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Where did everyone else go? Listen to Check the Net this week as Colin has an exciting conversation with the voices in his head about the first two rounds of the NCAA March Madness tournament! Don't believe me? Just ask the host himself: "I promise, I'm not going crazy." -Colin
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Are you a fan of college hoops? Check the Net is a podcast that covers everything about the world of college basketball. Whether it is discussions regarding top teams and weekly rankings, updates on transfer portal and coaching news, or commentary on the latest major stories from around the game, Check the Net has got you covered. The podcast covers both men’s and women’s basketball across all Division I conferences. Check the Net is available through Impact 89FM’s website, as well as via all major audio platforms.
Welcome everyone to check the net Impact 89 FM's College Basketball podcast. I'm your host, Colin Pearson, and I am alone in the studio today, surrounded only by the spirits of my cohost. You'll likely hear some faint sounds coming from them throughout the episode. Ghosts of my past and theirs haunting me, making fun of me for my pics as I make fun of them for theirs.
Kylee:I'm sad. It's fine because we got a lot of stuff to talk about today.
Colin:Yeah. Thanks, Kylie. There there is one of the ghosts right there. We're gonna start on the women's side, and this is going to be a short episode because it's not very discussion based because I'm the only one here. So we're just gonna get right into it.
Colin:We're going to be reviewing the round of 64 and round of 32 on both the women's and men's sides. This tournament on the women's side has been very kinda boring. I'll be completely honest. It's been pretty much all chalk. There's there was only one upset in the entire round of 64.
Colin:It was an 11 seed. Middle Tennessee state, we'll talk about them in a second. There were only 3 more in the round of 32, with 2 out of the 3 of those being 5 over 4 upsets, which are, you know, nothing crazy. We're gonna talk about the biggest upsets sets real quick. And, really, the only big one was Middle Tennessee State over number 6 Louisville.
Colin:Middle Tennessee State then proceeded to lose to Louisiana State, to LSU, and Angel Reese was a phenomenal team. But the really interesting thing about Middle Tennessee State being Louisville is that they essentially only played 5 players for the entire game, with one other player, as a few of the other ones got water. So they had 2 players play the entire game, 40 minutes. They had a player play 39 minutes, a player with 38 minutes, a player with 36 minutes, and then one player with 8 minutes. They really I don't know how they won it other than they had 6 blocks, and then they made 23 free throws compared to Louisville's 9.
Colin:That's a 14 point difference, and really that converted the game for Middle Tennessee State. I will say I did pick Middle Tennessee State in my bracket. I'm very excited about that. But the, the bracket winning our bracket pool right now is the completely chalk bracket, and so that's mildly embarrassing for all of us. I will say that Louisville also shot better or equal percentage wise on all marks, except for free throws.
Colin:Actually, free throws as well. Louisville just shot a lot less free throws. And so that's just really interesting stat wise. Middle Tennessee State, congrats for that win. Big one moving on to round of 32 there.
Colin:The other 3 were all in the round of 32. Let's talk about number 5, Baylor versus number 4, Virginia Tech. Jada Walker pretty much won this one for Baylor, putting up 28 points in just 26 minutes of play. Really, really crazy game for her. She was shooting insane percentages and really took it home for Baylor against a very tough Virginia Tech team who was a final four team last year.
Colin:And then the other really big upset there was number 7 Duke took down number 2 Ohio State.
Kylee:Ohio State UConn's gonna be a great game.
Derrick:That's gonna be just
Kylee:If Unless that happens unless you're accused beats UConn, which there is honestly, Yeah. That's a coin flip.
Colin:Ohio State, we know, is a phenomenal team. They've beaten Iowa. They've beaten the likes of Indiana. They've played against all the top teams, competed well, and this one just was not their game. So Duke, you know, did not shoot insanely well.
Colin:They shot 51%, which is fine. It's pretty good. It's actually really good. Ohio State shot 9% from 3, and I think that is really where they fell apart. They shot just 40% from the field.
Colin:They shot 66% from free throws compared to Duke's 82, 83%. Duke really shot better, and I don't know if they'll be able to replicate that. If they can, they have a very, very tough matchup next round against number 3 Yukon, who I have in my final 4. So that will be a very interesting matchup. I think Yukon's going to steamroll them, but they did just beat Ohio State.
