The recaps will get shorter. I promise. But if you want no recap, just click here.
Only 12 teams remained heading into Friday night and with this being the craziest March Madness in recent memory (and given this tournament's history, that's saying a lot!), it was fair to wonder whether the #1 seeds would survive another round. We would find out right away, as the first two games of the night featured Alabama and Houston.
We'd start off in the South region with the overall #1 seed Alabama. This team has been shrouded in controversy all year due to a murder that involved several players, most notably All-American Brandon Miller. And if you think I'm belaboring the point, the godfather of Alabama sports (Nick Saban) would disagree. Earlier this week, Saban suspended a member of the Crimson Tide football team after he had been arrested. Saban then pointedly said "there is no such thing as wrong place, wrong time". That was the excuse Alabama's basketball coach, Nate Oats, gave when addressing Miller's involvement in the murder. It was a flip response that no one appreciated, even within the Alabama athletic community. That being said, if there is one truth in sports, it is that winning absolves everything, and the Crimson Tide seemed to have gotten the draw of all draws in terms of getting to the National Championship. They faced little opposition in the first two rounds when playing Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and Maryland. After Thursday night's results, Alabama would need to beat San Diego State, the winner of Creighton/Princeton, and then the winner of Kansas State/Florida Atlantic to play for the title. Not exactly Murderer's Row, but in the tournament, it was silly to take anyone for granted. Especially a team as good defensively as San Diego State.
The Aztecs play the game the way that Virginia and Tennessee did, and you might think "well, that's no good, those teams got upset". Well, that style plays a little better in the tournament when you're the underdog. When you're the favorite, you don't want to let the underdog hang around, but if you're the underdog, you don't mind so much if things stay tight. And that's how the first half played out in this one. In horse racing, we always say "pace makes the race" and the Aztecs had Alabama playing at their pace in the first half. It was a low scoring, grind it out type of affair, with San Diego State getting the better of it, heading to the locker room ahead 28-23. Coach Oats definitely sent the message that his players needed to pick up the pace in the second half, as they forced the action immediately, going on a 17-6 run. The Aztecs foolishly tried to go up and down the court with Alabama and paid the price. After the Crimson Tide increased their lead to 9, San Diego State remembered that they would have to play their way to advance. Over the next 4 minutes, they would go on a 12-0 run to retake the lead. Meanwhile, neither team was getting much production from their top scorers. Miller was misfiring from all over the place, hitting only 3 shots from the field and totaling just 9 points. The Aztecs had a worse problem as their best player, Matt Bradley, had a goose egg to this point. But Bradley would get on the scoreboard late in the game, helping out teammate Darrion Trammell who had been carrying the Aztec offense. On the other end, Alabama was struggling to score inside due to the presence of San Diego State's Nathan Mensah, who was swatting away anything near the rim.
San Diego State led by 9 with less than 1:30 to go and it seemed the game was well in hand, but putting away games must not be a West Coast thing. Just as Gonzaga had done the night before, San Diego State began to wilt under the late game pressure. They started turning the ball over. They couldn't make free throws. And they were fouling Alabama. 30 seconds later, the lead was down to two. The Aztecs needed to steady themselves at the free throw line and eventually they did. They would make 5 of their next 6 free throws while not allowing the Crimson Tide to score another point. Say bye-bye to another #1 as Brandon Miller does his best Cade Cunningham impression in this year's tournament. San Diego State will make their first Elite Eight appearance after a 71-64 victory over the top team in the land.
Alabama's loss left the Houston Cougars as the only #1 seed remaining in the tournament. And they would not have an easy task on their hands trying to defeat the Miami Hurricanes. Miami had shown in their second round game against Indiana how dangerous a team can be when they have exceptional guard play and the ability to clean up on the glass. They also had one of the most likable coaches in America, Jim Larranaga. Larranaga had brought George Mason to the Final Four back in 2006. Now he was aiming to bring the Hurricanes to back-to-back Elite Eights, after having never made it before last year. Could this Miami team score enough against a stingy Houston defense that allowed under 57 points per game this year?
