The final day of the regular season had a little bit of everything: dominant wire-to-wire championship victories, the unlikeliest of upsets, an overtime (near) buzzer-beater, heated battles for postseason positioning and a coin flip.
That coin flip is going to live in my memory for a long time. The countdown clock on SEC Network started even before South Carolina and Texas tipped off in their respective games. The broadcast was peppered with staged photos of the specially commissioned coin with confetti and championship regalia. Commissioner Greg Sankey spent two hours practicing his flip. Analyst Carolyn Peck extolled the virtues of playing earlier in the day because of the daylight saving time switch before the final.
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All to determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in an SEC tournament that will be a home site for the coin-flip-winning Gamecocks, no matter what, in Greenville, S.C. And as No. 3 seed LSU is without Flau’jae Johnson for the next week, the second spot might have been more desirable.
A day earlier, when USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said, “College basketball is supposed to be fun,” as her team celebrated a Big Ten title, I don’t think she was referencing Sankey spinning a coin from an isolated room as though he were hawking a collectible on the Home Shopping Network.
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But that’s the beauty of college sports. Even as these athletes compete as hard as they can in tournaments that will draw the attention of the entire nation, there can be some silliness and levity. Olivia Miles can dap up the Notre Dame football coach. Cheryl and Reggie Miller can exchange barbs as they root on their L.A. alma maters. Dawn Staley can tease her fans about Raven Johnson’s potential return during South Carolina’s senior celebration.
March is going to be tense and thrilling and every other emotion under the sun. Let’s also have some fun with it.
Dropped out: Utah (21)
Almost famous: Creighton, Iowa St., Ole Miss
Three teams rising
NC State wins ACC title share
NC State benefited from an easy schedule this week, comfortably taking down Wake Forest and SMU en route to a share of the ACC title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament. But the Wolfpack earned the bump with two teams ahead of them faltering, and thanks to two ranked wins the prior week at Georgia Tech and against Notre Dame.
The 2024 national semifinalists have a three-headed perimeter monster, and lately, it has been Zoe Brooks’ turn. The sophomore sandwiched her 33-point career-high against the Irish with two 17-point outings and 19 versus the Mustangs. Her usage has shifted toward scoring rather than playmaking as Saniya Rivers takes on more point guard duties; with more opportunities to function as a finisher, Brooks has gotten into the paint more often and drawn more fouls in the process. Her scoring average is up from 14.3 to 17 over the past five games, and she’s earning 5.6 free throws per night during that stretch.
That doesn’t mean Brooks’ playmaking has gone by the wayside, however. She is the lone NC State guard who can get to the rim both to score and to pass, which stretches the defense in unique ways. She’s also still throwing cross-court lasers, activating the Wolfpack’s shooters and rim-runners.
Oklahoma’s Beers power
In 31 games in 2023-24, Raegan Beers attempted 22 field goals in transition. There weren’t many opportunities as a back-to-the-basket center in a slow-paced Oregon State offense (66.2 possessions per game). Now playing for Oklahoma, the fastest-paced team (79.6 possessions/game) in the country, Beers has had to adjust. Not a drastic adjustment, but 33 field-goal attempts in transition represent a 50 percent increase from last season, and in fewer games.
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Three of those came against Alabama on Sunday. Beers was spectacularly efficient, converting 8 of 9 field goals for 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a seven-point win. Much of her success came from running the floor, sealing a helpless defender (Essence Cody fell over multiple times when Beers fought for position), and finishing early in the shot clock. It’s a slightly different look than the Beaver Beers, but an effective one nonetheless.
Beers averaged 20.8 points over the last five games since returning from an illness, helping the Sooners end the regular season on a seven-game winning streak to presumably remain in hosting position for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Beating the Crimson Tide, who could have jumped Oklahoma after a win over LSU earlier in the week, was critical to staying in the top 16.
Richmond on a 16-game streak
The Spiders aren’t likely to make the NCAA Tournament field unless they win the Atlantic 10 tournament, but the proud owners of a 16-game winning streak (the longest in school history) are playing some excellent basketball at this stage of the season. Richmond bears some resemblance to last year’s Oregon State Elite 8 team. The Spiders shoot the heck out of the ball — they have the best effective field-goal percentage in the country — but don’t do much to generate extra possessions. They don’t force turnovers or attack the offensive glass and simply trust that their half-court offense will produce the desired results. However, they take a lot of 3s to turn the math in their favor.
