• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Sports
    • Baseball Not By The Numbers
    • Chicago Bears
    • Chicago Cubs
    • Chicago White Sox
  • Entertainment
    • Booth Reviews – About Us
    • Booth Reviews – Our Ratings
  • Home Improvement USA Radio
  • About Us
    • Business Services
    • Paid Content Guidelines
    • Hoops, Hops, and Hopes: 1982 in Chapel Hill
    • Email Sign Ups
SRN Broadcasting

SRN Broadcasting

Sports, Talk Radio, and more

You are here: Home / Sports / College Basketball / Second Round of March Madness 2014 Comes to Milwaukee

Second Round of March Madness 2014 Comes to Milwaukee

March 21, 2014 by Steve Leventhal

michigan-wofford-2014-ncaa
Nik Stauskas, 6-6 Sophmore from Canada positions himself for an open three-pointer

Forget Christmas and the day the kids go back to school. This is one of the two most wonderful days of the year. It used to be New Year’s Day and all the Bowl games, but that has been whittled down as the good games are now spread out over the entire week.

That delectable honor now goes to the first two days of March Madness 2014.

I will either find myself glued to the easy chair in front of the big screen TV (and nowadays with tablet and smartphone in tow) or as sometimes happens, I hit the road when the hoops circus comes to town. The NCAA first round, now known as the second round, arrives with hurricane force winds at either Chicago or Milwaukee on a semi regular basis. ESPN gets credit for the staggered start times, and CBS/Turner gets kudos for making every game available on TV and the Internet.

It’s never a problem to forgo the multiple screen experience to watch live post season college hoops. NCAA tournament games are one of the few places that still seat more than a handful of media at court side. Given the number of journalists that only focus on one team, a real court side seat can be had if you get lucky. Sometimes we get that. On Thursday I was booked into the 200 section, but I found an unoccupied seat right at the corner of the hardwood, across from the home team’s bench in game one.  I wedged myself between a writer for the Arizona Republic and Dianna Russini, (@NBCDianna) an NBC sports anchor from Washington, DC, covering the Eagles.

Dianna Russini of NBC4 Washington, DC laments her team's demise and the end of coverage of the second round.
Dianna Russini of NBC4 in Washington, DC jokingly laments her team’s demise and the end of her coverage of the second round.

The hometown favorite Wisconsin Badgers used a late first half spurt to pull away from the American University Eagles, and kept padding their lead in the second half en route to an easy 75-35 victory. It was by far the most lopsided win of the day. The men in red shot a blistering 58% from the field in the final twenty minutes. Ben Brust outshone his supremely talented team mate Sam Decker, hitting 4-7 threes, and scoring seventeen points. Guard Traevon Jackson from Westerville, OH added 18 as the Badgers improved to 11-2 in their last 13 tourney openers.

Badgers coach Bo Ryan was asked about the second half blowout in his post game press conference. He replied, “You know, to go on a 40-6 run, no, you can’t imagine that. It doesn’t usually happen. Our guys took care of each possession and that’s what you have to do, whether you’re up or down.”

About the only thing remarkable regarding the Eagles was that one of their players shot his free throws one-handed.

Only on the hardwood can a duck take down a cougar.

Using speed, agility, and their physicality around the basket, Oregon dismantled Brigham Young 87 to 68. The ducks took advantage of BYU’s poor shooting to jump ahead 39-31 at halftime. The Cougars were content to sit back in a zone and let Oregon shoot over them, which they promptly did. Yet, at times, Oregon was still able to feed the ball inside.  Key moment in the game: OU called timeout as BYU cut their lead from 12 points to three with 12:01 left. Smart move, as the Ducks pushed their margin back above ten. With four minutes left it was 83-61 Oregon. BYU kept trying to push the ball up court, but missed too many shots  and follow ups (32.8% FG.) By the time the Cougars shifted to a man to man defense, it was  too late. Oregon sent out its scrubs in with 1:14 to go, up by 23. The Ducks had ten players who logged at least five minutes of court time and were led by Forward Elgin Cook, a red-shirt sophomore playing in his hometown, and netting 23 points.

