March Madness: The greatest and worst from Saturday’s Elite Eight video games

Two spots within the Final Four secured. One by a powerhouse with extra nationwide titles than any program since 1999. The different by a program that had by no means tasted an NCAA match victory this time two weeks in the past.

Let’s get to it.

(9) Florida Atlantic 79, (3) Kansas State 76 (East)

Florida Atlantic, a program which two weeks in the past had by no means gained an NCAA match sport and had appeared within the Big Dance simply as soon as earlier than, is headed to the Final Four.

Dusty May’s Owls received there by advantage of a 79-76 thriller that ended one of many higher particular person runs we’ve seen in March in fairly a while.

Kanas State star guard Markquis Nowell’s 30 factors, 12 assists and 5 steals someway weren’t sufficient to doom the nationwide title hopes of the Conference USA champions. Perhaps extra improbably, neither had been FAU’s 22 turnovers.

While Florida Atlantic is thought primarily for its frenetic tempo and thrilling guard play, it was 7’1 huge man Vladislav Goldin who performed the most important half on the Owls’ largest day. Goldin managed the center of the paint all night lengthy in opposition to Okay-State, ending with 14 factors, 13 rebounds and a pair of blocked photographs.

After a back-and-forth first half-hour, Kansas State had appeared to grab management halfway by way of the second half with a six level lead. Then, the Wildcats appeared to cease working the offense that had gained them their benefit, as a substitute settling for a collection of heat-check photographs to attempt to bury their plucky adversaries for good.

The transfer backfired in a significant approach.

Florida Atlantic capitalized on the string of unhealthy offense with a 15-1 run that mimicked the one which allowed to take management of their Sweet 16 sport in opposition to Tennessee. The Owls all of a sudden discovered themselves in entrance by eight with simply 2:44 to play when Okay-State determined to launch its personal comeback try.

Some free-throws, some stops, and a pair of three-pointers left the Wildcats trailing by only a level with 22.8 seconds to play.

Michael Forrest, whose private 8-0 run was the most important catalyst to FAU’s win over the Volunteers, then stepped stepped as much as bury 4 consecutive free-throws to take care of the Owls’ benefit.

Okay-State had a closing shot to tie the sport, however as a substitute of making an attempt to play hero one final time, Nowell handed the ball to sharpshooter Ismael Massoud. Massoud was instantly trapped and was unable to even try a closing shot.

Bing, Bang. Boom. Florida Atlantic is 2 wins away from a nationwide championship.

In addition to being wildly aggressive all through, this was maybe probably the most full offensive sport the match has seen thus far.

FAU shot 48.1 % from the sphere and related on 9-of-23 (39.1%) photographs from past the arc. Kansas State countered with a 46.6 % taking pictures effort, together with a 10-of-22 (45.5%) efficiency from three.

The Owls’ whopping 22 turnovers resulted in 30 Kansas State factors, however FAU made up for that drawback by out-rebounding the Wildcats by 22 and outscoring them 15-2 on second probability alternatives.

And identical to that, Florida Atlantic now has extra Final Fours than Tennessee, Missouri, Xavier, BYU, Alabama, Arizona State, Texas A&M and Boston College. Combined.

It additionally has as many Final Four appearances as Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Washington, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Auburn and Seton Hall.

Best sporting occasion on this planet.

UConn

Without query, the simplest decide within the decade-long historical past of those recap posts.

UConn capped off one of the crucial dominant regional title runs in NCAA match historical past with an 82-54 absolute ass kicking of Gonzaga to say the West Region. The 28-point margin of victory — which might have been a lot bigger if Danny Hurley hadn’t began placing his walk-ons in with over three minutes to play — is probably the most lopsided in a regional closing since Cincinnati beat Memphis by 31 again in 1992.

As was the case with every of their three earlier March Madness wins, the Huskies confirmed from the soar that they had been going to have the ability to get just about no matter they needed offensively.

Jordan Hawkins — later named the West Region Most Outstanding Player — continued his red-hot taking pictures, flattening 6-of-10 from past the arc and scoring a game-high 20 factors. Andre Jackson performed his level ahead position to a tee, doling out 10 assists (in opposition to no turnovers) whereas additionally scoring eight factors and grabbing 9 rebounds. And when Gonzaga made it clear early on that they had been going to break down on Adama Sanogo and never let the large man kill them along with his scoring, Sanogo responded by setting a brand new career-high for assists … within the first half. He completed the sport with six, together with 10 factors and 10 rebounds.

Even with what Connecticut had finished within the prior three rounds, the destruction of Gonzaga in what many believed may be the de facto nationwide championship sport was jarring.

UConn held the Zags 33 factors beneath their season scoring common and compelled them to shoot worse than 35.0 % from the sphere in a sport for the primary time since 2018. The Huskies held their better-seeded opponents to 2-of-20 from past the arc and outscored them by 21 factors within the second half. And, once more, it might have been worse.

