A complaint in the men’s Division I basketball tournament’s first week has been the lack of upsets. The starting field of 68 teams was reduced to 16 teams for Thursday, March 28 games. Only Oregon, a No. 12 seed remained among the double-digit seeded teams.
The way in which many frame their complaints would have us believe that seeding teams counts for very little, that lower-ranked team should knock off the favored side with regularity. The No. 12 Oregon is the lowest Sweet 16 tournament survivor since 2013 when No.12 Oregon, No. 13 La Salle, and No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast, saw the light of week two in the tournament.
Loyola Chicago’s spectacular, and surprising, run to the Final Four last season, still reveals the Ramblers were a No. 11 seed in 2018.
• If a collegiate basketball team wants to continue playing after the regular season has come to an end and has a decent record, there are tournaments available.
The NIT (National Invitational Tournament), CBI (College Basketball Invitational), and CIT (College Insider Tournament), are available for teams with a modicum of victories.
• DePaul University has made the most of its CBI appearance, with a 100-86 victory over Central Michigan and Monday night’s 97-89 victory over Longwood. The Blue Demons are in the semifinals of the 16-team tournament and was set to play host to Coastal Carolina Wednesday evening in Chicago. DePaul, 17-15 overall, remained in the field along with Loyola Marymont and South Florida. The final two teams will play a best of three-game series April 1, 3, and 5, the latter if necessary.
• In the NCAA men’s bracket, the Big Ten Conference put three teams in the final 16 and produced a 12-5 record, including Michigan State’s victory over conference member, Minnesota, 70-50. The Southeastern Conference had three teams in the final 16 and the Atlantic Coast Conference had five teams.
Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue represented the Big Ten in the final 16 teams. (See brackets on back page). Indiana of the Big Ten remained in the quarterfinals this week in the NIT. The tournament semifinals and championship games will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City next week.
• One of the final eight teams in the NIT, Lipscomb University, based in Nashville, Tenn., includes freshman guard Jake Wolf from Aurora Christian High School.
• Notre Dame and Iowa are in the women’s NCAA D-I Sweet Sixteen.