RADIO
Cinderella isn’t having much success in this year’s NCAA Tournament. At least it didn’t appear that way following games played Friday.
With the second round complete, only five lower-seeded teams won games, with only one of those five victories coming Friday. Here are a few notes from Friday’s games, and overall through the second round games.
- No. 1 seeds are now 124-0 all-time against No. 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin and Duke each easily won their games, respectively against Coastal Carolina and Robert Morris. Wisconsin’s 14-point victory was the smallest of the four wins (86-72). Combined this year, No. 1 seeds defeated No. 16 seeds by an average of 26.75 points.
- Oklahoma had the most lopsided victory for a No. 3 seed, as they beat No. 14 Albany by nine points (69-60), the only matchup between those two seeds on Friday. However, Saturday’s games will feature two No. 14 seeds seeking berths into the Sweet Sixteen (Georgia State and UAB). Oklahoma’s win also was its first in the NCAA Tournament since 2009, and head coach Lon Kruger became the first coach to win NCAA Tournament games with five schools.
- With its victory over Indiana, Wichita State will finally play Kansas. Both teams advanced Friday; Kansas defeated New Mexico State. Kansas and Wichita State are separated by about 163 miles.
- Two of Friday’s games were decided by three points or less; none were decided by one point (five of them were decided by a point on Thursday). That means that, in the second round, 10 games were separated by one basket or less.
- No. 8 Oregon beat No. 9 Oklahoma State 79-73 in the West Region game in Omaha. Oregon’s head coach Dana Altman spent 16 seasons in Omaha as the coach of Creighton, which is the host of the tournament games in Omaha.
- Traditional Division I powerhouses UCLA and North Carolina found ways Thursday to win their games. The same was true for 2013 tourney champion Louisville on Friday. No. 4 Louisville went back-and-forth with UC-Irvine before scoring the last four points in a two-point win (57-55).
- After going 0-3 Thursday, the Big 12 responded with a 3-1 effort Friday. Winning were West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kansas, the first two in closer contests. Friday’s only Big 12 loss came from Oklahoma State (to Oregon).
- The average margin of victory in Friday’s games was 12.19 points (Thursday’s average was 9.13 points). That means that the average during the second round of games was 10.66 points.
- By beating No. 10 Davidson in the South Region, No. 7 Iowa won its first NCAA Tournament game in 14 years.
- Top-seeded teams won all eight games in the second round of the Midwest Region. In the East Region, seven of the eight top-seeded teams won their games.
- The largest difference in victory margin Friday was No. 1 Duke’s 29-point (85-56) victory against No. 16 Robert Morris in the South Region. No. 1 Villanova’s 41-point (93-52) win Thursday over No. 16 Lafayette in the East Region was the largest in the second round. Wisconsin and Gonzaga each scored 86 points Friday, tied for the most of any of Friday’s teams. Villanova and Arizona each scored 93 points, tied for the most of any team Thursday and most of the second round.
- While the state of Indiana entered the NCAA Tournament tied with the state of Texas with the most teams from a single state (five), the Hoosier State is down to a pair of teams entered Saturday. And that will be cut to one, as Butler and Notre Game (separated by about 136 miles) play for a bid to the Sweet Sixteen. On the positive side, at least one of them will advance. On Friday, Indiana and Valparaiso lost close contests. Of the three losses, Indiana schools fell by a combined nine points.
- The state of Ohio is 5-0 in this year’s tournament. Cincinnati, Xavier and Ohio State all won Thursday. Dayton won Friday against Providence, after advancing out of the first round Wednesday.
- Dayton was the only lower-seeded team to win Friday, beating Providence 66-53. Combined with Thursday’s games, only five of the 32 games were won by lower-seeds. Combined, those five victories were by 19 points.
- Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin, Joseph Young of Oregon and Fred VanVleet of Wichita State each scored 27 points to lead all scorers Friday. D’Angelo Russell from Ohio State scored 28 points, the most on Thursday and most in the second round.
- Almost every year, at least one No. 12 seed upsets a No. 5 seed. Not this year though. West Virginia held off a tough Buffalo team in the Midwest Region, while Northern Iowa pulled away from Wyoming late in the East Region game. The last time all No. 5 seeds won prior to this year was the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
