Here’s a look at the NCAA Tournament today.
GAME OF DAY
NORTH CAROLINA VS. BAYLOR
A month ago, it seemed like North Carolina and Hubert Davis, the first-year coach, might be on the wrong end of the NCAA bubble. The eighth-seeded Tar Heels want to cause havoc for Baylor.
It is a big task to knock off the national champion Bears, but there have been even bigger surprises and the Tar Heels are hot. They have won seven of their eight previous games.
Davis isn’t unfamiliar with this territory. Davis was a member of the eighth-seeded Carolina squad that defeated No. 1 seed Oklahoma in 1990. Roy Williams also had him on his staff for the two national titles games.
The most competitive meeting between Nos. 8 and 9 was Davis’ first tournament match as head coach. It was a 95 -63 win over Marquette. 8 and 9 seeds.
Baylor defeated 16th-seeded Norfolk State with an 85-49 win in the first round. It has also won six of its seven previous victories.
You don’t need to be worried about the Tar Heels being overpowered by Fort Worth’s pro-Baylor crowd. They beat Duke by double digits two weeks ago in the final home game of Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching staff.
PACKED PEACOCKS
All odds suggest that the Saint Peter’s Peacocks should be back at campus in Jersey City (New Jersey), on Friday and not in Indianapolis, preparing for a second round game against Murray State.
Few people outside of the 15th-seeded Peacocks believed that a No. 1 upset in the first round was possible. Kentucky was the 2nd seed. No worries. They had a change of clothes, a few in fact.
Coach Shaheen Holloway stated, “We came down to this place on a mission.” “Not many people believed we could come here and do what our doing. We arrived here prepared for Sunday. We stated that we would be leaving Sunday with two wins.
BATTERED BLUEJAYS
Creighton will miss 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who suffered a left knee injury in Thursday’s overtime victory over San Diego State.
Kalkbrenner, the Big East’s defensive player of year and second-leading scorer, would have been Creighton’s counter to David McCormack in a second round game against No. Kansas is the 1 seed. Keyshawn Feazell is a McNeese State transfer at 6’9″ and will make his Creighton debut.
Bluejays are already without Big East freshman point guard Ryan Nembhard. He was injured three weeks ago and is currently out of action. Trey Alexander, who was the hero in the first round win, has moved into Nembhard’s place.
Arthur Kaluma, starting forward, also missed February due to a knee injury. Shereef Mitchell, defensive stopper has been out all season with an undisclosed condition.
WELCOME BACK
DeVante Jones, who moved from Coastal Carolina, to Michigan, in order to increase his chances of being in the tournament’s finals, will have his chance.
Jones was injured in practice and had to be unable to attend the Wolverines win over Colorado State.
A SPECIAL SPIDER
Jacob Gilyard has played every minute in Richmond’s eight last games. His 1,389-minute season total is the most in the country. After an upset of Iowa coach Chris Mooney won’t let the fifth-year senior guard rest when the No. 12-seeded Spiders take on the Spiders. 4 Providence, Buffalo, New York.
Gilyard stated that he told Gilyard to take him out the last time he tried to get me out of a game. I can’t recall the last time he tried taking me out. That would be insane.
He said, “I would only wonder what he thought, why he did this.” “I would like to understand the logic behind it, but at the end I trust him. If he believes that taking me out will give us the best chance of winning, then I’m all for him.