Colin:And part of that was due to some very good defense on Duke's part. So that's something to look at for sure. Let's look at some teams that are kinda over performing. They're doing they're going a little bit above and beyond what they need to, you know, maybe overexerting themselves or maybe just showing their dominance. It's a strategy thing, you know.
Colin:The top one I wanna talk about is South Carolina. They are showing no mercy as per usual. I'm sure Kylie and Derek have a few comments on that. Kylie, what's the claim?
Kylee:The claim is South Carolina is winning the whole thing.
Derrick:Oh,
Colin:gosh. That's a terrible claim.
Kylee:Wow. That's that's rude.
Colin:Yep. There there they are. They are they're really showing no mercy. Crushing, they crushed number 8 North Carolina by 47 points in an 88 to 41 game. They had 5 players in that game with more than 10 points.
Colin:They were shooting 45% across the board, both field goals and 3 pointers. They shot 80% from free throw line. I mean, they just were insane all across the board. They had a ton of blocks. They were playing the game of their lives against the, the out of state opponent, you know, North Carolina, the rival.
Colin:They play Indiana next. So that will be a more interesting game, I think. A little bit more of a challenge for South Carolina, but remember South Carolina is undefeated. I have a hard time believing they'll lose to Indiana. And then on the other side, Oregon State or Notre Dame.
Colin:A South Carolina Notre Dame rematch would be a ton of fun. That that would be game of the year quality material. It's gonna be a fun one if that if it gets to that. Not quite on the same level, but a different team has been also over performing, particularly one player on that team. Juju Watkins for the number 1 seed, USC beat number 8, Kansas.
Colin:Their their team beat number 8, Kansas by 18 points. And Juju Watkins had 28 of those points, and 11 rebounds. So she is, you know, a big double double there, and really proving herself pretty dominant as a freshman. That team takes on number 5 Baylor, who, again, was one of the upsets over Virginia Tech. And so that could be an interesting game, especially if we, we see Juju Watkins kind of face up against Jada Walker.
Colin:Could be could be a very interesting one. Biggest impact players? I wanna talk about Paige Bueckers for a second for, Yukon. She had 28 points and 7 assists in the round of 64 versus number 14 Jackson State. And then she dropped 32 points versus the number 6 seed Syracuse.
Colin:She's healthy again, and it shows. She is having a dominant tournament run, and they are definitely a definitely a dangerous team. Playing number 7 Duke shouldn't be much of an issue for her or for that team. But then they come up against the winner of South Carolina or Southern California, sorry, USC, and Baylor. And that, I think they could beat Southern California, and they could go on a nice little run there.
Colin:Top teams going into the sweet 16. I just wanted to mention a few of these that I haven't mentioned yet. Iowa and USC, I don't think there's any need for explanation. We've talked a little bit about them. Iowa, Caitlin Clark actually just set the, the women's all time single season scoring record, for the NCAA in her last game at home because the women's tournament plays home games for the first two rounds for the they they set up top seeds.
Colin:So Caitlin Clark was able to do that back in Iowa. She will now be out to face number 5, Colorado. And then after that, the winner of you words. The winner of UCLA and LSU, which should be a very fun game. Number 3, LSU, speaking of.
Colin:Angel Reese is continuing to lead that team. They face their 1st real challenge in number 2, UCLA. UCLA has struggled a a little bit, against. They struggle a bit against number 7 Creighton. It was a 4 point game that they won.
Colin:So that could be an interesting one to watch. Number 3, Yukon. Again, they face number 7, Duke. They're in a tournament with very few upsets. Duke won simply by Ohio State having an off day, not by going crazy.
Colin:I think UConn's going to take them down. That's a top team going into the sweet 16 for sure. And then number 4 or the 4 seed Gonzaga. They have a 32 and 3 record, as well as a 35 game home or a 35 game home winning streak. That really helped them out because they were hosting.
Colin:They hosted UC Irvine and then Utah. Pretty well put both those teams away. And then they are also in the Portland Regional, which really, really helps them because it's nearby for fans to travel to, much closer than the number one seed Texas. They're going to be a fun one to watch for sure in that Portland regional, because their fans will also likely show out. I will also say Texas is coming off a bit of a not so dominant win.
