Here at the offices of the ShaqFu Radio Blog, we waited until Friday night to get this post online. We were too busy watching the Florida Gators easily handle the Norfolk State Spartans in the 1 – 16 matchup of the first round of the men’s March Madness tournament. Oh, did we say the ShaqFu editorial offices are in Gainesville, Florida? Yeah, there’s that…
The Madness is off and running at full speed, and we’re totally locked in. Games are underway, and the Gators are the Number One seed in the West, (geography be darned) is being played in Raleigh, North Carolina. No worries.
In the opening round matchup, the Gators totally handled the Spartans of Norfolk State without any particular trouble. Final score, 95-69. The Gators will get the winner of one of Friday night’s late games, UConn vs. Oklahoma.
There have already been some medium-sized upsets, as there always are. Of course upsets are arguably one of the most exciting aspects of the tournament, even with the pain it brings to your already-busted bracket. First night action Thursday saw a “mild” upset, as Number 9 Creighton dominated No. 8 Louisville. In addition, 13-seeded High Point put up a fight against No. 4 Purdue, but the Boilermakers were able to pull out a 75-63 win.
A bigger upset – Number 12 Colorado State beat #5 Memphis, 78 – 70. A real, full-flavored upset? Perhaps. But it certainly busted a few million more brackets.
Is Colorado State’s 78-70 win over Memphis officially an upset? It depends.
The No. 12 Rams overcame a five-point halftime deficit to take down the No. 5 Tigers on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But if you looked at the betting line before the game, the outcome was hardly a surprise. Colorado State closed as a 1.5-point favorite after opening as a 2.5-point favorite.
Even before the first tipoff, our man Shaq had officially weighed in on his pick for the team to cut down the nets when it’s all over. Who does the big man like? Well, none other than the office fav Florida Gators! Never one to mince words, O’Neal is solidly on board with Gator Nation.
With O’Neal’s alma mater LSU, not in the field, Shaq went with this year’s SEC Champ. Not only that, Shaq says the Gators will match up against the Duke Blue Devils in the Final. He even called a score; 85-80. We’ll see if he’s right!
Rounding out his Final Four, O’Neal has Michigan State and Tennessee. His biggest upset pick appears to be No. 13 seed Yale over No. 4 seed Texas A&M in the first round of the tournament.
The Gators and the Blue Devils are the two hottest teams entering the tournament in college basketball. Both are coming off conference championships and have been dominating over the last two months, which is why they both earned No. 1 seeds.
However, for Duke, a lot of what they could accomplish may depend on the health of freshman sensation and National Player of the Year favorite Cooper Flagg, who suffered an ankle sprain in the ACC Tournament, causing him to miss the final two games.
He is expected to be ready for Friday, while Florida, on the other hand, is fully healthy and may have the deepest roster in the sport—something that can be a major factor at this point in the season.
Stay locked in!