Friday, March 19th: Night Game Recaps

Best Game: In a slate of blowouts, two games stood out. Georgia Tech came back from a halftime defecit and shot 24 of 25 from the line to beat out Oklahoma State 64-59. James Anderson struggled mightily, going 3-11 from the floor and turning the ball over in the Cowboys' last possession. Meanwhile, Michigan State appeared to have their game comfortably in hand at halftime, but New Mexico State quickly erased the defecit, and the two teams traded buckets until the final possession. A key lane violation turned a two point defecit into three for New Mexico State, and two 3 point attempts fell short as time expired and the Spartans survived.

Best Performance: Jordan Williams was a monster on the glass for Maryland, claiming 17 rebounds and 21 points as the Terps took out a pesky Houston team, 89-77. Clinging to a two point lead at halftime, Maryland took over offensively early in the 2nd half and cruised to a relatively easy victory. Maryland had a 47-27 edge on the glass, aided by Williams' performance.

Upset that didn't happen: New Mexico State's loss was the closest thing to an upset in the nightcap of games. The other four games with 1 through 5 seeds all were double digit victories for the top seeds.

Game that got lost in the mix: Gonzaga handled a good Florida State team pretty easily, jumping out to a 35-19 lead at halftime. The Seminoles chipped away at the lead and brought it to within 5 with two and a half minutes left, but Gonzaga made 8 of their last ten free throws to seal the deal. The Zags made the most of their possessions, hitting as many shots from the field as Florida State but in 17 fewer attempts.

Early Sunday Picks:
Syracuse over Gonzaga (The Zags will not score as easily from the field as they did today... and Cuse will not struggle from the field as much as FSU did)
Ohio State over Georgia Tech (Beware though... the Yellow Jackets have the talent and the size to pull off the upset here)
Maryland over Michigan State (State will find offensive rebounds will not come as easily as they usually do with Williams patrolling the glass)
WVU over Missouri (Another possible upset... watch to see how a guard-deficient Mountaineer team handles the Mizzou press)
Wisconsin over Cornell (Sticking to my guns despite their respective performances today)
Pitt over Xavier
Purdue over Texas A&M (Glad my Boilers responded well today. Sunday will be a much more difficult task, however)
Duke over Cal (I should pick at least one upset today, but I'm not sure I really like any of the matchups. If I had to choose one, I'd say Mizzou over WVU, but even that is a stretch)