It’s the Monday after the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. What have we learned?
For starters, some of the “chalk” didn’t even make it to the weekend. With apologies to the Michigan State Spartans, Purdue Boilermakers, West Virginia Mountaineers, Texas Longhorns, Arizona Wildcats, California Golden Bears and Baylor Bears, double-digit seeds had their way with some of the big favorites during the first two days of tournament play. Although a 10-seed defeating a 7-seed hardly commands the word “upset”, the 7/10 matchups were split down the middle with each seed prevailing in two games. The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tar Heels, Oregon Ducks and Virginia Cavaliers had little trouble dispatching their 16th-seeded competition.
…show more content…
Though No. 11 seed VCU took No. 2 seed Oklahoma to the wire and the No. 6 seed Notre Dame needed a last second tip-in by Rex Pflueger to outlast 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin, the higher seeds generally held their ground. This year’s Cinderella, Middle Tennessee, lost its glass slipper in a loss to No. 10 seed Syracuse. The win gave Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim his 18th trip to the Sweet 16 as he now trails only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski for all-time appearances in the round. With a win over a tough Yale team, the Blue Devil’s head coach earned his 23rd trip to the tournament’s second …show more content…
Enter Bronson Koenig, a junior guard whose three-pointer tied the game with 13 seconds left. After Wisconsin guard Zak Showalter drew a charge on Xavier’s Edmond Sumner on the ensuing possession, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard called a timeout to set up the final play with two seconds showing on the clock. According to Gard, the Badgers executed the play exactly how he had drawn it up. Koenig received the inbounds pass from Ethan Happ and nailed a game-winning, step-back three as time expired. As the Badgers celebrated another trip to the Sweet 16, things got even more interesting between Northern Iowa and Texas A&M.
The Panthers and Aggies traded baskets in the first overtime (excuse the foreshadowing), and neither team led by more than three points in the session. Texas A&M senior guard Alex Caruso missed his potential game-winner with one second left, sending the game to a second overtime. Neither team scored in the first minute-plus of the second overtime, but after a free throw gave Northern Iowa an 84-83 lead, Texas A&M went ahead 85-84 on a basket by Jalen Jones. The Aggies never relinquished the lead. In the span of 10:35 of time on the game clock, Northern Iowa went from a 69-57 lead to losing the game
About three weeks ago, the Packer Varsity baseball team beat Berkeley Carroll school for the first time in twelve years and in glorious fashion. Tears streamed down my face as our winning run crossed the plate in extra innings, dust flying up as my teammates and I mobbed each other at the plate. Yet a few short days later, our team was blindsided by the news that St. Ann’s had pulled off back to back upsets to squeak their way into the playoffs ahead of us - just as our season seemed to be looking up, it was over.
It was the biggest game of the year, what every person wants to win, the championship. The score is tied 24-24 and the Idaho Hawks had the ball on twenty one yard line. It was third down and five and they ran the ball for only two yards and it was fourth down. They went for the field goal and got it. The score was 27-24 and the Texas Rams were ready to receive to it. On the return they ran for twenty yards. With only five seconds left the quarterback, John Halen, threw the ball to James Morgan. Morgan outran the cornerback and with no time left Morgan at the five yard line dropped the ball. The Hawks won, they were the champions.
With the Christmas tournament aside, we entered the post-season without a loss. We had a plan for each playoff game from districts to regional. We never deviated from the plan, keeping our eye on the target –
March is one of the craziest, fun-filled, exciting months of the year, especially for people who love basketball. St. Patrick’s Day arrives, the warmth is just starting to come back; but that is not the best part, it’s all the March Madness. The NCAA Basketball Tournament brings happiness, laughter and upsets to some people and teams. Every Division 1 Basketball team in the country plays to eventually make it to the Sweet Sixteen on the bracket, in hopes of being the new NCAA Basketball Champions. Some teams struggle, while others come out on top. “The Game That Saved March Madness” written by Sean Gregory, Time staff writer who has been
My team was playing in Denver at the Mountain Madness tournament, our last tournament of the year. It was the second day of the tournament and after suffering a loss earlier that morning, we really needed to play well if we wanted any chance at playing in the championship game the next day. I played for a
In game two, Centenary fell behind 3-0 before scoring two in the fourth because of a key error and one more in the fifth. With two down in the fourth, senior Lizzie Moran hit a groundball to first that was misplayed to allow her to beat the throw. Moran stole second and scored on sophomore Wendy Gillet’s RBI hit. While trying to gun down Moran at the plate, Gillet moved to second and scored on freshman Ashley Albright’s hit.
With Centenary leading game two 10-8 in the top of the seventh, sophomore Kylie Bradley blasted the first pitch she saw over the leftfield fence. However, Grambling State answered with three runs of its own to tie the game. With one out, McKenzie Johnson homered and Kenyshae Beasley singled. She stole second and scored on Mercedes Williams double. Tia Coleman followed with the game-tying single, but did not advance past first after sophomore Mackenzie Stewart struck out the final two hitters.
With the selections concluded, travel arrangements made and the "play-in" games in the books, the final 64 teams are ready to do battle for the NCAA Basketball Championship title. March Madness has become a rite of spring for basketball fans all over the world. In this year's field, every team has lost at least four games, showing the presence of parity throughout the brackets. As play gets underway on March 17, it will be the teams that will decide whose the best college basketball team in the country.
A three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh by Alex Bishop and an insurance run in the eighth by UT Tyler spoiled a comeback by the LeTourneau University baseball team in the opening round game of the 2016 ASC Baseball Tournament Blue Bracket. The matchup was a rematch of the last two champions of the American Southwest Conference Tournament.
In a heartbreaking loss in game one, Centenary rallied from an 8-2 deficit to take a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the eighth. However, Trinity scored two in the ninth for the thrilling 10-9 win. With Centenary down 8-2 in the fifth, the Maroon and White erupted for five runs to cut the deficit to one. Quintanilla walked and Schimpf singled to put runners on the corners. With one out, Crowder singled up the middle for an RBI. Russell singled to load the bases, and a bases-loaded walk with two outs plated the second run. Junior Ian Graham delivered the big blow, doubling down the leftfield line to clear the bases. However, he was thrown out trying to take third
Hield went scoreless for the first 10 minutes of action as he missed his first four shots. But the Sooners had others step up and take command. Woodard game Oklahoma a 21-7 lead when he drained one from beyond the arc.
Avid college basketball fans refer to it as NCAA March Madness. Because it is a one-and-done, single elimination format, it’s packed with excitement. Adding to the intrigue are the smaller schools, known as Cinderella’s, who endear themselves to the hearts of college basketball fans. Former Ohio State University coach Harold Olsen initiated the idea back in 1939.
When you here the phrase “March Madness” what comes to mind? To millions of fans, March Madness is three weeks of intense basketball, played at a premier level, where anyone can be a fan. March Madness is the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that consists of 68 teams from around the country that are selected to participate in one of the worlds most celebrated sporting events.
With the season on the line, the seniors team had to win against St. Francis Xavier. Down by two baskets at the end of
Upsets are one of the most exciting parts of March Madness, sometimes certain upsets are more common than others. The 12th seed has beat the 5th seed 46 times. and the 11 seed has beat the 6th seed 46 times. These seeds are usually the safest bet for an upset, so picking one or two of them should pay off.