The Greatest Opening Day in NCAA Tournament History

TSJ welcomes The College Basketball Junkie – David Sole – into the mix for a roundup of one of the wildest days in NCAA Tournament History – a day filled with upsets, buzzer-beaters and overtime.

NCAA TOURNAMENT – DAY 1

A buzzer beater by Murray State, a game winning trey from a guy named Farokhmanesh, three overtime games and an scoring clinic put on by a Junior Guard from Glen Falls, NY named Jimmer. 5 double digit seeds advanced to the 2nd round, the most since 1991. 3 Big East teams and 2 SEC teams are gone and either Butler or Murray State will be in the Sweet 16.

'Nova Won Despite Reynolds Poor Shooting

VILLANOVA CHANNELS VALVANO

Former North Carolina State head basketball coach Jim Valvano knew all about the ups and downs of the NCAA Tournament. The late coach and his Wolfpack had a magical run to the Final Four in 1983 and along the way Valvano and his team’s mantra became “Survive and Advance”. State would end up shocking Houston in the final and would cut down the nets in Albuquerque for Jimmy V’s first and only NCAA title.

Jay Wright and his Villanova squad are the latest team to abide by Valvano’s famous phrase. The ‘Cats entered the NCAA Tournament by losing 5 of their final 7 games but still managed to get the 2 seed in the South Region. Wright didn’t start his usual backcourt of Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds in their 1st round game for minor team infractions. Reynolds never got on track, shooting a staggering 2-15 from the field and just 1-8 from 3 behind the arc. At least Reynolds did help the Cats advance to the 2nd round by hitting 15 of 16 free throws. Fisher ended up with only 6 points and missed 3 of his 4 free throws. Lucky for ‘Nova that 15-seed Robert Morris turned the ball over 20 times and hit just 5 of 20 from 3 point range. Needless to say, Villanova will have to shoot better than 35% from the field and rebound better if they want to beat St. Mary’s in round 2.

THE BIG (L)EAST

During the regular season the Big East conference was hands down the toughest and most balanced of the power conferences. Eight Big East teams were invited to this year’s dance. After day 1 of the opening round three of those schools (Marquette, Georgetown and Notre Dame) are heading home.

Ohio pulled off the biggest upset on Day 1

Hoyas stunned by Bobcats
The 14-seed Ohio Bobcats weren’t even supposed to get this far. They had lost at Pittsburgh by 25 points earlier in the year and finished the regular season just 7-9 in the MAC, resulting in them receiving a 9th seed in their conference tournament. But the Bobcats ran off 4 straight wins to earn a birth in the Big Dance facing the highly favoured #3 seed, the Georgetown Hoyas. Ohio stayed hot Thursday night, hitting 8 three pointers in the 1st half and finished up hitting 13-23 from behind the arc. They shot 58% from the field. Even more impressive was freshman point guard D.J Cooper. The Chicago native scored 23 points, had 8 assists and just 3 turnovers. Cooper controlled the game and made big shots when he needed to. His backcourt mate Armon Bassett led all scorers with 32 points. In his last 5 games, the former Hoosier is averaging just under 30 points a game for the Bobcats. Bassett and Cooper combined to hit 10-18 from 3 point range. This was only Ohio’s 2nd NCAA Tournament win in the last 45 years. Their last was back in 1964. CBS’s colourful analyst Bill Raftery commented “the kids (Ohio) look like they expected to win.” Georgetown’s leading scorer Austin Freeman was held scoreless for the first 23 minutes of the game and finished with just 9 points.

No Luck for Harangody and the Irish
Old Dominion knocked off Notre Dame in New Orleans for their first NCAA Tournament win since 1995, when Petey Sessoms led his Monarchs to a triple overtime win over Kerry Kittles and the aforementioned Villanova Wildcats. Old Dominion may be an 11-seed, but their win over the Irish didn’t involve any luck. The Monarchs beat Georgetown in Washington, DC 61-57 earlier this season. ODU was effective with their 2-3 zone. The Irish shot just 31% against the zone, on 13-42 shooting from the field. The Irish’s all-time leading scorer Luke Harangody didn’t score a field goal until there were 13 seconds left in the game. The senior forward who averaged almost 22 points a game, finished with a season low 4 points.

