West Region
First Round
(1) Gonzaga 74, (16) Boston University 54
(9) Florida 61, (8) Marquette 53
(4) Oregon 80, (13) Vermont 57
(5) Ohio State 77, (12) Liberty 60
(11) East Tennessee State 63, (6) Iowa 55
(3) Seton Hall 75, (14) Belmont 71
(7) Saint Mary’s 65, (10) Indiana 61
(2) San Diego State 73, (15) Little Rock 64
This is about as chalky as it gets, although popular upset pick East Tennessee State did pull through, beating Iowa while limiting Luka Garza to just eight points as he dealt with foul trouble all game before fouling out. Florida ended Markus Howard’s career with a stout defensive performance (Howard had just eight points) and Seton Hall survived an upset bid by Belmont behind 15 points and eight assists from Myles Powell, who made several big plays late.
Second Round
(9) Florida 75, (1) Gonzaga 64
(4) Oregon 81, (5) Ohio State 60
(3) Seton Hall 75, (11) East Tennessee State 58
(2) San Diego State 79, (7) Saint Mary’s 55
Our first 1-seed goes down! Florida stuns Gonzaga by limiting the nation’s most efficient offense to just 37.1 percent shooting. Filip Petrusev has held to seven points as he was limited with foul trouble. Meanwhile, four Gators scored in double figures, including freshmen Tre Mann and Omar Payne off the bench.
Elsewhere, Oregon and San Diego State flexed their muscle in dominant wins while Seton Hall’s defense smothered ETSU.
Sweet 16
(4) Oregon 90, (9) Florida 55
(3) Seton Hall 85, (2) San Diego State 77
Oregon’s dominance is now one of the biggest stories of the tournament as they look absolutely unstoppable. They’ve won their three games by an average of 26.3 points per game and have done so with a balanced, hot-shooting attack. The Ducks outscored Florida by 25 points in the second half alone.
On the other side of the region, we were treated to a foul-fest between Seton Hall and San Diego State. The teams combined for 71(!!!) free throws in a game the Pirates led for most of the way.
Elite Eight
(4) Oregon 81, (3) Seton Hall 74
Finally, a close game for Oregon! Powell had 26 points and Seton Hall actually led Oregon at halftime, but the Ducks came roaring back as they got hot from three as the Pirates cooled (finished 3/15 from deep for the game). Oregon is headed to the Final Four for the second time in four years – and they haven’t even gotten a team-on-my-back performance from Payton Pritchard yet.