The win was the crown jewel of a West Region run that noticed Connecticut defeat its 4 opponents by a complete of 90 factors.

Bear in thoughts that this area was broadly thought-about to be the strongest of the 4 going into the match. What the Huskies did to it was traditionally brutal.

Regardless of what occurs in tomorrow’s sport, UConn will head to Houston as a stable favourite to chop down the nets for the fifth time in program historical past.

If solely somebody had advised everybody earlier than the beginning of the match that the Huskies had been the group to beat.

And look, earlier than you all begin with the “nice call on Oral Roberts” bullshit, I used to be proper concerning the high seeds within the East being terrible and a bizarro group successful the area. I simply picked the improper one. At least that’s what I say at evening to my spouse … who’s been asleep for 45 minutes … and who didn’t care in any respect to start with.

Gonzaga

See above.

The solely factor that’s going to totally put to mattress the “overrated every year” narrative is to win a nationwide title, however in case you’re seeking to strike some type of center floor till that occurs, historic ass kickings like this aren’t going to assist.

Gonzaga has the longest energetic, and third longest ever, streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances at eight. It additionally fell brief within the final two NCAA tournaments because the No. 1 total seed, and was humbled within the 2021 title sport with an 86-70 drubbing by Baylor.

As spectacular because the final 25 or so years have been for the Zags, their match runs have too usually ended with an imprint-leaving thud. Saturday evening was the sixth time since 2004 that Gonzaga has misplaced an NCAA match sport by 19 factors or extra.

There’s definitely no disgrace in shedding to this UConn group. Having the sport be determined by the primary TV timeout of the second half? Well, there’s no less than a little bit little bit of disgrace in that.

1. Markquis Nowell

One final time for our diminutive March prince.

Falling wanting successful a nationwide title signifies that Nowell’s 2023 NCAA match magic gained’t be remembered in the identical gentle as Kemba Walker’s unimaginable run in 2011, however it can definitely be remembered.

With his 30-point, 12-assist, five-steal effort on Saturday, Nowell turned first participant ever with no less than 80 factors, 50 assists and 10 steals in a single NCAA match. He additionally turned simply the second participant within the final 5 tournaments to be named a area’s Most Outstanding Player regardless of his group not successful the area, becoming a member of Purdue’s Carsen Edwards in 2019.

Nowell additionally turned the primary participant with greater than 25 factors and 10 assists in an Elite Eight sport since Dwyane Wade posted a triple-double for Marquette in opposition to Kentucky in 2003.

The record-setting help numbers, the unbelievable no-look passes that received him there, the 26-foot-bombs, the thefts, the ground managing, the quotes; all of it. This was Markquis Nowell’s match for 2 weeks, and it was wonderful.

2. Ken LaVicka

Ken LaVicka has been the radio voice of Florida Atlantic males’s basketball since 2009, and he’s a one-man group. Since getting the job (he added FAU soccer play-by-play to his repertoire in 2011), LaVicka has been there for 10 seasons during which the Owls misplaced extra video games than they gained. His solely postseason expertise earlier than this 12 months (outdoors of the C-USA match) consisted of an NIT first spherical loss in 2011, a CIT first spherical loss in 2019, and a CBI first spherical loss final season.

On Saturday evening, that very same man discovered himself preparing for the decision of his life. The name that each group broadcaster at each stage desires of. The name that may make day by day of the final 14 years of thankless work, sleepless nights and shedding basketball all price it.

And then his connection crashed.

With Florida Atlantic simply 18.6 seconds away from the Final Four, the ethernet connection on the complete media row the place LaVicka was sitting inside Madison Square Garden went out. He spent 30 seconds off the air, scrambling to discover a new solution to join.

Thankfully, Kansas State known as a timeout whereas LaVicka was frantically looking out, or else his listeners would have been tuned in to lifeless air whereas the Owls celebrated the most important win in class historical past. Thankfully, he was capable of finding a stay ethernet twine from the row behind him, join it to his Comrex unit, and get again on the air to explain FAU’s history-making scene in New York.

He recounted the story for NCAA reporter Andy Katz after the sport.

LaVicka’s years of service had been additionally rewarded by attending to spend extra time with FAU coach Dusty May than anybody else after the win.

If you’re excited by listening to LaVicka’s name of the ultimate moments of Florida Atlantic’s Final Four clinching win, right here you go:

Worth the scrambling.

3. Jerome Tang

First-year Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang is a finalist for just about each nationwide Coach of the Year award on the planet for a cause. He inherited a Okay-State group that gained 10 video games three years in the past, 9 video games the 12 months after that, completed final within the Big 12 a season in the past, and was picked to complete final within the Big 12 once more this 12 months.

