NCAA Tournament Round of 64 has Upsets, Overtimes and Mentor vs Pupil
The Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament began in earnest on Thursday and the excitement did not stop until the final whistle blew to end the 16th game of the night.
The day included teams winning that were supposed to, upsets, 4 overtimes and a matchup of mentor versus pupil.
When Dayton won a thrilling victory over Ohio State basketball fans knew they were in for a great day. Louisville was stretched to the limit in one of the last games of that day.
Many games in between had NCAA basketball fans on the edge of their seats and fans at arenas across the nation standing and cheering for their teams.
The day produced more overtime games than any one day previously in NCAA Tournament history. No one who watched the games can say it was anything less than extraordinary. College players playing their hearts out with some moving on to the round of 32 and some left weepy in defeat.
Mixed in the 16 games were results that were expected with higher seeds easily defeating lower seeds. Wisconsin scored 40 points to American’s 6 during one stretch. Syracuse’s offense woke up and scored 77 points for a 24-point win over Western Michigan. Michigan State routed Delaware, which reassured all the Spartans fans that being seeded No. 4 is not the end of the world.
Florida won by 12 over Albany but the game was still in doubt late into the second half, Michigan tossed aside a much weaker Wofford team, while Villanova easily handled lesser talented Milwaukee. Pitt routed Colorado and Oregon did the same against BYU.
Harvard upset Cincinnati in a battle between a No. 12 and No. 5 seed. Harvard came into the Round of 64 as an upset pick in this matchup. Cincinnati has one of the best defenses in the nation, but Harvard was better on the day in their 61-57 win.
The four overtimes featured Connecticut surviving 89-81 over St. Joseph’s. Saint Louis was down by 16 points with less than eight minutes to play before tying the score late and finally defeating the North Carolina State Wolfpack in OT 83-80.
North Dakota State upset Oklahoma in overtime 80-75 to move on to the round of 32. Texas got a late put back basket from Cameron Ridley to defeat Arizona State.
The Louisville versus Manhattan matchup featured Rick Pitino the legendary Cardinals coached versus his former ball boy for the New York Knicks and assistant coach at Louisville Steve Masiello.
The Jaspers held Louisville to a draw at 60-60 for the first 38 minutes, before Luke Hancock sank two threes to nail down the win down for the Cardinals.
Pitino said before the game that he did not like the matchup, as Manhattan played the same offense and defense as his Louisville Cardinals. The game was like an inter-squad scrimmage with the starters versus the reserves.
The night ended out West with the San Diego State Aztecs a No. 4 seed holding on, to win in overtime versus the No. 13 seed New Mexico State.
These moments of sheer joy and bitter defeat are common in the NCAA Tournament, but they never get old. This is the essence of college sports fighting for pride and a national title and not just earning a paycheck.