It has worked in the Atlantic 10, most recently against feisty Saint Joseph’s, which took the lead in the second half on its home court. Richmond stuck to its sets and trusted its execution. All four of the Spiders’ upperclassmen starters scored in double figures and they gutted out a win despite shooting below average from 3-point range. Look at the shots they created in the second half, even if they all didn’t fall.
Richmond tested itself against four Power 4 opponents this season, earning a win against Oklahoma State while dropping three contests against SEC opponents. Like the Beavers a year ago, the Spiders could be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament given their ability to work the clock and dictate the tempo of a game.
Teams falling
Injured teams: LSU, UNC, Kansas State
These teams are struggling because of missing players, so we’ll lump the three of them together, but they could easily be back in the rising group once their stars return.
Kansas State remains without Ayoka Lee, who mysteriously returned for five minutes in a Feb. 22 game against Kansas but hasn’t played since. The Wildcats’ defense has predictably struggled — without Lee as a backstop, the perimeter players can’t be as aggressive.
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Kansas State isn’t forcing as many turnovers while also allowing more 3-pointers. The Wildcats also don’t have a stout one-on-one post defender, as Iowa State’s Audi Crooks exposed in the regular-season finale with 36 points. The Wildcats were 15th in the latest seeding reveal and haven’t appeared deserving of a top-four seed without their center.
LSU announced that it would be without Flau’jae Johnson through the SEC tournament — a nightmare for a top-heavy squad. Johnson is the Tigers’ leading scorer and best transition outlet, not to mention their primary wing defender. It was painful to watch LSU try to contain Ole Miss, which does not exactly have an explosive offense, without Johnson available. The rest of the perimeter players are being asked to scale up too much in her absence.
Finally, North Carolina appeared to be peaking after beating NC State and Louisville. However, the Tar Heels were without perhaps their two best players (Alyssa Ustby and Reniya Kelly) in their last two games, which they lost to Duke and Virginia, a truly shocking result at home.
Kelly has been the team’s lead ballhandler and offensive initiator while Ustby is UNC’s most versatile defender. Toby Fournier was far too comfortable for the Blue Devils in their rivalry matchup without Ustby, and Latasha Lattimore had similar success for the Cavaliers. Courtney Banghart has been cagey on the timelines for Ustby’s and Kelly’s returns, but it’s clear that the Tar Heels don’t have any hope of a meaningful March run – even as a hosting team – without those two in the lineup.
Tennessee’s tumbling
Before this week, the Lady Vols could hang their hat on their competitiveness in every game. They had lost their first six games by a total of 20 points, with three losses coming as one-possession games.
Then came Thursday’s contest against Kentucky, when the Wildcats had zero difficulty with Tennessee’s pressure. Coach Kim Caldwell has prided her team on outlasting its opponents, but Kentucky even won the second half in the 24-point rout. Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks had the advantage of having scouted Caldwell’s press when he coached Virginia Tech against Marshall (each coach’s previous school, respectively) in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and it was the first time all season when the Lady Vols’ system looked helpless.
But the Wildcats are a top-16 team and a tough challenge, especially at home. Tennessee’s performance in its next game, against 11-18 Georgia in Knoxville, was inexplicable. The Bulldogs got into the paint at ease, whether in transition or the half court, building a 33-10 lead in the first half.
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And when the Vols made their inevitable run in the second half, they made curious errors, including a turnover when Jillian Hollingshead threw the ball behind Samara Spencer as they were walking up the court, but Spencer didn’t notice because she was too busy talking to the referee about the previous play. Down 3 in the final minute, Tennessee didn’t even get a shot off, as Zee Spearman turned the ball over in the post. For a team that has been in countless close games, the Lady Vols didn’t perform with any poise, albeit without Talaysia Cooper.
Tennessee has to hope this is a blip and not a sign that the rest of the country has caught up with its system because so far, the Lady Vols haven’t had any counters.
(Photo of Kaniya Boyd: Bryan Lynn / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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