Friday, March 20, 2009

Late Friday First Round Results

East Region:
(4) Xavier 77, (13) Portland St. 59 - The Muskateers handled Portland State fairly easily, getting scoring from 9 different players, 4 in double figures. Xavier is a tournament staple and they look to be a tough out on Sunday.

(12) Wisconsin 61, (5) Florida St. 59, OT - The Badgers got the Seminoles into their kind of grind-it-out, low-scoring affair and forced the extra session. Trevan Hughes won it with his bucket and free throw with 2 seconds left in OT. The Badgers were down 12 at the half and trailed much of the game, but had the last say, knocking off the second ACC team of the tournament.

MidWest
(1) Louisville 74, (16) Morehead St. 54 - A total breeze for the Cardinals, winning without breaking a sweat.

(10) USC 72, (7) Boston College 55 - Taj Gibson only missed one free throw, hitting all ten of his shots from the floor for 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. BC made a game of this until about 8 minutes into the second half. The Trojans have the most athletic team in the tournament, and maybe the most dangerous. In their upcoming tilt with Michigan State, they will create many matchup problems for the Spartans.

(12) Arizona 84, (5) Utah 71 - a dramatic case of mis-seeding. Arizona was probably better than a 10 and Utah should not have been a 5. This doesn't look like much of an upset and in reality, isn't. The 10s and 12s are as good as the 3s and 4s in this region, the toughest in the tournament. Nic Wise had 29 for the Wildcats, who sizzled at 55% from the field.

(9) Siena 74, (8) Ohio St. 72, 2 OT- Probably the most exciting game of the tournament fittingly took 2 OTs to decide. Point guard Ronald Moore (why haven't we heard more about this guy?) hit a three to force overtime and another with 3.9 left in the second OT to win it. All five starters for the Saints scored in double figures, led by Edwin Ubiles with 20. Louisville next up for this talented, gutsy group.

(13) Cleveland St. 84, (4) Wake Forest 69 - Easily the biggest upset of the tournament and the highest seed out so far. (Really kills my bracket, too). Cleveland State jumped on the Dekes early and just kept rolling. Sets up a nice matchup in a busted bracket with #12 Arizona on Sunday.

(2) Michigan St. 77, (15) Robert Morris 52 - The Spartans had five players in double figures as they coasted to an opening-round win.

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