NCAA Tournament thread

[swilsonsp4]

Baylor fell behind Clemson with about ten minutes left by 15. The Bears made a furious comeback, but repeatedly missed FTs and treys. The Tigers pulled away at the line in the final seconds. That leaves the B12 with just Houston and Iowa State.in The Dance. (Plus, of course, UC in the NIT.)

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Not a good showing for the Big12

[sedz]

The ACC is killing it.

[GoBearcats31]

This Alabama / Grand Canyon game is unreal. Like an AAU game. Just wild hoops.

[sedz]

This Alabama / Grand Canyon game is unreal. Like an AAU game. Just wild hoops.

Houston / Texas A&M is the same way. I've also got the women's Baylor / VT game on in split screen. Baylor hit a half court shot to take a 3 pt lead into the 4th quarter.

[sedz]

Wild finish to the Houston game. Texas A&M forced a series of late turnovers and hit a game tying three at the buzzer to force OT. Houston had 4 players foul out and had to rely on benchwarmers to seal it with free throws for a 100-95 win.

All eight 1 and 2 seeds are on to the sweet sixteen, and all of the lower conference teams are out.

[sedz]

And now to catch the end of the women's Stanford / Iowa St game, tied with 4 minutes left.

[Lobot]

Everyone will be happy to know that Tenn /Creighton will tip at the wonderfully early time of 10:10 ET on Friday? Why why why why?

[GoBearcats31]

Everyone will be happy to know that Tenn /Creighton will tip at the wonderfully early time of 10:10 ET on Friday? Why why why why?

At least that is a Friday. How about Iowa State/Illinois at the same time on Friday in Boston (with the two Boston games being 30 mins behind the two taking place in Los Angeles -- including Arizona/Clemson tipping at 4:09 p.m. PT).

[longtimefan]

Three Big 12 teams left, counting Arizona (they already played their last PAC 12 game).

[longtimefan]

Arizona came out sleepwalking against a team they were supposed to beat, fell behind by 13, fought back in the 2nd half to take a brief lead, then lost in the final 2 minutes. I feel like I saw that game a lot this year.

[Oldtimer_UC_fan]

Only Houston is left...
and they play Duke

[sedz]

Good night for offenses. Every team that won tonight is better on the offensive end, and every team that lost is better on the defensive end. Elite offenses sometimes have too many options to be held under a point per possession even against the best defenses. We ran into that issue almost every year under Cronin. It's tough to make deep runs without at least a top 20 offense.

[Lobot]

Anyone else's bracket completely in shambles? Mine died with Iowa St last night.

[GoBearcats31]

I watched the first half of Iowa/Illinois and was pretty shocked at Iowa State's offense in the first half (particularly against a not great Illinois defense -- at least on paper they were not good). Iowa State has a relentless defense and Illinois was continually getting a bunch of open looks. Iowa State was shooting almost exclusively contested shots at the rims and fadeaways/off balance shots. Would have liked to see the Cyclones advance.

UConn is playing unbelievably well. They face Illinois next.

Alabama/Clemson in the other Elite Eight game on Saturday in what seems more like a College Football Playoff matchup. Old friend Aaron Estrada, the Hofstra transfer, scored 19 last night for Bama and is second on the team in scoring. ... Clemson was 11-1 to start the season including wins over Boise State, at Pitt, South Carolina, TCU, and a 2-point loss to a then-solid Memphis team. They preceded to drop 3 straight conference games and were sitting 4-6 in ACC play in early February before an 11-9 finish and first round ACC Tournament exit. Nice run from them -- first Elite Eight since 1980 I believe.