The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 of March Madness 2021 took place Saturday, March 27 through March 30, and boy, were they entertaining! I’m going to be breaking down what happened in that span: most of the scores, upsets, and highlights.
Oral Roberts has been the Cinderella story of the tournament. They pulled off a big upset by beating Florida in the 2nd Round, becoming the first 15-seed to reach the Sweet 16 since Florida Gulf Coast in 2013. Also, Oregon and VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) were supposed to play in round 1, but some VCU players tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, they had to forfeit, so Oregon advanced. You’ve gotta feel for the seniors on that team. That’s a devastating way to end your college career.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s dive in. The first game of the Sweet 16 was #12 Oregon State vs. #8 Loyola-Chicago. It wasn’t the most entertaining game, but Oregon State walked away with the 65-58 win to go to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1975.
Then, we had my favorite team #5 Villanova play #1 Baylor. The Bears took down ‘Nova 62-51 to make the Elite Eight. I’m proud of what they did this year. If Colin Gillespie hadn’t torn his MCL, they could have had a better seed and could’ve gone farther. Look out next year! The Wildcats are not slowing down.
Cinderella #15 Oral Roberts matched up against Arkansas. The game came down to the last shot, which Max Abmas (who led the nation in scoring this season) missed by not much at all. Arkansas may have won 72-70, but Oral Roberts had an incredible run.
We also got to see #11 UCLA vs. #2 Alabama which was the first overtime game since the first round. UCLA pulled away in overtime, 88-78.
In the Elite Eight, #12 Oregon State played against #2 Houston. There were lots of 3-pointers shot in this game. Most of them came at the end. Oregon tied it up with 3:40 left, but the Cougars won 67-61 to make the Final Four for the first time since 1984.
And then the Baylor Bears scored 26 points on Arkansas in the first 7:49 en route to a 81-72 win and their first Final Four in 71 years. Gonzaga remained perfect with an 85-66 victory over #6 USC and #11 UCLA became just the 2nd school in history to go from the First Four to the Final Four, holding off #1 Michigan 51-49.
In the Final Four, #2 Houston is playing #1 Baylor in the Battle of Texas, and #11 UCLA plays undefeated #1 overall Gonzaga.
That’s pretty much all I have to recap. So many games, some upsets, some unsurprising. Soon, the finale will come out. I will try as hard as I can to stretch it out, since they’ll only be 3 games to recap. It will be fun to see how it all wraps up. I can’t wait!
Source: https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-tournament-bracket-2021-final-four-storylines-as-gonzaga-baylor-houston-and-ucla-try-to-win-the-title/
