Day 3: What do we know?

How great are brackets? I (heart) brackets! Today, for a couple hours, we were all Panthers!! A few hours earlier, we got to be Gaels!! I love it! But, most importantly, what did we learn? (And what are we still wondering about?)

• We learned mid-major teams shoot threes like babies poop. It doesn't matter when or where; if they feel like it, they'll do it. (Hope these YouTube clips still work when you click them... They're delightful.)
  

Example #1 - St. Mary's's...'s...'s Mickey McConnell, with 17 seconds on the shot clock, steps back and launches a rainbow off the glass and in! I loved Verne and Raferty...
Verne: "WooooOOOOOW" (as the shot goes up, clearly thinking it was WAY off)
Verne: "OH NO! OH NO!" (If he was 50 years younger, he'd have added "he di'nt!")
Raf: "A HAIL MARY... FOR ST. MARY'S!! GOODNESS! A KISS TO BE REMEMBERED... POTENTIALLY!"
Love it! Love it! Love it!

Example #2 - St. Mary'ss'...s'...s' Matthew Dellavedova falls down (not on purpose...or WAS it?) then rolls back up and CANS IT!
Raf: "A little MAGIC! ...The GLOBIES are in town!!"

Example #3 - Northern Iowa's Ali Farokhmanesh. Will we ever forget that name? In NO strategy book is that a smart shot. That's the beauty of it. Even better, the Great Ali had missed all seven of his shots in the second half, six of them threes. "I was going to see if I could drive it, but then he backed off so far I thought I might as well shoot this one." Of course. Why wouldn't you?

• We know, as my brother pointed out, that the only thing standing between Bill Self and a Roy Williams-before-UNC-like reputation for choking more than winning in the Big Dance is a Memphis collapse. To put it another way, Kansas are a Memphis collapse away from a 32-year championship drought and a dark cloud-reputation as the tournament's biggest underachievers.

• We know Cole Aldrich is a stud, and was just starting to destroy the Panthers when he hurt his ankle. Plus, he's a monster on defense (although I don't think he would've blocked the Farokhmanesh). It seemed to me that Kansas wasn't being stubborn enough about getting Cole the ball, even after he started making those hook shots. It was like Kansas had so much talent that they felt they had to balance the scoring. Or perhaps they were so rushed to close the gap back down that they didn't take their time and get the big guy the ball. Ultimately, the blame for that falls on Self and Sherron Collins.
  

• We know Kansas State has great guards, and Jacob Pullen is deadly when he's hot. But can they beat a good team without getting front-court scoring? Can they beat a good team if The Beard is cold?

• We know Baylor's starting lineup is filled with studs. They proved it through the first 3 halves they played in this tournament. But if Old Dominion can make a game of it and outscore Baylor in the second half, does Baylor belong with the Elites? Lucky them, they now head to Houston.

• We know Butler is a great second half team, but so is Syracuse. Can the Bulldogs keep the score close enough in the first half of that potential match-up to be within striking distance of the Orange and keep their run going?

• Speaking of Butler, we know their coach Brad Stevens is excellent. I thought he did a great job with his substitution patterns down the stretch. Plus, Butler didn't panic going small with Matt Howard on the bench with four fouls, and Stevens knew right when it was time to get Howard back in. They may start slow, but the Bulldogs know how to finish games.
  

• We know Kentucky is red hot. Will they get a quality opponent before the Final Four?

• We know Tennessee looked good against teams with medium talent, but it's hard to imagine them beating Ohio State.

• We know Gonzaga has NBA-caliber talent in freshman forward Elias Harris and senior guard Matt Bouldin. We know Gonzaga is always a solid rebounding team (38.2 RPG ties them with Syracuse for 50th in the nation). We know Uncle Aku is sitting this one out. And we know Syracuse has to do the following to win:

-Keep Ricky out of foul trouble. The less time DaShonte Riley HAS to play, the better for Syracuse.
-Make it a high scoring game. Gonzaga likes to free-wheel too, so this could be a very entertaining game. Still, as we know, a fast-paced game is good for the Orange.
-Harass Bouldin on the perimeter. A few Zags can shoot the three, including forwards Harris and Bol Kong, but Bouldin makes this team click. He's their Sherron Collins.
-Take care of business. Survive and advance. Do work.