The NCAA Tournament returned to Greenville for the first time since 2022 and man did we get two great games in the afternoon session to kick things off. TCU and Ohio State came down to the final buzzer, and for about 35 of 40 game minutes the arena thought we were seeing the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. Here are my thoughts on the first two games.
TCU 66, Ohio State 64
– For two teams that are not particularly close to the Upstate, Ohio State had at least a 70/30% fan advantage which was a little surprising that it was that skewed. Buckeye rally towels just said the word ‘THE’ in scarlett letters. Very dorky move to make that your brand.
– Was very impressed with TCU’s team defense in the first half. Just absolutely hounding. Going to be a lot for Duke to handle on Saturday.
– Brock Harding is a dog. Energy-giver to TCU that everyone loves to have on their side and hates to go against on the other side.
– There were approximately 56 million people in the concourse at halftime. No way that’s allowed in the fire code. Concession stand cheeseburger (7.1/10) and waffle fries with cajun seasoning (9/10). Big cajun seasoning guy.
– Ohio State cracked the code coming out of the locker room, finally able to get to the rim and put TCU on the back foot.
– Bruce Thornton is a vets vet. A (rare!) four year player in Columbus that started 135 career games and every time the Buckeyes needed something whether it is on the offensive or defensive end they went to Thornton and he provided.
– David Punch. Great basketball player despite having a fighter’s name. Got totally beat up in the paint and delivered TCU 16 points and 13 rebounds, including the game-winning assist on Xavier Edmonds layup that won the game.
– That’s the type of game you ask for with no dog in the fight ten times out of ten.
Duke 71, Siena 65
– My gosh.
– Siena went about the first half of the game pretending like Duke isn’t the number one overall seed (they are), doesn’t have the third best scoring defense in the country (they do), and weren’t about to play every significant second of the game with the starting 5 on the floor (they would). And they pounded Duke and were the better team.
– The Saints got the support of about 70% of the crowd. No one roots for Goliath.
– Patrick Ngongba being out for Duke was a major factor. In clearly the worst half of the Jon Scheyer era, they were soft defending the paint and Siena got to the rim with ease in the first half. It also didn’t help Duke that the Saints made everything they touched. Siena led by as many as 13 points. Maliq Brown was invisible. There was a real belief in Siena in the building that what was happening was not a fluke.
– Definitely wouldn’t want to be the one that said all week that Wisconsin was a bad matchup for High Point and that a Panther upset wouldn’t be in the cards. (I was the one). The last play was put on the video board right after halftime and got a cheer from the crowd (see: no one roots for Goliath. Addendum: …even if David has millions of dollars and a marble arena.)
– Duke went to a zone in the second half and shut down the drive/drive-and-kick options from the Saints offense. Duke started to get a whistle as well. Cayden Boozer, filling in for an injured Caleb Foster, was massive after halftime along with Isaiah Evans grabbing 7 rebounds in the second half.
– Siena’s mascot Bernie the Bernard was sitting most of the second half. Pathetic and embarrassing effort. The lights might’ve been too bright.
– Gerry McNamara has made a habit in the postseason of playing all five players no matter how long it takes. And Siena clearly ran out of gas with about 8 minutes left. They held on until about the 3 minute mark, and then could not rebound at all. Cameron Boozer and Evans dominated the glass late, and sloppy turnovers due to exhaustion let the game get away.
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