Colin:It was 6554 over the number 8 seed Alabama. And so Gonzaga has an opportunity to kinda take them down in their weak spot, possibly jet lagged out in Portland, Oregon. And then that game after that would be an elite eight game versus either Stanford or NC State. And if it's NC State, again, little bit of jet lag, little bit of lack of fans would play into effect. If it's Stanford, that's a phenomenal game, phenomenal West Coast game.
Colin:Final four picks. So I have 4 out of my 4 still in the tournament from my bracket, which is amazing. That very rarely happens even on the women's side. So I'm a stick with my 4. I'm a stick with South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, and Yukon, but I will give that caveat of don't be surprised if it's Gonzaga in the final four instead of Stanford.
Colin:I really won't be. I have a feeling many of us at this podcast will not be surprised if that's the case. I'm gonna read off Kylie's really quick as well, just because I have it pulled up. So she has South Carolina, Stanford, Iowa, and she had Ohio State. She didn't have Yukon even in her lead eight.
Colin:She had Ohio State facing off against USC. So I'm assuming that if she picked again, she'd be picking USC there. That's where we differ. She actually had Ohio State in her final game, which means my bracket likely has a better chance than hers, and I'm loving that.
Kylee:I agree.
Derrick:I agree.
Colin:I'm hearing the ghosts of Kylie right now. Champion pick. I'm sticking with Iowa over South Carolina. Kylie picks South Carolina there. Derek, again, I don't have his bracket pulled up right now.
Colin:But let's talk best stories of the tournament so far, because there are 2 really big stories I wanna talk about. The The first of those is the freshman taking over the game. And so women's basketball, it's gonna be in a great position next year. In my personal opinion, Juju Watkins from USC, Hannah Hidalgo from Notre Dame, really the 2 big names sticking around as freshmen. They will be fun to watch and really make a big impact on the college basketball world next year, I think, especially with Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese.
Colin:Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are leaving for the draft this year, and so, they're kinda ushering in that new era of college women's basketball, which really with the way they that the older students have changed the way the game is played and the way the game is watched, I think they're setting up for a great position for these, incoming freshman juju Watkins, Hanna Hidalgo, etcetera. The other big story is that we actually still have a perfect bracket on the women's side. And when I say a perfect bracket, I mean one singular perfect bracket. That perfect bracket, I have not looked at who they have winning. However, I do wanna comment on this, because it is interesting that someone made it through the round of 32 with a perfect bracket on the women's side.
Colin:It has been a little bit more of a predictable tournament, But a lot of a lot of brackets were knocked out after that first round. And I think the interesting part there is, of course, they were. Because if you picked one upset, you likely picked 2 upsets. If you believe that an 11 seed, Middle Tennessee State is going to have an upset in this tournament, I think you would have picked another upset as well. And so majority of the brackets did that.
Colin:The ones that picked Middle Tennessee State, you know, they probably picked UNLV over Creighton or, you know, Princeton over West Virginia, Drake over Colorado, Michigan State over North Carolina, Florida Gulf Coast over Oklahoma, which almost happened. That was a phenomenal game, by the way. Or Texas A&M over Nebraska. Again, very close game. Could have gone either way.
Colin:A lot of people picked both ways. And And so I think it's interesting that there is still a bracket left. Someone who happened to pick Middle Tennessee State, while picking no other upsets, and then proceeded to pick out just a few random upsets in the second round. It's pretty cool for them. I don't know if they'll last.
Colin:I don't think they'll last, but we'll see. That's down the road. Let's hop out hop on over to men's side. Round of 64, round of 32. It was a little bit of chaotic first round, followed by a very underwhelming, kind of boring second round.
Colin:Every single team in the sweet sixteen right now, other than, 11 NC State, the ACC champion, is a single digit seed. There were very few upsets. There were in the first round, though, there was quite a few big upsets. I wanna talk about just a few of them. 1st of all, 3 that were kind of expected that we talked about last week, and we have talked about in the past as well.
Colin:Yale, James Madison, and Grand Canyon. I'd say we're all expected by at least me and some of the other people on our podcast. Yale, we've been talking about all season. The Ivy League was a very strong conference. If if it was Princeton in the tournament, we saw them getting an upset.
