Four of the most exciting and action-packed days of college basketball are over. These first four days of CBS' coverage of the NCAA Tournament drew the highest ratings for the first weekend of the tourney since 1994. And now that the dust has settled, some of the major headlines from the past week can be discussed.
Probably the hardest thing about filling out the bracket is not deciding if upsets are going to happen, but where and when they will. Sometimes the first round is full of upsets and the second is quiet or vice versa or both. This weekend, the first round saw seven lower-ranked teams win out of 32 games, while exactly one quarter of the 16 second-round games resulted in upsets.
One of the top headlines of this year's tournament so far is the play of the No. 12 seeds. Three out of four No. 12 seeds won in the first round, with only Indiana being able to avoid the upset bug against Utah. Missouri took out Miami, Creighton downed Florida on a buzzer-beater and Tulsa practically did the same to Marquette, hitting a driving layup with time winding down.
Only Missouri was able to pull off back-to-back upsets, with the common argument being made that the Tigers are much better than your usual No. 12 seed. This is supported by its second- round blowout of No. 4 Ohio State, one of the hottest teams in the country fresh off capturing the Big Ten conference championship.
Creighton and Tulsa may have had the talent of a No. 12 seed, but both teams are common NCAA participants who have pulled off upsets in the past. This was Creighton's fourth consecutive year in the Big Dance, with its last upset coming in 1999, when the then 10th-seeded Blue Jays defeated Louisville 62-58. Few can forget Tulsa's run in the NCAA Tournament in 2000 when the seventh-seeded Golden Hurricane took down second-seeded Cincinnati in the second round and almost made it to the Final Four, falling just short to North Carolina, 59-55.
In the same region as Tulsa are the Southern Illinois Salukis, a team that has not been to the Big Dance since 1995 and has not won a first round game since 1977. The 11th-seeded Salukis are probably the biggest newsmakers of the tournament, topping 10th-seed Kent State only because the Golden Flashes have won 20 straight and have some experience in the tournament after upsetting Indiana in the first round last year.
Although the Salukis are one of this year's Cinderellas, the team that has worn the glass slipper in the past few years was on the other end of the stick this year. The Gonzaga Bulldogs, whom many believed were seeded too low at six, were outscored by 11 points in the second half by the Wyoming Cowboys and failed to reach the second round for only the second time in the team's five visits to the NCAAs.
Another major headline of the tournament is the fall of the SEC (six teams down to one), Big East (six teams down to two) and Conference USA (none left). Kentucky is the only remaining SEC team after Florida and Ole Miss failed to get past round one and Alabama, Mississippi State and Georgia were derailed in round two.
The Wildcats have two of the hottest players in the country in Tayshaun Prince, who put up a career-high 41 points on Tulsa, and Keith Bogans. Both players will have to continue to play at the same level and get some help if they plan on getting past Maryland.
In the Big East, only Pittsburgh and Connecticut remain, and it just so happens that both teams are playing the Cinderellas, with the Panthers going up against Kent State and the Huskies taking on Southern Illinois. Both teams say they are not taking the 10 and 11 seeds lightly. Even if they don't, they could still end up going home.
Conference USA is all packed and headed home thanks to Marquette's two-point loss to Tulsa, Charlotte's devastating loss to Notre Dame and Cincinnati's almost predictable choke performance against UCLA. The Bearcats were sent home in the second round for the fifth time in the last six years. Their best finish was a loss in the regional semifinals to Stanford last year. It is obvious that picking Cincinnati to go far in the tournament is never a safe bet.
The nation's top four teams according to the last Associated Press Top 25 poll--Duke, Kansas, Oklahoma and Maryland--are all still alive and only Maryland has not had a competitive game yet. Duke got a scare from Notre Dame, but clutch foul shooting and valuable bench play from Daniel Ewing and Casey Sanders should only help the defending champs.
Kansas lost star point guard Kirk Hinrich in the first half against Holy Cross and barely escaped with an 11-point win, a misleading margin for an otherwise tight game. Hinrich, however, returned against Stanford and a 15-0 run to start the game all but put the Cardinal away and vaulted the Jayhawks back to the favorite for making the Final Four out of the Midwest. Oklahoma beat Illinois-Chicago by eight and Xavier by 13, but the Sooners now go up against a solid Arizona team that has exceeded everyone's expectations.
While Duke, Kansas, Maryland and Arizona have been regulars in the past few Sweet 16s, the Oregon Ducks have qualified for the round of 16 for the first time since 1960, while Pittsburgh hasn't been here since 1974. Both teams have good chances of making it to the Elite Eight and possibly even further.
So as we approach the next four-day weekend of college basketball, all we can say is: Let the madness continue.
Andrew Greenfield is a Trinity senior and associate sports editor.
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