The insanity of the NCAA Tournament came back strong on Friday, with the action of the first round featuring overtime, twists and many brilliant moments. Teams like Oregon State and Oral Roberts achieved their first NCAA tournament wins in decades, but the day also helped us to meet some well-known characters.
Baylor and Illinois have been in the spotlight all season and both have dealt with the pressure associated with being the No. 1 seed relatively easily on Friday. Both teams dispatched their opponents from the first round with ease. The day was not so good for one of the No. 2 seeds, however.
Ohio State looked great in the Big Ten Tournament as it claimed three straight wins and then narrowly lost to Illinois in the final. But the Buckeyes were dismissed on Friday in a 75-72 loss in overtime to 15th place, Oral Roberts. This game can be considered the first round contest that everyone remembers from this NCAA Tournament. But Friday also offered a lot more to unpack.
Here is a summary of the winners and losers as we take a spin on the action from the first round.
Winner: Sister Jean is back
The star of the 2018 NCAA Tournament is back. No, not Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser or the great man Cameron Krutwig, who was a freshman when the Ramblers reached the Final Four. We’re talking about Sister Jean. Now 101 years old, the spiritual mark of Loyola Chicago’s program was watched in a game in person for the first time this season on Friday, and she saw her number 8 seed Ramblers take care of business in a 71-60 victory about Georgia Tech. The next one is a game with seed number 1, Illinois, and if Loyola Chicago is going to win this one, he may really need some star intervention.
The Yellow Jackets were one of the best wellness stories of the week for the conference tournament, as they won their first crown in the ACC tournament since 1993 and secured their first slot in the NCAA tournament in 11 years. But the magical trip ended on a frustrating end on Friday, with the loss to Loyola Chicago. It is not so much the defeat itself that is disappointing for Georgia Tech, but the question of what might have happened if Moses Wright had played. The senior striker was the ACC Player of the Year, but was inactive on Friday. Without him, Georgia Tech was just a shell of the team that won eight consecutive games entering the NCAA Tournament.
Winner: Oral Roberts is Cinderella
Questionnaire: Can you name the geographical location and religious affiliation of Oral Roberts University? I didn’t think so. But the evangelical private university in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is officially on the map of college basketball now. The Golden Eagles recorded their school’s name in the history books of the NCAA Tournament with a 75-72 victory in overtime for 2nd place at Ohio State, becoming only 9th place in 15th place to win a game from the first Big Dance round. Don’t fall asleep with Oral Roberts advancing either. With the country’s top scorer, Max Abmas, and a potent teammate from Kevon Obanor leading a high-profile attack, this team is capable of taking down seventh in the Florida ranking on Sunday.
With the other big man Omar Payne serving suspension and the other Florida powder players facing some initial problems, the Gators needed Colin Castleton a lot on Friday, and he did. The pivot helped lead Florida to a 75-70 victory in overtime on Virginia Tech’s No. 10 championship with 19 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in 43 minutes. Castleton was an underutilized reserve during his first two college seasons in Michigan, but he became a star for the Gators. With Castleton playing so well and the Gators now ready for a game against seed number 15 for seed Oral Roberts in Sunday’s second round, perhaps Florida will have a surprise race in the tank.
Loser: Tennessee roller coaster ride
Tennessee started with 10-1 and spent five weeks in the top 10 in the AP Top 25 vote earlier this season as it was praised for its depth and stifling team defense. But after losing 70-56 to Oregon State’s No. 12, the Volunteers ended the season by just 8-8. The double-digit defeat on Friday solidified that this is going to be considered a disappointing season for a show that seemed to be trending upwards after launching the five-star wings Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson. The pair almost lived up to the hype, but Tennessee failed to get enough of its other players and fell far short of its potential.
Winner: Oregon State wins first victory since 1982
This is not a typo. The Beavers hadn’t won a Big Dance game in almost 40 years, until their impressive turnaround in Tennessee. If you still don’t believe in this team, it might be time to change that. After defeating three NCAA Tournament teams in the Pac-12 Tournament, the Beavers are still on the rise. There was a time when it looked like the point guard Ethan Thompson might have to bear an unhealthy offensive charge for this team. But OSU had four double-digit scorers on Friday, led by a 16-point performance on 8 of 8 shots from Roman Silva.
