Another dramatic night of March Madness. In the opener, after I declared them “eliminated from the pennant race” when they fell behind 2-0 in the second inning of the first game, the never-say-die Bucs overcame a disappointing start from ace Mitch Keller, 17 strike outs and some mind-numbing baserunning errors by players and coaches alike, and rallied from a 5-2 deficit behind three homers and six and a third innings of scoreless relief pitching to defeat the Marlins in Miami, 6-5, in the season opener for both teams.
On to the Sweet 16.
Two weeks ago, Clemson, the 6-seed in the ACC Tournament, lost by 21 points in its opening game in the ACC Tournament to 11-seeded Boston College. Tonight, the Tigers, 6-seeded in the NCAA Tournament as well, and legitimately so, defeated 2-seed Arizona 77-72 in a game that was close in its way but never uncertain as to which was the better team. The Tigers advanced to the Elite 8 for the first time since 1980, when the Larry Nance-led Tigers, also a 6-seed, defeated a BYU team with Danny Ainge and three other future NBA players. When he was with the 76ers, Charles Barkley was once asked to compare one of them, Fred Roberts, with his Celtics teammate Kevin McHale, who, like Roberts, was 6-10 and white. Barkley cut through the stereotyping with his customary delicacy: “McHale can play; Roberts can’t.”
As Barkley knew from when he was a roly-poly Auburn freshman known as “Bread Truck”, it is not whether a player looks like he can play, it is whether a player actually can play. Which leads us to Ian Schieffelin, an inspiration to every chunky kid who thought he was good enough to make the team. Schieffelin does not look like a college basketball player, but, in fact, he is the linchpin of a deep, veteran and well-rounded Clemson team that stumbled late in the grind of the ACC but now is peaking at just the right time. Tonight, Schieffelin had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block, many of them key plays down the stretch, including a gorgeous feed to Clemson’s well-rounded center P.J. Hall. The other key for Clemson tonight and throughout the Tournament has been the resurgence of senior guard Chase Hunter, a quality guard who had inexplicably receded in his senior year, but who is averaging nearly 20 points a game in this Tournament. Hunter contributed 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists tonight, including a number of his own key plays down the stretch.
For Arizona, it was another disappointing exit. The Wildcats had everything set up for it, including a home crowd in Los Angeles and the chance of an even bigger advantage in Phoenix next week. Everything, that is, except the team. Not a bad team, but not enough, despite some courageous play by Jaden Bradley to bring them back tonight. Caleb Love had many big nights in his career, including in this Tournament when he was at North Carolina. But Love is a high-delta player, and he had one of those nights tonight, including 0-9 from three-point range. In all, Arizona was 5-28 from three, a performance that Arizona’s edge in rebounds and foul shots (fueled by 11 foul calls on Clemson in the first 11 and a half minutes of the second half) could not overcome.
The second game in the West Region was a highly entertaining fray between another ACC team, 1-seed North Carolina and 4-seed Alabama out of the SEC. For most of the game, Alabama was more than happy to sacrifice defense for a fast pace that would favor its high-flying offense led by the stocky guard, Mark Sears, ably assisted tonight by swingmen Rylan Griffin and Aaron Estrada and double-double big man Grant Nelson. While Alabama’s coach lost me permanently last year, I have to admit he had a plan, including to dare UNC’s non-shooters to beat them, and to try and make life as hard as possible for UNC stars R.J. Davis and Armondo Bacot. Although the Tar Heels led most of the game, and threatened to break away at moments, the plan worked well enough that the Crimson Tide was within two with five minutes to play. Nelson, late of North Dakota St., chose this moment to take over the game with seven straight points, putting Alabama up five. North Carolina battled back to take the lead, led by Davis and a surprising lift from sub Jae’lyn Withers, to go up three. But Sears drove and hit, Withers took an ill-advised three and Nelson scored and was fouled to put Alabama up two. Davis tried to force the play, Alabama, defending better late, forced a shot clock violation, Nelson, the man of the match, hit two more foul shots and North Carolina was done.
