Not outrageously so, but there was another slate of good’uns!
Considering their injury situation, that the Battle of the Blues went the Demons’ way wasn’t so surprising, was it. #7 DePaul over #2 Duke, 74-65. Graham’s Instant Analysis as DePaul puts on the pressure.
Exactly one year to the day after DePaul limped out of Cameron Indoor Stadium battered, bruised and beaten in a first-round game against Oklahoma State that almost no one outside of Stillwater has reason to remember, the Blue Demons had a hop in their step as they prepared to head home — if only briefly this time. The Sweet 16 awaits, after all.
It was second-seeded Duke that limped away, a team already shorthanded left with heavy legs and tired tears.
As for the #4 Huskers’ loss to the #12 Cougars, ask the Lincoln Region. Sue weighs in over at Full Court: BYU upsets Nebraska, 80-76, to advance to Sweet 16 in Lincoln Regional
In pulling off their second upset in three days, the Cougars advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002, and become just the third 12th-seeded team in NCAA history to pull off the feat. Ironically, they head to the Lincoln, Neb. regional.
Considering what happened to the Cowgirls program two-plus years ago, who could be upset at their upset: #5 Oklahoma State over #4 Purdue, 73-66.
Games that were surprisingly tight (at least in the first half)
#1 Notre Dame v. #9 Arizona State, 84-67.
#2 Baylor v. #7 Cal. Bears over the Golden Bears, 75-56.
#1 Tennessee v. #8 St. John’s. Vols over Storm, 67-51.
Game that was surprisingly tight, considering the opposition was missing their best player)
#3 Kentucky v. #6 Syracuse. Wildcats eventually overcame the gritty Orange, 64-59.
Games that weren’t in question
#10 Florida State v. #2 Ogwumike... I mean Stanford. From Mechelle: Stanford all business-like in win
You’re not ever going to see a lot of drama from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. You know this, of course. She’s the technician, the professor, the perfect mentor for “Nerd Nation.”
Monday, the Cardinal played just her kind of game: Start with a plan, make some smart adjustments, execute well, win comfortably, walk out into the snow celebrating …
Wait a minute … snow? How often do the Cardinal run into that, especially in March? But spring is a capricious thing here in Iowa, and sure enough some flaky stuff was falling as the Cardinal contingent headed out of Hilton Coliseum and home to a Sweet 16 in their own Maples Pavilion.
From Charlie: Five observations from Monday’s games
• 3. Home not-so-sweet home: Every year, so much talk is invested in the top seeds playing on the home courts of teams with worse seeds. Nothing in the women’s tournament creates more angst. Then, every year it has little impact on the tournament. This March, it’s having even less influence. In fact, it has actually worked the other way. The higher seeds are losing games in their own gyms. On Monday, No. 2 seed Duke lost in Durham to seventh-seeded DePaul, and No. 4 seed Purdue fell to fifth-seeded Oklahoma State in Mackey Arena. In the first round, No. 10 seed Florida State beat seventh-seeded Iowa State in Ames. The motivation of playing a Sweet 16 game at home didn’t help Nebraska at all in the Huskers’ loss to BYU.
To this point in 2014, the home court has changed nothing. Upsets can happen anywhere.