Saturday, March 26, 2005

Sweet Sixteen Day 2 Review

Tonight saw me root against the two teams that I had predicted to win. So the scenario for me to win the pool is: Illinois must beat Louisville in one national semifinal game, then win the championship, and neither UNC nor Kentucky can make the Final Four.

NC State took an early lead and kept it into halftime against Wisconsin even with Hodge struggling. Wisconsin got hot in the second half in order to advance to the Elite 8.

Michigan State upset Duke. Remember I had thought that both teams were weaker this time around than they have been in recent years. Neither really has faced any top teams in the tournament before tonight.

The next televised game Utah's Andrew Bogut plays in very well may be in the NBA. Kentucky was just too much. Randolph Morris is plenty good. That message for the announcer that said Kentucky couldn't deal with Bogut.

The best game of the day was the UNC-Villanova game. It was the classic underdog matchup. Villanova lost their top big man Curtis Sumpter last game to injury. So they started four small guards against one of the biggest teams, and arguably the best team. Kyle Lowry, a freshman, played the game of his life thus far. He had no fear. I've always liked Randy Foye, and he showed the talent and heart to win the game. Allan Ray struggled, but he hit a twirling, spinning, clutch shot with time running down, and drew the foul, when Villanova was down three. Unfortunately, the ref had UNC winning it all in his pool and called a travel. To give the ref some credit, it was almost a travel. Taking three steps is a violation, and Ray took two, which is only one step away from a travel. Despite that horrible call, Villanova still nearly pulled it out. But alas, when the ref picks UNC in his pool, they're going to get the close calls (again he was only one step away from being right, almost like that Aretha Franklin song).

Elite Eight starts tomorrow. Let's go Illinois and Louisville.

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