1 week Ago By Will Reynolds [email protected]
I might not have the best remaining March Madness bracket among Hastings residents or Tribland readers. But, considering the amount of Division I college basketball I consume (almost zero) leading up to the month of madness, I will put my picks up against anyone else's. I was 27-for-32 on first-round games.
(I got a little wild picking Yale over Texas A&M. Marquette was fraudulent. Vanderbilt fell short.
So did Xavier, and Utah State). OK, I'll take it. Then, I went 14-for-16 on Sweet 16 qualifiers.
(My beloved Oregon Ducks couldn't contain Arizona down the stretch, and Rick Pitino's Red Storm succumbed to John Calipari's Razorbacks — mano a mano, Italian vs. Italian). Before Oregon lost in the late-night second round finale, I was in the top 6,000 in ESPN's bracket contest, which drew a record 24.
4 million entries this year, having picked 14-of-15 at that point. Now, I'm back to 30-something-thousand, though still in the 99th percentile of brackets. The talk this year about keys to bracket success has centered around picking less upsets.
To pick the higher-seeded teams, unless your gut tells you otherwise, because though the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) exist, there seems to be less parity in some respects this year than those prior. If you picked the ACC outside of Duke, I'm sorry. If you picked the Big Ten, you did OK.
If you rode the SEC, you're in good shape. In NAIA women's basketball, if you tailed the Great Plains Athletic Conference, you'd have had half of the semifinalists. (Can't say Final Four — it's trademarked by the NCAA).
Both defending national champion Dordt and Briar Cliff were playing on opposite sides of the bracket in Monday's semifinals in Sioux City, Iowa. The championship game is Tuesday. Dordt drew Bethel (Tenn.
) while Briar Cliff was set to play Indiana Wesleyan in the nightcap. Hastings College played all four teams this season. So the Broncos, who were a combined 1-6 against them, can say they lost to the eventual national champion, one team or the other.
Bethel ended the Broncos' season last week in the Round of 16. HC lost by six in December to IWU, which was ranked second at the time. Briar Cliff swept Hastings in their two conference matchups.
The one win on the ledger? Over Dordt — the national No. 1 seed and, perhaps, repeat champion. Though, the Defenders won their two other matchups, including in the GPAC tournament semifinals.
It's no surprise the GPAC produced two of the final four teams. The conference is a grind year-in and year-out. As I was in Sioux City working last week ahead of the Round of 16, I sat in a Panera Bread corner booth — one of the few places open despite Wednesday's blizzard — watching several teams' coaches filter in and out for meals.
Many of them were mentioning the GPAC as a NAIA power conference. An all-GPAC final would be fun. The final site, Tyson Events Center, is basically a home venue for each school — Briar Cliff is physically in Sioux City; Sioux Center (Dordt) is less than an hour.
Maybe in a year or two the Broncos — who were simply probably too young this season — will be amongst them? And now more Things We Missed: Adams Central might be 3-0 if its offense was on time in Friday's 12-11 loss at Wayne. But the Patriots are 2-1 through the opening weekend of the prep baseball season. AC outscored Louisville and GACC/West Point-Beemer 32-5 on Saturday.
The Patriots tossed the program's first combined no-hitter over Louisville. They stole a program record 14 bases, four of which were by Liam Dyer, in the 17-1 win. They've swiped 27 bags in three games.
Preseason Class B No. 9 Hastings boys downed 10th-ranked Gretna East 1-0 in the season opener Saturday. The Tigers' next test is Thursday at home against No.
2 Lexington. As the weather warms up, area track and field athletes will, too. I can't wait to see what marks (and how many) fall this season.
Many set a benchmark to work from last week during indoor meets. For example, Hastings senior Parker Ablott opened his high jump season clearing 6-foot-4 Saturday in Kearney. The defending Class B champion reached 6-8 last May.
He's got sights on his grandpa's (Doug Phelps') 7-foot mark. Good start..
