Home March Madness Notebook: UK bows out early, again; NC State plays like big boys
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March Madness Notebook: UK bows out early, again; NC State plays like big boys

Chris Graham
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Kentucky lost for the second time in three years to a double-digit seed, falling 80-76 to Oakland, the #14 seed in the South Regional on Thursday.

Still waiting for the thousand-word article from Pat Forde calling John Calipari, whose last national title came in 2012, and has one NCAA Tournament win since 2019, a “towering fraud.”

Though Forde, being Forde, did tweet, moments after the final buzzer, that “there is no reason to keep John Calipari as the coach at Kentucky.”

Forde being Forde.

This one truly came out of nowhere. Oakland was 23-11 in the regular season, with precisely zero meaningful wins, and an 0-4 record against teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament field.

If you’re inclined to say, credit to Oakland coach Greg Kampe for scheduling tough – he signed on to play Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, Dayton and Drake before Christmas – keep in mind, they’re called “guarantee games.”

This upset wasn’t an underseeded team catching a three seed unawares; it was Calipari’s systemic approach to the game being exposed, again.

The one-and-done era hasn’t done Cal well; he has just that one national title, 12 years ago now, and two Final Fours to show for his long line of one-and-dones pretending to take classes for a few weeks before going to the NBA.

Last night, this latest crop got beat by a guy named Jack Gohlke, a grad transfer from D2 Hillsdale College, where he averaged 7.8 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting over his four years.

This Gohlke guy went for 32 points, on 10 made threes – he was 10-of-20 from three – and funny thing there is, if UK had put together any kind of decent scouting report, it would have told you that Gohlke is going to shoot threes.

I’m going to tell you ahead of time that this is not a misprint: Gohlke has put up 355 shots this season; 347 of them are threes.

That guy beat Kentucky last night.

Coaching malpractice.

NC State is for real

Oakland will face NC State, which had no trouble with #6 seed Texas Tech, winning 80-67.

This is the NC State team that finished 10th in the ACC in the regular season, whose coach, Kevin Keatts, looked to be on the verge of getting fired, was down 12 in the first half to woeful Louisville in the first round of the ACC Tournament, then beat Syracuse, Duke, Virginia and UNC to get to the Big Dance.

Last night, State looked and played like the big-boy team, shooting 50.9 percent from the floor, getting 18 makes in 23 shots at the rim, with Ben Middlebrooks (21 points, 6-of-8 FG, 9-of-10 FT), Mohamed Diarra (17 points, 6-of-9 FG, 12 rebounds) and DJ Burns (16 points, 7-of-11 FG) eating Texas Tech alive down low.

From being on the verge of blowing up the program and starting over, the Pack is now a game against a #14 seed away from a Sweet 16.

Quick hits

* Samford, the SoCon champ, was thisclose to being the second straight SoCon #13 seed to pull a major upset, coming up just short in a 92-89 loss to #4 seed Kansas in the Midwest Region.

Furman, you no doubt remember, upset Virginia as a #13 last March.

Note to the selection committee: you’re underseeding the SoCon.

* The SEC was 1-3 on Thursday, the win coming from Tennessee, the #2 seed in the Midwest. Kentucky, the #3 in the South, lost to Oakland, South Carolina, the #6 in the South, lost by double-digits to #11 Oregon in the Midwest, and Mississippi State, the #8 seed in the West, lost by double-digits to #9 Michigan State in the West.

The SEC got eight bids, tied for the most (with the Big 12) in the 2024 field.

That 1-3 record ties with the Mountain West, which somehow got six bids, and the one was the Colorado State win over Virginia in the First Four, and the Rams are already home, after scoring 44 points in a loss to Texas last night.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

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