Day 1

We all know what I'm doing for the next four days. I decided that New Hampshire was the place to watch 50-plus hours of hoops through the weekend. [Editor's Note: Shout out to Isaac for wishing me a happy holiday. It truly is the most magical time of the year!] The projector up here produces an eight foot wide screen, perfect for the YouTube TV four game multiview. And my new center channel speaker sure sounds nice (as loudly as I want it with the closest neighbor a quarter mile away). Media, check. What about snacks? The snow is melting and I haven't smoked any meat since the Fall. So I ran into town for some ribs and brisket. Somehow, a couple lobsters ended up in my cart. I love New England. Work email: disabled. Let's do this thing!

In a battle of birds, the Creighton Bluejays take out Lousiville's Cardinals. A 9 beating an 8 is barely an upset, but even Kentucky fans thought that the Cards were under-seeded. That said, the tourney committee did the Derby City team a solid by sending them to South regional pod in Lexington, just 80 miles down the road from the U of L campus. It took a while for Louisville fans to warm up to this squad (early season home attendance was shockingly poor) but the Cardinal faithful showed up for this one. It was definitely a home game atmosphere. Then the game started. Craig McDermot's offense methodically picked apart the Lousiville defense, taking a 49-34 lead into the half. Damage done, crowd silenced. Louisville went on a little run in the second half, which was extinguished by an unadvised technical foul on Pat Kelsey. Creighton criuised to a 89-75 victory.

Alabama State was a tourney story even before their game against Auburn began. The Hornets (nice mascot) won over St Francis in a first four match-up with a wild ending. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a click.

Alabama State is an HBCU, established in 1867 as a teachers college. The current campus is in Montgomery, 55 miles from Auburn. As is typical for HBCUs, their marching band is fire. Unlike any marching band I ever played in, Alabama State was featured in a Beyonce video. Interestingly, their danceline (the Honey-Beez) is composed only of plus-sized female students. When I was in the UK band, the majorettes had weekly weigh-ins and were not allowed to perform if they didn't make weight. Even in the unenlightened 80s, I found that demeaning. It does, however, make one wonder about the opposite situation with the Honey-Beez. Notable Alabama State alumni include 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty and a surprising number of NFL linebackers.

Auburn charged out to a 26-13 lead and apparently decided that the game was over. Auburn's play the rest of the first half was as sloppy and disinterested as Alabama State's was scrappy. The Hornets pulled to within 32-31 but missed two free throws that would have given them the lead. After missing 10 consecutive field goals, the Tigers scored the final 10 points of the first half to lead 41-31 at the break. The second half was more of the same, with Auburn winning comfortably (83-63).

McNeese State coach Will Wade is expected to take over at NC State when his season ends. Which was not today. McNeese State (which is in Lake Charles, LA) was a popular pick to upset Clemson in a 5-12 matchup. McNeese exceeded all expectations, completely dominating the Tigers to lead 31-13 at the half. Clemson got a little frisky in the second stanza - outscoring the Cowboys (who cannot shoot free throws) 54-38 - but ran out of time. McNeese State in a true upset, barely, 69-67. This was the first tournament victory in McNeese State history.

Yesterday, Will Wade actually confirmed that he was going to NC State, which is bad form (what a distraction for his team!). No surprise - the man doesn't have a history of good judgement. You may not know the Will Wade story. I've probably written about it before, but here's the Cliff's Notes version. Before the current wild west NIL era, the NCAA frowned upon making explicit promises to pay players. Wade previously coached at LSU. His teams were very good, including winning the SEC regular season in 2019. However, Wade's idea of recruiting involved literal bags of cash obtained from some shady characters. One of these wiseguys ended up wearing a wire for the FBI that picked up Wade describing his negotiation with a prospective player as a "strong-ass offer". He went on, “I’ll be honest with you, I’m fucking tired of dealing with the thing. Like I’m just fucking sick of dealing with the shit. Like, this should not be that fucking complicated.” Nice guy. He was sure happy today, hugging and high-fiving every Cowboy fan in the crowd after the buzzer sounded.

