March Madness @ MindSay

Friday's games:

 

South Region-

#5 Michigan State  74

#1 Memphis  92

 

#3 Stanford  62

#2 Texas  82

 

Texas will face Memphis in the South Regional Final.

 

Midwest Region-

#12 Villanova  57

#1 Kansas  72

 

#10 Davidson  73

#3 Wisconsin  56

 

Davidson will face Kansas in the Midwest Regional Final.

Thursday's games:

 

East Region-

#4 Washington State  47

#1 North Carolina  68

 

#3 Louisville  79

#2 Tennessee  60

 

Louisville will face North Carolina in the East Regional Final.

 

West Region-

#12 Western Kentucky  78

#1 UCLA   88

 

#7 West Virginia  75

#3 Xavier   79

 

Xavier will face UCLA in the West Regional Final.

I basically took a 4-day weekend to watch the first and second round of the NCAA tournament, the first two days of which were largely spent at a bar down in Fairfax, VA.  While I could go into great detail about the games, I found a quote from ESPN columnist Bill Simmons that pretty accurately sums it up:

"Nothing unites basketball fans like hanging out in a bar and rooting against Duke."

In addition to the Duke/Belmont game, the Western Kentucky/Drake was one of the best in recent tournament memory, and it was absolute pandemonium when WKU hit the impossible buzzer beater in OT.  Unfortunately, local team George Mason was out of their game within a few minutes of tip-off.  Nonetheless, quite a fun weekend of great basketball. 

I love March Madness!  Best sporting event of the year, for sure.

East Region

#9 Arkansas  77

#1 North Carolina  108

This game was over before it started. Assists: UNC 28 Arkansas 11. Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points and 10 boards.

 

#7 Butler  71

#2 Tennessee  76

This game went into overtime. Tennessee pulled it out despite their 20 turnovers. Wayne Chism had 16 points and 5 boards.

 

#6 Oklahoma  48

#3 Louisville  78

This game was never close. Earl Clark had 14 points and 5 boards. Shooting: Louisville 59% OU 31%

 

South Region  

#8 Mississippi State  74

#1 Memphis  77

Derrick Rose had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Memphis had 11 more rebounds and 10 more assists.

 

#7 Miami  72

#2 Texas  75

A.J. Abrams scored 26. Texas hit 13 three-pointers.

 

Midwest Region

#10 Davidson  74

#2 Georgetown  70

The shocker of the day. Davidson trailed by 11 at the half. Stephen Curry scored 30. He had 25 in the second half.

 

#13 Siena  72

#12 Villanova  84

Scottie Reynolds had 25 points, 8 boards and 5 assists. Shooting: Villanova 53% Siena 35%

 

West Region  

#13 San Diego  63

#12 Western Kentucky  72

Courtney Lee had 29 points and 7 rebounds. The stats were almost even. WK shot a slightly higher percentage of field goals and free throws. 

 

East Region

#5 Notre Dame  41

#4 Washington State  61

Derrick Low had 20 points, 2 boards and 3 assists. Shooting: WSU 44% ND 24%

 

South Region

#6 Marquette  81

#3 Stanford  82

Best game of the day. It went into overtime. Brook Lopez scored 30. He hit the game-winning basket with 1.3 seconds left.

 

#5 Michigan State  65

#4 Pittsburgh  54

Drew Neitzel scored 21. MSU was perfect from the free throw line. Rebounds: MSU 33 Pitt 20

 

Midwest Region

#8 UNLV  56

#1 Kansas  75

Mario Chalmers had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Shooting: KU 57% UNLV 26%

 

#11 Kansas State  55

#3 Wisconsin  72

Trevon Hughes scored 25. Three-Pointers: KSU 0 Wisconsin 9

 

West Region

#9 Texas A&M  49

#1 UCLA 53

You know how I feel about this game. The refs handed it to UCLA. This game was played evenly. Every stat was just about equal. Kevin Love had 19 points and 11 rebounds.

 

#7 West Virginia  73

#2 Duke  67

The surprise of the day. WV trailed by 5 at the half. Joe Mazzulla had 13 points, 11 boards and 8 assists.

 

#6 Purdue  78

#3 Xavier  85

Drew Lavender and C.J. Anderson each scored 18. Shooting: Xavier 54% Purdue 38%