Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

NCAA Tournament 2014: Seven reasons the best day in sports was better than ...


Wrapping opening day in the round of 64 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament:


1. Working overtime. When New Mexico State rallied from seven points down with 50 seconds left to force overtime against San Diego State, it became the fourth overtime game of the day - setting a record for the tournament in the expanded bracket era.


Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there never had been more than three overtimes in a single day. But a quarter of Thursday's games were OT affairs: Saint Louis over N.C. State, North Dakota State over Oklahoma, Connecticut over Saint Joseph's and San Diego State over NMSU.


MORE: SN recaps all of Thursday's action in one place


Just for good measure, three others were decided by two possessions or less, one of those on a buzzer-beater, and Manhattan led No. 4 seed Louisville inside the final five minutes.


It was quite a day.


2. The .801 club strikes again. One message that never seems to get through to the NCAA Tournament selection committee, no matter how many times the information is repeated, is the value of winning games. You'd think they'd understand this, but clearly they do not. They do not respect victory. They think it can be a trick.


Harvard was not fooling anyone when the Crimson compiled a 26-4 record. They were excellent. North Dakota State was 25-6. The Bison were excellent. They are part of what Sporting News calls the .801 Club - teams that enter the NCAA Tournament having won better than 80 percent of their games. Those who wonder where these supposed 'upsets' come from, the 12-over-5s and such, it's often because the 12 seeds have no business being 12 seeds.


PHOTOS: Must-see tourney scenes | Best of social media


Between 2006-10, members of the .801 club won 173 tournament games and lost only 23 times to opponents that were not part of the club. That includes champions such as 2008 Kansas and 2009 North Carolina, but also mid-major 'upset winners' such as 2010 Northern Iowa and 2008 Davidson.


And now, 2014 Harvard and 2014 North Dakota State. There are 15 members of the .801 club in this year's field. Eight played Thursday. Only one lost - Cincinnati, which lost to fellow member, Harvard.


So watch out for Stephen F. Austin, New Mexico, Gonzaga and, of course, Wichita State as Friday's games commence.


3. The eyes of Texas? There was no ball-watching for Longhorns center Cameron Ridley. That's often a problem in those decisive sequences at the end of games - players waiting to see what will happen instead of making things happen.


WATCH: Ridley beats buzzer


Given his size - 6-9, 285 pounds - it was impressive to see Ridley dash from the right wing to the center of the lane when teammate Jonathan Holmes attempted to land a game-winning 3-pointer. Holmes shot long and missed badly but Ridley, who had surged into the center of the lane from 12 feet out, grabbed the ball as it bounced down toward the court and stretched to score a lefty layup just before the buzzer.


'I just wanted to go to the glass as hard as I could,' he told CBS. And so he did.


4. Going small. It was a terrible day for Ohio State big men Amir Williams and Trey McDonald in the Buckeyes' loss to Dayton. Neither scored in a combined 27 minutes, although they did grab eight total rebounds.


Still, it was a surprise that Ohio State took the floor out of a timeout with 17 seconds remaining and endeavored to protect a one-point lead with no one on the floor taller than 6-8 LaQuinton Ross. Ross has 19 blocked shots on the season. Williams has 60.


When Aaron Craft was unable to contain a drive by UD's Vee Sanford with 6 seconds left, there was no big man to help shut it down.


5. Technically nuts. With 11:11 left in the first half of Cincinnati's loss to Harvard, the Bearcats were called for one of the rarest technical fouls: Someone had forgotten to assure that reserve forward Jermaine Sanders' name was in the official scorebook.


Harvard shot two free throws and made one, so the play did not have a major impact on the 61-57 final score. But it certainly impacted the development of the game. Strangely, it does not appear anyone asked coach Mick Cronin about the discrepancy in the team's postgame press conference.


6. Adreian Payne is a pain. After watching Payne go for 41 points and eight rebounds in Michigan State's easy victory over Delaware, Blue Hens coach Monte Ross said Payne was the best big guy he'd coached against in more than two decades in the business.


When he was at St. Joe's, Ross coached against NBA star David West.


7. Why we love college hoops. When Saint Joseph's had clearly lost in OT to UConn, coach Phil Martelli removed seniors Ron Roberts and Langston Galloway for a final ovation. Huskies All-American Shabazz Napier jogged over and gave each player a hug. Why?


'I didn't know those guys until today, but when you play basketball with that competitiveness, you earn a lot of respect,' Napier said. 'I'm passionate for the game, and I saw in their eyes. They're seniors, and this is it.


'I just wanted to show my respect and tell the guys they did a tremendous job.'


Post a Comment for "NCAA Tournament 2014: Seven reasons the best day in sports was better than ..."