Sweet 16 Breakdown: The East Region

Early last week, before the first round games had started, Jay Bilas kept ranting about Cornell making the Elite 8 because of how efficient their offense is and how well they can shoot and their size and yada yada yada.

Cornell to the Elite 8? For that to happen, the Big Red would beat three of the nation's 10 most efficient defenses. If they did manage to get by Temple and Wisconsin, there was no way they were beating Kentucky. That's how the thinking went, and needless to say Bilas caught a lot of flack on the intrawebs for it.

Well, Cornell has beaten Temple and Wisconsin, and now advances to face Kentucky in the Carrier Dome for the right to go to the Elite 8. If Cornell wins, I will make Jay Bilas my god.

In addition to the Bilasian Principle, we also learned that the counting out of Washington came a little too soon:


Most Memorable Game: Wake Forest 81, Texas 80 OT

The Demon Deacons twice raced out to a double digit lead in this one, and twice Texas fought back to regain the lead. In the first half, it was Jordan Hamilton sparking a 29-12 surge that erased an 18-7 deficit and gave the Longhorns a 36-30 lead. Wake was just as hot to start the second half, going on a 13-2 run to open a 50-40 lead. But Texas continued to fight back, and eventually tied the game on a J'Covan Brown three with 55 seconds left.

The overtime saw Texas jump out to an eight point lead with just 3:05 on the clock. But the Demon Deacons were able to get some stops -- and hit a few shots -- pulling to within 80-79 on an Ari Stewart three. After two Gary Johnson missed free throws, Ish Smith went the length of the court and hit a tough, pull-up jumper to give the Deacons the lead with 1.3 seconds left. Smith finished with 19 points, 12 boards, and 7 assists.

In the mix: Washington 80, Marquette 78; Wisconsin 53, Wofford 49


Most Memorable Performance: Cornell Big Red

I guess, officially, we will say it was Louis Dale who had the most impressive performance as he led Cornell to the systematic destruction of two of the best defenses in college basketball this season. Dale, a former Ivy League player of the year, led Cornell in scoring in each of the two games, averaging 23.5 ppg and 5.0 apg.

Cornell's performance was mesmerizing. I've written about it more in depth here and here, and I'll keep it light in this post, but its just incredible what this team was able to accomplish. They scored 87 points in 62 possessions against Wisconsin, which is incredible. They beat Temple by 13 points -- and it wasn't even that close late -- when the Owls shot 52% from the field. It was truly one of the most incredible offensive performances I have ever seen.

All-East Region First Weekend Team

• Isaiah Thomas, Washington - 17.0 ppg, 7.5 apg
• Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky - 21.0 ppg, 9-12 threes
  
• Quincy Pondexter, Washington - 18.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, one game winner
• Ryan Wittman, Cornell - 22.o ppg, 7-11 threes
  
• Kevin Jones, West Virginia - 15.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg
• Jon Leuer, Wisconsin - 21.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg
  

Thursday 7:27 pm: (2) West Virginia vs. (11) Washington

West Virginia got some very bad news on Tuesday as Truck Bryant broke a bone in his foot and will be out for the rest of the tournament.

Already thin in the back court, the Mountaineers now have just one point guard on their roster in Joe Mazzulla, who is playing with basically one shoulder.

That said, Mazzulla has spent most of the latter part of this season as the primary ball handler for WVU. Truck starts, but Mazzulla plays the important minutes. Even with Bryant on the court, he is rarely the primary option.

The Mountaineers are going to be a tough matchup for the Huskies because of their size. The graduation of Jon Brockman really hurt this team. Without Brockman, they really don't have a great rebounder inside. And rebounding is the strength of this West Virginia team. At times, their best offense is to simply get a ball up on the rim and go get the offensive rebound. They usually have four guys on the floor that are between 6'7" and 6'9", athletic, and strong. The Huskies are going to have their work cut out for them on the glass.

That said, losing Bryant may have an effect on the defensive end as well. The Huskies like to spread the floor offensively and let their scorers create, and they do have some good scorer's. I'd expect WVU to fall back into their 1-3-1 zone at some point in this game, and it will be interesting to see how Washington handles it.

What this game is going to essentially come down to is who takes advantages of the mismatches. Will Washington be able to push the tempo and capitalize on their 1-on-1 ability, or can WVU make this a slugfest that is played in the paint?

Thursday: 9:57 pm: (1) Kentucky vs. (12) Cornell

There are about 10 million interesting story lines to follow in this game (did you know that a Kentucky player -- Mark Coury -- left the Wildcats and transferred to the Big Red?), but perhaps the most interesting is the contrast between these two teams.

Call it what you want -- ballers vs. bookworms, lottery picks vs. their financial planners -- I think the one thing we agree on is that this is not your typical Kentucky-vs.-an-Ivy matchup.

You see, the Big Red are for real this year. I mean, did you see them dismember both Temple and Wisconsin, two of the best defensive teams in the country?

Kentucky is also one of the best defensive teams in the country, and while I wouldn't be surprised to see Cornell have another exemplary performance at that end of the floor, I have a tough time believing the Big Red will be able to slow down Kentucky on the offensive end.

Cornell is not a good defensive team, and if you look at the numbers, they had far from good defensive performances against both Temple and Wisconsin. Both the Badgers and the Owls played one of their better offensive games, they just simply could do nothing to slow down the Cornell attack.

How will they fare against Kentucky? Is Jeff Foote really going to be able to handle DeMarcus Cousins? Will the rest of the Cornell front line be big and strong enough to deal with another all-american in Patrick Patterson? Can anyone on Cornell keep Eric Bledsoe or John Wall out of the lane?

In all likelihood, those answers are no.

Then again, with the exception of Jay Bilas, how many people thought Cornell would make it this far? Remember, the Big Red are the nation's best three point shooting team. These kids have hit 20 threes in a game this year. When they get hot, they can play with anyone in the country.