Hello and welcome to round two of our Favorite Spartans of All Time Tournament. The name is still terrible (and probably changed from the first round) but it’s still a pandemic out there and frankly, you and I have better things to worry about than thinking up a snappy name for this bracket challenge.
We had some upsets in round one, but the chalk held pretty steady across the board. That sets up a ton of big matchups in round two.
Let’s not waste any time and get into voting. Today we start with the Magic Johnson region.
No. 1 Magic Johnson vs. No. 8 Steve Smith
Magic cruised to an easy and expected victory in round one while Steve Smith ran away from Julian Peterson in the 8 vs. 9 matchup. This round is a liiiiiitle bit of a tougher test for Smith.
No. 2 Drew Neitzel vs. No. 10 Shannon Brown
Neiztel won by a comfortable margin in round one, but could be vulnerable for an upset in round two. Shannon Brown won *huge* in round one. Although in retrospect it probably wasn’t much of an upset. Eric Snow, as a great as he was, was known for his defense while Shannon Brown was a dunker. Dunking > defense when it comes to fun memories.
No. 3 Javon Ringer vs. No. 6 Greg Jones
Javon Ringer cruised into round two with a convincing win over Morten Andersen. Greg Jones had to grind it out against a tough No. 11 seed in Ryan Miller. I agree with the hockey fans, Miller was way under seeded (and under appreciated) but them the breaks.
No. 4 Denzel Valentine vs. No. 5 Jeremy Langford
This might be the absolute best second-round matchup across the entire tournament. Both of these guys cruised over quality opponents in the first round. I’m not sure how much further the road goes, given Magic Johnson is awaiting them in the Sweet 16, but this matchup is an absolute dandy.
