DALLAS, Texas — What day is this anyway? One more day in Dallas and then it’s back home. Time for Four from the Floor”
1. If you were like me, you thought Ohio State was going to pull it out Saturday night when they whittled a 20-point lead down to three with 2:45 to play. Give Wichita State credit for hanging on for the win. That’s the thing about this tournament — you’re always one bad-shooting night away from being eliminated. Ohio State, which had won 11 straight games, went 5-of-25 from 3-point range.
2. I know it’s difficult to prepare for the Syracuse zone with only a day to prepare but there is no excuse for Marquette’s miserable offensive performance. If Syracuse’s zone was so impossible to play against, why is this the first trip to the Final Four in 10 years for Jim Boeheim? Marquette missed a lot of open shots. Still, Syracuse has limited its opponents to 45.8 points a game in the tournament.
3. Hmm, Steve Alford to UCLA? Seems like a good fit. But it says a lot about the job that Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens turned them down. And what was all this Billy Donovan to UCLA stuff? Sometimes I think people just make stuff up. Meanwhile, Minnesota was turned down by Flip Saunders. Which is all you need to know about that job.
4. There were 1,820 people in ESPN’s contest who correctly predicted that Wichita State and Syracuse would be in the Final Four. I’m guessing they were all Shockers fans. My bracket is ruined with only Louisville still alive. It’s in the 74th percentile, which isn’t very good but better than most of the so-called experts at ESPN. Colin Cowherd is in the 10th percentile. Remind me not to listen when he’s talking about college basketball.