Colin:If it was Cornell, we could see it potentially. And Yale ended up winning against both of those 2. And so it was pretty clear that Yale could be a potential upset. I don't know. Maybe maybe a hot take.
Colin:Oh? Yale. If they get past Auburn, I think
Derrick:they The door is right there, if
Kylee:you will. You can
Colin:I thought you were head over heels for San Diego State UAB?
Kylee:I am. But Now he's head over heels heels for,
Derrick:the whole new BSU. BSU.
Colin:The more I think about it, the more I'm like, frankly, the Ivy League could have been a 2 or 3 bid league. What? The draw against Auburn was definitely a favorable draw there as well, because Auburn really is an SEC team that doesn't know defense. And so Yale could really force their shooters to play a little bit of defense, and it very rarely worked out in Auburn's favor. And so it was a 2 point game.
Colin:It was a very close game. Yale ended up pulling through in the very end, and it was a very fun one to watch, actually. But Yale did a great job there. James Madison, another one that we expected. We've been talking about them all year.
Kylee:I have Wisconsin coming out of it too.
Derrick:I have Wisconsin winning
Kylee:too. Keep playing the way they're they played in the big ten tournament, I think they're coming out.
Colin:I don't know if they will, though.
Derrick:I think they can shut down their guards very easily.
Kylee:I hope they do.
Derrick:If they are Max
Kylee:Kledman to come to play.
Colin:They were ranked for a part of the beginning of the season, and them taking down Wisconsin, a team that's been falling apart for the last few weeks, really wasn't that unexpected. They were actually one of the more picked up sets in this year, just because James Madison has made a name for themselves this year, and Wisconsin has been falling apart. And so that was a pretty clear one. Even with Wisconsin being in the Big 10 final, I was suspicious. And, I think rightfully so after their loss to the 12th seed, James Madison.
Colin:Grand Canyon, another one that was kind of expected on our part, simply because we'd been watching them and seeing the way that they've been playing. Grand Canyon ended up playing let me remember for a second. Yes. Saint Mary's. They played a Saint Mary's team at the West Coast Conference, one that pretty much made it in the tournament because, you know, they beat Gonzaga a few times.
Colin:But they had a very, very weak record, and so I didn't have a whole lot of faith in them. And I've seen Grand Canyon face it off against a lot of top teams this year and at least hold it close. And so it was clear to me that Grand Canyon could win it. I ended up picking Grand Canyon. I actually picked Grand Canyon into my sweet 16 because I had them up against Charleston in the, 2nd round, but Alabama took care of Charleston by 13 points, so that didn't end up happening.
Colin:But Grand Canyon did a really great job in that game against Saint Mary's. Put a lot of great defense, lot of great offense. We're gonna talk about one of their players at the very end, just being one of the biggest story lines this year in college basketball. But, yeah, those 3 were all expected. Oakland was very unexpected.
Colin:Oakland taking down Kentucky, I'll be honest, as someone who has watched Oakland play in person this year at the Breslin Center, I was not expecting them to be able to take down Kentucky. I could have seen them taking down a lot of different teams, potentially, you know, a Clemson, a a Dayton, you know. But a team like Kentucky felt like the a very strong team, a very offensively minded team. And Oakland just didn't seem to me to be the team with enough offense to take them down. Until Jack Goelke went and made 10 3 pointers in that game, a 30 a 30 point game is insane for a guy off the bench.
Colin:And so 10 3 pointers for Jack Gohlke, got Oakland in it. Oakland played some insane defense, which Kentucky had no clue how to play against because they're an SEC team, and none of the SEC plays defense. Oakland played just a really great game there. Took them down to the wire, and then ended up finishing it off, before going up against NC State and really just having some very bad luck at the very end there, in that game. But they could have almost they almost won that game as well.
Colin:Good job to 14 seed Oakland. That was I also wanna congratulate Greg Campe. He has been coaching at Oakland for 40 years. He started with Oakland when they were a d two school. Oakland kept him on as they transitioned to d 1.
Colin:And so now 40 years into this thing, he has finally won their 1st NCAA tournament win. Sorry. Round of 64 win. They have 1 in the first four. Back in 2005, they won that.
