Des Moines Diary – First Round Games

Ugly, Fun and Fantastic

(Des Moines, IA) – Day two of my Des Moines Diary saw some ugly, fun and fantastic things. It was ugly early as Kansas handled Howard with relative ease. 96-68 was the final as the Jayhawks looked like ‘Dunk City’ of old. The Jayhawks, minus their head coach Bill Self ran the Bison ragged, breaking every time they had an opportunity. Points in the paint were more abundant than Reggie Miller Wendy’s commercials.

KU picked apart the very energetic and determined Bison defenders, with precision passing and great outside shooting. Twenty-two assists and 54 ‘points in the paint’ tell the whole story. Even with Howard alum, Vice President Camala Harris in attendance, Kansas was too big, too good and too efficient.

Jalen Wilson scored 20 points and Grady Dick added 19. Former Drake Bulldog Joseph Yesufu contributed eight points in 14 minutes.

Just Plain Ugly

Arkansas defeated Illinois in a game that struggled to resemble basketball. I call the style of offense played as ‘Drive and Hope’. As neither team could muster and offensive flow, there were twice as many turnovers (28) as assists (14) between these ‘power conference’ teams.

The Razorbacks and Illini are athletic, but on this night, not very artistic. Think more Bull in China Shop than Lipizzan Stallions. I’m sure both the Razorbacks and Illini can play better, and look forward to seeing that version of Arkansas when they meet Kansas on Saturday.

The winners made 38 percent of their shots (3 of eleven from deep) and handed out FOUR assists during their 73-63 victory over the Illiini. Ricky Council Jr was 11 of twelve from the free throw line. The rest of the Razorbacks were 11 for 18.

Enough of the negative. I loved the way they defended. In particular Jordan Walsh was a difference maker on the defensive end. The Hogs collected 12 steals and four blocks. I’m looking forward to freshman Walsh guarding freshman Gradey Dick.

Texas Threes

The Longhorns were dropping bombs from start to finish. Thirteen triples came on just 23 attempts (they missed their last three) and swatted away every run made by an impressive Colgate team. 81-61 was the final as Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points on a seven of ten performance from deep.

Tyrese Hunter was booed throughout. Appartently when he transferred from Iowa to Texas it was not a gracious departure. Hunter lives to fight another day, but Iowa lost to Auburn and Texas lives on, but former Longhorn Courtney Ramey who transferred to Arizona and the Wildcats were upset by Princeton on Thursday.

Colgate was down by 18 points early on, but stayed close until the closing minutes of the game. I was impressed with their fight and their offensive sets.

Cheerleaders, Bands and Fans

There are high-level bands, dance teams and cheerleaders here in Des Moines, but by far the best fans were from Penn State. They did’t wait for the band or the cheer leaders. Numerous coordinated and creative cheers were coming from the section just over my left shoulder. The Nittany Lions were roaring.

However, I did meet ‘Mr. Howard’. He had the jacket, the crown, the sash and the smile on his face. I was impressed. Of course, how do you top having the Vice President of the United States in your corner. Ms. Harris is from Howard.

The showdown between Arkansas and Illinois’ cheerleaders on holding cheerleaders up in the air was a huge upset win for Illinois.

Wells Fargo was largely packed the entire day and it holds around 17,000 for basketball.

The Night Cap

Frankly, I had counted Penn State out. The Big Ten doesn’t win NCAA Tournament games, but early in the final game of the day, they were dominating the game with Texas A&M. I didn’t even grab PSU media materials. Before the game started, I was writing a story (for BustingBrackets.com) about a ‘Lone Star State Battle’, but with 1:38 left in the first half the Nittany Lions were up 14 points.

PSU went on to dominate Texas A&M 76-59 as Andrew Funk made eight of ten three point attempts on his way to 27 points and all-American Jalen Pickett scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out eight assists. This game was never close.

Coach Micah Shrewsberry’s team lives and dies by the three-point-basket and Thursday they lived large. The Nittnay Lions made 13 of 22, while Texas A&M made seven of 23. It was a mismatch and those crazy and loyal Penn State fans got rewarded.

Friday, I’ll kick back, do a little radio with the guys at ‘The Jock’ in Springfield, Missouri, see some practices and look around Des Moines.

Do Good