Best Basketball Weekend Ever Plus The Sweet 16 and Beyond

Has there ever been a better opening weekend to March Madness? It’s always amazing, but this year was especially amazing! We’re breaking down all the games and taking a look at the Sweet 16 and beyond for your Second Chance Bracket! Plus Warriors/Spurs. Can the Spurs beat the Dubs in a 7-game series? Podcast notes below. Listen on iTunes here: Simply The Best Sports Podcast

{Podcast Notes}

Enter the STB Sports Take — Second Chance Bracket Pool

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is the best sporting even in the world. Better than Super Bowl & Olympics. 

List of all higher (worse) seed wins

FIRST ROUND (13/32 games in 1st round won by higher/worse seeded team)

• 9 Butler 71-61 over 8 TX Tech
• 9 UCONN 74-67 over 8 Colo.
• 12 Yale 79-75 over 5 Baylor
  • Baylor interview: Taurean Prince, 28 pts. 4 rebs. 3 asts.
• 12 Little Rock 85-83 over 5 Purdue in 2OT
• 11 Wichita St. 65-55 over 6 AZ
• 9 Providence 70-69 over 8 USC
• 11 Gonzaga 68-52 over 6 Seton Hall
• 10 Syracuse 70-51 over 7 Dayton
• 10 VCU 75-67 over 7 Ore. St.
• 13 Hawaii 77-66 over 4 Cal
• 15 Midd. TN 90-81 over 2 Mich. St.
  • Maybe the biggest upset in NCAA tourney history
  • Only 8th time ever a 15 has beaten a 2. 16 has never beaten a 1 and this is IMO the best 2 seed to ever lose in first round
• 14 SFA 70-56 over 3 WVU
• 11 UNI 75-72 over 6 TX

SECOND ROUND (3/16 games won by higher/worse seed)

• 5 Indiana 73-67 over 4 Kentucky
• 11 Gonzaga 82-59 over 3 Utah
• 7 Wisconsin 66-63 over 2 Xavier

Double digit seeded teams in Sweet 16

• 11 Gonzaga v 10 Syracuse
  • double digit seed headed to Elite 8

List off all buzzer beaters (SIX games decided at buzzer)

• 11 UNI 75-72 over 6 TX
  • Sr. Paul Jespersen (14 pts, 3 rebs) goes bank from half court at buzzer
• 9 Providence 70-69 over 8 USC
  • Friars inbounding under hoop, Trojans focused on Big East POY Kris Dunn, wide open layup for Rodney Bullock underneath
• 7 Iowa 72-70 over 10 Temple in OT
  • Quinton Decoy hit 3 FTs for Temple at end of regulation to force OT
  • Adam Woodbury pushes off a bit to catch airball and put it in just before buzzer
• Cincinnati had that dunk that would have forced OT, but it was waived off cuz it was still in his hands just barely
• 6 Notre Dame 76-75 over 14 SFA
  • 3rd attempt tip in by Rex FLUGER – his only bucket of the game
• 7 WI 66-63 over 2 Xavier to go Sweet 16
  • step back corner 3 at Buzzer by Bronson Kane-ig
  • Bill Murray face, son ast coach
  • WI in Sweet 16 for 5th time in 6 seasons

List all OT games

• 12 Little Rock 85-83 over 5 Purdue in 2OT
• 7 Iowa 72-70 over 10 Temple in OT
  • Quinton De-coy hit 3 FTs for Temple at end of regulation to force OT
  • Adam Woodbury pushes off a bit to catch airball and put it in just before buzzer
• 3 TX AM 92-88 over 11 UNI in 2OT
• UNI up 12 with 34 seconds left, 4 TOs, Daniel House goes off for 22 in final 5 mins of game and OTs
  • many A&M fans had left
  • Fivethirtyeight.com gave A/M a 0.1% chance of winning with 34 secs left

All 1s in Sweet 16, two 2s, two 3s, two 4s

I got 10/16 correct. Lost West Virginia and Mich. St. from my Elite 8 and Mich. St. from my Final Four. UNC and Kansas in my Championship, with UNC winning it all, which I feel good about.

South:

• 1 Kansas v 5 Maryland (Kansas)
• 2 Villanova v 3 Miami (Miami, but Nova to hedge bet)

West:

• 1 Oregon v 4 Duke (Duke, I had Oregon, but I think Duke now)
• 2 Okla v 3 TX AM (Okla)

East:

• 1 UNC v 5 Indiana (UNC)
• 6 Notre Dame v 7 Wisconsin (Notre Dame)

Midwest:

• 1 Virginia v 4 Iowa State (Virginia)
• 10 Syracuse v 11 Gonzaga (Gonzaga)

Best & worst conferences

• Best: ACC, record 6 teams in Sweet 16
  • 1 UNC (5 Indiana)
  • 1 UVa (4 Iowa St)
  • 3 Miami (2 Villanova)
  • 4 Duke (1 Oregon)
  • 6 Notre Dame (7 Wisconsin)
  • 10 Syracuse (11 Gonzaga)
  • And guess what, I think five of them advance to the elite 8. Syracuse likely to lose to Gonzaga.

• Worst: Pac-12
  • started w 6, all lower/better seed for first round, only Oregon & Utah won opening round
  • Only Oregon in Sweet 16 as a 1 seed.
  • 3 Utah got embarrassed by 11 Gonzaga, tying a tournament record for largest margin of victory by a double digit seed in tourney history–23
  • 4 Cal lost opening round
  • 6 AZ lost to 11 Wichita St who had to play a play in game to even be there
  • 8 Colo lost to 9 UCONN
  • 8 USC lost to 9 Providence on buzzer beating layup

Warriors lost to Spurs 87-79 in SA. Curry 14 pts. (4/18, 1/12) 6 rebs. 6 asts.

Can Spurs beat Warriors in 7 game series? Yes, but it’s unlikely.

– name misspellings on purpose for accurate pronunciation on podcast