85 Expansion - March is still March
In the era of NIL and paid NCAA players, there is a heavy discourse on the demise of College Basketball. College Football has always been about the Power 4 Conferences, even with the recent implementation of a playoff. However, College Basketball has long been about the underdog; the David versus Goliath, the Cinderella Story, the bracket buster. How could that be maintained with teams spending millions of dollars on a roster versus teams with unpaid players? Day 1 of the tournament showed us that upsets are not leaving us any day soon, and there are no wins given in March. March Madness is still March Madness, and every team has to show up to advance, no matter how much money is being spent on a sideline. Let us not forget, these are still 17 and 18 year old kids. Just because they have a multi-million dollar price tag attached to their name, doesn’t mean they are immune from the pressure of the NCAA Tournament spotlight. If anything, the Goliath’s are bigger, which only means they fall harder.
We had a story in the making earlier than expected, as I’m sure many people started getting upset alerts on their phones for Siena over Duke; a shout out to the MAAC. For context of the NIL storyline, Duke has a reported $10 Million roster, while Siena does not pay their players enough to even report, and I would assume a fair bit under $1 million. Siena jumped out to a hot start, but that isn’t enough to get excited about. But then we had a halftime lead of 11 points, and a whopping 43 points in the first half for the Saints over the #1 team in the country, and that put some excitement in the air. In the end, Duke pulled out the win. But given that the spread was 28.5 points, Siena proved that no team can be overlooked in March, coming close with Duke winning 71-65. Jon Scheyer - who as an aside is the worst thing to happen to Duke Basketball because he almost makes Duke likeable, with a strong emphasis on almost - gave Siena their flowers as being more prepared than the Blue Devils, and Siena certainly deserved that praise for the game they played. I’m sure other underdog coaches will be using that game to motivate their locker rooms, giving the David’s hope for the rest of the tournament.
High Point University pulled off the first major upset, beating Wisconsin on a go ahead layup with 11 seconds remaining. The layup was made by Chase Johnston, who has one of the most insane stat lines in College Basketball. Prior to this game, he was 0-4 from 2 point range, and 64-132 from 3. His first 2 point basket of the entire season could not have come at a better time, giving the Big South champions the win over Wisconsin. As many of the mid-major coaches have done in the past, they use a win like this to get a message off their chest, given the spotlight is on them brighter than it ever will be the rest of the year. Flynn Clayman went on his soap box about scheduling issues for Mid-Major teams. As he pointed out, High Point and Miami Ohio are now 2-0 in Quad 1 games. Major Conference teams are avoiding the potential resume blemish of an early season loss, knowing they have the strength of schedule in conference to carry them to the tournament. Flynn is right about that becoming an issue. But what should not be lost in this is my original point, that the Davids are not backing down, and a salary disparity does not change that.
The other most notable game of the day was VCU and UNC, a game I turned off at half watching UNC smother VCU on defense. However, VCU turned it around at halftime, clawing back and scoring 19 more points in the second half than their first, to send the game to overtime. For a bit, it looked like neither team wanted the OT win, as both went scoreless possession after possession. Some of it was exhaustion, some of it some poor ball movement. But with Bill Rafferty on the call, Terrence Hill Jr showed some ONIONS! and hit a three to put UNC away and cap off his amazing 34 point performance.
The biggest winner of the day is the Atlantic 10 Conference, with VCU and St. Louis advancing after the Billikens beat down Georgia 102-77. 2-0 for the Mid-Major on their 2 bids, and the fans here know the A10 is my second favorite conference in CBB being a “Basketball first” conference.
Around the rest of the bracket, we saw Texas beat BYU which was a bracket buster for Will and myself, as I think we both thought projected lottery pick AJ Dybantsa would be able to carry his team to the elite 8. Turns out the rest of the team is garbage, and Sean Miller earned his Texas sized paycheck. Texas A&M beat St. Mary’s in a 7/10 upset that was not a good one for the Mid-Majors, but you can’t expect perfection from these small programs. Otherwise we had the favorites win in Nebraska, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, MSU, Michigan, Illinois, Houston, and Gonzaga. My only comment here was I have no idea how TJ Power on Penn scored 44 points after the bricks I saw him throwing up vs Illinois.
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In our bracket, Jim and Joey are off to the races, but thankfully not a 200 M race because our former college runner would probably win that one in a landslide. We have everyone else trailing closely behind still, with only 1 game separating first and ninth place. Rob D and Erin are tied in second, and some would argue that is a tie in our bracket and in the battle of “who’s wedding speech was better.” Rob K, who is annoyingly good at these things every year, continues to show his son he still has much to learn from his father, and Cameron can sit in the background of the Karabin household just like Auburn DESERVEDLY sits in the background playing in the NIT. Good thing it’s baseball season for you down there. Carly came in feeling confident this year, and of note that her and Erin are the only two who did not pick a #1 seed to win. Seeing Duke get pushed by Siena makes that feel a little more realistic than it might have a week ago. It is still very much anyone’s bracket to take, both in the overall and our respective subgroups we’re self tracking of beating our family members and co-workers.
My games to watch today are first and foremost, Villanova returning after our three year absence, in an 8/9 matchup vs Utah State at 4:10PM. Alabama takes on Hofstra at 3:15 PM, and we will see how impactful the Alabama off-court distractions are. Miami Ohio vs Tennessee is a huge game for the Mid-Major narrative at 4:25 PM. And other than that, we will see if any of the upsets do indeed see Siena as motivation, so keep watching for those upset alerts on your phone.
To close it out, we have 17 people, so a $340 pot to split. Breakout is based upon no ties, subject to change with ties. If there is a tie for 3rd, we’ll just award to top 2, but still many variables are on the table.
Enjoy the games, go Cats, and go David’s.
Rory F Beglane
Founder of the 85 Expansion Bracket Challenge - www.85expansion.com
Villanova Enthusiast
0 Time Bracket Winner
1 Time Always March Winner