In Denver on Thursday, March Madness became March Blandness.
Four underdogs played like dogs. As a result, a jam-packed Pepsi Center opened the NCAA Tournament with four of the worst games in the country: No. 5 seeds Michigan State and Notre Dame and No. 4 seeds Pittsburgh and Washington State won by an average score of 73-53.
Sorry, losing out-of-town fans. We shoulda warned ya. You could have had more suspense in our mountains watching snow melt. And the snow wouldn’t have been nearly as cold as your offenses.
Dotting the exclamation point that DEFENSE! wins in the NCAA Tournament, the four higher seeds manhandled the four upstarts with speed, tenacity and experience. No. 12 seeds Temple and George Mason and No. 13 seeds Oral Roberts and Winthrop shot a combined .342 (78-of-228). Every game ended early.
Michigan State led Temple 56-36 with 9:39 left, Pitt led Oral Roberts 41-19 with 2:47 left in the first half, and Notre Dame had George Mason down 33-17 late in the first. Only Washington State’s 29-29 halftime tie with Winthrop offered any hint of intrigue.
The Cougars turned off that light in a hurry, starting the second half with a 38-5 run.
Listen to random quotes from the losing coaches and players, and they sounded as if they couldn’t get a plane out of here fast enough.
Winthrop forward Taj McCullough: “I was like, ‘Man, we’re stuck on 29.’ ”
Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton: “We just didn’t compete the rest of the half.”
Temple coach Fran Dunphy: “Dionte (Christmas) was being guarded like he’s never been guarded before.”
George Mason coach Jim Larranaga: “We had a hard time getting started offensively.”
By name only, this subregional had so much promise for the press-stopping upsets that make the first round the best two days of the sporting calendar.
Ironically, Winthrop knocked off Notre Dame in last year’s first round, and George Mason’s name is still immortalized from its miracle Final Four run two years ago.
Alas, Winthrop and George Mason are just two aging Cinderellas with no one left to dance with. Washington State’s defense tore apart a Winthrop team featuring two returning starters from a year ago. The Eagles made all of four baskets in the second half on 24 attempts.
Said Winthrop coach Randy Peele: “We got frustrated.”
George Mason seniors Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell started two years ago, but the only magic on this night was 6-foot Jordan Carter, another Final Four holdover, blocking the shot of 6-8 Luke Harangody, Notre Dame’s Big East player of the year.
The Irish held the Patriots to 33 percent, including 3-for-17 from 3-point range. Campbell missed 11-of-12 shots, matching the ineptitude of Temple’s Christmas, the Atlantic 10’s leading scorer. ORU guard Adam Liberty went 1-for-8, and Winthrop’s backcourt of Chris Gaynor and Michael Jenkins clanged to the tune of 6-for-23.
“We’re going to try not to give them the easy baskets,” Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. “They’re going to have to earn everything. No second-chance points, no easy breakdowns on cross screens, no stuff off the ball screens.”
Don’t expect the yawning to continue Saturday. The 4:40 p.m. game matches Notre Dame’s 15th-ranked scoring offense (80.6 entering the day) against Washington State’s third-ranked scoring defense (57.1). At 7:10, Michigan State’s tenacious defense challenges Pitt’s All-Big East Sam Young and guard Levance Fields, who torched ORU for 23.
This won’t be easy. As Harangody summed up, “Now with this win, we’re getting into new territory.”
Amen.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
