Instant Tourney Reaction, Day 3 (Beck)

Day 3 worked in two equal and opposite phases: the first three games were all blow-outs, and the final five provided enough heart-stopping -- and in my case, heart-breaking -- moments that more than a dozen times I thought I was suffering from cardiac arrest.

The first game of the day, pitting #3-seed Villanova against #6-seed UCLA, went precisely according to my prediction: Nova rolled to an 89-69 victory and advanced into the Sweet Sixteen. The Cats were up 13 at half-time, but didn't get complacent and kept their foot on the gas, and the Bruins' throats, for the second half. Villanova played up and down, inside and outside, and 6 players scored in double-figures. Dante Cunningham was the crux of the offense, dropping in 18 and snagging 10 boards, while first-round hero Dwayne Anderson helped with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Scottie Reynolds didn't have the break-out game I had anticipated, finishing with a mediocre 11 points, but give all the credit for that performance to the outstanding D played by UCLA's Darren Collison on him. This is the fourth time in five years that Villanova has made it to the Round of 16, and this is the first time in 4 years that UCLA hasn't made it to the Final Four. No matter what, Villanova looks like a tough team to beat at this point.

In the next game, #2-seed Memphis jumped all over #10-seed Maryland from the get-go and ended the first half up 20 points, 53-33. Roburt Sallie, the hero of the first round for the Tigers, remained hot from three-point range, hitting 3-4, but only finished with 13 points, 22 less than he did against Northridge. Picking up that scoring slack was freshman-sensation Tyreke Evans, who led Memphis with 19 points. Maryland just couldn't get anything started, and despite Grievis Vasquez's 18 points, and the fact that Maryland actually won the second-half 37-36, the Terrapins couldn't overcome the deficit and fell 89-70.

Lastly, there isn't much to say about #1-seed UConn's trouncing of #9-seed Texas A&M other than the final score: 92-66. Ouch.

After those three games, someone high up at the Tournament offices thought they needed some closer games to satisfy the audiences, and the next five were all tight match-ups. #5-seed Purdue knocked off #4-seed Washington in the final seconds, taking it 76-74. Purdue was playing great defense against the Huskies in the first half, but in the second half Huskies' point guard Isaiah Thomas and his game-high 24 points almost tied it up. Too bad the Boilermakers had their block-machina JaJuan Johnson waiting for him in the lane, and he blocked two huge shots to preserve Purdue's lead. I had Huskies West beating Huskies East in the next round, which doesn't look like a good pick anyway now that UConn is just tearing people apart, but scratch off one of my Elite Eight teams.

Then, #1-seed UNC had to survive #8-seed LSU in the second half, mostly on the back of point guard Ty Lawson's inspired play. Lawson, who missed the Tar Heels' first-round game against Radford, started this game, but went out early in the first-half when it looked like he reaggravated his toe injury. The Tar Heels were up 38-29 at half-time, but the Bayou Bengals stormed back, actually taking a 44-41 lead with 16 minutes left in the second-half. They stayed within a few points for the next ten minutes, and then Lawson took over. He scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, proving that when he's on his game he's dangerous, and the Tar Heels are unbeatable. Wayne Ellington poured in 23 more points for UNC, and Tyler Hansbrough had 15. UNC ran out the rest of the game and finished it with a W, 84-70.

And then, #2-seed Oklahoma survived their own scare against #10-seed Michigan, who had a penchant for knocking off better teams all season. The Sooners battled the first half and had a one-point lead, and Player-of-the-Year-candidate Blake Griffin was knocked down and Michigan drew blood. Despite foul trouble with their leading-scorer Manny Harris, the Wolverines were only down three with six minutes to play, but Griffin was just too much and the Sooners won it 73-63. Griffin ended with 33 points and 17 rebounds, a typical stat-line for him all season. Oklahoma will be tough, and I look forward to them facing UNC in the Elite Eight, pitting Griffin against Hansbrough down low.

In the last two games of the night, #4-seed Gonzaga scored with 0.9 seconds left to go up on #12-seed Western Kentucky, and #7-seed Texas had a chance to tie #2-seed Duke in the final minutes but blew their opportunity. The Zags and the Hilltoppers was a close game throughout, with WKU actually up 37-35 at the half. In the final minutes, with WKU down by four, Steffphon Pettigrew gathered a loose-ball stolen from Gonzaga and put it down for a score, then added a tip with 7.2 seconds left to tie the game. However, the Hilltoppers lost back-up point guard Demetri Gordon in the chaos after the shot, and Gordon took the ball the length of the court for the game-winning lay-up. Big play from the freshman, and Gonzaga will face UNC in the next round.

Duke ended up winning the game, but there were moments where Texas looked liked they were really ready to break it open and take the lead. Duke had several players in foul trouble, and two foul out -- including starter Kyle Singler -- but Jon Scheyer played great D on Longhorns marks-man AJ Abrams, holding him to only 17 points and shooting 2-6 from 3. Abrams made 8 3's in the first round against Minnesota. Still, the Longhorns benefited from Varez Ward's 16 points off the bench, a player who only averaged 3.8 ppg on the season. The Longhorns had it tied at 67-67 in the closing minutes, and then had a chance at a rebound only down 69-72 with 11.5 seconds remaining, but Duke fell on it and the Blue Devils advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in three years.

My bracket died a little today, as I went a respectable 6/8 on my picks, but like I said before, I picked Washington to upset UConn in the next round, and that's impossible now that Washington is heading back to Seattle losers. It didn't help any that that game was such a nail-biter, and I tore the stuffing out of my stress-ball before the conclusion. I wished I had any left at the end of the Duke game, as I had picked Texas to upset the Dukies in that one. It's always infuriating whenever you pick an upset like that and your team gets this close, but then it doesn't happen.

C'est la vie.

Close games today, and we'll be looking for equally close games tomorrow. As usual, this batch of games went just like the first day as all the higher seeds won their games, but tomorrow will resemble the chaos of Friday, I'm sure. Day 4 pits #13-seed Cleveland State against #12-seed Arizona, and #11-seed Dayton against #3-seed Kansas. Cleveland State beat up on Wake Forest, but I think Arizona has been counted out too much all season to sleep on them, and I like that Arizona's leading-scorers are tall and long, something that Cleveland State does not have. The Vikings are quick, but I like the Wildcats in that match-up (not that I had it picked before the tournament). In the other game, I think Dayton could surprise some people, and after having called NDSU's upset over Kansas, I'll stay on that band-wagon and wish ill will on the Jayhawks as the Flyers roll.

Other than that, Pittsburgh should roll of Oklahoma State and Louisville over Siena, and Missouri-Marquette could be a interesting game to watch, but I've got the Tigers in that one. Arizona State proved its worth against Temple, but Johnny Flynn and the Syracuse Orange will move on to face Oklahoma in the Sweet Sixteen next weekend. Plus, Xavier will knock off the over-achieving Wisconsin Badgers, but it will be too late for my bracket as I had Florida State make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

March Madness is one crazy roller-coaster, and I'm not getting off yet (that's what she said).

Over and out . . . for now.


- Beck