MKRob Sports

3. #14 Ohio Bobcats 97, #3 Georgetown Hoyas

The MAC tournament champion Ohio Bobcats, who had a losing record in conference play, have found their way in the only month that matters and boast an NCAA tournament win for the first time in 27 years.

MAC Player of the Year Armon Bassett scored 32 points to lead the 14th-seeded Bobcats to a convincing 97-83 win over the Hoyas in the Midwest Regional.

“We may not be a better team, just got to be a better team on a given night,” Bassett said.

When asked was it the biggest win in Bobcats’ history, coach John Groce said,”I certainly think it’s one of them”, “What it does more than anything is, I think it gives tremendous belief with our guys in what we’re doing, in our system.”

In a losing effort, junior guard Chris Wright led the third-seeded Hoyas with 28 points. Georgetown coach John Thompson III said a day earlier his team was playing their best basketball of the season. It certainly didn’t extend into the tournament opener.

In a lot of peoples brackets, they had Georgetown at least getting past Ohio and moving on to face the Tennessee Volunteers in round two, but no such luck for the Hoyas as bracket buster No. 1 happened early on the first day of tournament play.

2. #10 St. Mary’s Gaels, #2 Villanova Wildcats

St. Mary’s star center Omar Samhan was unstoppable inside as he led his Gaels to a 75-68 over the second ranked Villanova Wildcats in a stunning upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Samhan led all scorers with 32 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots as the Gaels slowly broke down the Wildcats inside.

Samhan was 13-16 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line to lead the Gaels.

St. Mary’s starting guards Mickey McConnell and Matthew Dellavedova combined for another 29 points including 5-11 from three point land.

Villanova’s star player Scottie Reynolds, who put the Wildcats in the Final Four last season with a last-second basket against Pittsburgh, was a big reason why the Wildcats are heading home early. He missed 9 of 11 shots and only scored eight points.

The Gaels held each of Villanova’s top three scorers to under double figures. Fisher and Antonio Pena both scored nine points to join Reynolds as a trio of underachievers.

Though St. Mary’s plays well in the NCAA Tournament, Reynolds and the Wildcats had high expectations coming into this year’s tournament after last year’s run towards a national championship. After drawing a #2 seed in the tournament this year, they had hopes of making it further than the Final Four, but came up three rounds short making Villanova the #2 biggest bracket buster this year.

1. #9 Northern Iowa Panthers 69, #1 Kansas Jayhawks 67

Perhaps the biggest second round upset in recent memory happened when Northern Iowa pulled off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas from the bracket with a 69-67 win on Saturday. This bracket buster is unquestionably the biggest of March Madness 2010 and maybe of the last ten years.

Panthers sharpshooter Ali Farokhmanesh led Northern Iowa with 16 points including 4-10 from the three point line. Farokhmanesh got some help from senior center Jordan Eglseder who finished with 14 points, five rebounds and went 2-3 from behind the three point line.

Kansas fell behind early and came up just short on one of its anticipated runs, ending a season that started with national-title aspirations on another disappointing NCAA loss to a mid-major.

The Jayhawks trailed by as many as 12 points and used defense to pull within one with 44 seconds left. But they let Farokhmanesh sneak behind them for the deciding three.

Northern Iowa’s shocking victory over Kansas marks the first time a team that won the Missouri Valley tournament championship to reach the Sweet 16 since Indiana State in 1979. The Sycamores, led by Larry Bird, eventually went on to play in the national championship game against Michigan State.