Colin:Just checking my stats sheets here. But congrats to Greg Campey. He's a great coach. Seems like a really great guy. Yeah.
Colin:Big congrats to him. Big congrats to the university, because they've sold a lot of t shirts, it sounds like, to Louisville fans. Gotta love that Louisville versus Kentucky rivalry there. So that's a fun one. Last one that we probably should've, you know, expected or at least talked about last week, but we didn't really think much of it, was Duquesne.
Colin:And so BYU was a really interesting team to think about here because they should have been they were supposed to be a 5 seed. They ended up dropping down to a 6th seed because they can't play on Sundays, and so the NCAA tournament accommodates for that. And they got what must have been just a really unlucky draw against Duquesne, the a ten tournament winner, because Duquesne came out of nowhere and beat BYU 7167 in that first round. We really should have expected it though because the a ten really was one of the strongest conferences in college basketball this year, and Duquesne was kind of on a roll. They'd taken down Dayton as well as Loyola Chicago, the number 1 and 2 in the conference.
Colin:And so Duquesne really on a roll, the A10 really great conference. Dayton actually ended up winning their 1st round game against Nevada as well before losing in the 2nd round. And so the a ten had 2 teams in the 2nd round of the tournament. Duquesne, really great game. BYU had some inconsistencies throughout the year, so it was just one of their down days as well, which definitely contributed to that win for Duquesne.
Colin:Let's go into some teams that are overperforming a little bit. NC State is going crazy. The Wolfpack has won 7 games in 12 days, including an ACC title to steal a bid to the dance, and they are now dancing into the sweet 16. Good for them, man. Also, we're performing Gonzaga, who realistically should have been at least held close by some of the teams that they played.
Colin:But instead, they, they smoked the 12 seed McNeese and the 4 seed Kansas by 21 points each.
Derrick:And he's
Colin:James Madison. Oh, he's cheesy when he's You know I am. You know I am.
Derrick:We were watching the we were watching the opening of
Colin:all the brackets and letting us know the seatings, and he was and, the ghosts are coming back to bite me here, for picking McNeese. They made fun of me a lot last week, and they're back. Yep. But, you know, McNeese in Kansas really couldn't compare to Gonzaga. That was especially strange to me after Saint Mary's loss to Grand Canyon.
Colin:But you know what? Gonzaga must be just that much better of a team or just got matched up against teams that they'll play against better. And that's definitely a possibility. Speaking of Gonzaga, their next round, their sweet 16 game is against Purdue. And I think that's going to be an insane game.
Colin:Purdue has also been over performing. Zach Eady's kinda taken on the role of defender, playmaker. I have to throw a lot of respect on Zach Eady's name at this point, whether I like it or not, because he has double doubles in both of his games. He's totaled up 53 points in the tournament, 35 rebounds in 2 games. From the games I've watched, most of those were actually pretty clean plays.
Colin:Time.
Derrick:Is there any other team in the Big 10 plays Yeah. Zack Eady. All their centers get in trial trouble immediately off rip. It's just files after files after files. And it's not just Zack Eady.
Derrick:It's all of their players. They flop a lot. I was watching lawyer play the entire time, and he is a flop merchant.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Derrick:Smith is too. Braden Smith is too. Lance Jones.
Colin:So oh,
Derrick:don't even get me started
Kylee:on him. I don't like him at all.
Derrick:But Lance Jones as well. All of them are just flop merchants. It's actually a skill, and I hate that he taught their coach taught
Kylee:them that because it's so It's smart. I can't.
Derrick:Smart, but it is the most annoying thing to watch. Like, I can't stand watching Purdue because they're so good.
Colin:They don't really need to do the
Derrick:things that they do because they have so much talent, so much shooting, so much whatever you wanna say, but they're so bad.
Colin:And the other interesting part about this matchup is that Purdue and Gonzaga played back in November. Purdue won that 17363. But I'm feeling like this matchup is going to be a little bit more even this time. Gonzaga's a much better team now. Zac Eady is more predictable, in his strategies.
Colin:And Gonzaga has guys who can defend against Zac Eady. You know, that's a very interesting matchup. Should be a fun one. It's also very difficult to beat a team twice, especially in tournament time. Peru is known for underperforming in the tournament.
