NBK Update: Tournament Day 2 2021

“What’s a Billiken?” you ask? “A first-round NIT loser,” we answer.

Saint Louis fell to Mississippi St 74-68 in Texas to end their once-promising season. Among the teams hit hardest by COVID-19, the Bills finish 14-7 and will resume their quest next year to advance past the round of 32 in the Big Dance. Perkins, Collins, Hargrove, Thatch and Jacobs welcome big man transfer Francis Okoro.

Speaking of the Big Dance, Day 2 saw lots of action with the NBK. The big story was 14-seed Abilene Christian, who used a swarming defense to frustrate, dominate, and ultimately eliminate 3-seed Texas late Saturday night 53-52. The Wildcats’ Joe Pleasant stepped to the line and calmly knocked down 2 free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats the lead, then stole the inbound to seal it. Abilene takes on UCLA Monday night.

In a head-to-head NBK clash, #5 Creighton outlasted #12 UCSB 63-62 as the Gauchos’ winning shot bounced in and out. Despite the less-than-dominant performance, the Bluejays remain atop the NBK by virtue of some bracket luck. Ohio U knocked off Virginia so the Jays will be a solid favorite on Monday. #5 Colorado dominated #12 Georgetown from the beginning, raining threes and taking care of the ball to the tune of McKinley Wright IV with 13 assists and 0 turnovers. The Buffs have moved all the way up to #11 in the KenPom and are a slight favorite over #17 Florida St. on Monday.

Bowing out on Sunday were the aforementioned UCSB Gauchos as well as Eastern Washington. The Eagles ran out to a 46-40 halftime lead against rotten Kansas, but faltered down the stretch to lose by 10. With the Groves boys returning next year, the Eagles should make a return to the NBK rankings and resume their quest in 2022. Also bowing out was (The) Drake, which shot poorly and struggled with USC’s incredible length. The Drake returns four of five starters next year, and given their epic battles with Loyola this year and the Ramblers current domination of the Illini as I type this, the Bulldogs will be near the top of the NBK watch list in 2022.

Sunday

  • Oregon St. takes on Oklahoma St. for eternal rights to the monicker OSU — Ohio St. was already eliminated by Oral Roberts, so they have no claim. The Tinkle family remains ready to rip the Cowboys a verbal new one.
  • North Texas will see if their interior defense is enough to overcome a scrappy Villanova missing their recently-injured point guard Colin Gillespie
  • Rutgers faced a rough test in round one, rassling their way past Clemson, while Houston dismantled Cleveland St surgically. Recent NBK-grad the Cougs are my pick to win it all this year, but I’ll never root for my bracket over an NBKer. Go Scarlet Knights.
Never Been Kissed (NBK) standings after Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament 2021. These schools have never made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since the field was expanded to 64 back in 1985.

Notes

Data courtesy Kenpom.com and NCAA.org. For “KenPom Sweet Sixteen Odds” since we are now in Round 2 and on the brink of Sweet Sixteen glory, the KenPom odds ($) are of winning the second round game itself.