85 Expansion - The Blueblood Battle
I sat down to begin writing this at the under 8 timeout in the UConn Duke game, after watching Duke stifle the Huskies with their defense all game. I was ready to write about how all four games were garbage and hopefully the final four games will live up to the promise of the battle of giants that shows on paper, and specifically that UConn is overrated and was not playing well in March in conference… I am going to pause this article and come back, Dan Hurley took my comments yesterday personally.
What. A. Game. What tenacity, what coaching, what belief. Texts were flying in the Nova group chat, “UConn is overrated”, “they lost to Marquette for a reason”, “Alex Karaban is garbage.” Well that was a reverse jinx on my part. It takes great coaching to keep a team focused after the first half UConn had, and love him or hate him, credit Dan Hurley when credit is due. Alex Karaban was actually garbage, but he hit his only 3 when it mattered and not 3 minutes after I texted trash talking him. UConn shot 43% from the field, just 21% from three compared to Duke shooting 52% and 40% from three. But the key to the game was turnovers, with UConn having only 5 to Duke’s 13 - none more costly than Cayden Boozer’s at the end. Why did he not just hold the ball, why did he not call a time out, why not bounce pass it… no one will know. But that turnover set up an unbelievable logo shot from Braylon Mullins for the win. It was also Mullin’s only three of the game - what guts to let it fly like that. It actually isn’t even fair to call it a great game, that first half was boring. But what an ending. UConn coming back from 19 points is incredible, and Duke’s close calls finally caught up to them. 2 years in a row of choking. Of note, my bracket is almost never a reflection of my personal feelings, as I was in fact rooting for UConn - Big East over everyone. Final Four Teams - ACC, 0. Big East, 1. “Rory, the Big Ten has two teams though” I don’t care, that doesn’t help my narrative so I choose to ignore that, and there is a clear “Basketball Conference” rivalry between the ACC and BE- we continue to be on top.
Other games of Illinois over Iowa was a solid game, but the Michigan and Arizona games were absolute blow outs. The only thought I had was that Michigan vs Arizona should be a fantastic game.
Arizona advances to just the 5th final four in school history, Illinois their first since 2005 and they have the unfortunate stat of 2nd most wins (50) in NCAA tournament history without winning a title, and they and Michigan hopes to be the first Big Ten school to win it all since Michigan State in 2000.
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Despite being 10 seconds away from a perfect 4/4 in the final four, Carly still takes the lead with 3 of 4 teams and the only person to have 3 correct final four teams. Everyone else has 1 or 2 of the 4 teams - except Dane with 0. A rough showing in his first year here, he’ll be back. His first learning curve is to not listen to me or my writing bias.
Jim moves into 2nd as the extra team for Carly was too much to hang on to the lead, but the Wolverines will be his X factor. Chris will be unable to maintain 3rd without Duke. Rob K will stay alive with a chance to win with being the highest scorer with Arizona. Erin is getting her taste of survive and advance having UConn as her only final four team, and the trash talking was flying just as quickly as Mullins’ shot. All in all - “It all comes down to this” is the NCAA Slogan for the final four, and it very much suits our bracket here as well.
“I am going to be INSUFFERABLE on Saturday during the games” - Carly Miller. I’m now wondering if this birthday celebration is going to just be a March Madness bloodbath. I give 20 points to anyone who is kicked out for talking too much trash.
Game resume Saturday at 6:09 with Illinois vs UConn, opening at a line favoring UConn at just 2.5 points, and Michigan vs Arizona at 8:49 with Michigan favored by 1.5 points. So again, on paper - we should be watching some excellent basketball.
Rory F Beglane
Founder of the 85 Expansion Bracket Challenge - www.85expansion.com
Villanova Enthusiast
0 Time Bracket Winner
1 Time Always March Winner