It's funny how one afternoon a cinderella team can knock off the best team in the country, then turn around four days later and lose to a team without its best player. Oh well, such is life sports. Michigan St. had lost Kalin Lucas halfway through their previous game vs. Maryland, but pulled it out on a buzzer beating three. All signs pointed to N. Iowa, who thoroughly outplayed the #1 team in the tourney, to keep the unlikely story going into the Elite 8. Oh, how we underestimate the man in the Izzone.
All the guy does is freaking win.
Without its leader, point guard, leading scorer, etc. the Spartans were down 29-22 at half due to N. Iowa's suffocating D and Michigan St.'s ineptitude putting the ball in the basket. Well, Izzo must have kicked somebody in the ass during the break because Michigan St. came out hot and tied the game up soon after the second half started. The Spartans held off the Panthers through the rest of the game, with the help of some N. Iowa missed foul shots in the last few minutes and advanced to the Elite 8.
Again...
Meanwhile, Even Turner and Co. were poised to run shit in this region after Kansas went down. Too bad Tennessee had been playing its best basketball of the year. I honestly only saw the last few minutes of this game and do not have any idea what happened before there. The Vols outrebounded the Buckeyes 36-23 and even though Turner went berserk (31 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast) he missed a three at the buzzer (which he probably got fouled during), and down went Ohio St. The most bizarre thing was Turner's reaction to the final; he walked off the court without acknowledging any of his teammates or Tennessee players and did not seem to come back to shake hands. I lost a little bit of respect for Turner, similar to the respect I lost of Brett Favre when he went to the Jets.
Still a great player though.
Amazingly, this was Tennessee's first ever trip past the Sweet 16. They haven't been an outstanding program over the years, but it is still kind of unbelievable. Meanwhile, this was like Michigan St.'s 76th straight Elite 8 appearance. The two teams came out hotter than hell. It's not like there was bad defense being played, but for the first five or six minutes, neither team could miss, literally. I think the two teams combined to score on each of the game's first 13 possessions, unreal. The first half was wildly entertaining, including some sick alley-oopskis to J.P. Prince.
Crazy shit dude.
But after the first half fireworks and a 41-39 Tennessee advantage at the break, the teams realized that defense would win this game. I missed the entire second half, but rumor has it that the game was tied with a few seconds left and Raymar Morgan was fouled shooting under the basket. He made the first and intentionally missed the second. After a timeout, the Vols missed a half court heave and the game, and the net went to the Spartans for the second consecutive year.
"AGAIN?!"
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