In the ACC Tournament, North Carolina relied almost exclusively on Davis and Bacot, especially Davis, at the end of the game. It worked against Pitt, but it cost them against NC State, and it cost them again tonight. Remarkably, Davis had the same 0-9 three-point night as his old buddy Caleb Love. Davis has a more well-rounded game than Love, and he attacked the hoop to score 14 in the second half. But he was 4-20 for the game and, while Bacot was better with 19 points and 12 rebounds, he was not better enough, he was not dominant, and he missed a big dunk late in the game. UNC shot 25% in the second half, so maybe Alabama played just enough defense after all.
As this drama was unfolding, Iowa State was crawling back from a ten point halftime deficit to cut Illinois’ lead to two points. The Cyclones were aided by the Illini’s struggles from the foul line, where the Illini finished 15-29, and four fouls on the Illini star, Terrance Shannon, Jr. Illinois is an unusual team in that they do not play any true guards and instead rely heavily on the 6-6 Shannon, 6-7 swingman Brian Domask and 6-10 Coleman Hawkins to handle the ball. The game was in doubt until the final seconds, but Shannon, Jr., who finished with 29 points, returned to make the big plays down the stretch and Illinois survived, 72-69.
The Illini move on to face mighty UConn, which annihilated the San Diego St. team that it defeated in the national championship game last season. Here is UConn’s scoring margin in their last nine NCAA Tournament games: 24. 15, 23, 28, 13, 17, 39, 17, 32. That is John Wooden-UCLA territory. The Huskies are an exquisitely complete and balanced team. They excel at both ends of the court. They will be challenged by an exceptionally athletic Illinois team, the kind of team that the Big Ten rarely produces. It figures to be a closer, but we’ve thought that before.
In terms of conferences, one team each advanced from the three-bid Big East (now 7-0), five-bid ACC (now 9-2), six-bid Big Ten (now 7-4) and eight-bid SEC (now 6-6). The six-bid Mountain West Conference is out of the Tournament, finishing with a 4-6 record. The four-bid Pac 12 is out of the Tournament, finishing with a 6-4 record. The 7-bid Big 12 now is 6-6 and has one team left.
Four more games tomorrow. Enjoy!
17-15
On to the Sweet 16.
Two weeks ago, Clemson, the 6-seed in the ACC Tournament, lost by 21 points in its opening game in the ACC Tournament to 11-seeded Boston College. Tonight, the Tigers, 6-seeded in the NCAA Tournament as well, and legitimately so, defeated 2-seed Arizona 77-72 in a game that was close in its way but never uncertain as to which was the better team. The Tigers advanced to the Elite 8 for the first time since 1980, when the Larry Nance-led Tigers, also a 6-seed, defeated a BYU team with Danny Ainge and three other future NBA players. When he was with the 76ers, Charles Barkley was once asked to compare one of them, Fred Roberts, with his Celtics teammate Kevin McHale, who, like Roberts, was 6-10 and white. Barkley cut through the stereotyping with his customary delicacy: “McHale can play; Roberts can’t.”
As Barkley knew from when he was a roly-poly Auburn freshman known as “Bread Truck”, it is not whether a player looks like he can play, it is whether a player actually can play. Which leads us to Ian Schieffelin, an inspiration to every chunky kid who thought he was good enough to make the team. Schieffelin does not look like a college basketball player, but, in fact, he is the linchpin of a deep, veteran and well-rounded Clemson team that stumbled late in the grind of the ACC but now is peaking at just the right time. Tonight, Schieffelin had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block, many of them key plays down the stretch, including a gorgeous feed to Clemson’s well-rounded center P.J. Hall. The other key for Clemson tonight and throughout the Tournament has been the resurgence of senior guard Chase Hunter, a quality guard who had inexplicably receded in his senior year, but who is averaging nearly 20 points a game in this Tournament. Hunter contributed 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists tonight, including a number of his own key plays down the stretch.