The answer sure seemed to be yes early on. Both teams started out ice cold for about two minutes, then both went on a scoring spree, which was much more to Miami's playing style than Houston's. With about 5 minutes left in the first half, the score was tied at 31, so unless Miami went ice cold like UCLA did in the second half of their game on Thursday, 57 was going to be a breeze (wasn't meant to be a Hurricane joke, but now that I've written it, I am not changing it). "The U" would actually end the half on an 11-5 run, giving them a 6 point lead at the break and leaving Houston coach Kelvin Sampson scratching his head on how to stop this team.
Miami didn't slow down in the second half. They scored the first 5 points after intermission. Then they went on a 14-2 run that opened the lead to 17. The Cougars wouldn't get the lead under double digits the rest of the way. As much as I hate to say nice things about another ACC club, Miami has kinda become the most likable team to watch in this tournament. They will head to yet another Elite Eight, sending home the final #1 seed in Houston by a score of 89-75. Not only will "The U" be represented in the Elite Eight of the men's tournament, they will be joined by the women's team who upset #1 seed Indiana and #4 Villanova to find themselves one win away from a Final Four appearance as well.
Not sure who would have predicted that #6 seed Creighton and #15 seed Princeton would be battling for the right to play #5 seed San Diego State with a trip to the Final Four on the line, but that is how things have played out in the South region. Creighton, like their Big East brethren Connecticut, had a ton of early season success, went into a bit of a swoon, and then came into this tournament as a bit of an enigma. But with 10 teams remaining at this point, the Big East was represented by three of them, so falling short in conference play might not have been as bad as it looked. On the other side of the court was Princeton, who was actually the #2 seed in the four-team Ivy League tournament, but they won two games there, then won two games against slightly stiffer competition (Arizona and Missouri) to find themselves in the Sweet 16. This one was a shootout early on. Creighton is known for its scoring, so that wasn't much of a surprise. And Princeton showed during the first weekend that they weren't here to play the 43-41 style game that old coach Pete Carril used to upset UCLA once upon a time. In fact, 43-41 was already in the rear view window by the time this one got to the half. Creighton held the lead, but it was a slim 47-43 advantage.
The first 8 minutes of this game was where it was decided. The Bluejays kept their offense humming along at the pace it was going in the first half, while the Tigers finally hit a wall. Creighton would outscore Princeton 21-9 during this stretch, building a 16 point edge and putting this game out of reach. But give credit to "the smart kids". They never stopped trying and were able to get the lead down to 7 points at one stage, but that would be as close as it got. Creighton advances to their first Elite Eight, further twisting the knife they put in my back in round one. A valiant Princeton team bids adieu. The Bluejays face the Aztecs for a spot in the Final Four after an 86-75 victory.
As was the case on Thursday night, it seemed like the best matchup of the evening was slated for last. But unlike UCLA and Gonzaga, Texas and Xavier didn't have any notable history between them. They just happened to be two of the top seeds remaining in this insane tournament and they were colliding in round three. Texas got some horrible news before the game, as the man who led them to victory in round two, Dylan Disu, was injured and would not be available against the Musketeers. Perhaps that adversity was exactly what the Longhorns needed, as they took it to Xavier from the opening tip. Texas scored the first 6 points in this one and would never trail. Xavier had a lot of good looks in the first half, but their shots would not fall. The Longhorns had everything going their way. Already up 14 with time winding down in the first half, Texas' Timmy Allen put up a desperation heave that banked in to put the Longhorns up 17. If Xavier's bubble hadn't been deflated before, it seemed to be once that miracle went in. Texas would increase the lead to as high as 24 in the second half before Xavier made the final score a bit more respectable in the final minutes. But the Musketeers would not be the 3rd Big East team to make it to the Elite Eight. Instead, it will be Texas after a dominant 83-71 victory.
On to the standings...Christopher (still don't have a last name) has jumped into the lead of the Main Pool, holding a 1 point edge on me as we head into the final 7 games of this year's tournament. Fred Alcaro is stubbornly holding on to 3rd, 6 points back. In the Gamblers Pool, thanks to all of the chaos, the guy who picked NC State to win it all holds a 7 point edge over Natalie Schweitzer. Christopher holds third in that pool.
Now that you've patiently read about all of Friday's action, you can access the spreadsheet here.
Time to punch some tickets to the Final Four! The East region will see underdogs collide at Madison Square Garden as Kansas State and Florida Atlantic battle for a trip to Houston, followed by a heavyweight matchup between Connecticut and Gonzaga in Las Vegas to decide who will represent the West region. Just two games tomorrow - don't miss them!
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