Survive. Advance.
As is well known, this time of year there’s no necessity-and really no time-to apologize for a performance that may not be the most aesthetically pleasing when it comes in victory.
Picture of beauty or not, Arizona State’s 74-65 win over St. John’s Wednesday night in the final of the First Four games got the job done, moving the Sun Devils into the main bracket for the 2019 NCAA Tournament. After losing in this round a year ago, ASU certainly will take the win, and now sixth-seeded Buffalo awaits, with coach Bobby Hurley set to go up against his former school on Friday.
The Sun Devils weren’t great on Wednesday, but they certainly were better than the Johnnies. Arizona State never trailed in the game, built an 18-point first half lead and then held on through a muddle of a second half that saw neither team particularly sharp.
Luguentz Dort scored 21 points and the Sun Devils dominated the glass in the early going in building that big lead. Arizona State also held St. John’s to 31.9% shooting, though its 21 turnovers allowed the Red Storm to still threaten in the late stages.
ASU can take some solace in that play-in game winners have had success in extending their stays in the tourney beyond just the first round. Since the tourney field was expanded to 68 in 2011, every year at least one opening round winner has also won its next game. If one wants to think really big, in 2011 VCU wasn’t wowing anybody just yet in a 59-46 win over USC in its opener, before running off four more wins to go from First Four to the Final Four.
St. John’s saw its season end at 21-13, and frankly did little to quiet doubts that it may not have deserved a spot in the Big Dance. The Red Storm showed little outward tenacity until the final minutes, including an already very poor rebounding team contesting very little in the first half while falling behind big. There will be debate about whether head coach Chris Mullin got everything out of this team, and it’s a fair point when the hair-on-fire urgency needed to win consistently this time of year was so clearly lacking. On the other hand, the facts are this year’s team was heavily reliant on guard play in general and Shamorie Ponds in particular, and a nearly minus-6 rebound margin per game indicates a team that was severely flawed in some areas.
The other opening round game Wednesday night was actually the far better one to watch. North Dakota State held off North Carolina Central 78-74, outscoring the Eagles 17-8 over the final 5:11 to answer NCCU’s own rally earlier in the second half.
The Bison built a 13-point lead in the second half before N.C. Central chipped away, took the lead and even built it to five points late. NDSU received 23 points from Tyson Ward, though, including seven straight to give his team the lead for good in the final two minutes.
North Dakota State-the surprising champion from the Summit League-now advances to a date with top seed Duke, and NCCU’s loss kept us from getting a rematch of The Secret Game, a barrier-breaking game between the two schools in 1944, seventy-five years ago last week. (Author Scott Ellsworth wrote an outstanding book about the event, a terrific read for any fan of college hoops history) The matchup would’ve been a major storyline if it had happened, but the Bison will have their own chance to create a story against the vaunted Blue Devils Friday.
Side Dishes:
- Three road teams won among the seven NIT games last night, none more notable than Norfolk State with an 80-79 overtime stunner of Alabama. What a great win for the Spartans and the MEAC, helping ease some of the sting of North Carolina Central’s narrow NCAAs loss. Also winning on the road were Harvard, which topped Georgetown 71-68, and Wichita State, which edged Furman 76-70. The Shockers are playing well at the end of the season, and it wouldn’t surprise here at all if they go deep in the NIT. Also, Nebraska defeated Butler 80-76, meaning the school’s administration will have to continue wooing Fred Hoiberg behind the back of Tim Miles while he’s still coaching his team. How uttlerly classless, especially for one of the real good guys in the sport.
- The remaining seven first round games in the CBI saw six home teams win. The long road victor was Loyola Marymount, which edged Cal Baptist 56-55. Notable among the others was West Virginia topping Grand Canyon 77-63, Longwood surprisingly blowing out Southern Mississippi 90-68, and South Florida rallying from a 25-point deficit to defeat Stony Brook 82-79 in overtime. Also, Brown surprised UAB 83-78, doing so at home but without leading scorer Desmond Cambridge, who decided to transfer before the Bears’ season was even over. A salute to the Brown players who didn’t transfer with games yet to play and banded together for a very nice win, the first-ever postseason win in the program’s long history, and they’ll get another chance to take the court now in the quarterfinals. Brown also has reached the 20-win mark for the first time in school history.
