Madness.

That’s the only word to describe it. “March Madness” is the most appropriate nickname in all of sports.

Friday set the tone for what will hopefully continue to be an exciting tournament. Two of the first 5 games went to overtime. Three total games went to overtime.

Florida continued to be mercurial. Tennessee’s offense disappeared yet again. Arkansas survived and advanced.

Twelve hours of basketball. Twelve more hours today. It’s March. The Madness is in full swing. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

SEC notes

Florida 75, Virginia Tech 70 (OT)

The Gators played in the first game of the day, and what a game it was. Fortunately for Florida, Tre Mann is The Mann, and he saved the day in overtime:

That’s just an incredible step-back 3. He only finished with 14 points, but he was a driving force for the Gators all day long. So was Colin Castleton, who had this clutch block down the stretch:

Castleton finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. He was huge in the paint.

But, of course, the Gators had some questionable plays down the stretch. Don’t they always? First, Anthony Duruji absolutely posterized a Virginia Tech player on this dunk:

He then missed the free throw, making the dunk about 33% less cool. He finished 1-for-5 from the free-throw line.

And, despite a major coaching blunder from Mike White, the game probably shouldn’t have gone to overtime at all. How do you not foul well before he takes this 3?

Oh well. The Gators won. That’s all that matters in March.

The big question now involves the health of Tyree Appleby, who took this vicious (but not malicious) elbow to the forehead and had to leave the game:

Hopefully he is OK. He came back out to the sideline area during overtime, but didn’t check back into the game.

Now, the Gators get to play 15-seed Oral Roberts after the Golden Eagles took down 2-seed Ohio State in epic fashion (more on that game later).

It seems the Gators have a knack for playing 15 seeds in later rounds of the tournament:

https://twitter.com/LDolengowski/status/1373025064447307778

This won’t be an easy game for the Gators, mind you. But they’ll be a favorite to win, which they wouldn’t have been against Ohio State. We’ll see what happens on Sunday!

Arkansas 85, Colgate 68

Yes, the Hogs struggled early in the first half of this one. But, a late first-half 17-0 run gave them a 36-33 halftime lead. And, the Razorbacks never looked back.

Justin Smith was a machine, scoring 29 points to go with 13 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks and an assist. But, Smith wasn’t the only one who got things going for the Hogs. JD Notae — the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year — has never met a shot he wouldn’t take.

He finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. He was the beneficiary of this creative pass from Devo Davis:

When someone does something that cool, you absolutely have to knock down the shot. Notae did. He also hit this long 3 shortly thereafter:

https://twitter.com/RazorbackMBB/status/1372979642500591619

If Arkansas can get by Texas Tech (no easy task) on Sunday, either 7-seed Florida or 15-seed Oral Roberts will be waiting for the Hogs in the Sweet 16. The path to the Elite Eight is there, now we’ll just see if Eric Musselman’s crew can keep winning!

Oregon State 70, Tennessee 56

That’s on me for having faith in this Tennessee team. They showed me all year they weren’t capable of having big offensive performances in big-time games, and yet, I picked the Vols to go to the Sweet 16.

Oops.

I also thought Oregon State’s magical run to the Pac-12 Tournament title wouldn’t carry over after a week off and a move from Las Vegas to Indiana. What an idiot I was.

Fortunately, I gave up on the Vols after this play:

I don’t know what happened to Yves Pons, but his offensive game took a huge step back this year. No one is buying that awful pump fake. He can’t dribble very well, and he was so eager to get that ball out of his hands, even if it meant getting it to Victor Bailey Jr. with 3 seconds on the shot clock (of which Bailey clearly had no clue).

This is a team that had lofty preseason expectations. It played well during nonconference action, but it never got things going the way it should have in SEC play. The Vols lost in the SEC Tournament semifinals and now have bowed out of the NCAA Tournament with a whimper.

Rick Barnes has now added another seed to his list of seeds that have defeated teams he’s coached in the NCAA Tournament:

Are we absolutely sure Barnes isn’t on the hot seat now? He was hired by the Vols back when Dave Hart was the AD. Since then, Tennessee has burned through ADs as fast as football coaches. There was John Currie, then Phillip Fulmer. Now, it’s Danny White, who just came over from UCF.

