The first weekend of games is over and, as always, it delivered
the goods. All four #1 seeds remain. The Big East has five teams in the Sweet
16 and has left no doubt to which conference was king this year. North Carolina
got their point guard back, but is he completely healthy? Here is a deeper look
at the results of the 1st & 2nd rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Top Performers
Sherron Collins & Cole Aldrich, Kansas:
The defending champs have advanced to the sweet 16 despite losing all five starters
from last year’s team. Collins and Aldrich have now formed a duo and are starting
a new chapter in Kansas basketball history looking to get back to the final four.
With wins over North Dakota State and Dayton, Collins has scored a total of 57
points (second only to Blake Griffin). While Collins provides plenty of offensive
power for the Jayhawks, Aldrich is busy controlling the backboards, gathering
a total of 33 in both wins. On Sunday, Aldrich had a triple-double with 13 points,
20 rebounds, and 10 blocks. The only other player to record a points-rebounds-blocks
triple-double in the NCAA tournament was Shaq in 1992. Last year’s championship
game participants, Kansas and Memphis, were both expected to take big steps backwards
this season, but they’re both alive in the tourney and doing well.
Wayne Ellington | |
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma: Essentially a lock to win National
Player of the Year when it’s announced in a couple weeks, Griffin showed why he
will be receiving that award with his play in the 1st two rounds of the tourney.
He scored a tournament leading 61 points in wins over Morgan State and Michigan.
Griffin also gathered 30 rebounds in the two games for the
2nd seeded Sooners.
Wayne Ellington, North Carolina: The Tarheels took care of business in
the 1st two rounds of the tourney and Ellington was a big part of it. In a blowout
of Radford in the 1st round, Ellington led the Tarheels with 25 points on an efficient
11 for 16 shooting. On Saturday, in a much closer contest vs. the LSU Tigers,
Ellington led the Tarheels again, scoring 23 points. But, Ellington’s stats cannot
justify his performance on Saturday. When North Carolina briefly lost the lead
in the 2nd half, it was Ellington who willed them back. Also, when the Tarheels
seemed to be struggling to find a hoop, Ellington was the guy who stepped up and
got the much needed basket. Doing so on a team with a former National Player of
the Year in Tyler Hansbrough and current ACC Player of the Year, Ty Lawson, albeit
slightly injured, makes his latest leadership performance more impressive. He
is now shooting 20/32 in the tournament.
Biggest Dissappointments
Wake Forest: This was the once top ranked team in the country that beat
both North Carolina and Duke. On Friday night they got bounced from the tourney
in the 1st round, and really never were in the game, getting flattened, 84-69
by the 13th seeded Cleveland State Vikings. Jeff Teague was taken out of rhythm
right from the get-go of this game, despite once being ranked as a top 10 pick
appears far from ready for the next level. He scored only 2 points in the 1st
half and finished with 10 for the game which was about half of his average on
the year. The Demon Deacons had a disappointing finish to the year. On January
28th, they beat the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils, and boasted a 17-1 record. After
that win, they were a mediocre 7-6 with their latest casualty coming as a #4 seed
in the NCAA tournament. With Teague and teammates James Johnson and Al-Farouq
Aminu all facing decisions on whether to test the NBA waters, Dino Gaudio faces
a lot of uncertainty with his team for next year.
Atlantic Coast Conference: Wake Forest was the headliner loss, but it did
not end there for the ACC. In fact, if you take UNC and Duke out of the picture
(who we all knew were legit teams), the ACC have gone 1-5 in the NCAA tournament
and 0-4 in games which they were the highest seed. I understand you cannot simply
take out the best two teams in the conference when evaluating the ACC. But, you
can take a look at how deep the conference really was this year. At times the
ACC was compared to the Big East (who is currently 11-2 in the tournament) as
the best conference in the country, and this should end all discussion.
James Harden, Arizona State: The first team all-american was non-existant
in the first two rounds compared to his level of play during the regular season.
Harden had a total of 3 field goals in 2 tournament games, shooting 16%. The Sun
Devils escaped Temple in the 1st round, mostly due to teammate Jeff Pendergraph
(22 points) and good outside shooting (8/14 from three-point territory). But,
Arizona State was unable to continue in the tournament past Syracuse when their
superstar failed to show up for the 2nd straight game. He averaged 9.5 points
in the two tournament games after averaging over 20 ppg this year.
Biggest Surprise
Roburt Sallie, Memphis: On Saturday, the Tigers looked like the team that
we are used to, trouncing Maryland, 89-70. But, it wasn’t easy getting there and
if it weren’t for Sallie’s performance on Thursday vs. Cal-State Northridge, the
Tigers may have been going home earlier than expected. The sophomore who averaged
4.5 points a game during the regular season, exploded for a career high 35 points
on 10/15 shooting from three. His 10 three-pointers made were the 2nd most ever
in a NCAA tournament game. Although he wasn’t needed as much on Saturday, he was
still on fire from deep, hitting 3 of 4 from the arc and finishing with 13 points.
Sallie’s hot shooting couldn’t have come at a better time for Memphis. His 48
tourney points leads the Tigers (and is 3rd overall in the tournament), and he
is shooting 68% from three. Sallie had scored only a total of 47 points in his
previous 10 games heading into the NCAA tournament. Opposing teams must find a way to "slow that mustang down".
Best Team
UConn: The Huskies have looked sharper than anyone thus far in the tournament,
winning by an average of 41 points and putting up 97.5 points a game. The game
versus Chatanooga was a formality, although other #1 seeds Louisville and Pittsburgh
were played tight in the first round. UConn’s second round match-up versus #9
seed Texas A&M is where they were most impressive. With Coach Calhoun back
strolling the sidelines, the Huskies looked like they had been reenergized. The
game started 10-0 UConn, and it never got much closer. The Huskies shot 58% from
the field and outrebounded Texas A&M by 14. Senior Jeff Adrien led the way
with 23 points on 11 of 16 shooting. AJ Price is starting to show everybody that
he is one of the best point guards in the country. He has scored 47 points in
two games. Stanley Robinson has continued to provide the Huskies with one of the
most athletic wing players in the country, and is scoring a bit too (24 vs. Chattanooga,
and 12 vs. Tex. A&M).
The scary part about UConn is that Hasheem Thabeet hasn’t even come to play his
best ball yet. The Big East co-player of the year had only 6 points and 4 rebounds
vs. Texas A&M. If the Huskies continue to get contributions from all around,
and Thabeet starts to control the paint like he has all year, then UConn will
be tough to knock off.
Scored only
He scored only 2 points in the 1st half and finished with 10 for the game which was about half of his average on the year. The Demon Deacons had a disappointing finish to the year.