20 Reasons To Watch The Round of 32 on Sunday
By BigLeadSports
Sponsored by Applebee’s
By Tom Fink
On Saturday we saw Ohio State, Marquette, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Kentucky, Indiana, Baylor and Louisville win their respective games. We learned that Jae Crowder is as advertised, a man among boys. And we learned that the tourney is a whole lot more fun when the favorites don’t win every single game. That being said, here are 20 reasons to watch the rest of the Round of 32 on Sunday.
2) Robbie Hummel’s Knees – The fifth year senior suffered multiple ACL tears over the last few seasons and it is just nice to see him competing in the tourney again.
3) Upset vs. Upset – Nothing like two teams that pulled off upsets in the Round of 64 meeting in the Round of 32. It’s a guarantee that one of them makes the Sweet 16 so sit back and enjoy the game between South Florida & Ohio, and the matchup of Xavier & Lehigh.
4) Kyle O’Quinn & Norfolk State – It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so Kyle O’Quinn has to be destined to pull off another miracle for the Spartans right?
5) Grind Time – FSU plays Cincinnati in a game that features two of the hardest playing teams in the tourney. Don’t be surprised if this one involves some rough play on the glass.
6) Name Change – You have to root for Lehigh, not only are they the underdog but the school used to be called the Engineers. What is a Mountain Hawk anyways?
7) Mid-Major Studs – C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), Kyle O’Quinn (Norfolk State), D.J. Cooper (Ohio) and Kwamain Mitchell (St. Louis) all shined in the Round of 64. Let’s hope for some repeat performances.
8) The Comeback Kids – Creighton erased an 11-point deficit to beat Alabama on Friday, and odds are they’ll need another comeback to beat a loaded team like UNC.
9) Mark Gottfried – The first year coach has turned things around for the Wolfpack and N.C. State, and with the elimination of Duke and Virginia really needs another good performance from his team to keep the ACC from looking bad.
10) It Was A Good Day – Draymond Green messed around and got a triple double against LIU Brooklyn. In honor of Ice Cube’s famous song, maybe Draymond will drum up a repeat performance when Michigan State takes on the Billikens.
11) Less Chalk Please – Saturday featured a lot of chalk, so be sure to tune in on Sunday for the chance to see some underdogs pull out the win.
12) Copy Cats – See if Purdue follows Davidson’s example from the regular season and tries to beat Kansas by getting the Jayhawks’ big men in foul trouble.
13) Fighting Words – Georgetown’s season was defined before it even started after the team got in a brawl in China playing a professional squad. See if their scrappy play results in more rough stuff when they go up against N.C. State.
14) Old Buddies – Doug McDermott of Creighton used to play High School ball with UNC’s Harrison Barnes. The two former teammates play against one another in this third round game.
15) Kwamain Mitchell – The young man can fill up the cylinder quickly for St. Louis. Don’t miss a single shot.
16) Clash of the Titans – Patric Young vs. Kyle O’Quinn. Two premier bigs going at it under the rim. If you need another reason to watch this game then you likely don’t love college basketball.
17) Groce vs. Heath – The Head Coaches of both Ohio and South Florida have a good amount of tourney experience. But their teams don’t, so expect the coaches to decisions to make a major impact on this one.
18) Tu Holloway – The Xavier guard can do it all, tune in to the Musketeers’ game against Lehigh to see if the Senior can outduel the Hawks’ McCollum.
19) Battle of the Bigs – Yancey Gates and Bernard James lead their teams in points, rebounds and blocks. Whichever player has a bigger game on Sunday should see his school come out on top.
20) Case of the Mondays – Work is going to be rough on Monday after we were all treated to great basketball all weekend. Be sure to enjoy every minute that you can on Sunday because you’ve got a while until the games pick up again later in the week.