No Dice for the Panthers

Had to catch the game at the local sports bar as network TV decided the concurrent Duke-Purdue game was a bigger draw in this area.  Met a buddy and had some food and a couple of pitchers of Bud Light.  Northern Iowa played well, and led fairly convincingly at the half.  They're a disciplined, tough team that plays stout D and doesn't make too many mistakes.  Thing is, for whatever reason, they struggle on defense as soon as the second half opens up.  Michigan State closed the 7-point halftime gap in what felt like about 35 seconds, and while UNI managed to keep up for the rest of the game their defense went from monstrous to porous... For no good reason I could see.  Ran out of gas, I guess.  Plus, Korie Lucious' awesome dribble spin-move fall-away jumper with about 90 seconds left was a red-assed shot but a real back-breaker too.  Tom Izzo's got MSU all coached up and solid as usual.  They've got 6-seed Tennessee tomorrow.  I like Sparty and Izzo a lot better than the Vols and Bruce Pearl, so I'll be pulling hard for Michigan State.

Other related items: 
St. Mary's got their heads kicked in by Baylor, so mid-major hopes are down to the Butler-Kansas State game today.  That'll be a tough one for Butler, but I think Butler's legit, so we'll have to see how it goes for them.  If they can get through K-State, they'll have to play the winner of MSU-Tennessee, either of which are winnable games for the Bulldogs.  Also, if they can put down the Wildcats, then Butler will have homecourt advantage with the Final Four being played in Indianapolis.  It seems as ridiculous as George Mason making the Final Four in '06, but I can see Butler in the NCAA Championship.

Also, be interesting to see if UNI can hold on to 2nd year coach Ben Jacobsen now that they're out of the tournament.  He just signed a 10-year contract with them that has him making ~$450K/year, but none of that stops a BCS conference team from swooping in and offering him a $1M+/year deal.  He's a young guy and appears to be an excellent coach, so I wouldn't really blame him for taking a bigger job and getting a shot at the best talent and annual appearances in the Big Dance.