85 Expansion Day 2 Update

The opening round wrapped up, with no jaw dropping upsets of the St. Peter's, Oakland's and Princeton's the years before.

The closest we had was Robert Morris pushed Alabama to the finish line, and honestly the refs had money on 'Bama because some of the calls at the end were wildly biased. However, roll tide still rolls on. Our opening game, I haven't seen an inexplicable play in crunch time like that since Kyle Neptune (self deprecating humor), as Mississippi State was down just 3 to Baylor and chucked up a contested shot with 5 seconds and a timeout remaining. But the Bears may not be dancing much longer as they take on Duke next, and Cooper Flag showed no signs of weakness with his 22 minutes of play.

The biggest upset of the day was Colorado State, as two teams with 10 and 8 game win streaks went at it. Colorado St serged forward in the 2nd half to take the win, as we have two 12 seeds now in the second round.

North Carolina decided to not show up until the 2nd half and it was too little too late, in a game that has major implications in our bracket with Ryan Brisson, Jonathan Clouser, Carly Miller, and Chris Puder all having them in the sweet 16. 

Maryland GCU was in fact not a game to watch... I'll leave it at that. However, Marquette New Mexico was, with Marquette forgetting how to score in the last 5 minutes leading to a loss and Lobos win, as both Pitinos are now in the 2nd round. 

Truthfully, no thrilling games across the board otherwise, but hopefully that leads to some great 2nd round matchups.

Caitie is bouncing around the apartment with glee as she is first in this pool and the internal Beglane pool. She is tied with Ryan, but Ryan already has two sweet 16 teams out to Caitie's one.

Jim Brennan and Joey Correia still have all their sweet 16 teams alive, so watch for a serge from those two tied in 5th.

Rob Karabin dropped to 5th as well, largely due to having Memphis in the elite 8. Was that an actual pick, or just ribbing our former boss Jonathan the Florida alum? Speaking of, the Gator Nation Clouser Household had their first game of the tournament and looked as good as promised, facing UConn in the 2nd round now, as Jonathan and Katherine are tied for 3rd in our bracket.

Games to Watch*:

For pure basketball entertainment, Michigan vs Texas A&M at 5:15 is my game poised to be the closest.

For upset potential, Drake vs Texas Tech at 6:10PM, as I think they have a better shot than McNeese. However, I doubted McNeese from the beginning and look where that got me.

St. Johns vs Arkansas is the best coaching matchup of Rick Pitino vs John Calapari.

*I fully understand one of these was a terrible game yesterday, I'm giving myself a 2 out of 3.

Tip off is 12:10, enjoy the games! And double check my scoring on your own brackets please as Caitie needed me to go back and forth to the scoreboard every two minutes to remind me she was winning...

Rory F Beglane

Founder of the 85 Expansion Bracket Challenge

Villanova Enthusiast

0 Time Bracket Winner