2017 NCAA Tournament: Three Pac 12 Teams Highlight Today’s Games

The major upsets that some may have been hoping for really didn’t happen yesterday, save the advancement of 12 seed Middle Tennessee and 11 seed Xavier. Middle Tennessee was actually favored to beat Minnesota, and came through with the 81-72 win. Minnesota got into foul trouble, which sidelined Reggie Lynch, their big scorer. After that, the Blue Raiders took control and came out with the win. Xavier was missing Edmund Sumner after he tore his ACL at the end of January, but Trevon Bluiett proved that we should not count out the Musketeers. He scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half, and may very well be writing a Cinderella story for Xavier this year.

Today, three of the four Pac 12 teams in the tournament will play, beginning with third seeded Oregon vs. 14 seed Iona at 11:00 am PT in Sacramento. Oregon is without senior forward Chris Boucher, since he tore his ACL in the Pac 12 Tournament, which is a major his since he averages 2.5 blocks per game. Oregon will have the task of slowing down Iona’s Jordan Washington and his 17.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. These teams are both ranked high in three point shooting, but Oregon is 21st in the country when it comes to defending outside the arc, according to Kenpom.

Six seed Southern Methodist University will take on 11 seed Southern Cal at 12:10 pm in Tulsa. We all know who we’re rooting for. SMU is favored by 6.5, and is riding a 16-game win streak going back to January 15. These teams met back in November at the Galen Center, and Southern Cal won that match up 78-73. The Mustangs had hit a low point in their season, losing three games to Michigan, USC and Boise State. But SMU has turned their season around and is poised to bounce the Trojans out of the tournament.

Our Bruins will take on Kent State at 6:57 pm in Sacramento, and this should be an easy one for UCLA. Check out our full preview, but for the abridged version, Kent State is living a Cinderella story of their own, beating the top three teams in their conference tournament after finishing the season in fourth. Jimmy Hall is the one to stop, averaging a double double (18.9 points and 10.5 rebounds) per game. The Bruins have a much deeper roster and twice as many players averaging in double figures in scoring. It will be up to UCLA to keep it together and advance to the next round.

Here is a full schedule of today’s games:

This is your 2017 NCAA Tournament First Round, Day 2 Open Thread.


Go Bruins!