Here's your first round recap, apologies to rednu if he was already working on this...

Midwest-- Top seeded #1 Millsaps doubled up Drew in the first half and kept rolling for a 113-72 blowout.  Up next is 9-seed Buena Vista who fended off a rally attempt midway through the second half to down Northland 88-76.  #14 and 5-seed UMass Dartmouth survived a defensive struggle with Whitworth 57-50 and now they'll face #21 4-seed Susquehanna after they used some clutch scoring and solid defending in the final minute to get past 13-seed Suffolk 63-58.  The lower half of the bracket saw a couple upsets.  11-seed Wentworth Tech shot lights-out to take down 6-seed Earlham 89-62, the lower seed had six players in double-figures.  Their next opponent is #16 3-seed Rivier who came back from 8 down at the half to edge Ramapo 64-60.  The other upset winner is 10-seed Sewanee after they rallied past 7-seed Mount St. Mary 63-55.  Next on their slate is #7 2-seed Hardin-Simmons who crushed Stevenson U. 98-55, Douglas Dowler had 26 in the win.

East-- Other than the 8-9 game, every higher seed advanced in this bracket.  #4 Johnson and Wales had no trouble with 16-seed St. Lawrence, winning the battle of fast-break/press teams 105-70.  Up next for the Spider Monkeys is 9-seed Dallas who prevailed over #23 Emory and Henry in easily the best game of the first round.  Emory and Henry got a tipin with just four seconds on the clock in regulation and we went to OT tied at 69.  The two teams exchanged buckets in the last thirty seconds and we went to double overtime knotted at 83.  Dallas was up by 1 when they got a huge offensive rebound with fifty-two seconds left and then made their free throws to hold for the 94-89 win.  Since they played so much extra time, I'm sure J-Dub will be considerate and take it easy on them tonight. Elsewhere #8 5-seed Webster got 27 points from Thomas Simas in a 87-72 Gorlok over Mt. St. Joseph and they Gorlok on to take on #12 4-seed Dickinson who shot E. Oregon out of the gym 118-67.  In the lower half, #25 Christopher Newport downed 11-seed Centenary 70-63 and will now face #13 3-seed Whittier who took care of business against Ozarks 62-54.  Finally, #17 E. Connecticut State used a big first half to knock out 10-seed Denison 89-78 and will take on the 2-seed #6 Penn St. Altoona after their easy 97-42 win over Alvernia.

South-- Only one upset in this bracket too (N.Coast pride!).  #3 Willamette actually got outscored by a point in the second half but still easily knocked off 16-seed Ripon 73-54.  Up next is 8-seed W. New England who led wire-to-wire in a 84-76 victory over Austin.  #9 5-seed Vassar used superior shooting to send Augustana home 82-61 and now they'll face #20 4-seed Wittenberg after they built a 10 point halftime lead and held on for the 81-71 win over Transylvania.  Allegheny became the second 11-seed to advance by besting 6-seed Palm Beach Atlantic in a close back-and-forth affair 63-57.  They'll look for another upset when they take on #15 3-seed Emory who downed Macalester 78-69.  At the bottom of the bracket, #24 7-seed Wisconsin La Crosse outlasted Eureka 69-61 as they advance to face #10 2-seed Merchant Marines who cruised past Salem State 81-54.

West-- Everyone's favorite-est team in the whole wide world #2 Wooster had no issues with Bowdoin in a 72-54 win, other than trying to figure out how to pronounce their school name.  Bow-doo-in?  Waiting for them in the second round is 9-seed Simpson after they got past S. Vermont 74-66.  12-seed Chapman was the lowest seed to win a game this round thanks to their 80-70 upset of #19 5-seed Lynchburg.  Up next is #11 4-seed Greensboro who ran away from Gallaudet 105-81.  In the second half of the bracket it's all higher seeds.  6-seed Emmanuel downed Texas Lutheran 73-65 and will now face #22 3-seed Trinity who cruised past Brooklyn 87-67.  And finally, #18 7-seed Ursinus was a big 72-49 winner over Occidental and now plays #5 2-seed John Carroll who was a 83-56 winner over SUNY Potsdam.

Good luck to everyone playing tonight.

bah....  I wanted to get smoked by Millsaps tonight.

Holy crap.  Crazy second round.  Tip 'o the hat to pseudo for breaking thru to the sweet 16.  After that second round, everyone is reminded to take nothing for granted in this game.

I think I might have to submit a error report to WIS.  Wooster played our second round NT game last night but there's still another game being shown on the schedule for tonight.  I'm confused, there's more than two rounds to this thing?

