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Friday, March 23
Found guilty of first-round failureA team should be judged by its full body of work. The postseason, however, is crucial to an overall review. The NCAA Tournament ends up being the final judgment of a season. That's why Tennessee, Wake Forest and Virginia will be scrutinized after Friday's early exits. More ...
PLAYER OF DAY.............................. Kelyn Block. While 4 out of 5 dentists don't recommend playing basketball after losing three teeth, the Indiana State junior guard scored five of his 17 points after having his teeth knocked out at the end of regulation. Block was schedule for an emergency root cannel Friday night, but planned to be in uniform and on the court when the Sycamores play Gonzaga on Sunday. RANDOM THOUGHT............................... While upsets once again sent teams from power conferences home, the Big Ten saved a little face on Friday. After three of its four brethren were upset Thursday, top-seeded Illinois and Michigan State, along with No. 7 Penn State, all looked impressive in first-round wins. Kansas, however, was the only Big 12 team to join Missouri on the weekend after Texas and Oklahoma joined Iowa State and Oklahoma State as first-round losers. STOCK RISING..................................... Jerry Tarkanian. Hard to believe, but "The Shark" hadn't won an NCAA game since 1991 when UNLV beat Seton Hall in the West Region final. Winning another one won't take 10 seasons, but may take 365 days or so. Up next for the Bulldogs is No. 1 Michigan State in the South. STOCK FALLING.................................. ACC. The nation's "best" conference is back down to three teams in the NCAA Tournament. The same three teams that made the tourney last year. The others? We'll let you decide if they belonged back in the tourney this season. HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU................ For those of you who saw Gonzaga's Dan Dickau for the first time, tell us he couldn't have done the action scenes for Robbie Benson in "One on One." And now that Virginia is out, Pete Guillen can go back hosting the Late Show. USER MESSAGE OF THE DAY.................. How can anybody seed the Zags 12th after the last couple of seasons? Those people who call Gonzaga a Cinderella team are morons. Who cares if east coast fans don't know about Gonzaga ... the loyal fans who support them do. -- shizba
"I think we were a little nervous because of all the upsets. I've heard a lot of people say, 'You should look at all of Thursday's games and your guys should be ready for Friday. Teams like Alabama State saw upsets can happen and that gets them more ready." Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo on his defending champion's slow start to a 69-35 victory. |  |
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ESPN.com's Andy Katz
ESPN's Dick Vitale
ESPN's Jay Bilas
If you didn't take Gonzaga, shame on you! And if Butler's victory came as a surprise, you must not have watched last year's tourney. No, the real shocker Friday was pulled off by the No. 13 Sycamores in the South Region. Indiana State came in on a roll, yes. But we bet Creighton was written into the second round on more of your brackets. MVC teams are now 6-7 in the past 10 tournaments, so maybe flipping a coin would have been just as effective.
Matt Renn says Indiana State wasn't going to give in to Oklahoma.