What’s to stop White from moving on from Barnes and bringing someone new in (probably Johnny Dawkins, UCF’s men’s hoops coach, let’s be real)? He has no loyalty to Barnes. And this was a team that massively underperformed expectations.

I’m not saying the Vols will do anything with Barnes this offseason. But, after Barnes flirted with UCLA a couple of years ago, maybe he makes a move. He could just as easily take another job himself. He doesn’t have to wait for White and the Vols to do something. It’s about to be an interesting offseason on Rocky Top.

Other notes

Illinois 78, Drexel 49

It’s always nice to see the team you picked to win the title have an easy Round 1 win. And it is also always exciting to watch Andre Curbelo play basketball. Look at this ridiculous pass:

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1372983836892536832

Now, the Illini have to prepare for perhaps the best game of the second round. They’ll take on 8-seed Loyola-Chicago and Sister Jean on Sunday. That’s a matchup that belongs in the Sweet 16, not the Round of 32. The Illini will need to come out strong to avoid falling victim to the Ramblers’ tourney magic.

Oral Roberts 75, Ohio State 72 (OT)

Entering Friday, only 8 15-seeds had ever taken down a 2-seed. The most recent was Middle Tennessee over Michigan State in 2016.

Well, now we have a ninth victorious 15-seed, as Oral Roberts held off Ohio State’s comeback attempt in overtime. And it wasn’t easy, as the Buckeyes got 2 good looks at a game-tying 3 at the buzzer:

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1373021513369088003

Can’t ask for better looks than that, Ohio State!

Now, Oral Roberts advances to play Florida. The Gators aren’t a surefire bet in this game, either. Against the Buckeyes, Kevin Obanor (30 points, 11 rebounds) and Max Abmas (29 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals) combined for 59 of Oral Roberts’ 75 points. Abmas, the nation’s leading scorer, showed off his NBA range:

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1373029279999594500

Watch out, Gators. (Here’s where I point out that Mizzou stomped Oral Roberts 91-64 in the season-opener. Just let me have this.)

North Texas 78, Purdue 69 (OT)

North Texas outscored Purdue 17-8 in overtime. North Texas was controlling the game so much in regulation, though, that it was a bit of a surprise it went to overtime at all.

Now, the tournament that is being held entirely in Indiana is without a home-state team. Trevion Williams posted 14 points and 13 rebounds. He went 7-for-15 from the floor in 30 minutes. If I were Matt Painter, I would have played him more and gotten him the ball more.

He’s a matchup nightmare. Yes, I understand he’s a big guy and big guys don’t always have the best stamina. But it’s March Madness. What are you saving him for?

Sometimes, I think coaches outthink themselves, and it gets them into trouble. Play your best guys as long as they can compete at a high level. Javion Hamlet of North Texas played a game-high 43 minutes. He also scored a team-high 24 points.

Keep your best guys on the floor. This isn’t rocket science.

Villanova 73, Winthrop 63

A bunch of dumb analysts (myself included) thought this would be the 12-5 upset of the day. Oregon State obviously had other plans. It made sense on paper — Winthrop entered the game with only 1 loss. Villanova was without star point guard Connor Gillespie.

But, this tweet says it all:

Villanova keeps dancing. At least I didn’t have Winthrop in my Sweet 16, so I have that going for me!

Looking ahead

Today, there are 3 games involving SEC teams. They are:

  • 2-seed Alabama vs. 15-seed Iona — 4 p.m. ET on TBS
  • 8-seed LSU vs. 9-seed St. Bonaventure — 1:45 p.m. ET on TNT
  • 8-seed Oklahoma vs. 9-seed Mizzou — 7:25 p.m. ET on TNT

Tennessee is the only SEC team to lose thus far. Can these 3 SEC squads go 3-0? I have my doubts about Mizzou, but that’s just because I’m a pessimist. We’ll see how things play out during today’s slate of matchups!