Colin:Gonzaga is known for overperforming. So this should be a very interesting matchup. Could go either way. I'm very excited. Kylie and I will be at that game, on Friday in Detroit, so that's gonna be fun.
Colin:Maybe you'll see us on TV in the very back row of the stands. Should be very fun, though. Biggest impact players. I've got 2, Terrence Shannon junior from Illinois. Illinois also has made the sweet 16 now, and that's mostly due to Terrence Shannon junior, who has scored 26 points 30 points respectively in games against Morehead State and Duquesne.
Colin:Granted, More Morehead State and Duquesne are both, you know, lower seeded teams, but those are dominant performances over those teams. His shooting percentages have been off the charts. They've been great. And he also led them to the Big 10 tournament win. That's a team that really could do some big things here.
Colin:The issue is they're going up against a very tough Iowa State. So that's going to be a very interesting matchup. Something to look forward to. The other impact player it's hard to not say Jack Goelke from Oakland. He's really won over the nation's heart.
Colin:I refuse to call them a Cinderella because Jack Goelke said, in his post game interview, we are not Cinderellas. We knew we were going to win that game, and I respect that a lot. That's amazing. Just that mindset really changes things. But, yeah, from Oakland, he hit 10 threes against Kentucky.
Colin:It's hard to hard to beat that. He has set a tournament record for most threes in 2 tournament games, with I think it was 16 3 pointers, which is really, really crazy. So good for him. Top teams going into the sweet 16. I'm not gonna go into a whole lot of crazy detail on these.
Colin:Purdue and Gonzaga, easily top 2 teams going into this or 2 top teams from 2 top teams going into the Sweet 16. I'm also going to bring up the entirety of the east region. Yukon, San Diego State, Illinois, and Iowa State. Personal opinion, I still think whoever comes out of that region will win the tournament. I think it's going to be Iowa State.
Colin:Yukon San Diego State should be a very fun rematch of last year's final game in which UConn really smoked San Diego State, but San Diego State looks like a much better team this year. So that should be a fun one. Duke is a very great team coming out of this. They're going up against number 1 Houston, who also looks really great right now. The other side of that region is NC State Marquette, both of which teams are really struggling a little bit right now.
Colin:They had close games, NC State to Oakland and Marquette to Colorado. So those should be very interesting. And then it's hard not to pick Creighton. Tennessee, again, a very a team that has struggled just a bit, but Creighton has just looked very very strong throughout this tournament and throughout the Big East season.
Kylee:I think Is
Colin:it Krayton?
Kylee:No. They'll be in my final 4. They're I don't have them yet. They'll they'll be in my final 4. I think it'll be Krayton.
Derrick:Let's hear it.
Colin:And, you know, I hear I I hear Kylie's ghost calling from the background. Alright. Yeah. So that's that from the sweet 16. Final 4 picks.
Colin:I have 2 that I want to change. So I originally picked Iowa State, Michigan State, Houston, and Creighton. I am, currently thinking, because MSU is out, I'm thinking Iowa State, North Carolina. I'm also changing Houston to Duke, just by how they've played, because Houston has struggled a little bit throughout this first half of the tournament. They were taken to overtime by Texas A&M, the 9 seed, who really didn't play all that great.
Colin:And also, they have been fouling a lot. And so a team like Duke causes a lot fouls. A team like Houston fouls a lot. Houston's game actually ended up where their top force or their force of their 5 starters fouled out in the Texas A and M game. They still won it, but just barely.
Colin:And so that's a really interesting one to keep an eye out for. If Duke can kinda capitalize on that, I think Duke's taken to home that one. Kylie's picks. I'm sure she's saying something about Creighton here. In her bracket, she picked Creighton.
Colin:She picked UConn, MSU as well, and then Houston. So that's, you know, going okay for her. Derek picked Yukon, UNC. He picked Kentucky who lost to Oakland, and so that's a tough tough loss. And then he's also picked Creighton.
Colin:Champions, Derek picked Yukon over Kentucky. Kylie picked Yukon over Houston. And so both of them are really big Huskies fans and think they can repeat. I don't think that's a team that can repeat. Personal opinion.
