Winners

Conservative bracket pickers

You’re most likely doing well in your bracket pool if you selected a lot of chalk for Thursday’s games. A day of first-round matches wouldn’t be complete without at least a few upsets, but if you only choose the team with the higher seed, you would have gone 12 of 16 in Thursday’s games, which isn’t a bad record going into Friday.

Two upsets, the victories of No. 9 Creighton and No. 10 Arkansas, were only symbolic. All in all, it was a good day for chalk.

Gonzaga

You missed everything you needed to see if you tuned in to the Georgia-Gonzaga game a few minutes late. Gonzaga jumped off to an early 13-0 lead prior to the first media break.

The game is over.

Mark Few enhanced his resume as the top active coach in the country without a national championship. p. Gonzaga has become a model of consistency under Few’s watch, making it to at least the second round in each of the last 16 NCAA Tournaments.

Ben McCollum

In relation to hot commodities, is there a coach more attractive than Ben McCollum of Drake? There is definitely a problem in Iowa City if he isn’t coaching Iowa’s top candidate.

During his 15 successful seasons at Northwest Missouri State, McCollum earned four Division II national titles. His No. 11 Bulldogs advanced to the second round of the playoffs in his debut season at Drake thanks to a strong showing against Missouri. Drake’s first NCAA victory since 1971, excluding “First Four” outcomes.

Last season, McCollum had four Drake starters on his team at Northwest Missouri State. Those guys continue to demonstrate their worth at the Division I level. That particularly applies to Bennett Stirtz. He scorched Missouri with 21 points, making him one of the finest players in the country.

Even though it might not finish in the second round, Iowa shouldn’t mind waiting until this NCAA journey is over if it wants McCollum. Drake can get it all the way to the Sweet 16.

Losers

Clemson

Woof. Which performance was it? What that was was a flop to top all duds.

Brad Brownell, the coach at Clemson, has been well-represented on job boards in recent weeks. He reportedly stuck put and signed a contract extension with Clemson before watching his team fall badly against No. 12 McNeese 69-67, which wasn’t as close as the score suggested for the majority of the game.

Last season’s Elite Eight run by Clemson demonstrated that it is the exception rather than the rule.

The ACC

Louisville might have been worse than Clemson.

In an 89-75 defeat to No. 9 Creighton, the Cardinals appeared lost, even though they played in Lexington, 80 miles from campus.

Arizona State transfer Jamiya Neal scored 29 points, while Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner, two NCAA Tournament veterans for Creighton, combined for an impressive 36 points. Creighton’s crushing of Louisville should serve as a warning to Auburn, ranked first. The Bluejays has sufficient skill and expertise to pull off an upset in the second round.

With only two teams remaining, No. 1 Duke and No. 11 North Carolina, following the collapses of Clemson and Louisville, the ACC is limping along.

The SEC

Apparently, “it just means more” NCAA Tournament losses for the SEC following an NCAA record 14 berths.

Despite the SEC’s stellar single-season performance throughout the regular season, March Madness has a way of making even the strongest of us feel humbled.

To be clear, the SEC didn’t have a bad day. No tricks were necessary for No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Tennessee, and No. 4 Texas A&M to win. In one of the more intriguing games of the day, No. 10 Arkansas defeated Kansas.

However, the SEC is now down to 11 teams after losing three.

In their final “First Four” defeat against Xavier, No. 11 Texas gave lost a 10-point lead in the closing minutes. Georgia, ranked ninth, lost badly against Gonzaga because they failed to show up. And for a large portion of its defeat to Drake, No. 6 Missouri appeared outmatched.

It’s hardly a catastrophe, but the SEC is off to a bad start.

Missouri

Missouri basketball’s inability to qualify for the tournament is the problem. Doing something when Missouri basketball makes it to the postseason is the problem.

Drake displayed its typical defensive toughness and rebounding power in a 67-57 victory that seemed like an expected outcome but counted as an upset. The Tigers have a long history of making it to the NCAA Tournament, but they have never advanced to the Final Four.

Once the game began, it was clear that Drake was the superior team going into the competition.

Missouri has lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament six times in a row. Missouri lost to No. 15 Princeton in the second round the only time it won its first-round match during that timeframe.

To be honest, this game ended up being more of the same old Missouri fare.

Kentucky fans

Big Blue Nation, I’m sorry, but John Calipari won’t make this split easy.

Calipari’s Razorbacks made it to the second round, which puts additional pressure on Mark Pope, the first-year Kentucky coach, even though it’s not a noteworthy accomplishment given Arkansas’ quality level. On Friday, the third-seeded Wildcats will take on Troy.

Following a string of March Madness setbacks, UK supporters were all too happy to see Calipari go for another position following last year’s first-round loss. However, Calipari defeated Kentucky in February when he returned to Rupp Arena, and he is currently dominating No. 2 St. John’s in the second round. This breakup is making Kentucky supporters anxious.

 

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