NCAA Tournament

[Da Coach]

Sweet 16 teams by conference (total bids in parenthesis)
Pac-12: 4 (5)
Big East: 2 (4)
SEC: 2 (6)
ACC: 2 (7)
Summit: 1 (1)
MVC: 1 (2)
WCC: 1 (2)
AAC: 1 (2)
Big 12: 1 (7)
Big Ten: 1 (9)

[Da Coach]

Oregon State beats Loyola 65-58
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401310877

OSU double-teamed Krutwig quite a bit, and when they weren't, they were playing a tight zone defense against Loyola.
Loyola shot poorly from the arc, and fell behind as much as 13 points in the 2nd half, and when they did finally start making a few threes, they could only get as close as 3, before Oregon State opened up they lead again and the Ramblers were forced to foul.
Loyola averaged 37% from three on the season, but today they shot only 5-23 (21.7%) .

[Classof77]

This time of year when you shoot 5 of 23 from behind the arc your season is over. Kudos to Loyola for representing the Valley and making the Sweet 16.

[Da Coach]

Cameron Krutwig had a pretty good game despite the way Oregon State defended him. He was 6-12 (50%) from the field, and finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, no turnovers, and no personal fouls. The rest of the Loyola team were 12-42 (28%).
The Loyola perimeter players numerous open shots, but they all shot poorly. If there was a single reason Loyola lost, it had to be their failure to make their open threes.

[bigjimmy]

In this age of the highlight play and the look at me attitude a NCAA tournament game was decided by FT shooting. #2 seed Alabama should have won their Sweet 16 game against #11 UCLA even with shooting just 7-28 from 3. But from the FT line they were a pathetic 11-25. 6 guys missed at least 1 FT, 4 guys missed 2 and 1 guy, Herbert Jones, was 2-7. He missed 3 of 4 FT's in the last :36, including 2 with :06 when they were down by 1. After 2 UCLA made FT's, by the way they were 20-25 from the FT line, made the score 65-62 Alabama with :04 left they were able to tie it on the buzzer on a 25 foot 3 by Alex Reese. You would have thought the momentum was on Bama's side by the Bruins scored the 1st 7 points of OT and didn't look back winning 88-78 and become only the second team who was in the play in game to advance to the Elite 8 where they will play Michigan.

[bigjimmy]

Only 1 team east of the Mississippi, Michigan, made it to the Elite 8. 3 of the teams are from the Pac 12, Oregon State, UCLA and USC. UCLA and USC have never been in the Elite 8 at the same time. As for the games I think Baylor is playing at the level they played like for most of the year so they should beat Arkansas. Oregon State is over achieving and will get their bubble burst by Houston who is so relentless on the boards. USC has the height to give Gonzaga all they can handle but the Zags offense is so good that the Trojans won't be able to keep up. Michigan and UCLA is a toss up.

[Da Coach]

In the 2 games tonight, #2 Houston is favored by 7½ points over #12 Oregon State, and #1 Baylor is also favored by 7½ points over #3 Arkansas-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/date/20210329

In Tuesday's games, #1 Gonzaga is favored by 9 over #6 USC, and #1 MIchigan by 7½ over #11 UCLA-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/date/20210330

[Mikovio]

Baylor is seeking its first Final Four since a loss to Bradley in 1950!

[Da Coach]

I hadn't heard this story until today. The Oregon State announcer was assaulted in downtown Indianapolis Saturday morning, shortly before he headed to the arena to broadcast Saturday's Loyola-Oregon State Sweet 16 game-
https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2...s-to-work.html

[Da Coach]

In the NCAA semifinal games, Baylor won easily over Houston 78-59-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401310866

And the second game was a fantastic game! UCLA played very well, as did Gonzaga. Both teams shot well over 50% from the floor (UCLA 58% and Gonzaga 59%), and the game stayed close throughout. It was tied 81-81 at the end of regulation, and the overtime stayed close as well. UCLA tied the game 90-90 with 3.3 seconds left. Gonzaga did not have a timeout, so the ball was inbounded to freshman sensation Jalen Suggs, who dribbled just past midcourt and launched a 35+ foot shot at the buzzer that banked in for a 93-90 Gonzaga win.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401310867

Video of final seconds-
https://twitter.com/marchmadness/sta...45877099311108

So the National Championship game Monday night will be between the 2 best teams in the country- undefeated #1 seed and #1 ranked Gonzaga (31-0) vs. #1 seed and #2 ranked Baylor (27-2).

