-Louisville's bracket opened up. Many felt that Louisville had the easiest route to the Final Four. It got even easier on Friday when No. 4 seed Wake Forest was beaten by Cleveland State and No. 5 Utah was beaten by Arizona (though Arizona looks like a more dangerous team). On the bottom half of the Midwest Region, No. 6 seed West Virginia also fell.
-Speaking of Louisville, they got a stroke of luck that Ohio State was defeated by Siena. If Louisville did play Ohio State, it would have almost felt like a road game. Yes, the Ville and The Ohio State University are about the same distance apart from Dayton but you know Buckeye fans would have been in full effect on Sunday. Now the Cardinals should own the town.
-It will be interesting to see how Memphis and Pittsburgh come out after receiving first round scares. Memphis was trailing Cal State Northridge late before coming back for the win. Pitt held off a pesky East Tennessee State squad to move along. To the untrained eye, they view this as foreshadowing of things to come. If Memphis and Pitt struggled against those small schools then how will they handle Maryland and Oklahoma State, respectively? I don't see these two teams flaming out but it does express the feeling that anyone can get beat by anyone else from here on out.
-Keep your eye on Greensboro. First off, North Carolina plays LSU. After that, Duke plays Texas. Since there is not break between sessions like on Thursday, this means that both Duke and UNC fans will be filling the Greensboro Coliseum. Suddenly LSU and Texas will have massive cheering sections.
-The fact that both Arizona and Cleveland State won their games, it ensures that at least one double-digit seed will get to the Sweet 16. Zona is a No. 12 seed; Cleveland State is a No. 13.
-On the other side of the bracket, Western Kentucky faces off against Gonzaga. That means at least one mid-major will get to the Sweet 16. Neither are strangers to it, either.
-My major upset pick? Michigan over Oklahoma.
-Best game of the second round? Early candidates are Michigan State-USC, Washington-Purdue and Duke-Texas.
-The Big XII is 6-0 in this tournament. Quite impressive. However, some of those teams could/should get picked off this weekend. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are playing against top seeds (Pitt and UConn, respectively) and Texas faces Duke. The only advantages are Oklahoma against Michigan ... and I just said that's my upset pick ... Kansas against Dayton and Missouri against Marquette.
-Coaching. There are some outstanding coaches out in that field. You'll have John Calipari taking on Gary Williams. Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim have all led their teams to titles (11 titles). That didn't even mention Bo Ryan, Jamie Dixon, Mike Anderson, John Beilein, Herb Sendek, Mark Few, Trent Johnson, Rick Barnes, Jay Wright, Ben Howland and Sean Miller.
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