Winners and Losers of the NCAA Tournament’s Opening Weekend

Winner: Saint Peters

The Peacocks have become of the premier story of the NCAA Tournament, becoming only the 3rd #15 seed ever to make it to a Sweet 16. Shaheen Holloway has become the darling of this tournament, proving to everyone that betting on yourself is sometimes the best decision you can ever make. His Peacocks not only beat Kentucky, but also outplayed and executed them. Sometimes when an upset of this magnitude occurs, it can be because one team just shot the lights out or one player had a career night, that will most likely never happen again. That certainly wasn’t the case in either of Saint Peter’s games this past weekend and the best team that played in the night session of the Indianapolis site will be playing in the Sweet 16.

Holloway has mentioned numerous times in his post-game press conferences, that his team is not afraid of anything and there is no reason for them to be “because it is just basketball.” In addition, Holloway mentioned that his team isn’t scared of getting beat up or scared by anything because that is what his team does. Installing that confidence in your team, is a great mentality to have that has taken Saint Peter’s up to this point. While a matchup looms with Purdue that may not seem favorable on paper, neither were the Peacocks two games against Kentucky and Murray State. Saint Peter’s victory over Kentucky marked the biggest upset in terms of winner-loss budget ratio in the history of the NCAA Tournament. It was so cool, watching the Coach of Saint Peters out coach John Calipari and Matt McMahon. The actions of these guys were running out the Peacocks in a great position to succeed.

Loser: The SEC

It was a great basketball season for the Southeastern Conference, highlighted by 4 of the best teams in the country at the top. That is the reason why this postseason was so disappointing, considering Arkansas was the only team that made it to the second weekend. It wasn’t shocking at all that both Alabama and LSU took first round losses but the fact that Kentucky, Auburn and Tennessee all got knocked out in the first weekend is very disappointing. There was a time this season that each of those teams looked good enough to win a National Championship, but they peaked way too early and could never match that same form. That is still not an excuse to lose to Saint Peters, collapse late against #11 seed Michigan or get thoroughly outplayed by #10 Miami. Credit to Arkansas for surviving and advancing, but it’s not like those games were easy against Vermont and New Mexico State. The Razorbacks will need to play significantly better, in order to hang with #1 overall seed Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.

The strength of this conference is that when something is wrong, all of these programs #1 priority is winning and they will do whatever they think is best to fix it. Since the SEC Tournament less than 2 weeks ago, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU and Missouri have all fired and hired coaches which only strengthens the league. Although the talks comparing this league to the depth and coaching personalities of the old school Big East might have been a little premature, this league is going to continue to be must see TV next season.

Winner: Benedict Mathurin

Part of what makes March so great is the big-time players, making big time plays, in big time moments. That is exactly what America witnessed in the final game of the Round of 32, late Sunday night when Ben Mathurin had a March moment for the ages, hitting the game tying three with 14 seconds left to eventually send Arizona TCU into overtime. Part of the concerns about Arizona going into the NCAA Tournament was that they didn’t have a single player with major NCAA Tournament experience along with a first year Head Coach. At some point in the NCAA Tournament the other team is going to punch you in the mouth, and if you can’t respond then your season may be over quickly. At numerous points on Sunday night it did feel like it was over for Arizona, but every single time Bennedict Mathurin or one of his teammates made a play to keep Arizona alive.

The ending of regulation didn’t come without controversy, as Arizona could have been called for a foul that sent TCU to the line or a case could be made for an over and back call if there was no foul. The reason why this is important was because Arizona’s Dalen Terry picked the ball out of the scrum and was close to hitting one of the all-time shots in NCAA Tournament history, but could not get it off in time.

As for Mathurin, this is a kid who could have easily gone to the NBA last year and drafted as a second round pick. Instead he knew that he could elevate his own stock by playing another year of College Basketball on the biggest stage and become a star. Now he is in position to lead the Wildcats to their first Final 4, since 1997 and will be a Top 10 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Many people are in a rush to get to the NBA as quickly as possible and rush over how beneficial being a star College Basketball player can be. Mathurin should serve as an example to everyone, that playing College Basketball and improving can likely lead to a successful path.

Loser: The Providence is “Lucky” crowd

For a majority of the season, the narrative on Providence has not been how good of a coaching job Ed Cooley has done with this group or their clutch backcourt of Al Durham and Jared Bynum. Instead, it has been how “lucky” Providence has been, winning close game after close game. While variance is a real thing, at this point it’s been clear for a while now that Providence is a legitimately good basketball team. The Friars won their first Big East Regular Season Title in the history of Providence and made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997. Many of the top teams in the country got knocked out this past weekend including Kentucky, Tennessee, Baylor and Auburn, while this “lucky” Providence team is still alive.

