As ugly as advertised. There was something oddly hypnotic in seeing balls rim out, bounce and roll all around the basket but not fall in the cylinder. I’m not sure if you can call this a game of runs or just where one side couldn’t seem to buy a basket for long droughts.

It was a typical ugly start for Pitt. More than 5 minutes into the game and Pitt had a commanding 4-3 lead on 1-6 shooting — misses by Krauser, Brown, Taft and Page (Troutman was fouled going up for a shot). Wisconsin was just as bad going 1-5.

Then the runs (or droughts started). Wisconsin went on a 6-0 run. The only good thing in that stretch was that Wisconsin was getting whistled for a lot of fouls. Pitt wasn’t and that was because of the way each played. Pitt plays hard, but with the body pushing the other side. Wisconsin was trying to match, but with more grabbing and clawing at the ball. Much more obvious and easier to call. It was apparent early on, that the refs would let the teams bang, but not use elbows and hand checks.

Pitt then started hitting some of their shots and went on a 9-0 run over nearly 5 minutes — the defense got turnovers and made Wisconsin force shots. Pitt was all over the offensive glass. Mark McCarroll was the offensive spark getting all 6 of his points for the game in this stretch.

Then it was Wisconsin’s turn. They were helped by Taft having to go out after picking up his second foul with 7:30 left in the half. Wisconsin retook the lead 20-17 during this 9-4 run. Pitt answered with a 9-2 run with a minute left, to have a 26-21 lead. Pitt had the ball and called timeout.

Talk about backfiring. Pitt turned the ball over right after the time out, and the Badgers scored with half a minute left. Page, I guess trying to atone for the turnover, immediately launched a 3. It missed and gave Wisconsin plenty of time to get the ball back and nail a 3 of their own to end the half in a 26-26 tie.

The stats were ugly. Pitt shot 33.3 % and Wisconsin was only 34.8%. Pitt had more shots because of the dominance on offensive rebounds (8 to 2), but Wisconsin was 4-10 from 3-point to keep it close. Pitt was 1-6. Free throws were about even. You know what’s sad? Page went 3-8 shooting, and that is a big positive for him. That’s not completely fair. He was shooting a lot early. Grimly. Determined to make something fall. They all seemed to bounce off the front of the rim. Later in the half, he was starting to get them, especially when he drove a little bit.

The second half begins with another run. Pitt goes on a 9-2 run to start the first 3:30. Wisconsin responds with a potentially crushing 12-2 run over 5 minutes. They are helped because Brown picks up his third at the 15 minute mark and while he doesn’t come out, he starts playing off.

Pitt then gets a little 4-0 run when Taft slams the ball twice to get a 1 point lead halfway through the second half. Then an ugly 2 minute stretch where nobody scores. Krauser picks up his 3rd foul and takes a seat. Wisconsin takes advantage with an 8-3 run and the lead 48-44 with under 5:30 in the game.

That changed in a hurry when Pitt scores 7 unanswered points in under a minute. Taft gets another dunk following an offensive board. Then Devin Harris turns the ball over on two straight trips leading to a Page dunk and Troutman gets a jumper under the glass and the foul.

Krauser commits his 4th foul, but doesn’t come out. In this ugly couple minutes the game is tied 52 all on nothing but foul shots. Taft also picks up his 4th foul.

Krauser snaps the tie at the 2 minute mark with a drive to the basket and then a jumper. 54-52 Pitt.

Good defense, bad shots and nothing falling for either side until Jaron Brown snatches a big offensive rebound after a Krauser miss, and is fouled. It’s a 1-and-1 foul. Brown makes them both. 56-52 Pitt.

Wisconsin is desperate on their own end. They hurry some shots that don’t fall, but fight for the rebounds. Then it gets knocked out to Boo Wade who drops a 3 to make it a 1 point game with 22 seconds left.

Pitt inbounds to Krauser who is fouled with 20 seconds. He makes both shots and Pitt has a 58-55 lead.

This time, Pitt’s defense is a wall. They can’t get an open look, and the shot from Morely misses. Brown gets the board and is fouled with 3 seconds left. He hits 1-2. 59-55.

Wisconsin’s deep inbound pass is defended perfectly by Pitt, and the game is over. Phew.

The game may have been ugly, but it was a big Pitt win. Pitt went 17-19 on free throws. That was a huge key, and it made up the difference on 2-10 3-point shooting, and an overall 35.6% shooting.

