The Madness Continues: My Broken Bracket and Penn State in the NIT
Welcome back to March Madness, Part 2! My previous post on this blog highlighted my bracket picks. Now that the first weekend is over, it’s time to reflect on those picks and look to ahead to the future.
And… it happened again. After four days of basketball, my bracket is busted. As a self-proclaimed NCAA bracketology expert who was able to accurately predict almost the entire field of 68, it’s disheartening to see my predictions go down the gutter once again. But, hey, that’s what so special about March Madness! No one can be sure about anything.
In fact, I and 17% of ESPN users predicted that #1 overall Virginia would take home their first title thanks to a dominant defense and excellent coaching from Tony Bennett. Instead, the Cavaliers made history by becoming the first ever 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the opening round. Ain’t it funny how that works?
That’s not the only madness that has happened though. Plenty of other shenanigans found only in March have occurred this year. 11-seed Syracuse, a team that many thought should not even have been in the tournament, won both of their opening weekend games, defeating #6 TCU and #3 Michigan State en route to a trip to the Sweet 16. Another Sweet 16 bid was earned by another 11-seed, the Loyola Chicago Ramblers. Loyola Chicago defeated both #6 Miami and #3 Tennessee on buzzer-beaters just two days apart. (Lucky for me, Loyola was my Cinderella team! I picked them to get the Sweet 16… and they did!)
Perhaps the most notable underdog is the 7-seed Nevada Wolf Pack. In their first game, Nevada came back from 14 down early in the second half to defeat Texas in overtime, 87-83. But the magic didn’t stop there. Just two days later, Nevada did it again in incredible fashion. With just 11 minutes to go, #2 Cincinnati led the Wolf Pack 65-43, a 22-point margin. It looked over, but Nevada did not give up. Nevada finished the game on a 32-8 run to defeat the Bearcats 75-73 and advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2004.
The madness begins again on Thursday night, as the underdogs Loyola Chicago and Nevada play each other at 7 PM.
That’s it for my wrap-up on the Tournament’s first weekend, but what about Penn State?
Penn State, of course, did not receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Nittany Lions were selected to play in the NIT, a tournament for the best teams that did not reach the main tournament. And Penn State has been killing it.
The last time Penn State was in the NIT, 2009, they won the thing. And it looks like they could do that again. After starting off slow in their first game against Temple, Penn State came back to win 63-57 in what was their final home game of the season. But they didn’t stop there. The Nittany Lions went in to South Bend, Indiana to play Notre Dame, the #1 overall NIT team, and won 73-63. Then they rolled on to win at Marquette, 85-80.
Penn State now heads to the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where they just played a few weeks ago in the Big Ten Tournament. They’ll take on Mississippi State, a team that has interesting ties to Penn State in terms of football, as head coach James Franklin’s former offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead now coaches the Bulldogs. It’s irrelevant to basketball, but it’s fun to note.
Can Penn State keep the magic going? I sure hope so, as I’ll be going to the game! This morning, I bought my ticket for the game, which will be played at 7 PM on Tuesday, March 27th. Penn State Athletics has an excellent deal where you can buy a ticket to the game and a bus ride up and back for just $10. I’m not sure if they’re still running the deal, as they opened it at 10 AM this morning. Hopefully you hopped on it quick if you were interested in going too!
This may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, so I couldn’t pass it up. Hopefully we’ll win and play the winner of Utah and Western Kentucky in the NIT Championship on Thursday, March 29th. Go Nittany Lions!