The second and third rounds of the annual NCAA College Basketball Tournament produced its usual share of upsets and one genuine Cinderella story featuring little known Florida Gulf Coast University from Fort Myers with just over 12,000 students which utterly dominated the Georgetown Hoyas who some folks had picked as one of the favorites to win this year’s Big Dance.
It was the stuff that dreams are made of.
Two days later, that same FGCU team, once again the underdogs, completely defeated the #7 seed San Diego State Aztecs to move on to the Sweet Sixteen in Arlington, Texas. Florida Gulf Coast University has only been eligible for the tournament for two years.
The Eagles become the first #15 seed team in the history of the NCAA Tournament to make it to the Sweet Sixteen.
There were ten other games over the weekend where the underdogs came out on top. Here is a quick rundown.
Thursday, March 21 Round Two Games:
#12 California beat #5 UNLV (-3.5) 64-61=125 (131.5)…the under.
#9 Wichita State beat #8 Pittsburg (-4.5) 73-55=128 (120.5)…the over.
#12 Oregon beat #5 Oklahoma State (-2) 68-55=123 (136)…the over.
#8 Colorado State beat #9 Mizzou (-2.5) 84-72=156 (144.5)…the over.
#14 Harvard beat #3 New Mexico Lobos (-10.5) 68-62=130 (126)…the over.
Friday, March 22 Round Two Games:
#12 Ole Miss beat #5 Wisconsin (-6) 57-46=109 (128)…way under.
#13 La Salle STUNS #4 Kansas State (-6) 63-61=123 (133)…the under.
#15 FGCU shocked #2 Georgetown (-13) 78-68=146 (124)…way over!
Saturday, March 23 Round Three Games:
#12 Oregon beat #4 Saint Louis (-4.5) 74-57=131 (126)…the over.
#9 Wichita State stuns #1 Gonzaga (-6.5) 76-70=146 (130.5)…the over.
Sunday, March 24 Round Three Games:
15 FGCU whipped #7 San Diego State (-7.5) 81-71=152 (135.5)…the over.
13 LaSalle beat #12 Ole Miss (-4) 76-74=150 (143)….the over.
As we can see from the above results, several of the teams talked about as being favored to go far in the tournament have all gone home. Still to come……
The Regional Semifinals… aka. The “Sweet Sixteen”….will commence on Thursday evening March 28, when Marquette will take on the Hurricanes of Miami. Arizona plays Ohio State, Syracuse will take on Indiana and LaSalle will play Wichita State.
The Friday evening games will feature Oregon against Louisville, Michigan taking on Kansas, Michigan battling it out with Duke and the Cinderella Team of the “Big Dance”, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, challenging the Florida Gators.
