Random Thoughts on the NCAA Basketball Tournament’s Opening Weekend

Here are some takeaways from the early rounds of the 2014 NCAA Basketball tournament:

Don’t bet against Harvard in the early rounds.  Twelfth seeded Harvard beat #5 Cincinnati 61-57.  Last year as a 14 seed, the Crimson beat New Mexico.  Harvard coach Tommy Amaker played and coached for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and knows how to win.  He’s 315-209 as a head coach at three schools.  Speaking of Duke…

Duke was overrated this year. Mercer pulled off a big upset when the 14th seeded Bears beat the Blue Devils.  Leading by one point at the half, Duke’s offense went cold in the second half, and the defense wasn’t much better.  The Blue Devils ran up a good record this year, but struggled at times and were not the dominating team they have been in the past.  Duke wasn’t the only highly seeded ACC team to lose.  Syracuse, who we suspect peaked too soon and fell off late in the regular season, won its first game over Western Michigan but lost to 11th seeded Dayton.  Syracuse was another #3 seed.

Kentucky’s #8 seeding was a wake up call.  The Wildcats lost five of 10 going into the NCAA tournament.  Some felt they underachieved this year, and they were rewarded with a number eight seed.  Message received.  Kentucky went out and beat Kansas State and then ended top seeded Wichita State’s undefeated season.  The Wildcats will now face cross state rival Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen.

While we’re on the subject of the SEC, there was no reason that Tennessee should have had to win one of those play in games to get the 11th seed in the Midwest Regional.  Those play in games should be for the 16 seeds only.  The Volunteers played Iowa in the play in game, and we think the Hawkeyes, losers of 6 out of 7 going into the tournament, probably should not have been there.  (Yes, we know the game went into overtime before Tennessee pulled it out but that changes nothing).  The Volunteers went on to blow out both Massachusetts (by 19) and Duke killer Mercer (by 20) to reach the Sweet 16.

Wisconsin could be the real deal.  The Badgers have had some early outs in the tournament in recent years, but this year’s team may be different.  Wisconsin, seeded #2 in the West, easily beat American University in the opener, but trailed #7 Oregon and the explosive Ducks offense 49-37 at halftime in the Round of 32.  But instead of folding up their tent, the Badgers stuck around and pulled out an 85-77 victory.  Wisconsin will face another high powered offense in #6 Baylor in the Sweet 16.

And speaking of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater won the NCAA Division III basketball championship on March 22nd in a 75-73 thriller over Williams College.  It was the Warhawks second Division III basketball title in three years.  Whitewater also won this season’s Division III football championship, a title they also won in 2012.  The UW-Whitewater is the only school to win NCAA titles in both football and basketball in the same season twice.  Florida won both championships in 2006 at the Division I level.