After the first two games of Sunday, sending Kentucky and Michigan into the Sweet 16, a look at the updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket
So much for that boring NCAA Tournament. After a number of upsets rocked the bracket on Saturday — most notably with the No. 1 overall seed Villanova falling to Wisconsin — we were treated to a great one on Sunday. In the first game on the day, the No. 7-seeded Michigan took down Louisville, the 2-seed in their region, in a closely contested game.
After falling behind in the first half to Louisville, Michigan couldn’t miss in the second half. The Wolverines shot 63 percent from the field en route to a 73-69 comeback victory. Louisville simply couldn’t handle the high pick and roll combination of Derrick Walton and Moritz Wagner in the latter frame. With both players threats to shoot from deep, Louisville was unable to find the right defensive scheme to take away their shots. Michigan negated Louisville’s size advantage by forcing their bigs to cover the perimeter, where they’re not quite as comfortable. Wagner scored 26 points in one of the best games of his young career, while Walton played more the role of distributor, adding 6 assists to his 10 points.
In the second game on Sunday, Kentucky managed to weather Wichita State’s upset bid to advance to the Sweet 16. The Wildcats, tasked with taking down one of the tournament’s most underseeded teams, just scraped out the victory in a defense-first contest. Kentucky’s guards hit key shots down the stretch of the second half to put some distance between them and the resilient Shockers. And then the defense clamped down.
On the last two possessions – when Wichita State had a chance to win or tie the game – Kentucky came up big on defense. Malik Monk blocked Markis McDuffie’s 3-point attempt for the lead. Then, after a pair of free throws put Kentucky up by 3, Bam Adebayo rejected Landry Shamet’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Kentucky would hold on to win 65-62, and advance to the Sweet 16.
After Sunday’s first two games – including another big upset – here’s a look at the updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket:
After an upset-laden Saturday, Michigan handed us another one in the first game of Sunday. The Madness is here, and there’s sure to be more shakeups as Sunday continues – though Kentucky managed to keep the chalk going for the 2nd game. Stay tuned for updates as we all follow the rest of Sunday’s action.