It's admittedly not a great post today, but want to get it done in time to watch all the games. I promise better posts for both 2nd round days.
WORST PERFORMANCE BY A TEAM
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Georgetown Hoyas: Ohio shot 58.2% from the field and 56.5% from beyond the arc to down the Hoyas 97-83, the most points scored on Georgetown in the tournament history of the storied program. Four of five starters for the Bobcats scored in double-digits, and center Kenneth van Kempen missed the double-digit mark by a single point. Following a strong runner-up finish in the Big East tournament with a first round loss to 14-seeded Ohio, 9th place and 7-9 in the Mid-American Conference, was not what anyone could have expected. This was the only 3-14 game that didn't scare me when I was reviewing the bracket, and Pittsburgh-Oakland was the only non-competitive win for the 3 seeds. The really troubling issue is that Georgetown wasn't beaten on a buzzer-beater 78-77, instead they were thoroughly exposed defensively by a team that couldn't win the majority of their games vs the likes of Bowling Green, Miami (OH) and Akron.
Other Nominees: Louisville, Richmond, and UTEP after half-time.
MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE BY A TEAM
Texas A&M Aggies: In a first round match-up of Aggies a lot of people liked Utah St Aggies to beat the Texas A&M Aggies. Utah St had shot 49.1% from the field on the season a 41.% from 3-pt range (good for 7th and 3rd in the nation respectively), but against Texas A&M they were held to 38.7% from the field and 25% from 3-pt range.
Other Nominees: Murray St, Cornell, St Mary's, and Butler after half-time.
WORST PERFORMANCE BY A CONFERENCE
Big East Conference: It all started out of the gate as Villanova, the 2-seed from the South bracket, was down most of the game to Robert Morris. It seems to me a participant from last year's Final Four should be able to put away a guy who's been dead two hundred years. Instead the Wildcats nearly drove a lot of bracket pool participants into the same debt that with which Bob himself died.
Notre Dame and Marquette lost as 6-seeds to Old Dominion and Washington respectively. Georgetown then proceeded to lose to aforementioned Ohio Bobcats to drop the Big East to 1-3 on Day 1, that one win coming in their 2-seed's OT win over a team from Moon Township, PA.
The Big East seemed headed for a 5-3 record after Syracuse (1-seed), West Virginia (2-seed), and Pittsburgh (3-seed) won games as favorites to start Day 2. Then Louisville lost an 8 vs 9 game to California. That meant the much-maligned Pac-10 was 2-0 vs the vaunted Big East.
The Big East gets hyped due to their geographic closeness to media centers on the East Coast and their passion for the game, see the Big East tournament where slightly above average games were accompanied by the hysteria of a packed Madison Square Garden. If you haven't been made aware of the Big East's pedestrian tournament resume in recent years then you're just buying into the ESPN & Company hype blindly. The most consistent team in the conference, Connecticut, isn't even in this field this year.
Other Nominee: Atlantic-10 (1-2) had a bad day from 6-seed Richmond vs a good St Mary's team, 5-seed Temple was the first Ivy League victim since 1998, and 6-seed Xavier was the saving grace as they got a win over an enigmatic Minnesota team.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A CONFERENCE
Pac-10 Conference: They went 2-0 in first round games, but that's after getting completely trashed all year as a conference that barely deserved a bid. Listening to the likes of most ESPN analysts you'd think this were the SWAC or the Big Sky Conference. Instead California and Washington delivered two heaping handfuls fo STFU to the world in the first round. Not only did they win, but they beat representatives of the media's darling in the Big East. Some thought Marquette and Louisville were trendy picks to make the Sweet 16 or more, but the Pac-10 put those dreams to rest.
Other Nominees: Big XII (5-2), ACC (4-2) and WCC (2-0).
FIRST ROUND STATS & FACTS
- Clemson's Oliver Purnell is now 0-7 in first round games, including 0-5 as the higher seed.
- Before Thursday BYU's last win was also as 7-seed in 1993 vs SMU, they then lost to 2-seed Kansas. Up next: 2-seed Kansas St.
- Stew Morrill has guided Utah St to 7 tournaments experiences, only win came as 12-seed vs Ohio St in 2001.
- Northern Iowa got their 2nd NCAA tournament win in victory over 8-seeded UNLV, first win was in 1990 over 3-seeded Missouri.
- Ohio University won their first tournament game since their 1983 defeat of 6-seeded Illinois St, they made the 1964 Elite 8. Need evidence?
-Old Dominion is 3-0 all-time in the tournament vs current Big East teams, they're 0-9 vs everybody else.
and now your moment of zen...
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