In the second round, the arena crowd is cleared out after game two, while the media retreat to cover the post game interviews, talk to players in the locker room, or grab a meal.  As usual the NCAA steps up to the plate, literally, with a sit down lunch/dinner (it was before 5 PM after all) of chicken wraps, cheese quesadillas, salad, and soup.  The theme must have been Tex-Mex as they served churros, the popular Latin fried dough, for dessert.

In game three, the closest that the Wafford Terriers got to the Michigan Wolverines was when the two schools were knotted at 4 apiece. Even when the partisan Badger fans, which seemed to comprise about eighty percent of the fans in the Bradley Center, began cheering loudly for Wofford, as they managed to pull within seven with 8:34 to go, it was to no avail. Michigan responded with a 13-4 run of their own to seal the deal in their 57-40 victory. Karl Cochran led all scorers with 17 points in a losing effort. Michigan’s super soph Nik Stauskas paced his team with 15 points, including 3 of 6 from three point land.

As you see, the recaps get shorter as the evening progressed. After three games. I’d had enough, knowing full well that the culmination of the day’s games would probably be the most closely contested.  Nonetheless, either middle age got the better of me,  or I can rationalize and say the six days out in California that ended Wednesday evening, led to overtiredness, and I headed back to Chicagoland, just in time to see the last ten minutes of Arizona State – Texas.  True to form, the game nearly went to overtime, save for a last second put back by Cameron Ridley of an errant Longhorn shot with no time left on the clock leading to Texas’ 87-85 win.

All that action culminates in two #2 vs #7 contests on Saturday.  Michigan and Texas battle at 4:15 CT, and Wisconsin plays host to Oregon, in what will be another hostile Bradley Center crowd.

Filed Under: College Basketball, Sports Tagged With: American University, Arizona State, BYU, March Madness, Michigan, NCAA 2014, Oregon, Texas, Wofford

Primary Sidebar

Hoops, Hops, and Hopes: 1982 in Chapel Hill

A narrative memoir by Steven Leventhal - coming soon. Sign up for the mailing list to get updates. I am working feverishly on my forthcoming memoir. This is the story of a pivotal year in my life. I had a front seat for one of the most … Read more about Hoops, Hops, and Hopes: 1982 in Chapel Hill

Our Radio Partner

Acid Flashback Radio logo

Featured Story

Meet Spencer West – Incredible and Inspiring!

In October 2019, at the Ensemble Travel conference in Seattle, I got to hear and talk to one of the most incredible individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The theme of the annual travel agent convention was "Travel With Purpose." Spencer West lost his legs below his pelvis at age … [Read More...] about Meet Spencer West – Incredible and Inspiring!

The Hunt for Venture Capital – Our First Success

It really isn’t a stretch to use the well worn Grateful Dead quote, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” Two years ago Eric Leventhal and I stood up in front of a group of entrepreneurs, investors, and other invited guests as part of a pitch contest at the Chicago chapter of StartUp Grind. It […]

Entertaiment

Jordan and Nike

The story of how Michael Jordan and Nike changed the shoe business has been turned into a Hollywood film. Here’s the real story, culled from Michael Jordan:The Life, by Roland Lazenby, one of the best biographies ever written about Jordan. Sonny Vaccaro and his college roommate started the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in the early […]

Home Improvement

Home Improvement USA – July 2021

with David Rusch and Steve Leventhal On the July 2021 edition of the Home Improvement USA program, Dave and Steve discuss reasons, other than investment purposes, to buy a home instead of renting a … [Read More...] about Home Improvement USA – July 2021

Footer

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Information
  • Our Core Values
  • Privacy
  • Business Services
  • Email Sign Ups
  • Paid Content Guidelines

Archives

  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in