Colin:So I picked I'm sticking with Iowa State, my champion for the people. I have them taking down Creighton. It should be should be an interesting tournament interesting end of the tournament from here on out. Best basketball stories, already talked about a little bit, but Texas a and m with the buzzer beater to take down Houston in overtime. Houston scares me a little bit.
Colin:They're a top team. A lot of depth. But, again, when they get into foul trouble like they did, 4 out of 5 starters fouling out, it really shows. And they can't be careless with those fouls. You know?
Colin:That's not something they can do. They gave up a lot of points to Texas A&M. They had it in the bag and then fouled a lot. Texas A and M got a lot of free throws, made a lot of extra shots, took away the ball a few times, and took them to overtime. So I also wanna mention, Grand Canyon University's guard who had two heart surgeries.
Colin:So, Tion Grant Foster, he has, in my opinion, one of the coolest stories in all of basketball right now. He led his team to a round of 32, nearly win over Alabama, in the round of 32. He's currently nominated for national player of the year. He's been playing insane, stat wise, tons of points, tons of rebounds. And the really interesting thing about him is he started at Kansas before having 2 heart surgeries.
Colin:He collapsed in one of Kansas' games early 2022, I believe. I believe it was 2022. Maybe 2021. And since then, he has missed 2 full seasons of basketball. He made it in this season.
Colin:And, 2 heart surgeries later, he's playing he's nominated for national player of the year. He took his team to a 2nd round. Really, really great player. Really impressive story, really cool story. So really glad he's playing well and having a game, man.
Colin:Cool cool stories there. And then the last kinda storyline I'm following right now is this line of under 20 points and a half or 3 games in a row, and the question of whether it will happen again. So number 10, Colorado State faced off. Number 10, Virginia in the first four. In the end of the first half, the score was 27 to 14.
Colin:Virginia had 14 points. Colorado State won that game and went up against number 7 Texas. The end of the first half score for that one was 27 to 11. Colorado State had 11. So after winning a game where the first half ended with less than 20 points, they lost a game where the first half, they ended up with less than 20 points.
Colin:Texas then went on to play number 2 Tennessee. And at the end of that half, Texas scored less than 20 points with a score of 28 to 19 at the end of the half. And so now the question begs, Tennessee, who do they play next? And will they score less than 20 points? And they play Creighton, who is a very good team, especially on the defensive end.
Colin:And so that's a question, honestly, a really big question coming up here. Will Tenesky score 20 points in the first half? Because the current trend says no. At that rate, that means Purdue or Gonzaga is in the final 4 and losing in the final 4, if we're really following this all the way through. I don't think we will.
Colin:But it does have something to say that we have seen one of the most defensive tournaments in recent history. In a lot of games, blocks and steals are coming into effect. Kansas versus Sanford was a very interesting one. I don't wanna get into that because there's definitely some controversy around whether the refs made the right call. They let Kansas win, in essence.
Colin:But there have been some very, very low scoring games, followed up by very high scoring games or vice versa for even the same team. You know, I'm looking at Duke who scored 64 points against Vermont, Vermont being one of the best defensive teams in the country. Duke also playing insane defense. And then Duke came out and scored 93 on James Madison. Very, very different scores.
Colin:You know? I'm also looking at a Colorado, Florida game that was all offense, ending a 100 to a 102 in regular time, no overtime. But then I scroll down, and I look at Texas Colorado State, which ended 56 to 44. I look at Dayton, Nevada, which ended 63 to 60. I look at Michigan State Mississippi State, which ended 51 to 69.
Colin:Michigan State won that. And I just see a lot of great defense played, a lot of great offense played. And it's usually not all in one game. We're we're seeing games where there is either a defensive focus or an offensive focus, not both. And so that's really interesting.
Colin:It's been fun to watch. And I think that's all I've got. So thank you guys for joining me on this week's episode, Check the Net and Impact 89 FM. Let me know what you think by connecting with the station on Facebook, x, or Instagram at wdbmand@impact89fm. And then the sweet 16, the elite 8 start this week, and we, hopefully, can't wait to talk about more next week on Check the Net.
Colin:Thank you all for listening.
Kylee:I agree.
Derrick:I agree.