Over the course of 96 hours, 64 teams were reduced to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2014 NCAA tournament.
With the narrative of the one-billion dollar prize for a perfect bracket, March Madness swept the Untied States. And Kansas basketball swept Canadian television.
As the final seconds ticked away on Andrew Wiggins and the Kansas Jayhawks in their 60-57 loss to the Stanford Cardinal, the hopes of a long run from the Canadian-born superstar faded for Canada's leading sports network. So much of the college basketball season in Canada was devoted to the next NBA superstar.
However, the tournament was full of Canadian content for viewers to enjoy. Viewers were briefly treated to Tyler Ennis in a Syracuse Orange uniform. They, like Kansas, fell in the round of 32 to a double-digit ranked seed. But where was Tyler Ennis' coverage on TSN or TSN2? Sure, we got a marquee game between the Orange and new ACC rival Duke, but that's all the network showed of the Orange.
Where was the coverage of Iowa State throughout the season? Toronto's Melvin Ejim was a key member of a Cyclones' team that won the Big 12 tournament. Ejim averaged 18.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. They made the Sweet Sixteen.
Ejim, along with Michigan guard Nik Stauskas (2014 Big 10 player of the year), Baylor guard Brady Heslip, and many other Canadians are still alive in the field. Maybe the network will start to focus on some of the other Canadian content.
After that mini-rant, some takeaways from the first weekend of March Madness:
- Bracket Busters: Three double-digit seeds made the Sweet Sixteen. Stanford (10) meets Dayton (11) in the South. No. 11 Tennessee, a participant in the "First Four," have a date with the aforementioned Stauskas and the Wolverines.
- Can you depend on freshman to win?: Two of the must-see freshman are already out of the tournament. Jabari Parker and Duke were upset in the "second" round by Mercer. He was 4/14 from the field. Was it pressure? Speaking of pressure, Wiggins had as many points (four) as he did turnovers in Kansas' loss to the Cardinal. While the Jayhawks were missing potential first overall pick Joel Embiid, Wiggins needs to take over that game.
- Undefeated no more: The Witchita State Shockers fell in the round of 32 to Kentucky in a fantastic basketball game. The Shockers were for real. They just fell into the wrong bracket.
- Fair Harvard: For the second straight year, Harvard advanced to the "third" round after an upset in the round of 64. For the second straight year, Harvard was unable to get over the hump. They put up a valiant fight against the experienced Michigan State Spartans, but were unable to keep them down on the mat for the three count. Still, it was a good showing by the Ivy League School.
- Brett: Florida, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Louisville (420 points)
- Josh: Florida, Michigan State, Arizona,
Duke(420) - Sean:
Kansas, Michigan State, Arizona,Duke(390) - Mike Mitchell:
Kansas,Villanova,Gonzaga, Michigan (380) - Kieran:
Kansas, Michigan State,Creighton,Witchita State(330)