Posted by brianxavier on 1/4/2014 2:58:00 AM (view original):
Holy crap.  Crazy second round.  Tip 'o the hat to pseudo for breaking thru to the sweet 16.  After that second round, everyone is reminded to take nothing for granted in this game.

Crazy in a bad way in my opinion.  Congrats to Rednu.  This is going to take a while to get over.

Time for the second round recap.  Sorry this was a little delayed, I was running around the neighborhood wearing nothing but a kilt most of the day.  My neighbors are apparently easily frightened.  On to the results, we had quite a few upsets last night...

Midwest-- The Millsaps steamroller kept on chugging as the top seed cruised past Buena Vista 93-63.  Their next potential victim is 4-seed Susquehanna who got a clutch tipin with just two seconds left in the game to slip past 5-seed UMass Dartmouth.  All hell has broken loose in the lower half of this bracket as two double digit seeds have advanced.  11-seed Wentworth Tech used a big second half to pull away from 3-seed Rivier and finished off a 75-63 victory.  They will face 10-seed Sewanee who got a huge steal with eight seconds left followed by a bucket in the paint to seal the 74-71 upset of 2-seed Hardin-Simmons.

East-- Every game in this bracket so far has gone chalk, except for the two games involving the 9-seed.  That 9-seed, Dallas, notched another upset by taking down the 1-seed Johnson and Wales 79-78.  Dallas had a 9 point lead at the half and then was able to resist the inevitable rally by J-Dub to hold on for dear life.  They made enough free throws down the stretch so that a 3ptr as time expired left the Spider Monkeys 1 point short.  Dallas moves on to take on 4-seed Dickinson who put on a clinic in the second half to take out the 5-seeded Gorloks of Webster 97-78.  Down in the lower half of the bracket it's the top two remaining seeds squaring off.  3-seed Whittier got by 6-seed Christopher Newport 76-65 while 2-seed Penn St. Altoona sent 7-seed E. Connecticut State home 59-49.

South-- Another 1-seed fell in this bracket as 8-seed W. New England dominated the second half to roll to a 84-70 upset of Willamette.  They move on to face 5-seed Vassar who was a 84-75 winner over 4-seed Wittenberg.  No upsets in the bottom of the bracket, 3-seed Emory opened a first half lead and cruised to a 61-48 victory over 11-seed Allegheny and 2-seed Merchant Marines used an old-fashioned 3pt play with sixteen seconds left to finish off 7-seed Wisconsin La Crosse 63-60.

West-- The 2nd round curse is broken!  1-seed Wooster finally tastes the sweet sixteen after outlasting 9-seed Simpson 88-69.  Next up is a rematch of an epic double-overtime game in the non-conference season against 4-seed Greensboro who was a big 107-73 winner over 12-seed Chapman.  In the other half of the bracket, 6-seed Emmanuel scores the 57-46 upset of 3-seed Trinity.  They move on to face 2-seed John Carroll after they survived a double-overtime thriller against 7-seed Ursinus.  Defense prevailed at the end of regulation and overtime as game-winning shots fell short for both teams.  John Carroll pulled away in the second extra session for the 91-79 win.

Good luck to everyone still in, should be some excellent games tonight.

Our loss was not unexpected. I switched both off and def, then switched back. So my already young team had bad IQ to boot. Combined with mediocre recruiting, it's going to take a while to recover. Millsaps looks very strong again. I was shocked at some of the other upsets too. Takes the sting out of ours a little.

Third round recap coming right up...

Midwest-- 1's are wild in this bracket as 1-seed Millsaps and 11-seed Wentworth Tech will battle for a place in the Final Four.  Millsaps eliminated 4-seed Susquehanna 78-64 while Wentworth Tech surged past 10-seed Sewanee 72-64 after being down 4 at the half.

East-- 4-seed Dickinson built up a 6 point lead in the first half against 9-seed Dallas and were able to maintain the lead finishing with a 68-57 victory.  They move on to face 2-seed Penn St. Altoona who cruised past 3-seed Whittier 61-47.

South-- Both games in this bracket were wild ones that went down to the wire.  5-seed Vassar thanked the 8-seeded W. New England for earlier taking out the top seed in this bracket by hitting a buzzer-beating 3ptr from the corner for a thrilling 84-81 win.  Vassar was down 12 at the half but they quickly got back into it after the break with a barrage from behind the arc, finishing an impressive 12 of 27 from 3pt land.  After surviving this one they'll play 3-seed Emory who needed extra time to finally send 2-seed Merchant Marines home 59-57.  This one was close throughout with Emory tying the score at 48 with twenty-nine seconds left in regulation with a clutch and-one.  Merchant Marines missed a possible game winner as time expired and they went to overtime.  Emory once again made the last shot but this time is was for the lead with four seconds left and the half-court prayer went unanswered for the cadets.

