Upsets always occur in the first round. But it is the second round win that defines a team as a “Cinderella”.
Today we had our first day of those wins to define teams going to the sweet 16. And it was full of upsets! Let’s have a look…
Saint Mary’s: To start the day off, the St. Mary’s Gael’s from Moraga, California, upset the #2 seed in the South, Villanova. Led by Omar Samhan’s 32 points, St. Mary’s looked dominant from start to finish. Along with all of the other upsets today, they led for most of the game.
St. Mary’s has never been a powerhouse basketball school and this is just the first for them in the NCAA tournament in their six tries since 1959. If that does not define a Cinderella, I don’t know what does.
Samhan has made a name for himself this tournament, scoring 29 and 32 points to go along with his 7 and 12 rebounds. In a funny side story, his mother told him earlier this week that she would meet him in Houston. She did not even come to Providence to see these first round games. I heard the CBS announcers call him the “Charles Barkley of the tournament” this year. You know what that means…Samham’s Twitter account is about to explode.
Interestingly, I found Samhan’s blog today and this video he prepared with his teammates Ben Allen and Mickey McConnell. They discuss a bit of strategy heading into today’s game and it definitely worked out. (Strangely, their shirts are backwards, so I think he sneakily – or cluelessly – inverted the video. That or they all wear their shirts inside out these days…)
Northern Iowa: The Panthers stunned the world today and busted brackets everywhere with their win over #1 seed and #1 overall ranked Kansas. They led from the beginning and never gave up that lead. Kansas truly looked outplayed today. While Kansas would probably win 49 out of 50 times, today was that 50th game.
Two names to mention here: Ali Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch. Ali hit the biggest shot of the tourney this far when he took a wide-open three with 30 seconds left on the shot clock and only about 35 seconds left in the game while being up just 1 point. Most coaches would prefer to hold the ball and possibly wait for the foul, but he had an open shot and knew they were going to trap and pressure, so he took the shot and drained it.
Koch, on the other hand, is their star player. Two-time league MVP, he led their team in rebounds today and had a huge offensive rebound and dunk with just a minute or two to go. He looks skilled and plays hard. I’m looking forward to watching him start over with zero fouls in the Sweet Sixteen.
Over half of the entries in our office pool had Kansas winning it all. That just made the true pool much smaller, not only in our office but nationwide.
Washington: The UW Huskies are tough to classify as a Cinderella as they have been a consistent contender in the tournament throughout the 2000 decade. That said, as an #11 seed coming out of an obviously under-appreciated PAC-10 this year, they have now upset two higher seeds.
Even calling this game an upset is difficult. It was a blowout. The Huskies ran the ball and played pressure defense to make New Mexico look like a high school team today. The Huskies are playing their best ball to finish up the season having won their last 9 straight games now.
Keep an eye on Quincy Pondexter (Q-Pon) as he is their clear star. Isaiah Thomas and even Elston Turner have stepped up and hit some big shots in the tournament so far, but Pondexter is their go to player. However, for Washington to keep winning, their whole team needs to continue to play well and play hard. The Huskies excel when they use their athleticism by running and playing pressure defense. It is possible that UW leads the nation in lankiness (7″+ wingspans are the norm), especially with Justin Holiday. Combine that with their athleticism and they are a big underdog threat in the round of 16.
*image source: espn.com
