NCAA Tournament Day 3 Recaps: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue advance

You are about to see the thanks I get for re-posting our writers’ “recaps” for these games, so in the interest of full disclosure, this time I will present you with the prompt I gave them:

[T]aking thoughts/prayers/recaps whenever you have a spare moment -- however bitter, resigned, off-topic, and whatever else they may be. But reference the game at some point, please. :heart: u all

Like...call LSU cheaters. Say that if Jordan Murphy was healthy, Minny would’ve won. Make an Ignas Brazdeikis joke. I want pull quotes, baby.

They didn’t come through. Except Boilerman, who is good-looking and witty and who I possibly owe money.

Here’s what happened yesterday:

[3] LSU Tigers 69, [6] Maryland Terrapins 67

Dude traveled. You wanna watch the NBA, go watch the NBA. Get it out of my college hoops.

DJ: Ugh, what a brutal way to lose. Maryland battled back from 15 down to take a lead in the last half of the 2nd half, spurred by Mark Turgeon making a great adjustment to negate LSU’s athleticism. The Terps switched to zone the last 12 minutes or so of the game and LSU had absolutely no answer...until they did in the last 30 seconds of the game. I won’t speculate on if it should have went to OT since MD was down by as much as 15 in this game but what a gut wrenching way to lose after nailing a corner three to tie it back up on a great called play from TO. I wanted to see Bruno Fernando get another game in DC and I’m hoping Jalen Smith is coming back next year.

[2] Michigan Wolverines 64, [10] Florida Gators 49

No doubt Brian will be by later to give you a really good recap of what happened in Des Moines—so just wait for that, OK? I didn’t watch this one. I don’t care. I’ve seen Zavier Simpson hit his hook shot, and that’s really all I want out of this Michigan team. Other than that, they’re the perfectly harmless bridesmaid who may make a nice run, but ultimately won’t have the pieces to win it all.

God, I’m going to hate when I have to eat these words, in my home metro, of all places.

[2] Michigan State Spartans 70, [10] Minnesota Golden Gophers 50

Andrew Kraszewski: You didn’t set the stage in the last recap article the way you did in the Slack prompt, so what should have been a perfectly executed high-five of a sandwich metaphor instead had the character of that one friend who just doesn’t get that looking at the other person’s elbow means a perfect high five every time but he still comes in like he’s doing a finishing move in Mortal Kombat but mostly misses and therefore slaps your pinky with all the strength in his arm, all of which is to say you will take this sterile recap and you will like it:

Michigan State defeated Minnesota by 20, which is a substantial margin in basketball. Many Spartan players were quite good, though it could be said that Gopherballer Amir Coffey certainly gave it the ol’ college try. MSU also committed 22 turnovers, which is quite unusual for a game they win by 20.

WhiteSpeed Receiver: No Murphy, no Murderviking, no Curry, no fucking chance of beating Sparty.

[3] Purdue Boilermakers 87, [6] Villanova Wildcats 61

Boilerman31: A friend of mine noted that Villanova had a priest on the bench. He was either there for the Last Rites or the wake. Pardon me, Carsen Edwards just drilled another step back three. Or maybe Villanova didn’t rotate and Matt Haarms got another dunk. Or Ryan Cline drilled another trey. This was bloody. This was gruesome. This was beautiful.

/Takes another sip of bourbon

Can’t wait to go to Louisville to see if Boogie and Company can continue destroying souls.

NIT Afterthoughts

Indiana won.