Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. Half of the Sweet 16 is now set, but it all came on a day without much in the way of competitive games.
We begin with the two games in Jacksonville, which Ted covered. He and others there were the lucky ones, as they were easily the two best games of the day as the only ones decided by single digits. It started with LSU nipping Maryland on a near-buzzer-beating layup by Tremont Waters, then Kentucky put forth a big defensive effort to shut down Wofford’s Fletcher Magee in a win to advance to the Sweet 16.
As we go through the other results, we note how Baylor overcame a lot just to get this far, running out of gas against Gonzaga. Would Syracuse have given Gonzaga a better game with Frank Howard not suspended? Possibly. We get into how Gonzaga looks much more like the team they were early in the season than the one that laid an egg in the West Coast Conference championship game against Saint Mary’s. And Florida State will be quite an underdog against Gonzaga, who they beat last year, as no one is talking about them even though they rolled over sentimental favorites Ja Morant and Murray State.
We take a minute to look at two conferences that have led the way thus far, as the Big Ten and SEC each have three teams already in the Sweet 16. The flip side is the Big East, where no teams will get past the first weekend, and that spurs a look at history. Will we ever see anything quite like the Big East in the final years leading up to 2013? It seems unlikely. This year was a down year for the Big East, but it was fresh off a great year both in terms of top teams and depth; this year, there was depth, evidenced by all ten teams being in a postseason tournament, but the top teams were not as good and the same is true a little down in the standings.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in for College Basketball Tonight soon as we break down the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament with special guests.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
