2024 NCAA Tournament - Thursday Was Just Amazing
But probably not so much for Kentucky fans
The first full day of the NCAA tournament is almost always crazy and Thursday was no exception to that. Dayton had a massive comeback to beat Nevada, Samford nearly had a bigger one but still lost to Kansas, NC State and UNC won from the ACC and Kentucky lost in the opening round again, this time to Oakland.
Kentucky fans are not amused. If you use X, look up what people are saying. It’s not pretty.
BBN was probably even less happy when they realized that Oakland star Jack Godlike - okay, that’s auto correct but it’s a pretty good one transferred from D-II Hillsdale.
It’s actually Gohlke but UK fans were also probably not happy when they realized that he was 25.
The ire of angry Kentucky fans is something to see. A few years ago they went after a referee and tried to ruin his roofing business with lousy reviews.
For John Calipari, this is pretty much a disaster. He’s always been thin-skinned and doesn't enjoy criticism. Well, he’s getting a lot now. The Mildcats haven’t made a significant run since getting to the Elite Eight in 2018-19. In fact, they’ve only gotten out of the first round once.
We always say everyone gets a pass for Covid so the 9-16 record in 2021-22 is completely forgivable.
The fans are in an uproar though and it’s only going to get worse.
Speaking of angry fans, Samford fans have a legitimate and major beef: AJ Staton-McCray made a sensational, clean block of a dunk attempt by Kansas’s Nicolas Timberlake. Samford was down just one after an incredible comeback and mere seconds remained.
They’ll be talking about this for years and justifiably so. It was a terrible call.
We thought there was a chance that NC State would be exhausted after the marathon in D.C. last weekend but no: not at all.
The Pack played with a ton of energy and ultimately pulled away from Texas Tech, winning 80-67. DJ Burns continues to morph into a folk hero: every time he touched the ball, the fans just went nuts. And between Burns, Ben Middlebrooks and Mo Diarra, State’s big men racked up 54 points and 17 rebounds.
State just consistently out-hustled the Red Raiders and totally earned the upset. They’ll play Oakland on Friday which should be fun.
Wagner insisted they had no fear of UNC and fair enough, they didn’t. They played hard as hell.
Injuries racked that team though. They only had seven players available and not nearly enough size to counter the much bigger Tar Heels.
They did play fearlessly though and made a tremendous impression.
The Dayton comeback was also impressive, flying back with a late 24-4 run including 17 unanswered points. That’s terrific.
Dan Monson’s March fun after getting fired ended with Long Beach State’s loss to Arizona and Tommy Lloyd. The game was overshadowed first by his former A.D. claiming that he fired Monson to “motivate” his players, which seems ludicrous.
He’s available now if anyone is interested.
Gonzaga knocked McNeese State out, 86-65 behind a strong-ass game from freshman Dusty Stromer, who played a big role off the bench.
If LBSU’s A.D. overshadowed Long Beach’s game, the big screen TVs overhead did the same in Gonzaga’s win: they were showing the Kentucky game for part of the live game and Mark Few was not happy.
And in the Oregon-South Carolina match, Beaver Jermaine Couisnard as it turned out, used to be a Gamecock.
He went off for 40.
When asked why, Cousinard said that some of his old Gamecock teammates were talking smack so, being a competitive guy, he hung 40 on them.
Lamont Paris may have a meeting about how and why it’s important not to give an opponent any psychological incentives.
We’re not going to get into every game but Michigan State must be discussed: the Spartans looked really good against Mississippi State.
Remember when the Spartans couldn’t hit a three earlier in the season? They hit 10-23 here. If they keep playing like this, a deep drive is possible for Tom Izzo and company.
Friday has plenty of fun on tap. Chris Collins and Northwestern open things at 12:15 with a fascinating matchup against FAU.
New Mexico and Clemson go at 3:10 while Auburn and Yale tangle at 4:15. We mention that one because Charles Barkley said there’s no way the “smart kids” from Yale could beat Auburn. Given his track record, we’d strongly consider betting on Yale.
Former Blue Devil Henry Coleman and Texas A&M get Nebraska at 6:50. James Madison and Wisconsin go at 9:40 and will play the Duke-Vermont winner (Duke, of course, plays at 7:10).
Grambling and Purdue tip off at 7:25 and finally Grand Canyon and Saint Mary’s close things out at 10:05. You might want to watch that one. It could be really good.
Those are the games that most interest us but as always, things are going to be unpredictable. Get your popcorn ready!