Good morning Bracket Busters!
We’re back with another glorious breakdown of March Madness action as the Sweet 16 kicked off with a bang last night. Gamblor the Magnificent looked more like Gamblor the Insignificant who went 3-7 in the first round. I was informed by one of our astute Bracket Busters participants that Gamblor looks a lot like Paulie from The Sopranos (nice catch Kyle), so perhaps go easy on the criticisms.
It was a bad day to a Busch Light in Houston. Cowboy Country was host to 3 of the heartlands’ remaining teams (Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois), while Purdue and Arizona took very different paths to keep their hopes alive. Let’s break down the upsets and dominant takedowns from Thursday’s games.
The Highlights (and Heartbreaks) from Day 1 of the Sweet 16
Walking The Wire A heavy favorite in Thursday night’s first game, Purdue got all they could handle against the lowest seed remaining in the tournament. No. 11 Texas became the sixth team that advanced from the First Four (play-in games) to the Sweet 16. Tramon Mark showed why they belonged there scoring 29 points for the Longhorns (most by a Texas player in the tourney since Kevin Durant scored 30 against USC in 2007). The all-time assists leader in the NCAA, Braden Smith looked to be the hero for the Boilermakers driving the lane with seconds remaining. But perhaps he should stay in his lane and focus on assists as his miss was tapped in by Trey Kaufman-Renn with only 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock. After a missed desperation heave by Texas, Purdue escaped with a win to advance to the Elite 8 with a 79-77 victory.
Houston Hosts Farmageddon Despite being only 300 miles apart, Iowa and Nebraska have never met in the NCAA tournament. Their corn-fueled rivalry has heated up since Nebraska joined the Big 10 in 2011, with both teams splitting their regular-season meetings his year. The Cornhuskers had their best start in program history winning their first 20 games and ranked as high as No. 5 in the country at one point. Iowa, on the other hand, was projected to finish 8th in the Big 10 and just making the Sweet 16 was a miracle after knocking off top-seeded Florida last weekend. Nebraska looked to be in control early, capturing a win probability of nearly 85% at one point. A late 9-0 run for the Hawkeyes with less than 3 minutes to play would prove to be the difference though. The Cornhuskers got mowed down by the combine of Iowa and the No. 9 Hawkeyes continue their improbable March run, beating Nebraska 77-71.
An Immovable Object Meets An Unstoppable Force Houston’s 4th ranked defense against Illinois’ 2nd ranked offense. Something had to give. Something did, but not in the way we thought it would. Hosted just miles from the Cougars home court, the Fighting Illini beat Houston at its own game. No. 3 seed Illinois held the Cougars to just 4 points in the first 8 minutes and 40 seconds of the second half. Houston would never recover. The Cougars shot about as well as Dick Cheney on a bird hunting trip making only 34% of their FG attempts and 28% from the arc. Couple that with Illinois dominating the boards, and it was a recipe for disaster as Calvin Sampson’s boys meet a disappointing end to a season that started with hopes of a return to the Final Four. Illinois takes down Houston 65-55, and three Big 10 teams advance to the Elite 8 on Thursday night.
The Big Bad Bullies From Tuscon When a team shoots 64% from the field and 63% from the arc, there is little any team can do to survive. No. 1 Arizona absolutely throttled one of the best offensive teams in the country Thursday night 109-88, and I’m not even sure it was that close. The Wildcats were absolutely unstoppable as the Razorbacks couldn’t do a thing to stop the beatdown. Arizona returns to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2015 and looks to shake off the demons of recent years’ past. They get Purdue in a marquee match-up Saturday night.
Standings Update Through Day 1 of the Sweet 16 While many had Purdue and Arizona facing off in the Elite 8, very few had Illinois advancing in their region. Exactly 26 brackets picked the Fighting Illini to advance this far, and it made a huge difference in the standings of our Bracket Busters Challenge. A special shout-out to Ms. Alpa Patel who was the ONLY person to pick Iowa advancing to the Elite 8. Well done my friend!
The top of the mountain consists of just 2 participants (and 3 brackets). Congrats to Erich Achtmann & Dan Vagle! Erich and Dan are being chased by Karen Vincent, Sean Anderson, and Jamie Messenger who are just 3 points behind them. Things will get interesting now that games are worth 5 points each tonight.
Blue List Reminder
Several of you took the necessary steps to get off the Blue List this week. Thank you! For the remaining 19 people that still need to pay up, I’m watching you closer than a wire-taped US senator. Please check the list to make sure you’re marked as paid. If not, please send me your entry fee by no later than next Friday, April 3. Gamblor gets excited when he might get to send out his goons to collect. Help me keep him at bay.
Have a great Friday folks and enjoy the games tonight!
Chris H
Bracket Busters HQ
Great job as usual Chris!