Breaking down the good, the bad and the ugly of the top ten in the first round of Bleacher report

After the first three days of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, a great lesson was learned: the most powerful College Hoops conference was vulnerable all along.

The Big Ten sent a record of nine teams to the Big Dance, and after the round of 64 there are only six left. The other three were eliminated dramatically, two by scrappy mid-majors and one by a team that barely made it into the tournament. We should have known the Big Ten was not quite as big as when Michigan State was relegated to a First Four game, but the Spartans got a big bid after a good win in the late season during the conference. opponents.

The Big Ten have not produced a champion in 21 years, and Tom Izzo led the Spartans across Florida in Indianapolis, the same city where the tournament takes place this year. The league sent seven teams to the championship game during that time, but these programs came up empty every time.

The conference may still yield the national champion, but an argument can be made for the way deep conferences are dropping teams through the regular season and the league tournaments. Of course, the argument can also be made that playing these conferences makes teams better and more prepared for the post-season. Both of these things can be true and probably are.

On top of that, it was a strange year due to the pandemic, and the playing field was anything but level with programs being forced to shut down and postponed games not being rescheduled.

Let’s break up the good, the bad and the ugly in the round of 32.

The Good: Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rutgers

Illinois and Michigan were each top-ranked teams, and they played like that. Nr. 2 Iowa, a team that may also have had a case for a No. 1 seed, did the same and rolled the 15 Grand Canyon in the West region.

The Illini will get an intriguing game with No. 8 Loyola Chicago next time. With 98 wins since 2017-18, the Ramblers have the most of the 13 NCAA Division I teams in the state of Illinois, so there are Midwestern bragging rights on the line, in addition to a trip to the Sweet 16.

The Wolverines easily sent 16 Texas Southern, one of the first four winners, to an 82-66 victory on Saturday. Michigan shot 48.1 percent of the field and 34.6 percent of three using a balanced attack. A vocal defense held the Tigers in 12 attempts against a single trio, and the bench held the fort down with starters in bad trouble.

Head coach Roy Williams saw his 29-0 record in the first round come to an end when the eighth seeded North Carolina Tar Heels by no. 9 Wisconsin was raised. Carolina has struggled all season. Inexperienced guards could not lead experienced forwards, and it was no different on Friday. The program may need some sort of upheaval, but that’s a different story for another day.

Senior guards Brad Davison and D’Mitrik Trice dropped 29 and 21 points, respectively, on the Tar Heels to get Wisconsin to the next round.

No.10 Maryland swaps a seventh-seeded UConn group it is contradictory all year round Saturday dinner. The Huskies spent considerable energy trying to contain a Terrapins team that shot 51.2 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from outside the arc. Eric Ayala scored 23 points, including 14 in the first half, while Aaron Wiggins and Donta Scott supported his efforts with 14-point and 12-point performances, respectively. UConn just could not match Maryland’s stifling defensive effort.

The most emotional victory for the Big Ten took place on Friday night when no. 10 Rutgers won his first NCAA tournament in 38 years, beating Clemson no. 7 in the Midwest region. The emerging Scarlet Knights were ready to take a turn a year ago, but did not have the chance to show what they could do.

This is what we know they can do now: they can bump and defend the glass. They have an experienced team with clear chemistry and a lot of determination.

They also take steps outside the basketball court.

Senior guard Geo Baker tried to raise awareness for the NCAA reform this week. On Wednesday, he started the hat brand #NotNCAAProperty, and it spread like wildfire. Baker, as well as other Big Ten players like the Isaiah Livers of Michigan and Jordan Bohannon, Iowa, has all pleaded for the name, image and image rules to be changed. This victory further strengthens Baker’s voice and his platform. It also strengthens the Scarlet Knights program.

“We had to fight back this year and prove it again. “We guys did it,” coach Steve Pikiell said at his Zoom conference. “I know they were not happy and content to just be here. I know they want to keep playing. They kind of followed this approach. Again a good week of practice, a lot of energy before the game. Even at halftime , they stayed the course, rewarded. I’m excited for them. And they are excited. It is a resilient group. ‘

But it doesn’t get any less challenging for Rutgers or Maryland. The road to the Final Four is not easy for any of these ten big teams, but these two groups now face the second selected teams in each of their regions.

The Terps may have put down an inconsistent team, but they have also been contradictory all season. They had their best game at the best time, but now they have to repeat the good things when they face Alabama, a big favorite for the Final Four.

The bad: Purdue

The Boilermakers had the advantage of playing in their home region. But on the biggest stage, probably the biggest basketball state, no. 4 Purdue went overtime against North Texas no. 13 and then fell flat. The Mean Green have progressed with their very first NCAA tournament, and North Texas deserves honor, especially since it nearly eliminated the post for the Boilermakers. A Big Ten team is expected to have the power to penetrate.

Coach Matt Painter said it was nothing the team had not seen before. They faced opponents who loaded the paint and were able to adjust, but the Boilermakers made bad decisions and bad tackles that ended up being expensive. They turned the ball over 11 times and had North Texas shot over them.

“I think they emphasized it a little bit more and beat us out of the neighborhood, more from the perimeter than other people do,” Painter said. “But I thought it was nothing more than what someone else was doing, like I said. I just thought they were doing it a little bit more and just holding on a little bit more to make the guys more decision makers and passersby. make. instead of scorers. ‘

The Ugly: Ohio State, Michigan State

The ugliest loss in the Big Ten was not Ohio State’s no. 2 not, to Oral Roberts, a tiny school in Tulsa that has not played an NCAA tournament since 1974. It was some fans who took the L for cyberbullying.

One day after the Buckeyes were eliminated, forward EJ Liddell posted snapshots of some extremely disturbing messages (Warning: NSFW language) he received from the Ohio fans. One fan said he wanted to kill Liddell. Another one said he was a ‘shame’ because he missed a one-on-one with the chance to win the game, and that the state of Ohio ‘hates’ him.

Liddell expressed frustration over the messages, saying he was only human and receiving an onslaught of support. At the end of the day, it’s just a game. No one deserves such messages for one reason or another, let alone a basketball game.

As for the state of Michigan, the Spartans have been playing ugly all season. And UCLA, the team that eliminated them in a play-in match, is perhaps better than we gave credit for. But the ugliest part of this loss was what happened at rest.

Tom Izzo and forward Gabe Brown were caught in a heated altercation as the Spartans made their way to the locker room. Brown showed visible frustration at the buzzer and directed his anger at teammate Malik Hall after his inability to defend a pick-and-roll led to an open jumper just before time ran out. Izzo intervened and Brown directed his anger at his coach.

At one point, cameras caught Izzo flu Brown to the poor and angry talking to him in the tunnel. It was a bad end to a memorable season.

Joshua Langford said the match is his last for the state of Michigan, with the fifth-year senior not choosing a sixth year to be eligible for the Spartans. Forward Aaron Henry might also have played his last game in green. He checked his NBA options last year, so he has to make a big decision in the coming months.

It was not exactly the dominant start to the tournament that was much anticipated for the Big Ten, but part of the fun of March Madness is the dismay. The Cinderellas announced their presence, with four teams selected 13th or lower advancing to the first round.

The Big Ten may have been the deepest college basketball conference this season, but even the best conferences are not immune to the madness of one of the most unpredictable tournaments in sports.