everything. Things returned to form in the second half, as the Musketeers closed out the game 25/27 from the line after starting off 2/6. Georgia's logic defying run should not be forgotten- if you had told me a week ago that they'd be up 9 at the half in the NCAAs, I would've looked at you quite strangely.

The Duke game- well, you saw what happened. If you didn't, go watch the highlights. I would imagine that West Virginia will be a popular upset pick over Duke on Saturday. We shall see.