“A 12 always beats a 5,” said my French Canadian friend told me as I showed her my bracket. She was referring to Villanova, I believe and I’m sure she’s laughing now.
Not me. I had Clemson making the sweet 16.
And maybe they would have too, if they had sank some shots towards the end of the game. All throughout the first half, they put up a big lead before going cold at the end of the half. And as the second half started, they never quite got back on track. After Villanova clawed their way back and took the lead halfway into the second half, the Tigers never really got close again, save for a late rush.
This is thanks, in part, to some great scoring off Villanova’s bench. Both Antonio Pena and Corey Fisher scored in double digits off the bench, getting 17 and 12 respectively. Additionally, they shot well from the charity stripe, hitting 83% of their shots. On the same hand, poor shooting plagued Clemson, who hit only 38 per cent of their shots, missing five late in the game – where a tied game with 1:40 left slowly dwindled to a six-point loss.
Elsewhere on the night, Indiana and Arkansas clashed in a battle of 8 and 9 seeds. The Hoosiers threatened them early on, but Arkansas slowly pulled away, never trailing for three-quarters of the game.
Granted, Indiana didn’t go away quietly. They kept hitting their shots and closed the gap to two points at one point in the second half. But that was as close as they would get, as the Razorbacks shot out the lights, hitting over half their shots and nearly 80 per cent from the line.
Meanwhile, Louisville destroyed Boise State, never once giving up a lead in a game they controlled from start to finish, as did Memphis against Texas-Arlington. Nothing much to report about those games, other then they didn’t get much viewing time on my TV.
All in all, day two of March Madness was a pretty solid day, with two instant classic games and a handful of fun games. Sure, my bracket is a little worse for the wear, but whos isn’t?
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