Upsets and Exciting Finishes Galore as NCAA Basketball Tournament Gets Underway
It was a tumultuous first day of the second round of the NCAA Tournament (the first round was those four play in games) with upsets, near upsets, and exciting finishes highlighting the 16 games.
North Carolina, the fourth seed in the West Regional, edged 13th seeded Harvard 67-65. The Crimson pulled upsets over Cincinnati last year and New Mexico in 2013 but couldn’t quite make it three in row. Two #3 seeds weren’t so lucky. Iowa State lost by one point to #14 Alabama-Birmingham and Baylor lost by one point to Georgia State. Many a bracket fell by the wayside with those two losses.
Many alleged experts thought UCLA, the 11th seed in the South Regional, shouldn’t have been in the tournament at all. The Bruins had the last laugh, beating #6 SMU 60-59, albeit on a controversial goal tending call. In another upset, #10 Ohio State rallied from a 12 point deficit to edge #7 VCU 75-72. Arkansas, a #5 seed, escaped an upset by scratching out a 56-53 win over #12 Wofford.
Two close games featuring #8 seeds versus #9s confirmed that the teams involved were evenly matched. #8 North Carolina State beat #9 LSU in the South Regional with a buzzer beater, and in the Midwest Regional #8 Cincinnati beat #9 Purdue in overtime. The Boilermakers looked like they had the situation under control, but they missed free throws and easy shots down the stretch that could have put it away. Both finals were 66-65.
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Many felt the 1979-80 Bruins should not have made the field of 32 that year. The incomparable Larry Brown took them to the Final Game.
Btw, Larry Brown (coach: SMU) took two different teams to both the NCAA and NBA finals, winning each once, as well as one ABA team (losing to Dr. J).
And now UCLA, the Team That Shouldn’t Have Been There, has beaten Alabama-Birmingham to advance to the Sweet 16. It has to be very satisfying for coach Steve Alford and his players.
In a further obscure note, UA-B is where Gene Bartow (John Wooden’s successor) moved on to directly after UCLA, taking them as far as the elite eight.