Review of Round 2, Saturday

Of the six games that I could have predicted right, I won six of them on Saturday. In the games that I couldn't win, I was rooting for upsets. The Milwaukee-Boston College game was quite a fight. Tons of intensity. It was clear that Milwaukee was ready to play, diving all over the place from the beginning. Pacific couldn't deal with Washington's quickness. You gotta love Nate Robinson and that put back he had flying through the air. Illinois and Arizona both took care of business. Illinois' guards should be able to handle the Milwaukee press, but it'll be interesting.

Cincinnati's Jihad came up just a bit short. Jihad Muhammad, the Bearcats' point guard tried to be the hero, but wound up missing a number of shots down the stretch as Kentucky outlasted Cincinnati. (Imagine a bunch of Christian conservatives from Cincinnati, rooting for Jihad!) Andrew Bogut for Utah certainly played better than his numbers show, but the key to the game was his teammates making open shots, and Utah's team defense against a not-so-great Oklahoma team.

Texas Tech opened the day with a come-from-behind upset of Gonzaga making me look smarter than I am. I must admit, they looked dead in the water by halftime. But they ran their motion offense to perfection in the second half. They also decided to attack the hoop. Ross carried his team on his shoulders to a slim win.

The game of the tournament thus far was the West Virginia-Wake Forest matchup. I've never rooted so hard for anything from West Virginia. I thought they had a better chance than Texas Tech of coming back, all they had to do was start making some threes. Instead, they also attacked the basket. They eventually took the lead late, but a missed free throw here, another there, helped Wake Forest stay in the game. Downey was stroking it from downtown (sounds dirtier than it really was). Chris Paul astutely drove the ball to the basket on several occasions. I was shocked at how quick he is. Even though the Deacons were down 3 or 4, Paul never went for the three unless it was open. He knew he could get to the rack. This saved time and allowed Downey's threes to count due to those Mountaineer missed free throws.

During the overtimes was when the disqualified players started to mount and impact the game. When it was through, West Virginia has lost Sally, their best player, Fischer, who came up big, and point guard J.D. Collins to fouls. These were essentially three of their four best players this game. Wake lost Chris Paul, Justin Gray, and Strickland, rendering their backcourt inexperienced.

Mike Gansee would not let his Mountaineers team lose. Likewise for Downey. West Virginia took the late lead in the first overtime. But back came Wake, led by Downey. A great block by Williams on an Herber back-cut saved the game at the end of the first overtime. The second overtime saw West Virginia move out to a big lead despite losing their best players. Their unsung players came up bigger than Wake's and West Virginia was able to hang on. Both teams had well over 100 points by the time the night was over. And I was drained.

I'll be ready for tomorrow's action though.