And then there was one: Day 4 Men’s NCAA Tournament Big Ten Recaps

So, uh, maybe this conference wasn’t as good as we thought, huh?

[7] Oregon Ducks 95, [2] Iowa Hawkeyes 80

RockyMtnBlue: I didn’t watch this game. I have no opinion of this game. But I called this outcome in this article and so I’m claiming credit.

MaximumSam: I did watch this game. The first half was less basketball and more competitive layup drill. The second half was still a layup drill for Oregon, but Iowa suddenly tried playing basketball, to predictable effect.

Stew: Welp.

[Green Akers] has made a lot of noise about Iowa fans complaining about lack of results. Well, that’s gonna happen. But it’s not gonna matter. This is as good as it gets, and it’s going to change until Fran retires. He has another kid in high school, so I think we’re about 8 years away from any real substantial change.

I’m, uh, ready to be done with Fran. But that’s not gonna happen. So, let’s just go right to apathy.

[1] Michigan Wolverines 86, [8] LSU Tigers 78

RockyMtnBlue: I haven’t seen this game yet. A quick look at the box score shows 21pts from Eli Brooks on 12 shooting possessions and 21pts from Chaundee Brown on 12 shooting possessions. That’s not a copy/paste error. That’s two fantastic offensive games from the teams’s nominal fifth and sixth scoring options. This is an easy team to root for when it’s in anyone-can-step-up-and-beat-you mode.

MaximumSam: This was a fun game. LSU more or less tried to get up and down and have their stars break down the Michigan defense - Smart and Thomas combined for 57 points. But Michigan kept plugging and eventually their brand of “passing the ball sometimes and playing defense” won out over “give the ball to the best player and get out of the way.” Norman Dale would be proud.

MNW: It was absolutely just bad luck, but it felt like every time I looked up at this game, Hunter Dickinson was picking up another foul or swiping at another LSU player who had the audacity to rough him up in the post. HOW MANY FOULS DO THESE PEOPLE GET?!

You definitely remembered, though, watching the game, just how important Eli Brooks was to the Wolverines’ fate. Dude couldn’t fucking miss when they rotated the ball. And 22 assists on 28 made shots...that’s a team basketball performance right there.

God I loathe saying nice things about Michigan. Here come the Michigan basketball fans.

[2] Alabama Crimson Tide 96, [10] Maryland Terrapins 77

MaximumSam: Alabama shot nearly 50% from three and shot 33 triples. There is no world where Maryland had a chance.

larry31: I typically do not watch the first half of MD games, simply to prevent an hour’s worth of negative emotions. If they look bad from the start, not good-anger, annoyance, frustration. If they are playing the other team even, not good-anxiety, if they are curb-stomping the other team, not good, lots of angst and anxiety as the other team slowly and methodically chips away at the seemingly insurmountable lead.

Having read up on Alabama, they seemed pretty damn good and were clearly the best team in the SEC. So, I didn’t sit down to watch until 10:28 remained. The following ensued: AL was up by 21 points, Donta Scott missed a free throw, and the announcers were speculating on whether AL would break the NCAA tournament record for most free throws made (they were currently 14/28!) So, I promptly turned the TV off (I’m old, so I don’t live stream).

MD lacrosse is still rolling. The Orioles have the 5th ranked farm system in baseball, their highest ever for the 37 years Baseball America has done such rankings. The Football Team is currently making themselves better, rather than worse, through free agency—the product of a competent front office calling the shots and not the universally hated Dan Snyder. And the Terps were picked to finish 11th or 12th in the B1G and definitely not expected to make the tourney. I thought they maybe had a 50% chance of making the NCAA tourney. They made the tourney and actually won a game that most talking heads had not expected (and it was the universally hated UCoon-thanks to Jim Calhoun). Even though AL did a bully beatdown (MTV reference) on MD, it wasn’t a bad year considering the expectations.

The transfer market should be interesting. It is literally more exciting than NFL free agency. Here’s to everyone switching players. Cheers.

We’ll have women’s tourney recaps and a full Tuesday hoops open thread coming up a little later. Welcome back to the crab bucket, Iowa.