NCAA Tournament 2021: Biggest winners and losers through first 2 rounds

Winner – Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

People overlook the Summit League for the amount of talent they have. Take Oral Roberts for example. They have two of the best mid-major players in the country in Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor and still finished fourth in the regular-season race. But they managed to win the conference tournament and create their own March Madness magic.

The Golden Eagles, led by Obanor and Abmas, defeated the No. 2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes in overtime, with the star duo combining for 59 points. The No. 7 seed Florida Gators couldn’t stop those two either, giving up 54 combined points to allow Oral Roberts to escape with a last-second upset to become the second-ever 15 seed (Florida Gulf Coast) to make the Sweet 16.

The Eagles now take on Arkansas, who they lost to by 11 points despite Abmas scoring just 11 points himself. If he and Obanor can go off again, they have a decent shot at making the Elite 8.

Loser – Cade Cunningham and Ok State

It’s hard to say that a team that wasn’t even supposed to make the NCAA Tournament due to a postseason ban from the NCAA that was late appealed. But they were eligible and had a tremendous regular season and got a 4 seed in the Midwest Region. That part of the bracket has become complete chaos, with No. 1 seed Illinois falling in the Round of 32, and 3 seed West Virginia losing as well.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they also lost early. Out of nowhere, Oregon State became the hottest team in the country and ran through OK State to move onto the Sweet 16. Cunningham was guarded hard all night and finished shooting 6/20 from the field.

What makes this disappointing is that the Cowboys could’ve really taken advantage of this wild part of the bracket. They could’ve beaten the likes of Syracuse, Houston, and Loyola-Chicago and made the Final Four. But with Cunningham now off to the NBA, this feels like a missed opportunity for the program.