Pitt kept Wisconsin on the perimeter, making it hard for them to get points inside. Unfortunately for Pitt, Wisconsin had a great night shooting from outside, hitting 8-18 on 3s. In the second half they were 4-8. Their problem was from inside the arc, they were 5-17 in the second half. Take away their 3-point shooting and Wisconsin was 9 of 30 (30%) for the game inside. Pitt’s inside game (offense and defense) and foul shooting carried them.

Page had 12 points on 5-15, but actually showed a willingness to drive to the basket. Not just look for the jump shot. A slight positive. Whether he can do that in 2 straight games remains to be seen. He seemed very determined to break out of his slump, but 33% shooting isn’t really breaking out. Krauser also shot poorly but often. Krauser, however, drives to the basket far more than Page so Krauser got half of his 16 at the free throw line. Taft and Troutman combined for 7-15 shooting. Troutman also had 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. CBS named Krauser the player of the game, but it was Troutman who really did the job.

Thursday night, it’s gonna be a brutal battle with Oklahoma State.

Lots of upsets and some tight games.

Gutting It Out
Or maybe that was just my stomach after the game. I’ll get further into this game in a later post. #3 Pitt survived against #6 Wisconsin by not having the last scoring drought. At times I wasn’t sure if each team was just having runs or one side just couldn’t get a basket. A big win for Pitt, who beat the #10 ranked team in the country in Milwaukee — just 79 miles from Wisconsin’s campus.

In the earlier 3/6 game, #3 Georgia Tech blew a big lead in the second half, then made a big defensive play to hold on against #6 Boston College. GT has let teams back into the game twice in the NCAA Tourney. I’d say it would come back to bite them soon, but looking at the bracket, I’m not sure when.

Big Upsets
All involved the SEC, as the heavy hitters flamed out and the nerdy one pulled it off.

The biggest was #1 Kentucky going down to #9 UAB. Kentucky found itself behind by double digits deep in the first half, and was down by 8 by halftime. They turned it on in the second half, but UAB withstood the comeback and started trading baskets in the final few minutes. UAB eked out the win in the final minute as Kentucky couldn’t make the final shot of the game. Everyone thought Kentucky had such a clear shot to the Final Four the way their bracket was happening with the Gonzaga loss the night before. Unless you are a partisan of Georgia Tech or Kansas, I am guessing this bracket isn’t just busted, it’s unrecognizable.

Of course the road for Duke to the Final Four just became a lot easier. #2 Mississippi St. was steamrolled by #7 Xavier in the second half. It was like the halfcourt 3 from Xavier to give them a 1 point halftime lead sapped the fight right from MSU. Well, that would be the romantic notion. The reality was that Xavier was unconscious from behind the 3-point arc — 13-19 — and spectacular guard play from Chalmers, Sato and Finn off the bench was the key. The Texas-Xavier game on Friday could be something wild.

Finally Vanderbilt. That other elitist Southern school that sucks in football. With Vandy, though, they usually suck in basketball as well. They were given a generous #6 seed, and expected out in the first round. They won, and now advance to the Sweet 16 by knocking off #3 seed NC St. Vandy couldn’t hold a slim halftime lead, and was behind by 11 when Julius Hodge fouled a Vandy player shooting a 3 with 2:44 left. It was Hodge’s 5th foul. With probably their best defender out of the game, NC St. fell apart. Give Vandy credit for making their shots, but that was a collapse by NC St.

Worn Down
They gave a valiant effort but in the end faded away. #4 Kansas just slowly pulled away from #12 Pacific. They kept the folks in Kansas nervous for a while, but the talent of Kansas won out.

Not Even Close
Technically an upset, but when it’s a 4/5 game not really. #5 Illinois savaged #4 Cinci. Huggins had a distinct homecourt advantage playing in Columbus, Ohio, but Illinois took the crowd out of it early. Out of respect for my wife (a Cinci grad) I will not say anything more.

#2 Oklahoma St. looked very good taking apart #7 Memphis. Pity, it took all the fun from Pittsburgh writers who could have gone on ad nauseum about the local roots of Memphis coach John Calipari, his days as an assistant at Pitt in the 80s, and his attempts to get interviewed for the Pitt coaching job last year. Instead, a very tough, strong and talented group of Cowboys will be the opponent.

Conference Review
Round 2, and overall in parenthesis, then comments

ACC — 3-3 (9-3). Actually kind of embarrassing for the ACC. With all 6 of their teams seeded 6 or higher, to only have 3 in the Sweet 16 looks odd. That said, the 3 remaining (Duke, GT, Wake) all have excellent chances to be in the Final Four.

Big East — 3-2 (7-3). About what was expected from the Big East, but putting Syracuse in the same bracket with UConn looks even odder. It means that at best the Big East could get 2 teams to the Final Four.

