NCAA Tournament Day 1 – South Region

In which a lot of Ohio basketball fans had their dreams crushed by an Ohio basketball team.

This article was written by contributor Zac Roder.

(11) Dayton over (6) Ohio State 60-59

First game, first upset!! And this was a great one too. Ohio State took the early lead, but Dayton actually claimed and held the lead for most of the first and second half. Led by senior Aaron Craft and junior Sam Thompson, Ohio State came back from the deficit and got the lead part way through the second half. Was this it? Not by a long shot. OSU never really pulled away, and in the last minute, Dayton found themselves within range of a win. An OSU foul on a three point shot gave the Flyers the lead, which was followed by a ridiculous reverse layup by Craft giving the Buckeyes a 1 point lead with mere seconds on the clock. Then March kicked in. Dayton’s Vee Sanford (10 points) made a floating layup with 3.8 seconds left and Dayton became the first upset winner of March. Aaron Craft carried Ohio State as far as he could this game, bearing the load, but it wasn’t enough — like the majority of the season. Craft scored 16 with five rebounds and four assists. Meanwhile, OSU’s other potential draftee LaQuinton Ross disappeared in this game, putting up 10 points, but on 5-12 shooting, and only recording two rebounds. Dayton plays Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse squad next round.

(9) Pittsburgh over (8) Colorado 77-48

This game looked like a little bit more of the 1-16 variety and less of the 8-9 type. Colorado was overmatched, they got down big early and never recovered. Colorado missed their star junior Spencer Dinwiddie who has been out with a knee injury since January and may declare for the draft this year. Pittsburgh was led by Talib Zanna’s 18 points and will go on to play Florida. Pitt could cause some problems for the Gators with their players like Lamar Patterson who himself had a strong game, scoring 10 with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Patterson led the Panthers along with Zanna to this W. More games like this, especially against Florida, could raise his draft stock considerably. Florida was the 1 seed no one has questioned, but could have some trouble with this talented team that clearly is hot right now.

(3) Syracuse over (14) Western Michigan 77-53

Syracuse, while struggling as of late (2-5 in last seven before the tournament), took care of a clearly less talented Western Michigan squad that couldn’t handle the famous 2-3 defense, scoring only 21 points in the first half. ‘Cuse saw four players score in double digits with Fair, Grant, Ennis, and Cooney combining for 64 points. Potential lottery pick freshman guard Tyler Ennis played well, scoring 16 with six assists, two steals, while shooting 7-11 from the field. Jerami Grant and CJ Fair also had strong showings, both scoring double digits and Fair corralled in 11 boards. Western Michigan struggled from the field, shooting 34.7 percent, and was hurt by their even worse three point shooting that a team needs to beat the 2-3 zone of Jim Boeheim (22.2 percent). Syracuse moves on to the second round, playing the upstart Dayton Flyers.

(1) Florida over (16) Albany 67-55

No 16 seed has ever won a game in the NCAA tournament, but for the second time in Albany’s history, they came awfully close. Back in 2006, the Great Danes lost to UCONN 72-59, but were within one at halftime. This game was fairly similar. Albany and Florida were neck and neck and the lead continued to change throughout the first half until Florida emerged with a 6 point lead. The second half wasn’t as close, but Florida never clearly started to dominate, and emerged with a 12 point win. A team without much of a star, it is very important for Florida to get their act together especially offensively, where they need to play better as a team. Phenom Chris Walker was not a big part of the game for Florida only playing six minutes, as his new eligibility has never allowed him to work his way into the rotation. Patric Young, Florida’s best senior, had a good performance, getting a double-double with 10 points and boards over 29 minutes. Florida as a team shot 25 percent from downtown, and Casey Prather led the way offensively with 16 points and also had 3 blocks. The Gators will play a hot Pitt team next.