[Da Coach]

After that incredible Gonzaga-UCLA game, tonight's championship game was a bit of a disappointment, IMO. I was not rooting for either team, but just wanted to see a well played game and expected a somewhat close game.
But Baylor dominated the game from the start. They clearly were the better team and deserved to win. Gonzaga shot the ball well overall- 51%, but the usually excellent three point shooters (38% on the season) were just 29% from three. Otherwise Gonzaga looked tired, and didn't seem to match the energy of the Baylor players all game. The Zags' defense was poor, and Baylor seemed to be able to score at will. Meanwhile, Baylor's guards are playing great defense against the Gonzaga perimeter players. And Baylor outrebounded the usually great rebounding Gonzaga team, 38-22. On the season, Gonzaga outrebounded opponents by an average of nearly 10 rebounds per game, and outscored their opponents by 20 points/gm. After falling behind by double-digits in the first few minutes of the game, then dropping behind by 19 points midway through the first half, they never really made any kind of serious run to get back in contention. The closest they got was 9 points, and that lasted only a few seconds before it ballooned back to a 19 point deficit.

Final score- Baylor 86 Gonzaga 70- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401310865

[MikeCash]

Congrats to Baylor assistant coach (and former Jim Les assistant at Bradley) Alvin Brooks III.

He was featured on ESPN along with his father (who was an assistant at Houston)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE7dW8RIuTc&ab_channel=CoachAlvinBrooksIII

[bradleyfan124]

Is Scott Drew, coach of Baylor, the son of Homer Drew, who used to coach at Valpo?

[BUfan17]

Poor performance from Gonzaga last night, I wish that UCLA- Gonzaga game was the last I watched this season. Baylor made them look like they forgot how to play basketball, so many turnovers and lost rebounds. I am just glad this tournament went through without any major covid issues. Wasn't there only one game cancelled? I honestly didn't think they could pull it off but I'm glad they did, there were lots of good games and good upsets. I'm looking forward to next season, hopefully we can all be in person at the games.

[Da Coach]

Is Scott Drew, coach of Baylor, the son of Homer Drew, who used to coach at Valpo?

Yes, Scott Drew is Homer Drew's older son. Scott Drew went to Butler, but did not play basketball while at Butler, but was a student assistant under head coach Barry Collier for his junior and senior seasons. After he graduated in 1993, he was hired by his father as an assistant from 1993-2002. When Homer retired in 2002, Scott took over as head coach for one year 2002-2003, and then Baylor hired him in 2003. He has had tremendous success there in his 18 seasons there. When Scott left in 2003, Homer Drew came out of retirement, and returned to coach Valpo again from 2003-2011.
Scott Drew's bio- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Drew
Coaching record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...tt-drew-1.html

His younger brother Bryce Drew played for his father at Valparaiso from 1994-1998. He was a terrific player who averaged about 18 ppg over his 4-year career. Many will remember his miracle winning shot over Ole Miss in the 1998 NCAA Tournament- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1eOGcHXsgU
Bryce Drew player stats- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...ce-drew-1.html
When Homer Drew retired for the second time in 2011, Bryce took over as head coach at Valpo. He was very successful, winning the Horizon League 4 out of 5 years. He was hired away by Vanderbilt in 2016-2019, but was fired after just 3 seasons. He is now the head coach at Grand Canyon University, and his name has already been mentioned with several open coaching jobs.
Bryce Drew coaching record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...ce-drew-1.html