Continuing in the same vein as Sunday's post...
We started the second round with 32 schools from 23 states representing 11 conferences. If every game went as expected (a higher seed beating a lower seed) the second round should've ended with 16 schools from 13 states representing 7 conferences left in contention. Even though there were four upsets the number of states and conferences represented did not change. The actual composition shifted but not the total number.
Upset winners - Liberty (13 seed out of the Big South conference), Georgia (6 seed out of the Southeastern conference), Arizona State (5 seed out of the Pac 10 conference), and Vanderbilt (5 seed out of the Southeastern conference).
Upset losers - DePaul (5 seed out of Conference USA), Texas (3 seed out of the Big 12 conference), Notre Dame (4 seed out of the Big East conference), and Kansas State (4 seed out of the Big 12 conference).
Conferences whose teams exceeded expectations - Southeastern conference (expected to win 2 and lose 2 but instead won 4 and lost 0), Big South conference (expected to win 0 and lose 1 but instead won 1 and lost 0), and the Pac 10 conference (expected to win 1 and lose 4 but instead won 2 and lost 3).
Conferences whose teams disappointed expectations - Big 12 conference (expected to win 4 and lose 0 but instead won 2 and lost 2), Big East conference (expected to win 3 and lose 1 but instead won 2 and lost 2), and Conference USA (expected to win 1 and lose 0 but instead won 0 and lost 1).
States whose teams exceeded expectations - Arizona (expected to win 0 and lose 2 but instead won 1 and lost 1), Georgia (expected to win 0 and lose 1 but instead won 1 and lost 0), Virginia (expected to win 0 and lose 2 but instead won 1 and lost 1), and Tennessee (expected to win 1 and lose 2 but instead won 2 and lost 1).
States whose teams disappointed expectations - Texas (expected to win 3 and lose 0 but instead won 2 and lost 1), Indiana (expected to win 1 and lose 1 but instead won 0 and lost 2), Kansas (expected to win 1 and lose 0 but instead won 0 and lost 1), and Illinois (expected to win 1 and lost 0 but instead won 0 and lost 1).
Just some general observations: I'm surprised at how poorly Big 12 and Conference USA schools performed in the first and second rounds. After going perfect the first round, both the Pac 10 and the Big East lost teams (two for the Big East and three for the Pac 10) in the second round. The Pac 10 had two teams reach the round of 16 for the first time in more than a decade. The Southeaster conference, after underperforming in the first round, turned it around and went undefeated over the past two days. And the Big South, on the back of the only team from the conference to make the tournament, is having a strong showing. Go Liberty!
