Day one of the second round of the Tourney began today. Winners of these games find themselves in the much coveted Sweet 16.
Both #1 seeds who played today advanced: Ohio State and UNC. Ohio State was taken to overtime by Xavier, but once there Mike Conley Jr. tore it up and pushed the Buckeyes into the Sweet 16. UNC just stayed on top of Michigan State to knock them out of the tournament.
In other ACC/Virginia news: BC lost to Georgetown after leading for much of the second half. Roy Hibbert at 7’2″ wore the Eagles down down the stretch. Maryland got knocked off by a pesky-little-quick Butler team. VCU also bit the bullet against Pitt, although the came back from a double-digit second-half deficit to force overtime, but then the Panthers hit some big threes and the Rams couldn’t pull it out.
Vandy with former Cavalier Derrick Byars (SEC player of the year) knocked off the 3-seed in the East, Washington State.
So, the Cavaliers need to man up tomorrow and stop the potent Volunteer offense of Tennesse who tied an NCAA first round record with 121 points on Friday. If the Cavaliers can do that, then they have a date with the Buckeyes in the sweet-16 and this fan’s dreams would be fulfilled. Any wins after that for the Cavaliers would be gravy in my book, although I shouldn’t sell my team short. If JR Reynolds truly is healthy again, and they can keep Cain and Soroye marginally involved in the offense, both Singletary and Reynolds shoot the ball well enough that the Cavs will never be out of a game. First things first: Chris Lofton had 25 of the Volunteers’ 121 on Friday and he needs to be shut down for the Cavaliers to be successful.
Go Hoos.
