March Madness: Thursday of Week 2 … Two #1 seeds fall.

As I noted last week, Jeff Sagarin’s computer system certainly had Houston nailed. His ratings indicated that they were one of the top five teams in the nation, and were therefore radically underrated as a #5 seed. That has been proven. They beat a #4 seed by 15 points, and followed that up by beating a #1 seed by 12. They held Arizona to 33% from the field. End of story.

Arkansas also proved to be a real powerhouse. During the regular season they beat a team (Auburn) that was rated first in the nation at the time. They did it again Thursday with a victory over Gonzaga, which was not just a #1 seed in the tournament, but was also the #1 team in the country. Thursday’s game was almost dead even except for the turnover comparison: fifteen for the Zags, only eight for Arkansas.

Statistical oddity: According to Sagarin’s rankings, LSU was one of the top 25 teams in the country this year, and Arkansas beat them three times!

Duke and Texas Tech see-sawed throughout the game, which Duke finally won with a last-minute switch-up to man-to-man D, coupled with some excellent sharpshooting. They shot 88% from the stripe and 52% from the field, including their last eight in a row. Tech was the one team so far that least deserved to lose, but hey, only one team can win per game. Coach K goes to the elite eight for the umpteenth time. (He has reached the Sweet 16 on 25 occasions, six more than any other coach in NCAA history. He has advanced to the Elite Eight 16 times, the Final Four 12 times, and has won it all 5 times.) The entire college game will seem to have a missing piece when he retires after this tournament. There must have been a time before he was a coach, but I can’t remember it. In fact nobody can, except those Miami players who are in their 53rd year of college.

11th-seeded Michigan gave it the ol’ college try, but their long-shot did not come through. Villanova advances.