However one feels about Syracuse being in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, one thing has to be acknowledged: Jim Boeheim has squeezed a whole lot out of his team this year, and he and his squad sure receive credit for it.
The Orange are young, can’t shoot, have trouble scoring in general, and severely lack in depth, yet still have found a way on a number of occasions this year just when one may have wanted to count them out. They did it again Wednesday night, rallying late to defeat Arizona State 60-56 in a play-in game to move into the 64-team bracket in the tourney.
Syracuse trailed by seven with less than seven minutes to play but scored eight straight points to take the lead back, then got a big three-pointer by Tyus Battle with 1:51 to play to break a tie and go ahead for good. The Sun Devils had a chance at a go-ahead three-pointer in the final seconds but couldn’t get it to go, and their elimination means just one Pac-12 team is left in the tourney.
Freshman Oshae Brissett was the star for the Cuse, scoring 23 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. The Orange (to this day we have the urge to call them Orangemen) also got to the line 13 more times than ASU and made enough, hitting 13 of 23 while the Sun Devils were just 3-for-10 from the stripe. Defensively, Syracuse’s matchup zone did its job, continuing to move and react well as Arizona State at times did an excellent job of probing it and did make 11 three-pointers.
Syracuse improves to 21-13 overall, while for Arizona State the final ledger includes finishing with 12 losses in its final 20 games. That includes this one which, while close, was anything but a thing of beauty throughout, leaving more than a few wondering if this game didn’t more appropriately belong played in the NIT. There’s no reason to kick the Sun Devils anymore while they’re down, but we’ll just say that ASU didn’t exactly make much of a case for the NCAA’s “every-game-counts-the-same” selection criteria, which may be well-intentioned but most definitely isn’t always practical.
In the opener Wednesday night, Texas Southern had a surprisingly easy time in defeating North Carolina Central 64-46, the SWAC champion getting the better of the MEAC in a matchup of two historically black colleges and conferences. In a game pairing the preeminent programs in their respective conferences and led by two excellent coaches-TSU’s Mike Davis and NCCU’s LeVelle Moton-it was the Tigers’ Damontrae Jefferson who took center stage and put on a show.
The 5-foot-7 sophomore dynamo from Milwaukee scored 25 points on an array of three-pointers, drives and finishing through contact, and even grabbed eight rebounds. Donte Clark also added 18, and the Tigers on defense shut down NCCU’s inside-oriented attack, and the Eagles were unable to counter outside, going 0-for-14 from three-point range.
Side Dishes:
- The second night of the NIT was generally ho-hum, with home teams winning all seven games, all by similar margins. Among them, Penn State rallied late to top Temple 63-57, ending a disappointing season for the Owls; Nebraska’s postseason didn’t last long with a 66-59 loss at Mississippi State, and Utah trailed a good portion of the game before rallying to defeat UC Davis 69-59. The Utes won while coach Larry Krystkowiak was ejected in the first half.
- In one NIT game, though, there were fireworks-oh were there fireworks-as a pair of state rivals (even if they don’t square off often) played and LSU topped Louisiana-Lafayette 84-76. Tigers coach Will Wade apparently wasn’t happy about some things said from the Ragin’ Cajuns’ side this week (fairly innocuous ones, from this view), and he called a timeout in the final seconds that led to barking with ULL coach Bob Marlin, with both coaches picking up technical fouls. Marlin then bypassed Wade in the postgame handshake line, there were some words between the teams, and Wade then went on a well-researched, well-scripted sermon after the game shredding the Cajuns, not the first nor will it be the last colorful Will Wade press conference. It seems quite clear: these two teams need to be playing every single year.
- The CBI kicked into high gear with the remaining seven first round games. Maybe the best game of the postseason tournaments so far was played in Western New York as Jacksonville State won at Canisius 80-78 in overtime. The Golden Griffins forced the extra session at home when Isaiah Reese banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer, but the Gamecocks get the road win. Other road teams winning included North Texas winning at South Dakota 90-77 as Roosevelt Smart scored 34 points and Zachary Simmons added a major single-double with nine points and 17 rebounds, plus Mercer won at Grand Canyon. New Orleans also edged Texas-Rio Grande Valley 77-74, which was UTRGV’s first postseason game since it was Pan American University and played in the 1981 NIT.
- The CIT continued with three games, all home teams winning. Eastern Michigan won its 22nd game of the season, dumping Niagara 83-65; Texas-San Antonio defeated former Southland foe Lamar 76-69 in an all-Texas matchup, the Roadrunners’ second-ever postseason win, and Illinois-Chicago routed St. Francis (Pa.) 84-61.
- Tubby Smith’s tenure at Memphis is over after two years with his firing Wednesday. To recap: Smith finished 19-13 in his first year with the Tigers with a team led by more of the high-profile recruits that apparently the school, its fans and even some media near the team crave apparently even more than wins. Several of those high-profile recruits departed after last year, leaving Smith with a roster supposedly in shambles, yet he won 21 games this year and finished a game better in the American Athletic Conference. We get it, recruiting the talent-rich city of Memphis is a big deal for those around this program. But maybe we could’ve let this play out and see what happened. Smith seems to have a little bit of a track record with building programs (18 trips to the NCAA Tournament, nine trips to the Sweet 16 or better, one national title). The message to all involved is apparently this year’s Tigers team-which played its tails off and, if the talent level really was so bad, tremendously overachieved and should’ve been one all Memphis fans could be proud of-just wasn’t good enough for Memphis.
- More from Hoopville yesterday, Phil Kasiecki shared part two of his NCAA Tournament players to watch list. Phil also wrote on the journey of this year’s College of Charleston team to CAA champions. Plus, Ray Floriani has the box score breakdown of St. Bonaventure’s win over UCLA in the NCAA tourney opening round Tuesday night.
Today’s Menu:
- The real NCAA Tournament gets underway today with the first 16 games of the first round. The day tips off with Oklahoma against Rhode Island in a 7-10 game between two teams on the skids of late (12:15 p.m. Eastern, CBS). Other games in the first window include Wright State against Tennessee (12:40 p.m., truTV), UNC Greensboro vs. Gonzaga (1:30 p.m., TNT) in what could be a real dogfight if the Spartans’ tough defense can slow down the Zags, and Pennsylvania meets top seed Kansas (2 p.m., TBS).
- The second window should be outstanding, with what should be three very close games. Loyola Chicago meets Miami (3:10 p.m., truTV), South Dakota State and Mike Daum take on Ohio State (4 p.m., TNT) and North Carolina State faces Seton Hall (4:30 p.m., TBS) in an 8-9 game. The other game in the set is Iona against heavy favorite Duke (2:45 p.m., CBS).
- The evening schedule opens with top-seeded Villanova against play-in winner Radford (6:50 p.m., TNT), but there are three more excellent ones soon after. Bombs-away Davidson takes on Kentucky (7:10 p.m., CBS) out in Boise, San Diego State comes in red-hot after its Mountain West tourney title and faces Houston (7:20 p.m., CBS), and Stephen F. Austin is very capable of making life rough on Texas Tech (7:27 p.m., truTV).
- The night closes up with another strong round of games. Collin Sexton-led Alabama faces Virginia Tech (9:30 p.m., TNT), athletic-but-smallish Buffalo takes on Arizona (9:40 p.m., CBS) and Montana could be a stubborn foe for Michigan (9:50 p.m., TBS). Also, St. Bonaventure winds up the night facing Florida in Dallas (9:57 p.m., truTV), the play-in game winner at least receiving a slight break by playing the last game of the night.
Have a terrific first round Thursday, annually one of the very best days of the college basketball season.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