It certainly looks like Arkansas striker Justin Smith made the right choice by leaving Indiana for Arkansas before the 2020-21 season. Smith is not only playing a bigger role with the Razorbacks than with the Hoosiers, but he is also playing for a better team. Arkansas is now just one win away from its first Sweet 16 since 1996, after toppling Colgate’s number 14. The Razorbacks will have to go through sixth position in Texas Tech to get there, but if Smith plays as he did on Friday, there is a good chance that this will happen. Smith averaged 16.8 points from 64.7% of pitches in his last eight games entering the NCAA tournament. That average is rising again after he pitted 29 against the Patriot League champions. The fact that the NCAA tournament is held entirely in Indiana is certainly a nice touch for Smith.
Winner: Davonte Davis goes between the legs
The other Arkansas winner was Davonte Davis because of that ridiculous pass that helped key Arkansas in the second half against Colgate. If basketball doesn’t work, Davis could have a long career ahead of him on the football field.
Loser: bettors with the Baylor spread
Baylor had a 29 point lead with less than three minutes left and looked set to cover 25.5 points in his victory over Hartford’s number 16 on Friday. But Hartford bench heaters had other ideas. Guard Briggs McClain had played just 25 minutes throughout the season, but he came in with 2:20 left on Friday and doubled his points total for the season with a pair of buckets. The second of his two marks came with 22 seconds remaining and reduced Baylor’s lead from 26 to 24. This seemingly meaningless move had a big impact in the betting world, as it meant that Hartford covered the difference. If you can handle bad words, search for McClain’s name on Twitter and see who felt the impact of those baskets.
Winner: Illinois deals with business
After winning the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2005 and winning first place for his first appearance at the NCAA Tournament since 2013, it could have been easy for Illinois to look beyond its first game on Friday. But Illini dealt with business like champions in a 78-49 victory over Drexel. They covered the 22.5 point difference and were able to give their holders a very light workload before a final showdown with Loyola Chicago’s number 8 on Sunday.
Winner: Texas Tech defense
No one is confusing this iteration of the Red Raiders with the defensively strong team that reached the 2019 national title game as the third-placed player. But the 2021 version of Texas Tech made an excellent defensive effort in the 65-53 victory over Utah State No. 11 on Friday. Utah hit just 4 out of 19 points out of 3 in the game. Containing the Razorbacks will be a big challenge, but Friday’s defensive effort was an encouraging sign for the Red Raiders.
Loser: the old guard fights
We are only halfway through the first round and the following coaches are no longer part of the NCAA Tournament: Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, Rick Barnes, John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski. Okay, Calipari and Krzyzewski didn’t make it in the first place. But the question remains: it has been a difficult experience for familiar faces in the world of coaches this season, and vets are not having any luck at the start of this Big Dance. It may be up to Jim Boeheim, from Syracuse, to represent the group advancing while his Orange advanced to the round of 16.
Winner: State of Texas
The Lone Star status is 5-0 so far in the NCAA Tournament. Baylor, Houston and Texas Tech were all favored. But Texas Southern and North Texas were not necessarily expected to win their first games. Texas Southern achieved this in Thursday’s First Four, with a victory over fellow number 16, Mount St. Mary’s, and North Texas recorded one of Friday’s biggest surprises by taking down the number 4 seed Purdue. Unfortunately, the state’s unbeaten streak is guaranteed to end on Saturday. This is because Texas’s third place is facing an opponent in the state when it plays fourteenth position, Abilene Christian, on the wave of night games.
Loser: Big Ten and ACC fighting
It looked like an excellent year for the Big Ten, and the seeds of the NCAA Tournament secured by the league’s elite squads reflected that. Illinois and Michigan are both No. 1 seeds, and Ohio State and Iowa secured the second seed. But the Buckeyes have already been eliminated from the field, and the rest of the league has seen mixed results. Purdue was upset at the number 13 of northern Texas on Friday, and the state of Michigan gave up a double-digit advantage in the defeat to UCLA during the first four days of Thursday. Wisconsin looked surprisingly good, and the No. 10 Rutgers seed saved the night by dropping No. 7 Clemson. But if the Big Ten is going to burst a 21-year national title drought, its best teams will have to prove that the league was really strict after all.
ACC may have had a worse day, however. Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina lost. The only team in the league that won on Friday was Syracuse. Florida and Virginia may be able to rescue the ACC on Saturday, but things did not start well.