The SEC was going to have a representative at the Final Four. Guaranteed. It was just a matter of who it would be. On one hand you had Kentucky, the most heralded team from the conference. On the other hand, you had Auburn, the team that had recently won the conference tournament. They didn't play Kentucky along the way because the Wildcats lost to Tennessee in the semifinals. That was probably good news for the Tigers as they had already lost to Kentucky twice this season, with the most recent matchup being a 27 point spanking. More bad news if you were an Auburn fan: their top rebounder, Chuma Okeke, was lost for the rest of the tournament with a torn ACL. So Auburn would be short-handed vs. a team they had already lost to twice...not generally a recipe for success. But perhaps they could be inspired by their fallen teammate. Win one for Chuma! (Or for Chuck. Because Charles Barkley was confined within the creepiest Auburn shrine you have ever seen.)
Early on it looked like Kentucky would get the turkey. They jumped out to an 11 point lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. This might get ugly quick. Kentucky was very fortunate to survive the first two rounds. Perhaps they were going to finally run away with one of these games. That's the outcome the residents of Lexington, Kentucky were hoping for, but Auburn wasn't having any of that. They made a run at the end of the half to get within 5. Two minutes into the second half, the game was tied. Eleven minutes later, the Tigers were up six. The tide had swung.
Kentucky would now have to find an answer and they found it on the defensive end. Over the next six and a half minutes, the Wildcats would hold Auburn to just a single bucket. They weren't doing a lot of scoring themselves, but once again we were tied. Kentucky hit a jumper with less than a minute to go to reclaim the lead. Auburn hit a layup to tie it once more. The Wildcats took two shots in the final 10 seconds, but couldn't convert. The Tigers put up a three to win it at the buzzer, but that was no good either. For the second time in 24 hours, a trip to the Final Four would be decided in OT.
With Kentucky surviving two close calls already in the tournament, the edge seemed to go to them in the extra period, but it was Auburn who came out hot. They scored 10 of the first 13 points to open a 7 point lead. The look on the Kentucky players faces told you that they understood how much trouble they were in. They caught a break when the Tigers fouled Kentucky on a made hoop. The "and 1" brought them within 4. Later on, Auburn would miss the front end of a 1-and-1. The Wildcats took advantage of that opportunity, hitting a layup and then following two made free throws with a three pointer to get back within 3. Kentucky needed a miracle and it looked like they might get it when Auburn missed another free throw. But by this point, they were in the double bonus, so they'd get a second shot at extending it to a two-possession game. The second free throw was good and Kentucky was down 4 with only 15 seconds left. They hurried down the court to try and get a quick basket, but their shot was blocked. Auburn got the ball, sank two more free throws, and the party was on. Like Texas Tech, Auburn is headed to the program's first ever Final Four after taking out rival Kentucky by a score of 77-71.
Kentucky survived strikes one and two, but the third close call was their downfall. Would the same be true for Duke? Both UCF and Virginia Tech were one shot away from toppling the #1 overall seed in this tournament. Michigan State appeared to be even tougher foe than either of them. The Spartans are always known for being a rugged, tough team that loves to bang around in the low post. They were not going to shy away from this big, athletic Duke team led by the most imposing figure in college hoops, Zion Williamson. Duke was also getting back Cam Reddish. He didn't play against Virginia Tech, but the Blue Devils would have all of their famous freshmen on the court for this one.
The first half featured one run after another. Michigan State had an early 12-5 run. Duke responded with a 21-5 run. The Spartans closed the half on a 13-0 run to lead by 4. The second half would be very different. The two powerhouses traded the lead repeatedly with neither able to produce a major run like they had in the first half. With 90 seconds to go, Duke led by 3. The Spartans got the ball inside and converted on a layup, making it a 1 point game. With their season on the line, you would have expected a heavy dose of Zion Williamson, but somehow it became the RJ Barrett show. Inside of a minute, Barrett took a jumper that missed. Michigan State came down court and called a timeout. Out of the huddle, they found forward Kenny Goins open for a three-pointer that he nailed, giving the Spartans a two-point advantage. Barrett once again got the ball and tried a three of his own to re-take the lead. He missed again, but the ball touched Michigan State before going out of bounds. One more chance for Duke. Barrett drove the lane and was fouled. First free throw: yet another miss. Then maybe the most devastating miss of all. With only 6 seconds left, Barrett decided the best play was to miss the free throw and try to get the rebound for a tying basket. He hurled the ball at the back of the rim, but it bounced very high and came straight down through the net. Duke was still down 1.
The Blue Devils had a serious problem on their hands at this point. They had only committed 3 fouls in the second half. The other team does not shooting free throws until the 7th foul of the half. So with 6 seconds to go, Duke needed to foul 4 times. And after all that, they would need to find a way to get down the court for a potential game-tying/game-winning shot (that would probably be taken by RJ Barrett). The Blue Devils quickly fouled on the first inbounds play that Michigan State ran, but the Spartans got savvy on the next attempt. The Spartans were inbounding the ball from the sideline on their end of the court. They knew Duke had to foul almost immediately. So they had a guard run right up towards the inbounded, then had him cut towards the other end. The ball was thrown in front of the guard so that he could catch it in motion, cutting away from Duke's defense. He immediately began dribbling towards the other end as the seconds ticked away. Duke scrambled to catch him, but time ran out. Michigan State had pulled off the upset, destroying many brackets in the process with a 68-67 win over Duke.
So next week's Final Four will feature Virginia vs. Auburn in the first national semifinal, followed by Michigan State vs. Texas Tech in the second national semifinal. Should be about as wide open of a Final Four as we've seen in a long time.
When I watched Gonzaga lose while sitting in the Orleans casino in Vegas, I figured my chances of winning my own pool were kaput. But Sunday's results were the best case scenario for me. It was also good news for Aiden Schweitzer, Alex Peerenboom, and John Baxindine. Good for me and Aiden because we are at the top of the main pool and only two other brackets are alive to a national champion (Alex picked Michigan State, John picked Virginia). I'll send out the Final Four scenarios later in the week, but those four names will be prominent in the main pool. As for the "Sephora dropped me and you ruined my life, Mommy!" pool, only 4 names are in contention for 3 spots due to the fact that there are no brackets alive to a national champion. Those 4 are me, Dave Henderson, James Dematteo, and Nate Heffner. Here's what the standings look like going into the Final Four:
Safety School:
- Dave Nichols and Aiden Schweitzer - 85 points
- Will Peerenboom - 82 points
Paid For My Kids SATs:
- Dave Nichols - 85 points
- Dave Henderson - 83 points
- James Dematteo and Nate Heffner - 80 points
Take a gander at the full standings here.
That's it for now. The Final Four begins on Saturday. Enjoy the upcoming week!
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