NBA Draft: Lottery Recap

For whatever reason, I've decided to record my thoughts on many of the picks from Thursday night's draft. Let's get right to it.

Louisville, Ohio State Advance to Final Four

Half the field for St. Louis is set.

In the first matchup, the upset-ridden West regional final, Louisville surged late to stun Florida by four. Full credit to the Cardinals, particularly Russ Smith (who made several big shots down the stretch in place of Peyton Siva, who had fouled out) and Chane Behanan (who had a big second half after being quiet in the first 20 minutes). But the Gators earn demerits for their lack of offensive execution in the second half and lack of poise down the stretch. Florida was red-hot from deep in the first half against the Louisville zone, but didn't adjust well when the Cardinals switched to man-to-man. And they took some bad, early shots down the stretch.

Half of the Elite Eight Set

Aside from the first game, which saw Syracuse squeak by Wisconsin when the Badgers couldn't get a good shot off on their final possession, Thursday's action was pretty boring: Louisville's Gorgui Dieng controlled the interior with seven blocked shots as the Cardinals stymied Michigan State; Ohio State lost its concentration and a 12-point halftime lead, but regrouped to beat Cincy by 15; and freshman Bradley Beal led Florida past Marquette in a high-intensity yet sloppy game that was pretty similar to Marquette's second-round win over Murray State.

The Syracuse-Wisconsin game was a gem, though.

Sweet 16 preview

By no means is this a complete preview; it's more of a collection of semi-connected thoughts about the Sweet 16 games, which get started Thursday night. Take a look after the jump.

Round Two, Day Two

The marathon portion of the college basketball season is over. Since Thursday, it's been nothing but wall-to-wall hoops, 12 straight hours of basketball a day for four days. (And all this coming on the heels of Championship Week, an even more grueling endurance test!) Yeah, I know; I'm sad, too.

Sixteen teams remain. A bit later in the week, I'll put up a Sweet 16 preview post breaking down the upcoming action. For now, though, let's take a quick look at Sunday's games.

Round Two, Day One

Blogging after watching all this ball is starting to wear me out.

After Friday's excitement, Saturday was relatively tame. There were no upsets among the eight games on the slate. But there still some pretty good games.

Day Two Thoughts

My reactions to day two of the second round, a.k.a. day two of the first round, a.k.a. the most historic day in NCAA tournament history.

Four times, and only four times, prior to Friday had a #15 seed beaten a #2 seed in the first round. On Friday, it happened twice. Lehigh-Duke got top billing on Sportscenter even though it happened after Norfolk State-Missouri, so we'll start there after the jump.