Big XII — 3-1 (7-1). Not a big surprise that teams seeded 2,3 and 4 advanced. Potentially all three (Oklahoma St., Texas, Kansas) in the Final Four. Texas may be the shakiest since Duke is in their bracket.

SEC — 2-2 (6-4). Probably the most disappointing conference showing in the second round. Their top 3 seeded teams are all out, including a 1 and 2. The two remaining are both in the West (Phoenix) Bracket. Technically one could make the Final Four, but Vandy has to face UConn and ‘Bama has to deal with Syracuse. The odds are not in their favor.

Atlantic 10 — 2-0 (4-2). Xavier has kept its momentum from the A-10 Tourney. Their guard play has been spectacular. St. Joe’s is looking good again. They should have a home court advantage playing in New Jersey over Wake.

Conference USA — 1-3 (5-5). UAB is the last representative of this conference? Didn’t see that coming. They are fun to watch, though.

Big 11 — 1-1 (3-2). The down season for the conference is almost over. Illinois is the only team left and has to face Duke.

Pac 10 — 0-1 (1-3). The left coast has nothing. From Washington to Arizona, it looks like the Friends reruns will win the ratings wars on Thursday night.

Mountain West was already done.

Rest of the Field — 1-3 (5-20). Nevada is now the team furthest west still in the NCAA Tourney.

Little things that may only interest me
The East (Rutherford) region is the only the only bracket where the top 4 seeds made it to the Sweet 16. There is a split of Atlantic and Big. The top half is the Atlantic battle (Coast and 10), the bottom is Big (East and XII).

Meanwhile in the South (Atlanta) bracket both halves are Big versus Atlantic — Atlantic Coast v. Big 11 and Atlantic 10 v. Big XII.

In both halves of the West (Phoenix) bracket it is an SEC-Big East match-up.

Due to time constraints, I won’t be able to preview or give a media round-up on the Wisconsin-Pitt game.

Family matters ruled, so I missed most of the action on Saturday.

No Surprise
#1 Duke decimated #8 Seton Hall. I heard some commentators mutter how Arizona would have been better against Duke. Right.

#2 UConn blows away a tired #7 DePaul in the first half, and then coasts. It was no contest, and expected.

Big Upsets
#1 Stanford blows it against #8 Alabama. A bracket buster if you had Stanford beyond the Sweet 16 (I didn’t). Stanford has become what Indiana and Knight were in the late 90s. A good team that crumbles in the Tourney.

Unless Pacific shocks everyone today, the only double digit seed in the Sweet 16 is #10 Nevada which blew through #2 Gonzaga. Pardon a little partisan glee at seeing this overrated #2 seed get whupped.

Not an Upset but People Act Like It Was
#3 Texas handled #6 UNC. Again, reputation and everyone liking Roy Williams, caused the pundits to completely ignore a far deeper Texas team. UNC has a sixth man and that’s about it. Texas goes 11 deep. Everyone liked UNC, though, because (1) it’s UNC; (2) it’s an ACC team; and (3) Roy Williams is the coach.

Not on the scale as UNC-Texas, but #1 St. Joe’s prevailing over #8 Texas Tech, was greeted with mild shock. It’s a Bob Knight team! He hasn’t done anything in the Tourney since his teams had to play Conference Tournaments.

Correlation does not equal causation, but has anyone else noticed that the coaches that have railed the most against the conference tournaments — Knight, Olson (Arizona), and Montgomery (Stanford) — have had some of the most underachieving teams in the NCAA? Meanwhile coaches that seem to embrace and try to win the conference tourneys — Krzyzewski, Calhoun and Smith (Kentucky) — actually make it deep in the NCAA? Just a little theory, but it might be that denigrating the conference tourney allows the players let up a little and then fail to get back to their previous intensity once the NCAA gets going.

All of their criticisms of the conference tourneys may be valid — reduces the importance of the regular season, is totally for TV and more money, takes the players away from even more class time and wears them down a little more — but it comes off as whining and excuse making in advance.

Keep Getting By
#4 Wake Forest survives another close one against #12 Manhattan. Given the game was in Raleigh and Wake won the first two games against a #13 and #12 seed by a combined 5 points, it seems logical to invoke the spirit of Jim Valvano who declared that the key to the NCAA was to “survive and advance.” That is what Wake is doing.

Minor Surprise
I expected a close Syracuse-Maryland game, with Syracuse winning. Maryland, though was the darling pick the way they charged through the ACC Tourney and seemed red hot. Syracuse, until the bump in the Big East Tourney with BC, was as hot. Syracuse prevailed.