March Madness: Higher mid-major teams proved they’re still a tier below

2021 March Madness: Higher mid-major teams proved they’re still a tier below

HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 21: Tramon Mark #12 of the Houston Cougars controls the ball against David DeJulius #0 of the Cincinnati Bearcats during the second half of a game at the Fertitta Center on February 21, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

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March Madness Brigham Young Cougars Matt Haarms Caleb Lohner Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

The March Madness NCAA Tournament provided a ton of upsets and a ton of chaos. However, it wasn’t the teams you’d probably think who wrecked a ton of brackets. Oral Roberts and Abilene Christian took down the powerhouses, meanwhile, North Texas and Ohio used their fantastic guards to knock off teams who struggle to consistently score the basketball.

That being said, the teams that would have all made the tournament as at-large teams if they didn’t win their conference tournament, struggled mightily.

Gonzaga and Houston are in a category of their own so they’re outliers, but every other team from that crop proved they’re still in a different ballpark based on the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, VCU’s season came to a screeching halt due to COVID-19 so we couldn’t see how they would have fared against Oregon, but every other team outside of Loyola-Chicago came up small. The Ramblers also had the luxury of avoiding ACC Player of the Year, Moses Wright, but that’s neither here nor there.

We can begin with one of the first games to start this tournament between Wichita State and Drake. For starters, both teams were lucky to get into the tournament. In their conference tournament, Wichita State was very lucky to beat South Florida and then lost to Cincinnati, which has many problems within their own program.

On the other hand, Drake was ailing in the stretch run of the season with injuries. I enjoy a close grind-it-out game of basketball, but for a lot of people, the 53-52 tilt that the Bulldogs prevailed in didn’t help out how many people view these mid-major schools.

Drake then had to face Evan Mobley and the Trojans of USC. Like I said earlier, Drake lost Roman Penn for the season and had a very banged-up Shanquan ‘Tank’ Hemphill. A gutsy effort by him giving it his all. If it wasn’t for Joseph Yesufu playing his best game of the season, Drake may have lost by thirty points.

USC was bigger and stronger than the Bulldogs and advanced with relative ease. Drake had a phenomenal season, but with their lack of resume throughout the 2020-2021 campaign, who knew if they could even hang with the big boys at full strength.

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