Second-seeded Alabama lost to #11 UCLA. Kind of a crazy game. The first half – all UCLA. The second half – all ‘Bama. The OT – all UCLA.
Despite some upsets, the Elite Eight doesn’t really look anomalous. It includes three first seeds, a two and a three. Furthermore, one of the weaker seeds is UCLA, which is the greatest power in the history of college hoops. They did once win this thing 10 times in 12 years, so it’s hard to think of them as a spunky upstart, even though they’ve only won once in the past 40 years, and none at all in the past 25.
In other words, I’ll be pulling for the true underdog, Oregon State. At one time this year, they were 11-11, including an embarrassing home-court loss to lowly Portland. That debacle was Portland’s only road win of the year. To add to the embarrassment, Portland never won a single game, home or away, in their own conference, the WCC. Unless you are an absolute hoops fanatic, I’ll bet you don’t even know what Portland’s sports teams are called. (The Pilots, for the record. I had to look it up.) Well, Oregon State lost to those hapless dudes earlier this year – on their own court – and yet now they’re in the Elite Eight! Ya gotta love it.