For Arizona, it was another disappointing exit. The Wildcats had everything set up for it, including a home crowd in Los Angeles and the chance of an even bigger advantage in Phoenix next week. Everything, that is, except the team. Not a bad team, but not enough, despite some courageous play by Jaden Bradley to bring them back tonight. Caleb Love had many big nights in his career, including in this Tournament when he was at North Carolina. But Love is a high-delta player, and he had one of those nights tonight, including 0-9 from three-point range. In all, Arizona was 5-28 from three, a performance that Arizona’s edge in rebounds and foul shots (fueled by 11 foul calls on Clemson in the first 11 and a half minutes of the second half) could not overcome.
The second game in the West Region was a highly entertaining fray between another ACC team, 1-seed North Carolina and 4-seed Alabama out of the SEC. For most of the game, Alabama was more than happy to sacrifice defense for a fast pace that would favor its high-flying offense led by the stocky guard, Mark Sears, ably assisted tonight by swingmen Rylan Griffin and Aaron Estrada and double-double big man Grant Nelson. While Alabama’s coach lost me permanently last year, I have to admit he had a plan, including to dare UNC’s non-shooters to beat them, and to try and make life as hard as possible for UNC stars R.J. Davis and Armondo Bacot. Although the Tar Heels led most of the game, and threatened to break away at moments, the plan worked well enough that the Crimson Tide was within two with five minutes to play. Nelson, late of North Dakota St., chose this moment to take over the game with seven straight points, putting Alabama up five. North Carolina battled back to take the lead, led by Davis and a surprising lift from sub Jae’lyn Withers, to go up three. But Sears drove and hit, Withers took an ill-advised three and Nelson scored and was fouled to put Alabama up two. Davis tried to force the play, Alabama, defending better late, forced a shot clock violation, Nelson, the man of the match, hit two more foul shots and North Carolina was done.
In the ACC Tournament, North Carolina relied almost exclusively on Davis and Bacot, especially Davis, at the end of the game. It worked against Pitt, but it cost them against NC State, and it cost them again tonight. Remarkably, Davis had the same 0-9 three-point night as his old buddy Caleb Love. Davis has a more well-rounded game than Love, and he attacked the hoop to score 14 in the second half. But he was 4-20 for the game and, while Bacot was better with 19 points and 12 rebounds, he was not better enough, he was not dominant, and he missed a big dunk late in the game. UNC shot 25% in the second half, so maybe Alabama played just enough defense after all.
As this drama was unfolding, Iowa State was crawling back from a ten point halftime deficit to cut Illinois’ lead to two points. The Cyclones were aided by the Illini’s struggles from the foul line, where the Illini finished 15-29, and four fouls on the Illini star, Terrance Shannon, Jr. Illinois is an unusual team in that they do not play any true guards and instead rely heavily on the 6-6 Shannon, 6-7 swingman Brian Domask and 6-10 Coleman Hawkins to handle the ball. The game was in doubt until the final seconds, but Shannon, Jr., who finished with 29 points, returned to make the big plays down the stretch and Illinois survived, 72-69.
The Illini move on to face mighty UConn, which annihilated the San Diego St. team that it defeated in the national championship game last season. Here is UConn’s scoring margin in their last nine NCAA Tournament games: 24. 15, 23, 28, 13, 17, 39, 17, 32. That is John Wooden-UCLA territory. The Huskies are an exquisitely complete and balanced team. They excel at both ends of the court. They will be challenged by an exceptionally athletic Illinois team, the kind of team that the Big Ten rarely produces. It figures to be a closer, but we’ve thought that before.
In terms of conferences, one team each advanced from the three-bid Big East (now 7-0), five-bid ACC (now 9-2), six-bid Big Ten (now 7-4) and eight-bid SEC (now 6-6). The six-bid Mountain West Conference is out of the Tournament, finishing with a 4-6 record. The four-bid Pac 12 is out of the Tournament, finishing with a 6-4 record. The 7-bid Big 12 now is 6-6 and has one team left.
Four more games tomorrow. Enjoy!
17-15