Best and worst of the NCAA tourney's opening weekend
Even though Oregon became the first Pac-12 team to be eliminated from the NCAA tournament on Sunday night, senior guard Joseph Young still deserves a ton of credit for his performance. The Pac-12 player of the year averaged 28.5 points per game in a victory against Oklahoma State and a closer-than-expected loss against Wisconsin, torching the ninth-seeded Cowboys for 27 and the top-seeded Badgers for 30. Young's quickness off the dribble and ability to shoot from the perimeter should give him a chance to make an NBA roster next season even if he's undersized for a shooting guard and is more of a scoring guard than a point guard. At the very least, he helped his case this week in Omaha.
When Kansas guard Wayne Selden delivered 45 points in the semifinals and finals of the Big 12 tournament last week, Jayhawks fans hoped it meant the sophomore was poised for a big NCAA tournament. Turns out exactly the opposite was the case. Selden scored a quiet six points in a victory over New Mexico State on Friday and then went scoreless on five shots in a 78-65 loss to Wichita State two days later. Granted Kansas' game plan was to pound the ball inside against the smaller Shockers, but Selden still acknowledged after the game that he had let down his team by not being aggressive on offense and not playing well on defense.
Of the six ACC teams that reached the NCAA tournament, only regular-season champion Virginia has been eliminated. The league finished the opening weekend with an 11-1 record and will send an impressive five teams to the Sweet 16, tying the record set by the Big East in 2009. Duke, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Louisville entered the tournament amid expectations of deep runs, but the surprise Sweet 16 entrant is NC State. The eighth-seeded Wolfpack rallied to defeat ninth-seeded LSU in the opening round before toppling top-seeded Villanova two days later.
If the Big 12 was the nation's best conference in the regular season, its postseason has so far been a flop. Five of the league's seven NCAA tournament entrants failed to survive the opening weekend and four didn't even escape the opening round. Third-seeded Iowa State went cold on offense and couldn't keep UAB off the glass in a stunning loss. Third-seeded Baylor surrendered the final 13 points against Georgia State to fall in equally shocking fashion. Oklahoma State lost to Oregon, Texas lost to Butler, and Kansas could not match Wichita State's intensity or outside shooting in a round of 32 loss. The only teams left to carry the Big 12's flag in the Sweet 16 are third-seeded Oklahoma and fifth-seeded West Virginia.
Most mock brackets didn't even have UCLA in the field on Selection Sunday. Now the 11th-seeded Bruins are celebrating a second consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. UCLA defeated sixth-seeded SMU by a single point in the round of 64 with the help of a questionable goaltending call in the final seconds. The Bruins then took advantage of seeing 14th-seeded UAB in the round of 32 instead of third-seeded Iowa State, pounding the Blazers 92-75 behind a career-best game from big man Tony Parker and strong play from guards Bryce Alford and Norman Powell. UCLA's reward for its two victories? Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 in a rematch of the Adam Morrison game from 2006.
The clash between Kentucky and West Virginia in the Midwest Region pits the unbeaten Wildcats against a completely new kind of foe. The Mountaineers win by forcing turnovers with relentless full-court pressure, by converting those into fast-break chances and by attacking the offensive boards. Their inability to shoot from the perimeter is a major concern against a Kentucky team that defends the paint so well, but at least they'll throw a different look at the Wildcats. The matchup between Kentucky and West Virginia brings back memories of 2010 when a Bob Huggins-coached Mountaineers team stunned the John Wall-DeMarcus Cousins Wildcats in the Elite Eight. This would be an even bigger upset if Huggins can find a way.
The intrigue of seeing Wichita State and Kansas face off the for the first time in 22 years trumped games with better finishes. The Shockers did not let their one crack at the Jayhawks slip through their grasp, pulling away in the second half for a 78-65 win that ensures in-state bragging rights for years to come. Wichita State overcame Kansas' size and strength advantage with superior shooting and superior effort. Tekele Cotton had 19 points, Fred VanVleet had 17 and Evan Wessel sank four of the Shockers' 10 threes.
Of all the games to get a stand-alone time slot, Duke-San Diego State was not ideal. The Blue Devils were a terrible matchup for a flu-ridden Aztecs team that has ridden its defense to a share of the Mountain West title but lacks the offense to keep pace with the nation's elite teams. Duke won 68-49 by holding San Diego State to 31.5 percent shooting and turning many of those missed shots into fast-break opportunities. When they didn't score before the San Diego State defense was set, they pounded the ball down low to Jahlil Okafor, whose deft footwork and hefty frame was too much for the Aztecs' array of quick but willowy big men.
1. Choosing just one Ron Hunter moment is difficult because the Georgia State coach was the undisputed king of the NCAA tournament's opening weekend. There was his fall from his rolling chair after his son's game winner against Baylor. There was his hilarious pledge that he was taking the chair that made him famous home as a keepsake the next day. And there was the heartfelt moment after Georgia State's round of 32 loss to Xavier when he broke down in tears at having potentially coached his son for the final time before revealing this experience had been the best week of his life. Great stuff. The tournament needs more Ron Hunter every year.
2. Mark Few has received plenty of criticism for not getting Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 often enough, so it was fun to see him cut loose in the locker room after the Zags demolished Iowa in the round of 32 on Sunday night. Gonzaga star Kyle Wiltjer captured video of Few doing a handstand that evolved into a break dancing moving before getting up and telling his team they had four more of these celebrations to go. Gonzaga hadn't been to the Sweet 16 since 2009 and hasn't been to the Elite Eight since the last year of the Dan Monson regime. The Zags will have their chance to make a second trip if they can beat 11th-seeded UCLA.
3. Stuck on the bench for almost the entirety of Maryland's NCAA tournament opener against Valparaiso, former walk-on Varun Ram entered the game as a defensive substitution with only 13 seconds remaining. That was all the 5-foot-9 guard needed to reward his coach's trust and leave a legacy at his school. Ram foiled Valparaiso's final possession by stripping the ball from forward Alec Peters before he could try a potential game-tying shot. That swipe preserved Maryland's 65-62 victory and ensured a place in Terps lore for a kid who had only played 55 total minutes this year.
1. Maryland was in striking distance against West Virginia before point guard Melo Trimble got kneed in the head by a teammate and left the game with a head injury. He watched from the bench in tears as the fourth-seeded Terps gotten eaten alive by the West Virginia press without him en route to a disappointing round of 32 loss. Credit Maryland for doing the right thing and sitting Trimble because a win isn't worth jeopardizing his health. Nonetheless, it was hard to watch a star player have to sit helplessly as a team he led to a great season crumbled without him.
2. The anguish SMU's Yanick Moreira felt over the goaltending play that cost the Mustangs a victory against UCLA was powerful yet heartbreaking. It was Moreira who ripped down Bryce Alford's off-target attempt at a go-ahead 3-pointer as it was on a downward trajectory, a needless mistake that resulted in a highly controversial goaltending call. Moreira answered every question from reporters on the podium but also broke down in tears in the process. He later tweeted an apology to his teammates and SMU fans, insisting they deserved better.
3. Octavius Ellis is a physical player, but the Cincinnati forward crossed the line by striking Purdue center A.J. Hammons with a forearm to the throat in the Bearcats' opening-round victory over the Boilermakers on Thursday night. That move earned Ellis a quick ejection from the Purdue game and constant boos whenever he touched the ball two nights later against Kentucky.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg
