For just the second time in history, the four No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, setting the stage for a monumental finale to an awesome season that’s been dominated by these specific top four teams.
Enough from the intro, because there is so much ball to discuss in today’s College Basketball Weekly post. There are general summarizations of the Elite Eight games under each header, but also, with just four squads left, we’re diving into these teams deeper. So here’s a brief menu of the points hit on the four remaining 1-seeds:
- Accepting Duke as the favorite
- How they put Mark Sears to bed
- Cooper Flagg: undeniably great
- Florida’s miracle
- Walter Clayton: too unconscious?
- The brutal Houston Cougars
- A big Broome scare
Plus, get to the end, and you can see the argument for which side of the Final Four has the advantage come next Monday’s national title game. But if one thing’s for certain, we can definitively say that this year’s champion was the best team in the nation, no matter who emerges.
Duke is the bully
Just face it, accept it, and appreciate some great basketball. Duke is absolutely the best team in the country right now with the best player, too, and on track for a championship run as a two-way wrecking crew.
They’re the most efficient offense in KenPom history as of this morning. The clunky group that shot horribly from deep and failed in the clutch vs. Kentucky and Kansas is long gone. When you watch Duke, they work to get whatever shots they want every time down the court, often gobbling up the offensive board even when they do miss.
Defensively, did you all see Mark Sears? Dude was in a straight jacket. Basically, Duke gave Alabama’s below-average shooters all the shots they wanted, but when it came to Sears and Aden Holloway, they switched everything. So you’d have the two Crimson Tide guards playing patty-cake in the backcourt with both Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach switched out on them, and neither guy could wiggle free for any sort of open look. Those are 6’10 and 7’2 freshmen guarding two elite guards in space and just walling them up. And that’s how Alabama scores 113 points vs. BYU and only 65 two days later.
Now, let’s talk Cooper Flagg, who creates extraordinary mismatches at virtually every position. He’s too tall, too skilled, too smart, too competitive. He has the mental and physical edge as an 18-year-old against a tournament full of guys in their early 20s. That’s nuts! The Player of the Year, National Champion, and Final Four Most Outstanding Player triple crown is there for the taking.
Sorry if the admiration is overboard, but Duke is playing at such a high level right now it’s hard to imagine them being taken down, even in a top-heavy tournament with all the other best teams left. Now let’s all go vomit before getting on with the rest of the article.
Fortunate Florida
Now, it’s hard to understand how Arkansas managed to lose Thursday and Tech found just as crazy a way to blow their next game, but eventually, you’ve got to recognize: When the destiny of a great NCAA Tournament run is on the line, panic spreads like a poison in the bloodstream in the final minutes. With that said, let’s address the meltdown for Tech:
Down nine with just under three minutes to play, Thomas Haugh finally gave the Gators life with a triple to trim the lead to six. On the other end, Haugh fouled Tech’s Darrion Williams, and the 83% free throw shooter missed the front end of the one-and-one, so Florida marched down the court and found Haugh for a second straight triple, this time trimming the margin to 75-72.
But on their second straight possession, Texas Tech drew a foul and had their leading scorer, JT Toppin, blow the front end of his one-and-one as well. Florida ball down 3. Walter Clayton time. The ultimate clutch shotmaker came up massive again, nailing a stepback 3 to tie the game, and then ANOTHER stepback triple to give UF its first late lead, 78-77, following a Tech bucket on the other end.
It got worse, though. Tech drew up a wide-open Darrion Williams from 3 with 30 seconds left and he just missed it. The Red Raiders hounded Florida on the ensuing inbounds pass and were milliseconds from earning a 10-second call when JT Toppin fouled Alijah Martin in a foolish bailout. They could have gotten the ball back with one more chance to win it! Instead, Florida nailed their free throws and secured the win, just one more kick in the groin after Tech’s own foul line woes.
Poor Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland. You know, fans rightly piled on John Calipari for some questionable decisions in his meltdown at the Chase Center, but I can’t pinpoint many major errors from McCasland. After all, Florida nailed FOUR straight contested 3s while Tech blanked TWO front ends of the bonus. Plus, the final play was perfectly drawn up with an open shot that just missed. Man.
As for Florida, how about this Walter Clayton run? The guy is just so casual out there half the time, for better or worse, and just nonchalantly took ludicrous stepback 3s in this game to bail Florida out. Then it’s Haugh who was ecstatic in the postgame presser while Clayton seemed unbothered by the whole ordeal. He’s just vibin’, throwing up crazy shots and whipping turnovers into the third row on occasion.
Can’t wait to see him and Auburn’s flamethrowers go at it.
Houston’s brutal statement
Playing Houston must feel like living out the plot of The Brutalist. It’s a 3.5-hour slog that sees the poor main character battered, beaten and belittled until he spirals into a personal meltdown — and at the very end of the movie, he looked just like Rick Barnes after Sunday’s game. Don’t worry Coach, that’s been the fate of Houston’s previous 16 foes as well.
Kelvin Sampson’s squad never aimed to be the prettiest, but real hoop fans appreciate the hardest-playing team in the country. They punish opponents with relentless disruption on every single second of every defensive possession, down 15 or up by 45. They do it with length, athleticism and toughness, plus brutal determination on the glass.
Just watch the Cougars chase the rock. In their dominant first half vs. Tennessee, all five guys had arms swinging like helicopter blades, guards blocking shots, bigs forcing steels, and all five players on the floor whenever the ball was up for grabs. Their superpower is just wanting the ball more than you do, coming up with the most unlikely turnovers and rebounds — and it’s the most noble system in the world. Salute to the great Coach Sampson on a validating Final Four.
Auburn sweeps the Michigans
The tourney’s top seed still left some meat on the bone in their wins, but nonetheless are on to the Final Four. Michigan State never had the size, athleticism or shooting to keep up with Auburn as the Tigers toyed with their food far more than they could vs. the Wolverines, leaning on some second-chance 3s to maintain the distance while Johni Broome provided a lion’s share of work down low, especially in the first half.
We also had a five-minute mini-drama featuring a scary Johni Broome injury. The SEC Player of the Year tumbled over a Michigan State player on a rebound with 10 minutes to play, appearing to land awkwardly on his wrist, elbow and leg, but it was the elbow dinger which lingered. Tracy Wolfson reported that Broome told Bruce Pearl he was probably done, and she later said there was only a “slight” chance trainers would clear him to return to the game.
Now, you’ve got to put yourself in Auburn fans’ shoes right there: Wolfson’s report and the vibe around the injury was concerning right away, and we had about four minutes of game time where a Broome return to the Elite Eight matchup seemed impossible while a return at all for the year felt in possible jeopardy.
So when Broome hopped back out of the tunnel and charged right for the scorer’s desk, Tiger fans were surprised to be so relieved. That’s a big “whew.” Nobody wants to see the No. 1 overall seed lose their star just before the Final Four.
As for the team itself, man, it’s a tough read. See, Duke and Houston are easy scouts. They freaking rock at what they do, they’ve been consistently tremendous for several straight months. Florida and Auburn are testing their limits more.
Auburn did have that several-month run of greatness already (Dec-Feb) but that’s the point: did they peak too soon? I guess to me, Duke and Houston appear to have very obvious goals on their possessions, they know which shots they’re looking for and they’ll grind the shot clock down to get them. Auburn and Florida have guards who stray from the prairie on some possessions when you never feel that way about Duke.
These SEC schools are flying more by the seat of their pants, and that’s probably why they’ve been volatile in March. Florida needed Clayton magic to win against UConn and Texas Tech, and Auburn erased a nine-point lead vs. Michigan after not exactly looking dominant so far this March.
It’s the four one-seeds and all are dangerous enough to win it all, clearly. But just don’t be surprised if the more casual run-and-gun style of the Tigers or Gators gets a hammer to the forehead from Duke or Houston in the championship game, like those schools just did to Alabama and Tennessee.
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