West-- Chalk lives in this bracket as the top two seeds are meeting in the regional final in another non-conference rematch.  1-seed Wooster was behind for long stretches but were able to go ahead for good with just a minute and a half left.  They missed half their free throws but were still able to finish off 4-seed Greensboro 87-84 after a last seconds 3ptr fell short.  In the other game 2-seed John Carroll was behind by a point with a minute left but they locked down the defense the rest of the way and got a 62-58 win over 6-seed Emmanuel.

Good luck to the eight teams left and to the final four teams in the PI: Southwestern, Howard Payne, Piedmont, and Calvin.

Should be an interesting final four...

I looked to see how many all-americans were playing:  1 honorable mention all-american on the four teams (Millsaps, Joseph Poe, SF).

Perhaps the all-american team should be re-named the "all-statistics team"?  I think there are some very worthy players that were selected, but some not so much... SMH...

Nice job by Dickinson to reach his first final four in Rupp D3.

Nice job by Wooster to break the second round curse with a bang.... he is probably about to explode with anxiety.  We'll see if it shows up in a Dalton-like performance, or if he goes ice-in-the-veins Andrew Luck.

I continue to be amazed out Emory gets it done every single freakin' season in the NT.

Will this be the year Millsaps breaks thru his own barrier of hanging the NT banner?  This is Millsaps 7th final four, yet no NT titles show for it so far.

Posted by bullman17 on 1/4/2014 11:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by brianxavier on 1/4/2014 2:58:00 AM (view original):
Holy crap.  Crazy second round.  Tip 'o the hat to pseudo for breaking thru to the sweet 16.  After that second round, everyone is reminded to take nothing for granted in this game.

Crazy in a bad way in my opinion.  Congrats to Rednu.  This is going to take a while to get over.

I know this won't take the sting away, but the D2 the Final Four features a 4, 8, 8, and 9 seed.  Being a 1-seed spelled doom in Rupp.

brian, if it's the all-statistics team, then how come the nation's leading scorer wasn't even an honorable mention? 

good point tarvolon… not sure how that worked.  I just like to complain.

And for what it's worth, I totally would have supported Jack Isabel as an all-american after he lit up J-W, Emory, Millsaps, and everyone else this season.  Although he is Canadian, so maybe that was the problem.

In response to what brian said earlier about Wooster making it past the second round: yes, I am ready explode with anxiety.  I've been trying not to say much about it, just pacing around my computer desk and pondering game planning decisions.  Wearing a kilt.

Time for a quick Elite 8 recap:

Midwest-- After being up 4 at the break, top seeded Millsaps turned on the offense in the second half to cruise to a 72-51 victory over 11-seed Wentworth Tech.  This will be Millsaps' fourth Final Four trip in seven seasons, very impressive.

East-- 3-seed Dickinson recovered from being down 5 at the half and came storming back for a 77-68 win over 2-seed Penn St. Altoona.  The lower seed slowly climbed back until taking the lead with about eleven minutes left in the game.  Celebrations broke out immediately on the Dickinson campus to cheer on the school's first ever NT Final Four appearance.

South-- This was the closest of the four games last night with 5-seed Vassar and 3-seed Emory battling back-and-forth the whole way.  Emory was able to clamp down the defense at the end though and held Vassar to just 2 points in the final three and a half minutes, holding on for a 75-66 win.  Incredibly this is Emory's fifth Final Four in the last six seasons.  That's just silly good.

West-- 1-seed Wooster pretty much couldn't miss for much of the game and were able to get past 2-seed John Carroll 88-71.  Wooster is also taking their first ever trip to the Final Four so you know the kilts were flying all night in Wooster, OH.

So in the Final Four we have 1 vs 4 and 1 vs 3, games pitting the experienced teams against the Final Four first-timers.  These are also rematches of earlier non-conference games.  Millsaps handled Dickinson at home early in the season 103-79 while Wooser downed Emory at home 81-72.  Tonight the odds-makers have Millsaps by 4 points and Wooster by 7.  Should be a couple great games, good luck to all four.

Also, good luck to Piedmont and Howard Payne who are playing for the PI title tonight.