Pondexter Came Up Huge For The Huskies

Huskies Continue to Roll
#5 Marquette blew a 15-point lead to #11 Washington – the comeback higlighted by a driving layup with 1.7 seconds left by Quincy Pondexter – as the red-hot Huskies extended their win streak to 8 games. It was just the 2nd time in 25 years that a PAC 10 school defeated a Big East school in the NCAA Tournament. Despite shooting 53% from the field and hitting 12-19 from 3 point range, the Golden Eagles were held without a field goal for the final 4:33 of the game.

MORE FROM DAY 1

The Good
Finally! Brigham Young won a first round game for the first time since 1992 by beating Florida in a thrilling double overtime game to start the day. The Cougars were led by junior guard Jimmer Fredette who torched the young Gators for 37 points. Fredette can really light it up. He scored 30 in a loss to UNLV in the Mountain West Final, and had 45 against TCU in the semis. BYU had lost their previous 7 1st round NCAA Tournament games. This was the Gators first tournament loss in 13 games.

The Murray State Racers used a buzzer beater by senior Danero Thomas to stun 4th seeded Vanderbilt. The Racers won just their 2nd NCAA Tournament game ever – their last was way back in 1988 in an upset win over N.C. State. They were previously 1-13 all-time in the tournament. It was the 31st win of the season for the Racers and their 22nd win in their last 23 games. Thomas was actually the third option on the final play which was drawn up for Isacc Miles. Head coach Billy Kennedy called Thomas’ shot “a miracle”.

Baylor had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1950 until outlasting Sam Houston State on Day 1, while Saint Mary’s used their 5 Australian born players to win their first tournament game since 1959, defeating 7-seed Richmond in a mild upset 80-71.

The Deacons Left Texas In Their Wake

The Bad
Texas has been dismal from the free throw line all season – 63% as a team. The Longhorns clanked 4 of their final 6 free throws in overtime which opened the door for Wake Forest’s Ishmael Smith to hit the game winner with 1.7 seconds left. Texas ended a disappointing second half of the season in which they dropped 10 of their final 17 games after being undefeated and ranked #1 in the country in mid January. The Longhorns three freshmen – Avery Bradley, Jordan Hamilton and J’Covan Brown – combined for 48 of Texas’ 80 points. CBS analyst Jay Bilas pointed out that head coach Rick Barnes was upset that Brown, the team’s point guard and best free throw shooter at 88%, gave up the ball with 10 seconds left in overtime despite getting double-teamed in the backcourt. Brown gave up the ball to Gary Johnson who missed both free throws.

The Ugly
Montana senior guard Anthony Johnson scored just 6 points on 1-12 shooting and 4 turnovers and was a non-factor in the Grizzlies opening round loss to Steve Alford’s New Mexico Lobos. One week earlier, Johnson was the hero, scoring 42 points in Montana’s incredible comeback win over Weber State in the Big Sky Tournament final. Johnson scored 21 straight points and helped his team overcome a 20 point halftime deficit to earn an automatic NCAA berth.

FROM CBS

Thanks to CBS for pointing out that North Texas in tiny Denton, Texas and their renowned jazz program has been home to musicians such as Norah Jones, Don Henley, Roy Orbison and Meatloaf.

CBS analyst Bob Wenzel pointed out that Washington head coach “Lorenzo Romar was part of that 1985 UCLA National Championship staff” I could have sworn that Villanova won the 1985 Tournament. I think he meant 1995.

Check out thesportsjunkie.ca throughout the NCAA tournament for more analysis and commentary from David Sole.