Thursday, March 17, 2016 **LUCK OF THE IRISH**
The Resistance is 6th person to go 16-0 on Day 1; Unofficially, 149 entries
CERRITOS/LOS ALAMITOS, CA (smt)- The 12 seed is a favorite upset pick but last year, in a rarity, all four #12 seeds lost. This year, they are 2-for-3 as #12MW-Little Rock came back from 13 down with 3:19 left to win in 2 overtimes and #12W-Yale beat a top 25 team for the first time since 1952. Plus the Bulldogs did us a favor so we didn’t have to see those awful neon #5W-Baylor uniforms. I thought my daughter marked our TV with a highlighter. The 12s weren’t the only ones to come back with vengeance as the #9 seeds were shut out last year and are now 3-for-3 with #9MW-Butler, #9S-UConn, and #9E-Providence winning. The latter benefited from #8E-USC missing two front ends of a 1-and-1 and inexplicably allowing an open man under the basket with 3 seconds left for the game-winning shot. While #1E-UNC had only a one point lead at halftime, they pulled away in the second half and fellow 1 seeds MW-Virginia and S-Kansas (105 pts) had easy victories. #4W-Duke, #4MW-Iowa St, #3S-Miami, #5E-Indiana, #3MW-Utah, #11S-Wichita St (another First Four team who wins a 2nd game, 6th straight year), #11MW-Gonzaga, and #4E-Kentucky were challenged but pulled away.
The Pac 12 imploded going 1-3 with only Utah winning (all 7 teams are top 8 seeds) while the ACC went 3-0. There were untimely technicals, airballed free throws, final drives where the driver lost the ball, and clutch shots. The Zags won for the eighth straight 1st round game despite not always getting a high seed. And we’ll get the rivalry game back, Indiana v Kentucky.
In the pool, 66 started 4-0, 4 started 8-0, two were 12-0 but only The Resistance (32 pts) managed to go a perfect 16-0, just the sixth person to do so. With 7 upsets, Continue reading
