Thoughts on the First Weekend of the Men's NCAA Tournament

The first two rounds of the men's NCAA basketball tournament are in the books, and I have some takes.

Right off the bat, my bracket is busted, and I am sure pretty much everyone else's is also. This has been a wacky tournament filled with upsets. It was kind of stunning to turn on the TV the past couple of days and see that there was another upset. So many teams, teams with real promise, are out. Their seasons are over. And some lower seeded teams, some that some people would call "Cinderella", a term I am not a big fan of, have made their way to the Sweet Sixteen, and done it with relative ease. I do want to point out that three of the number one seeds are still in the tournament. Illinois, more on them in a second, is the only one that got knocked out. But the other three have taken care of business to this point. Also, the Sweet Sixteen is filled with teams from power five conferences. 11 of the 16 come from power conferences, and Gonzaga is not a "Cinderella" anymore. They haven't been for years. They are legit. Hell, I'd go as far to say that Loyola Chicago isn't really a "Cinderella" either. Two of their five starters were on the same team that made the Final Four a few years back. I guess what I'm getting at is, some of these teams may be seeded as underdogs, but they have played top notch competition all year. They are solid teams.

As for the Big Ten, this tournament has been a major disappointment. They looked like the best conference in college basketball all regular season. They had three and four teams ranked inside the top ten all year. They had two number one seeds. Their conference tournament was pretty great. Now Michigan is the only team left, and they barely beat LSU. I love my Wolverines, but they are on very thin ice. Their play has left a lot to be desired. They are still here, but barely. The eight other Big 10 teams, what a bummer. Illinois looked like one of the big favorites, and they got owned by Loyola. I know Loyola is good, and they were under seeded, but Illinois is a much better team. They just laid an egg at a horrible time. Michigan State couldn't hold a big lead, the players and their coach were openly fighting going into halftime and they blew their game. Rutgers and Maryland each won one game, but they both bowed out in round two. Iowa got crushed by Oregon, who got a free pass to the second round. The university of Ohio State was the ninth 2 seed ever, in the history of the tournament, to lose to a 15. The online aftermath of that has been disgusting by the way. No player deserves what that kid had to deal with. Wisconsin smoked UNC, and then got their asses blown out of the water by Baylor. And Purdue, they let North Texas win their first tournament game ever. This has been a bad tournament for the Big Ten.

The Big 12 hasn't fared much better. Kansas got thumped by USC last night. Texas was beat by Abilene Christian. Oklahoma ran into the Gonzaga buzzsaw. Oklahoma State, my pick to win it all, was destroyed by Oregon State. And Texas Tech blew a humongous opportunity against Arkansas. All the Big 12 has left is Baylor. They are just like the Big 10.

The ACC has done okay. Outside UNC getting throttled in round one and Virginia being upset, they are fine. Florida State looks really good right now, especially on defense.

The SEC is also doing okay. Alabama looks good and Arkansas can run up and down the floor with the best of them. The only true "upset" was Oral Roberts beating Florida.

The Pac 12, on the other hand, that conference has looked awesome. They got five teams in and four are in the Sweet Sixteen. Oregon, who got the free pass because VCU had a COVID issue, looked like world beaters in their game against Iowa. USC dismantled KU. That game was over at the half. They looked so much bigger, stronger and better coached. UCLA has taken their comeback win in the First Four, and they have rolled since then. And Oregon State, the Pac 12 tourney winner, smoked Tennessee, and then did the exact same thing to Oklahoma State. They look legit.

The non power 5 teams left are very worthy. Loyola Chicago is under seeded, but they have done what they do in the tourney. They play a solid team game, and their defense is so, so, so good. Houston has always been able to score, and now they are playing sound defense. They will be a problem. Oral Roberts may be a 15 seed, but they have the top scorer in the country, they won 20 plus games this year and they are playing great basketball right now. And Gonzaga has looked every bit as good as advertised. The other teams, Creigthon and Villanova, they don't do much for me. Creighton has to play Gonzaga and Villanova gets Baylor. Those would be humongous upsets, and this tournament has shown us that that is a real possibility, but I would not bet against either Baylor or Gonzaga. Those were the favorites coming in, and I think they still are. I'm also surprised they only had one game canceled due to COVID to be honest. I figured we'd have a few more.

So far this has been a crazy tournament, filled with wild upsets, but it has also been fun as hell to watch. My bracket died on day one and I couldn't have cared less. This is what the tournament should be like, and after it was canceled last year, for all the right reasons, it is so nice to be watching the tournament once again. I am so happy to have it back. Let's hope the rest is as wild and crazy and fun as the first weekend.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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