- The CollegeInsider.com Tournament saw four games with road teams winning three of them. Wisconsin-Green Bay won at East Tennessee State 102-94, with the host Buccaneers playing without head coach Steve Forbes, who understandably missed the game after the death of his father. Prayers with the Forbes family at this time. Also, Texas Southern scored a win for the SWAC-and won its 22nd game of the season-with a 95-89 overtime victory at New Orleans, while Presbyterian picked up its first-ever NCAA Division I postseason win with a 73-68 victory at Seattle. The only home winner was Texas-Rio Grande Valley, which struck another blow for the WAC by edging Grambling State 74-73.
- Morgan State announced yesterday that it will not be renewing Todd Bozeman’s contract, marking the 26th coaching opening to come open since UCLA let go of Steve Alford. Bozeman came to the Baltimore school and spent 13 years there, posting a career 195-218 record to become the all-time winningest coach in program history. He also took the Bears to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010, but his teams finished with losing records the last six years and-much more importantly in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference-placed seventh or lower in four of the last five years, after finishing in the top three six of his first eight seasons.
- The Sun Belt Conference announced its new commissioner on Tuesday. Keith Gill comes to the league after being the associate commissioner of the Atlantic 10. He is the sixth commissioner of the league and replaces Karl Benson, who announced in August that he would be stepping down. Gill will preside over a league that hangs in the middle of Division I basketball-wise but does play NCAA Division I-A (FBS) football, and thus should have multiple bids in the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis as a realistic goal.
Today’s Menu:
- The NCAA Tournament officially takes center stage on Thursday with a solid first set of games. The first game features the Pitino Bowl, with 10th-seeded Minnesota against 7 seed Louisville from Des Moines (12:15 p.m. Eastern, CBS). Twenty-five minutes later, Yale and LSU get started in Jacksonville (12:40 p.m., truTV) for one that is worth watching very closely.
- Much the same could be said about the first game from Salt Lake City, where 12 seed New Mexico State takes on Auburn (1:30 p.m., TNT). The other from the first set of games has Vermont against Florida State in a tricky 4-vs.-13 game (2 p.m., TBS). The Seminoles ‘should’ win, but the Catamounts execute well, have a carry-the-team star in Anthony Lamb, and have enough experience against top-notch teams the last couple years that they won’t be afraid.
- The second set of games begins with Bradley against Michigan State (2:45 p.m., CBS). The Spartans will be heavy favorites, but again, beware-the Braves when playing well as they have of late are more like a 12 seed than a 15, and in fact defeated Penn State of the Big Ten this season. Upset possibilities abound beside that one, with Northeastern against Kansas (4 p.m., TNT) and a juicy one with Murray State against Marquette (4:30 p.m., TBS), though some questions still lurk about how much Markus Howard will be affected by an injured hand.
- If anyone can explain to us a good reason why Belmont has to play a day game against Maryland on Thursday (3:10 p.m., truTV) after just playing late at night on Tuesday, let us know. Once again, the NCAA shows its failings in how it lets TV dictate this event completely, rather than taking a few less dollars from the networks in exchange for a little more control and giving a play-in team a slightly more reasonable schedule.
- The evening shift begins with Florida against Nevada (6:50 p.m., TNT). First-time participant Abilene Christian will be on the main network when it faces Kentucky (7:10 p.m., CBS), while potentially the best game of the night-certainly the one this writer will be watching most closely-has defending champion Villanova taking on Saint Mary’s (7:20 p.m., TBS). Also, Fairleigh Dickinson goes to Salt Lake City to take on Gonzaga (7:27 p.m., truTV).
- The final games of the day at the four sub-regional sites begins with Montana against Michigan (9:10 p.m., TNT), the second straight year these two have met in the first round. The Wolverines won last year’s handily, and while the Grizzlies have some really good guards, they’ll sorely miss the injured Jamar Akoh in this one if he can’t go.
- Wofford will aim to add to this year’s list of first time NCAA tourney winners when it takes on Seton Hall in Jacksonville (9:40 p.m., CBS). Fletcher Magee vs. Myles Powell-talk about a matchup of great shooters. Our guess is the Terriers have a better team around their star, though. Other later games include 14th-seeded Old Dominion against Purdue (9:50 p.m., TBS), with the Monarchs looking to extend to five Conference USA’s streak of consecutive years winning from a 12 seed or lower. Also, Baylor and Syracuse will go at it (9:57 p.m., truTV) from Salt Lake City, and we’ll see if the Cuse is getting ready for another surprise run.
Besides the NCAAs, there will be four games in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Matchups include St. Francis (N.Y.) at Hampton, with the Terriers playing in a Division I tourney other than the NIT for the first time ever. Also, Cal State Bakersfield is at Cal State Fullerton in a matchup of future Big West rivals.
Enjoy the first full day of the tournament.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
