NCAA Tournament story lines and observations

FAMOUS FAMILIES

The NCAA Tournament’s selection committee loves a good story line, whether it’s West Virginia’s Bob Huggins taking on mentee Brad Underwood and Stephen F. Austin or paving the road for a second-round clash between bluebloods Kentucky and Indiana. Well, the committee missed one. Saint Joseph’s and Butler would have made an interesting 8-9 matchup, if only for those who remember Loyola Marymount’s run-and-gun tandem of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble.

Gathers, who tragically collapsed during a 1990 West Coast Conference tournament game and later that day passed away, has a nephew, Jordan, on Butler. Kimble, who led LMU to the Elite Eight that year and honored his southpaw best friend by shooting his first free throw of every subsequent game lefthanded, has a distant relative, Lamarr, on Saint Joseph’s. Jordan and Lamarr — two role players — cannot match the starpower of Hank and Bo, but their presence on the same court would have been compelling, nonetheless.

Some other names that might spark memories: Oregon State’s Gary Payton II, Gonzaga’s Domantas Sabonis — yes, Arvydas’ kid — and Oklahoma’s Khadeem Lattin, the grandson of Texas Western enforcer and champion David Lattin. (No, Xavier’s Myles Davis is not related to Jazz legend Miles Davis.)

SPEAKING OF NAMES . . .

This tournament features Giddy Potts, whose No. 15 Middle Tennessee State took down Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn and No. 2 Michigan State. We’ve seen Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, Dayton’s Scoochie Smith and Maryland’s Diamond Stone. Hawaii’s Roderick Bobbitt unfortunately is not teammates with Texas A&M’s Toddrick Gotcher. But he shares a floor with Stefan Jankovic and Stefan Jovanovic, a pair of 6-11, 235-pound forwards. That’s almost as good. How ironic is it that Kennedy Meeks, who, at 6-10 and 260 pounds, is hardly meek? Fortunately, Texas’ Kerwin Roach balances things out. He is, fittingly, a pest on ‘D’.

THAT’S . . . ODD

Get this: Wichita State played three games in this tournament and had the odds in its favor twice. That’s fine and dandy, except for the little fact that the Shockers were an 11-seed. According to OddsShark.com, Wichita State opened as 2.5-point favorites in its First Four bout with Vanderbilt and 1.5-point favorites in its second-round game against No. 3 Miami yesterday. . The Shockers opened as 1-point underdogs against No. 6 Arizona but closed even and were actually projected to win by advanced stats sites such as KenPom.com.

How did this happen? The algorithms that churn out odds and projections define “performance” differently than the tournament’s selection committee. Essentially, while the committee values results, the algorithms value the numbers behind the results. Those numbers say Wichita State is actually one of the best teams in the country, despite its 26-9 record and lack of quality wins — the Shockers entered yesterday ranked seventh in KenPom.com’s ratings and 18th in Sagarin’s. Add in seniors Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker’s experience — Final Four in 2013, undefeated regular season in 2014 and Sweet 16 in 2015 — and the selection committee really only punished the teams in Wichita State’s path. Miami fended off the Shockers yesterday to notch the first upset — yes, upset — of the second round.

While we’re on this topic . . .

After opening as a 1-point favorite over No. 6 Seton Hall, No. 11 Gonzaga moved from even to a 1.5-point favorite over No. 3 Utah as of yesterday afternoon, according to OddsShark.com. No. 14 Stephen F. Austin opened as 2.5-point underdogs over No. 6 Notre Dame, but the line dropped to 1. KenPom.com projects the Lumberjacks as two-point winners.

HOT TARGETS

Steve Pikiell already has parlayed Stony Brook’s historic season into a new job as Rutgers head coach. Other mid-major coaches could follow suit after impressive performances in the tournament. Stephen F. Austin’s Brad Underwood improved to 89-13 as a head coach, notching his second NCAA Tournament win with a 70-56 upset of No. 3 West Virginia. Yale’s James Jones, a Long Island native, finally broke through to the Big Dance after 17 years and guided his No. 12 Bulldogs to a win over No. 5 Baylor.

Then there’s two standout first-year coaches: Arkansas-Little Rock’s Chris Beard and Hawaii’s Eran Ganot. Beard turned up the pressure on No. 5 Purdue, sparking a furious comeback and double-overtime win, the No. 12 Trojans’ 30th victory of the season. After star player Stefan Jankovic picked up his fourth foul with 16 minutes left, Ganot pushed all the right buttons to help No. 13 Hawaii upset No. 4 California.