All Tang did was lead the Wildcats to 26 wins, a 3-seed within the NCAA match, and get them inside one win of their first Final Four look since 1964.

The success gained him notoriety, nevertheless it’s the best way he’s dealt with himself over these final two weeks and the sunshine that has been shed on the relationships he has along with his gamers which have actually constructed up his nationwide fan base.

Case in level, Tang doing this after his group’s nationwide title desires had simply been crushed:

If that wasn’t sufficient, Tang additionally made it some extent to go into the Florida Atlantic locker room and congratulate them on being the “toughest sons of guns” his group had confronted all season.

And about these player-coach relationships …

Cherish that man, Okay-State.

1. Danny Hurley’s portray

I’ll be sincere: This phase was probably the most entertaining a part of the second half of UConn-Gonzaga.

The “Michael Scott Wedding Gift Painting of Jim and Pam” vibes are off the chart right here.

It’s form of comforting to know that Hurley sucks at one thing proper now, as a result of his group has been rattling close to excellent the final 4 occasions it’s taken the ground.

2. Drew Timme’s foul hassle

Every school basketball season, particularly throughout March Madness, we’re flooded with hundreds of recommendations on easy methods to “fix” school basketball’s largest issues, most of which don’t truly exist.

As exhausting as this annual train is, there are all the time no less than a number of recommendations which have precise benefit.

One probably the most persistently pointed to flaws that I do assume is a major challenge for the type is that it’s brightest stars are too usually spending lengthy durations of the time on the sidelines due to foul hassle. Case in level, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme on Saturday evening.

Now, let’s get the plain out of the best way first: Gonzaga didn’t get blown out by UConn as a result of Drew Timme was saddled with foul hassle for a lot of the evening. Timme might have been given 15 fouls to make use of and the Huskies had been going to advance to Houston convincingly.

That stated, it was annoying to see one of the crucial prolific scorers in NCAA match historical past on the bench late within the first half. It was much more annoying to see him decide up two fast fouls early within the second half, the second of which coming 20 ft away from the ball and having no have an effect on on the sport’s motion.

Kansas State’s Keyontae Johnson was additionally considerably hampered by foul points throughout the Wildcats’ loss to Florida Atlantic. Unlike the case with Timme, his extended absence could have price his group a visit to the Final Four.

I don’t know if the answer is upping the foul restrict to 6, transferring to quarters, altering the best way the sport is officiated or what, however conditions like this occur too usually in school hoops, and we’ve been saying that for too lengthy with none type of repair being proposed.

3. Willie the Wildcat

Sometimes at video games I believe it’s humorous to observe the mascot doing mascot stuff after which think about him as a traditional human with none type of costume doing the identical weird motions and gyrations.

Other occasions I’ll watch a group mascot who isn’t sporting a fancy dress and marvel if they’d fairly be totally coated up so they may take part a number of the “wacky” habits with out trying ridiculous.

Never, ever do I believe that we’d like some type of half-measure between totally costumed and totally uncostumed mascot.

Basically, there’s no defending Kansas State’s Willie the Wildcat.

That’s an excessive amount of pores and skin. That’s simply approach an excessive amount of pores and skin.

When your mascot appears to be like just like the half-assed Halloween costume of a child who’s approach too previous to be trick-or-treating however doesn’t have an awesome relationship along with his dad and mom, possibly that’s when it’s time for some type of re-brand.

Markquis Nowell, Kansas State

Nowell turned in a single final spectacular effort, going for 30 factors, 12 assists and 5 steals within the closing sport of his school profession.

Jordan Hawkins, UConn

The West Region MOP drilled six three-pointers and scored a game-high 20 factors.

Bryan Greenlee, Florida Atlantic

Greenlee performed simply 21 minutes due to foul hassle, however hit 4-of-6 photographs from past the arc and scored 16 factors for the Owls.

Vladislav Goldin, Florida Atlantic

Goldin managed the center of the paint all night lengthy in opposition to Okay-State, ending with 14 factors, 13 rebounds and a pair of blocked photographs.

Andre Jackson, UConn

UConn’s level ahead all the time gave the impression to be in the best place on the proper time, and completed the Huskies’ regional closing win with 10 assists, 9 rebounds and eight factors.

Alijah Martin, Florida Atlantic

1. Hoot Hoot

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

2. Husky social gathering

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

3. The flip aspect

Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

1. “I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth in the Final Four.” —Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May

2. “I’m just so thankful that the program and the place took me for who I was. They didn’t ask me to be anybody but myself.” —Gonzaga senior ahead Drew Timme

3. “It’s something you dream of. My emotions took all of me. And I just had to flex UConn. UConn is back.” —UConn sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins

No hoops for six days after this. Soak all of it in.

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