Two words: It continues. Saturday’s first set of second round games provided more drama in the fashion of Northern Iowa defeating the number one overall seed Kansas. With the win, the Panthers advance to their first ever Sweet 16 appearance. Unfortunately, I did not pick this game as my upset of the day. I did not see the all mighty Jayhawks actually going home in the second round, but again, who did ? However, I was able to pick up my first upset win of the season after correctly picking St. Mary’s over Villanova. Could I possibly get back to .500 before the weekend is out?
After going through the slate of games for Sunday, I really saw a lot of evenly matched games. Most of that was because the higher seeded team won out in Friday’s first round action. I’ve decided I’m going to go with the 12 seed Cornell over the 4 seed Wisconsin. I am mostly picking this game by recent play of each team, because at this point, it honestly does not matter which team did what in the regular season. Any team can win at any given time.
By using the logic I used in correctly picking the Gaels over the Wildcats, I am picking Cornell over Wisconsin because of the way Cornell easily defeated a Temple team that should have at least made the sweet 16, if not the elite 8. By making the most at the free-throw line and knocking down shots when they counted, Cornell lived up the hype as possibly the best team to ever come out of the Ivy League and could now actually make a legitimate run at the East regional.
Wisconsin on the other hand, had a tough time putting away the 13th-seeded Wofford, out of the Southern Conference. Even though the Badgers and head coach, Bo Ryan, are praised for their defensive play throughout the season, they actually allowed Wofford to shoot 42 percent, something that will make any team competitive. If Wisconsin wants to win this game, they can’t afford to overlook a Cornell team that is senior-heavy and can shoot the ball very well at a very rapid pace.
I still think the smart kids are going to win this one and continue on to a date with the number one seed Kentucky. A win in this round could give Cornell what it needs to advance to the Final 4.
– John Thomas