Entering Saturday night’s game between Texas’s third place and Abilene Christian’s fourteenth place, Big 12 was 6-0 in the NCAA tournament and prepared for a perfect first round. But when the Longhorns collapsed against their opponent in the state of the Southland Conference, it began a difficult period for the much-vaunted conference.
Although Baylor No. 1 seed survived Wisconsin No. 9 seed on Sunday, Texas Tech No. 6 seed, West Virginia No. 3 seed and Oklahoma State No. 4 seed each lost, meaning the 12 big are now only 1-4 their last five games and are 7-4 on Big Dance. With eighth place in Oklahoma facing the challenge of his life on Monday against first-placed general Gonzaga, he may soon be in traditional league skills carrying the league flag.
Baylor is on Sweet 16, and Kansas number 3 has a chance to get there on Monday against 6th place USC. But with the Red Raiders, Mountaineers, Cowboys and Longhorns all leaving in a 24-hour period, the Big 12 needs its remaining contenders to go far if the conference will emerge from the NCAA Tournament as the best in the country.
It was another wild day at the NCAA Tournament, so let’s talk about the winners and losers.
Winner: Oregon State
The Beavers are heading to Sweet 16 for the first time since 1982. Chosen to finish last in Pac-12 in the preseason, Oregon State is a perfect example of what the right time warming up can do for your team. Coach Wayne Tinkle and his team were nowhere near competing for a general offer from the NCAA Tournament throughout the season, but they ran during the Pac-12 tournament to secure the league’s automatic offer and eliminated seeds 5 and 4 in the Midwest Regional to secure its first appearance on Sweet 16 in almost 40 years. – Boone
Loser: Seeing the end of Cade Cunningham’s race
We are all really losers here, because it would have been attractive to see a player with Cade Cunningham’s star power advance deep into the tournament. At the end of the day, we should be happy that we were able to see him in college basketball. When the state of Oklahoma was banned from postseason over the summer, Cunningham could easily have decided that playing ball in college was not worth the risk. Instead, he honored his commitment to the Cowboys. In doing so, he elevated the program’s status and consolidated its status as the likely No. 1 choice in the NBA Draft. And in the end, Oklahoma State managed to play in the postseason after all. With the advent of the G League Ignite program for elite high school students, we can see fewer and fewer stars like Cunningham in the sport, so it was great to see a player of his caliber having what appeared to be a positive experience in a nontraditional powerhouse. . – Cobb
Winner: Oral Roberts joins the exclusive list of 15 seed companies
Oral Roberts on Sunday surprised 7th place in Florida 81-78, despite losing by more than 30 minutes of gameplay, making it only the second position in 15th in the history of the NCAA tournament to follow for Sweet 16 The Golden Eagles scored 28 and 26 points from Kevin Obanor and Max Abmas, respectively, when the dynamic duo appeared again in the clutch. It is the second participation of the program in Sweet 16 and the first since 1974, when there were only 25 teams in the tournament and there was no seeding. – Boone
Winner: Houston destroys an ugly victory against Rutgers
With 8:45 remaining for the second half of Sunday’s second-round game between Houston and Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights took their biggest advantage of the game, 52-42. But over the final eight minutes, the Cougars tried to eliminate the deficit in an unlikely 63-60 victory. They closed in a 7-0 run and kept Rutgers with 0 out of 3 shots during that final stretch. – Boone
Winner: Arkansas is back
The Razorbacks made six starts on Sweet 16 – and won a national title – over a period of seven years in the 1990s under coach Nolan Richardson. But they haven’t been back since 1996, at least not until Sunday. Arkansas finally made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with an exciting 68-66 victory over Texas Tech number 6. It is a remarkable turnaround for coach Eric Musselman’s second season program, and the Razorbacks may not be over yet. They will play in 15th place, Oral Roberts, on Sweet 16 and enter with the advantage of having defeated the Golden Eagles 87-76 in December. – Cobb
Winner: Loyola Chicago does it again
CBS analyst Bill Raftery said it is better at the end of the second half of No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago’s 71-58 upset of No. 1 seed Illinois on Sunday. “This is not just a divine intervention,” said Raftery. “This is great basketball.”
It was a perfect summary of Sunday’s action. Although the nation loves the Ramblers for their moving personality as a darling midfielder who is defended by a spiritual force in the form of the 101-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean, there is nothing flabby in the way this team plays. In fact, this team is held in high regard by metrics expert Ken Pomeroy than the 2018 Final Four team. Still, the Ramblers’ relentless efficiency was somewhat surprising. His only other game against a Big Ten team this season was a 14-point defeat against Wisconsin. But the combination of divine intervention and great basketball was lethal on Sunday, and Loyola is heading towards Sweet 16. – Cobb
Loser: Illinois falls short of its potential
The Illini had won 15 of their last 16 games by entering Sunday’s competition, and their impressive stint at the Big Ten Tournament suggested that a deep run at the NCAA Tournament was something of a foregone conclusion. Maybe the claim about Loyola Chicago deserves better seed is legitimate, and maybe the Illini were hurt by having to play against the Ramblers so soon, but should we really feel sympathy for Illinois because of that? Illinois did not play as the No. 1 seed on Sunday. In fact, it never did. A few more days before playing against an unknown opponent at the Missouri Valley Conference would have been beneficial, but the beauty of this tournament is the unpredictability produced by the simple elimination format. You can’t have a poor performance and hope to move forward, and the Illini learned that the hardest thing on Sunday, as their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2013, ended bitterly. – Cobb
Winner: Baylor hits the target
The number 1 3-point shooting team (41.4% beyond the hoop) in the country, Baylor launched an efficient offensive exit – as he usually does – to escape without a scratch against Wisconsin. The Bears won 76-63 after a performance of 8 of 17 at a distance and four turns. Five different players dropped shots beyond the arc as the Bears advanced to Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the show’s history. – Boone
Loser: Big Ten is disappearing in the NCAA tournament
The reputation of no conference had a greater impact than the Big Ten during the first round of the NCAA Tournament as No. 2 seed Ohio State, No. 4 seed Purdue, No. 11 seed Michigan State all eliminated early. The same goes for the first day of the 2nd round.
The league was spearheaded throughout the season by several contenders for the Final Four, but top runner Illinois joined runner-up at Ohio State on Sunday, dropping ahead of Sweet 16, with a 71-58 loss to eighth champion Loyola Chicago . Meanwhile, No. 9 Wisconsin seed also left the left stage, dropping 76-63 to No. 1 Baylor seed. Number 10 of the Rutgers seed also joined the exodus on Sunday.
There is still hope that the conference will be redeemed, but it will be difficult. Seed No. 1 Michigan is indefinitely without the star Isaiah Livers because of a foot injury, and seed No. 2 Iowa is in the same region as No. 1 seed Gonzaga overall. If you can’t capitalize this year, it will be difficult to digest, as the Big Ten has gone on for more than two decades without producing a national champion. – Boone
Winner: Syracuse’s defense zone moves Orange forward
Orange confused West Virginia in the first half, while the Mountaineers dug a 14-point hole with 11 turnovers and only 29 points in the first half. Eventually, West Virginia found its coup and took a brief lead. But Syracuse strengthened and closed a 75-72 victory to reach his seventh Sweet 16 in the last 12 NCAA tournaments. There is something about the patented zone of this program that is difficult for opponents to deal with in a short time. With Buddy Boeheim playing 3 points and his father, Jim, distributing the wisdom gained through a life in the sport, this team is exceeding expectations after just sneaking into Big Dance. – Cobb