The thing that is so appealing about Providence, has been their ability to win close games, time after time. Providence is 11-2 in games decided by 5 points or less, which shows this team isn’t afraid of a close game and there are plenty of those in the Tournament. March Madness is a different animal, due to the fact that every single game is close and if you take your foot off the gas for even a second, then you’re at risk. Ironically, Providence had the lead for the majority of both of their games of the opening weekend. There wasn’t a team with a more comfortable victory in the Round of 32 than Providence, as they demolished Richmond by 28 points, to secure the Sweet 16 bid. With a possible matchup with Kansas on the horizon, the Friars don’t match up terribly considering the size of Nate Watson and length of Justin Minaya. One thing is for sure, and that is that all of the pressure will be on Kansas to get to the Final 4 out of the Midwest.

Winner: Gonzaga

Many people have had their doubts about Gonzaga and their ability to ever win a championship. Historically, the Bulldogs have been very successful in the NCAA Tournament, as the only program in College Basketball to make the Sweet 16 in each of the last 7 NCAA Tournaments. The issue has been whenever they are punched in the mouth, they have had some trouble responding at points. This was especially the case against the bigger, lengthier, NBA talent in College Basketball, which was why Memphis really provided a unique matchup.

After trailing by 10 points at the half, Gonzaga prioritized getting Drew Timme the ball and he rewarded them with an all time performance. The Junior Forward finished with 25 points and 21 of them came in the second half when Gonzaga needed them the most. In addition, while it is usually Gonzaga’s frontcourt that gets all of the attention, their backcourt deserves to be praised in a major way. In a tournament where guard play is specifically important, Gonzaga has two of the best in the country and both of them came directly from the transfer portal. Andrew Nembhard has established himself as one of the premier Point Guards in the country and was marvelous against Memphis with 23 points and 5 assists while playing all 40 minutes of action. Rasir Bolton is also one of the underrated players in the country, as he contributed with 17 points while being a lockdown defender on the perimeter. This team is built better to win a National Championship compared to last year and are the favorites to cut down the nets in New Orleans.

Winner: Iowa State

TJ Otzelberger has proven to every Athletic Director in the country that there is no excuse for not being able to win quickly at a new job. After taking over a team that only won 2 games last season, Iowa State has become one of the best stories in College Basketball as one of the last 16 teams standing. In addition, TJ is a Wisconsin native, and the fact that his

Cyclones were able to knock out Wisconsin in a de facto Badgers home game is more than impressive. Iowa State was very unimpressive at times during the regular season as well, really struggling to score the ball at times. The fact that this Iowa State team put up less than 50 points numerous times in the Big 12 this season and is still a second weekend team is more than impressive. The Cyclones really only have 2 and half guards that are capable of scoring, but took advantage of their draw to get to the Second weekend.

Otzelberger hit the transfer portal hard, but instead of going after the biggest names he went for the correct fit in the correct role. Penn State Transfer Izaiah Brockington has played the best basketball of his career by a significant margin in Aims, which included 19 points against LSU in Iowa State’s first round victory. In addition, Freshman guard Tyrese Hunter made a number of clutch shots, including the long range three, to put Iowa State up by 5 in the final minute to secure the victory.

Loser: The Big Ten

The Big Ten has sent 18 teams to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons combined and only three of them were able to make it to the second weekend. Two of the appearances have been by one program in Michigan. In addition, Purdue avoided what would have been a disastrous 0-5 Sunday for the league, with their win over Texas. The question is, if the Big Ten is good enough to send 9 teams to the NCAA Tournament in back to back years, why aren’t they going further? While the NCAA Tournament is a different animal, that is entirely matchup based, there is a reason.

In 2017, The Big Ten became the first conference to schedule 20 conference games, which would be the most in any league in the country at the time. In addition, their teams also play in the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge and numerous mid-season events, which really manipulates the metrics and their rankings of Big Ten teams. The metrics value close losses to good teams, more than blowout wins against the bad teams. There were also numerous times throughout the season that teams would be picking up close home wins against some of the other best teams in the country, but their numbers would barely rise. There is never going to be a perfect answer for the balance between metrics and eye test, but the Big Ten’s back to back terrible postseason performances are a definite eye opener.

Winner: Duke’s Mental Toughness

Duke has had some unacceptable losses this season that were not only unacceptable but also, they looked like a mentally weak team in those games. The reason why they were unacceptable, is because they came to teams that Duke was clearly better than and there were many chances there to win. Following Duke’s stunning loss to North Carolina in Coach K’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, it felt like Duke’s world had ended. After a loss like that, it was fair to assume if the young players of Duke would immediately think back to that embarrassing moment, any time they were in trouble. The Blue Devils found themselves down

by 5 with 5 minutes to play, and it felt like things could be coming to an end. Instead, Duke ended the game on a 20-7 run to close out Michigan State and advance to the Sweet 16.

Texas Tech provides a unique matchup next, considering they are known as one of the toughest teams in the country and will be determined to turn a game against Duke’s youngsters into a grown man rock fight. Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so difficult to win, is that you have to beat 6 different teams playing 6 different styles of basketball. This Sweet 16 game will be a fascinating clash of styles with Texas Tech and if Duke can come out victorious, it will show that their mental toughness has improved even more.