What a lame first two days of the NCAA tourney this has been. The "upsets" have been lower seeded beating higher ranked foes, sure, but where are the stunners? Certainly #12 Arizona beating #5 Utah classified based on the seedings, but the reality is Utah shouldn't go home TOO surprised. Arizona is clearly a quality opponent.
Western Kentucky's win over Illinois should come as little surprise, because you're talking about a team full of NCAA tourney experience. Michigan as a #10 can hardly be considered a shocker to a Clemson team that entered the tourney stumbling over their own feet, losing 5 of their last 9 games. Maryland, another #10 seed who knocked off 7 seeded California, weathered the ACC this season to build up the strength to take out a team from the pathetic Pac 10.
The closest thing thus far to a stunner would be Dayton knocking off West Virginia, if only because WVU came from the vaunted Big East. As we start the 2nd half of Friday's last games, here's hoping Cleveland State can hold on against Wake Forest to give us our Cindarella story of 2009. If not, we may have to hang our hopes on a deep run by a lower seed on the Arizona Wildcats. Considering this is a team playing in its 26th consecutive NCAA tournament, I'd hardly expect a plethora of Cinarella bandwagoners to jump on board the Wildcat Wagon.
Beyond upsets, we've yet to see the buzzer beater. We had a few chances in Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee (a wildly entertaining game that was a final shot away from being an instant classic) and Clemson vs. Michigan, but both games ended on shots that were barely a prayer, with no real drama as to the outcome of the shot. The game of the first two days thus far has been VCU's heartbreaking loss to UCLA, where after making an amazing comeback in the waning moments, the Rams all everything Erik Maynor (he of knocking Duke outta the first round in 2007) came up just short on a last second jumper that would have sent the Bruins home to LA.
Instead, we'll have to hope for some kind of stunner in the next few days...Does Texas knocking off Duke tomorrow night count?
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