NBK Update: Tournament Day 1 2021

The opening round is in the books, with three overtime games on Friday, and we check in on the hopes and dreams of those teams who have never made it to the second weekend, never made the Sweet Sixteen…the Never Been Kissed. NBK action on Friday was headed by 13-seed North Texas and their stunning OT victory over 4-seed Purdue in the Boilermakers’ home state. The Mean Green yielded 20(!) offensive rebounds to Purdue but took care of the ball — just 8 turnovers in 45 minutes — and shot it at a 50/43/87 clip to melt down the boilers and move on to the Round of 32.

Welcome to the NBK, Oregon St! The #12 Beavs continued their improbable run with a convincing win over fading #5 Tennessee. 7’1″ Roman Silva was huge for OSU, going a perfect 8-8 from the field and tossing it with 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. OSU debuts at #3 in the NBK this week. Tinkle family…..exalt!

Rutgers (10-seed) won what I thought was the toughtest, most-physical game of Friday, beating a game Clemson (#7) squad. The Scarlet Knights used a 16-2 spurt midway through the second half, and hung on for their NBK life down the stretch.

Saturday – Round 1, Day 2

  • #5 Colorado tip off today’s action at 11:15 AM CDT versus a hot #12 Georgetown
  • #14 Eastern Washington vs #3 kansas at 12:15 PM CDT
  • #9 St. Bonaventure vs #8 LSU at 12:45 PM CDT
  • #5 Creighton vs #12 UCSB at 2:30 PM CDT
  • #11 Drake vs #6 USC at 3:30 PM CDT
  • #14 Abilene Christian vs #3 Texas late night at 8:50 PM CDT

If anyone cares, SLU takes on Mississippi St. in the NIT, prepping for next year’s run at NBK graduation.

NBK Standings — the chances of advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament for the first time since the field was expnded to 64 teams back in 1985. Through the first full day of tourney games. Drake’s odds improved with their win over Wichita St. in the First Four, but only slightly.

Notes

Data courtesy Kenpom.com and NCAA.org. For “KenPom Sweet Sixteen Odds” Ken Pomeroy’s NCAA tourney forecasts are used until the team advances past the first round, in which case the heavy-bordered cell contains the KenPom odds ($) of winning the second round game itself.