Louisville and Clemson lost badly today. Meaning that half of the ACC contingent is heading home. Tar Heel fans feel vindicated because their squad won by 27 on Tuesday. Pardon me for being unimpressed by a blow-out in a First Four game. UNC should have been in the NIT. [Sorry Price and all you UNC fans. Love you guys, but you know it's true.] Which means there is a total of one quality ACC team: Duke. Which is a really young team. Will the lack of quality competition be a problem for the Blue Devils when the games get tight? When Flagg, as great as he is, has been known to dribble the ball off his own foot. We'll see.

Kansas and Arkansas both had disappointing seasons. Kansas had high hopes due to the return of Hunter Dickinson, their 7'2" All-American. Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, they were not able to replace borderline All-American, Kevin McCullar, who is now playing for the Knicks G-League team. Also, word is that Hunter Dickinson is not exactly a team player. Some say that the accusations of being a locker room cancer are way overblown, but no one claims he's a great leader.

As for Arkansas, Calipari took all of the good Kentucky players with him, signed a superstar freshman (Boogie Fland) and paid out upwards of $2 mil to land Johnell Davis from the transfer portal. All that equalled a 1-6 start of the SEC season. Then Fland, who led the team in scoring, suffered a hand injury that required surgery on his thumb. He hasn't played since. [Editor's Note: His real name is Johnuel, who got the nickname as a kid because he was always dancing.] Cal favors the young guys, and Johnell Davis found himself behind Fland and DJ Wagner in the rotation; when he did get in, he wasn't the same player who starred at Florida Atlantic. The Fland injury represented an opportunity and Davis made the most of it, meshing nicely with Wagner who moved back to running the point (his natural position). Their turn-around started with an upset on the road over Kentucky (naturally). The Razorbacks notched seven more wins to finish the season to secure a 10-seed in the tourney.

Fland checked in at the 13 minute mark of the first half, his first game action since January 18. Arkansas led 16-14. There wasn't much in the way of defense the rest of the half, but it was entertaining. 47 to 44 Arkansas at the break. Jonas Aidoo, surprisingly, with 16 first half points for the Hogs. 

Dickinson slept walked through this game. He was not focused on defense and his half hook was not falling. Down double digits, Self went to a smaller lineup (without Dickinson) and switched to a 2-3 zone, which is kryptonite for Calipari teams (trust me, I've seen it too often). Arkansas dribbled a lot, settled for 3s and missed them. Kansas re-took the lead. Then Self put Dickinson back in. Kansas fell apart. Six turnovers down the stretch, one on a lazy Dickinson pass at a critical juncture. Arkansas did just enough to pull out a victory. Weird game. Fun first half. Frustrating second half. 

The St. Johns win in the nightcap (a blowout of Omaha) sets up an epic second round matchup of former Kentucky coaches. Pitino led St. John's to their first NCAA victory in a quarter century.

I make fun of Drake coach Ben McCollum (who looks like your accountant) and his team goes out and pulls an upset over Missouri. In the preview, I noted that Missouri was too reliant on offense. Not tonight. Kendrick's nemesis held the Tigers to 57. Drake was firmly in control most of the game but Missouri went on a run late to pull within 4 with less than two minutes to go. Drake didn't wilt. Quite the opposite: Missouri fell apart and lost by 10.

Drake is now 31-3.  This was their first tourney win since 1971. Drake's star is Bennett Stirtz, who had 21 on 8-11 shooting (3-3 from deep).

I suggested that McCullum might be the next Indiana coach. Surprise, the Hoosiers went for the coach of the West Virginia team that just missed the tourney. Indiana went 19-13 this season.  West Virginia also went 19-13, the sole season for coach Darian DeVries in Morgantown. DeVries previously spent six seasons at...Drake. I'm not convinced that Indiana got the best Drake coach. Particularly considering that IU will have to pay the Mountaineers over five million bucks to steal their coach. 

Michigan was cruising to a victory over UC San Diego, who were making their inaugural tourney appearance. Until they weren't. UCSD erased a 15-point lead and pushed this one to the wire. Michigan got some big rebounds and hit some shots to escape with a three point victory. UCSD got a decent look from deep as time expired, but it was a little long.

Thank goodness Texas Tech held off UNC Wilmington. It’s 1:00 am and I have to do this again in a few hours.  Pretty good day of hoops. See you for Day 2!