Alabama beat Clemson Saturday night in the Elite 8, 89-82. The Crimson Tide moves on to the Final Four next weekend in Arizona where they will take on UConn.
Mark Sears led Bama with 23 points on 8-18 shooting including 7-14 from downtown. Sears reminds me a lot of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson.
“Hard work is undefeated,” Sears said following the game.
The Tide led at the half 35-32 and never gave up that lead throughout the second half due to knocking down 10 3’s.
Jarin Stevenson came off the bench for Alabama and scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting including 5-8 from 3.
The Tide made 16 3’s on the night. In the first four rounds of the tournament they have made 48 3’s.
Alabama’s head coach Nate Oats has done a fantastic job in the five years he’s been in Tuscaloosa. This will be the Tide’s first Final Four in school history. A little side note on Oats; it was UConn head coach Danny Hurley who helped Oats get into college coachingwhen he was a high school coach at Romulus.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys. They’ve just been all about winning,” Oats said.
Joe Girard led Clemson with 19 points. The Tigers were also looking to make their first Final Four appearance. It had been 44 years since they last played in the Elite 8.
“What a basketball game. The shot-making was elite,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “Their second-half performance was outstanding and for whatever reason we had a hard time guarding them.”
This was the second meeting of the year for the two schools. Back on November 28, 2023, the Tigers won in Alabama 85-77.
Side note #2 – both head coaches that will face each other next weekend, Danny Hurley and Nate Oats are both former high school coaches. I love it when guys start out at the lower levels and get a chance after putting in the time.
Two more games in the Elite 8 today with Purdue and Tennessee at 2:00, followed by Duke-NC State. I’m going with the Boilermakers and Blue Devils. Yesterday I was 2 out of 2 with my picks.
The Connecticut Huskies are going back to the Final Four and are just two wins away from repeating as National Champs. This is the Huskies 7th trip to the Final Four. UNC has the most with 21.
The Huskies blew out Illinois 77-52 Saturday night behind Donvan Clingan’s 22 points, 19 rebounds and 5 blocks.
UConn’s defense was incredible. They held Terrence Shannon to 2-12 shooting from the floor. Fighting Illini shot 6-23 from distance.
A college coach texted me during the game and said UConn is treating Illinois like a buy game in November.
One minor concern is UConn’s 3-point shooting. They were 3-17 from deep but it didn’t seem to matter. In the four tournament games UConn is 25-89 from deep. Their pressure defense and transition offense was on all night.
Huskies jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back.
UConn at one point in the game went on a 30-0 run.
In UConn’s last four NCAA tournament games they have won by 30, 30, 17 and 39.The win was UConn’s 10th straight by 13 points or more.
Bill Murray and Larry David were at the game. Murray’s son Luke is an assistant coach with UConn. An athletic director with a head coach opening should look at Luke.
After the game Jay Wright said UConn has the best back-court in the country and the second best big man.
Another night of fantastic basketball in the men’s NCAA tournament.
First up was Marquette and NC State. Wolfpack over the Golden Eagles 67-58. DJ Horne led the way for NC State with 19 points. The Wolfpack have been on some ride. They have now won 8 straight games. CBS announcer Ian Eagle said they are not a Cinderella story. Yes they are Ian, yes they are. With a comment like that and three guys talking on top of each other while I try to enjoy the game, I reached for my remote and pressed mute. Marquette started the game 1-11 from 3, finished 4-31.
Purdue over Gonzaga 80-68. Zach Edey led the way with 27 points and 14 rebounds. Boilermaker point guard Braden Smith 14 points, 8 rebounds 15 assists and just 2 turnovers. “I go out there and play with passion,” Smith said following the game. Purdue is 32-4 this year. 61-10 the past two seasons.
Duke 54 Houston 51. Story of the this game was the Cougars losing Jamal Shead in the first half due to an ankle injury. He missed the entire second half. Kyle Filipowski led Duke with 16 points. Houston jumped out to an 8-0 lead 3 minutes in. I thought it was going to be a blowout. It was a “foul or defend” for Duke down the stretch. Blue Devils hunkered down and got the stop. Cougars shot 2 for 8 from 3 for the game. Blue Devils 6-17. 51 points was the lowest Houston scored in a game this year. Sorry but the network can’t have Grant Hill working a Duke game. Tony Romo was at the game. Blue Devils move on to the Elite 8 to take on NC State. Devils and Pack split their two meetings this past year.
Tennessee 82 Creighton 75. Dalton Knecht led the way with 24 points on 8-21 shooting. Both teams made 11 3’s. It was the second meeting ever for the teams. The Vols will play in their 2nd Elite 8 in school history. Allan Houston, a Vols legend was at the game. Where was Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld?
Last game ended at 12:21 am. Not too bad.
ACC has 3 teams in the Elite 8. Big Ten and SEC with 2. Big East 1.
I was 1-3 with my picks. Brings me to 4-4 in the Sweet 16.
Elite 8 match-ups tonight:
UConn-Illinois at 6. Going with the Huskies.
Alabama-Clemson to follow. Give me Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide.
South Carolina women’s team are 106-3 in their last 109 games.
What a night of basketball! Four games, first one started at 7:09 and ended at 12:37 am. Can’t beat 5 hours of ball. Some clown on TV was complaining about how late the last game would end. So what man, shut up and enjoy it.
First up was Arizona – Clemson. Kudos to Brad Brownell and the Tigers. The 5th place team from the ACC took out Arizona 77-72. Brownell is a terrific coach. Did you know he went to the same college as Brad Stevens? (DePauw). Tigers shot 8-25 from 3. Joe Girard of Clemson is a lot of fun to watch. (6 assists, 1-5 FG) He runs the show and gets it done. Love their bigs too. Girard is New York State’s high school all-time leading scorer. He played four years at Syracuse before transferring to Clemson. Brian Anderson and Jim Jackson were on the call. Anderson is good, Jackson, as usual talks way too much. Anderson mentioned “nerves” in the beginning of the game. Nah man, no such thing. Wildcats are moving to the Big 12 next season. Their coach Tommie Lloyd does a good job; he’s 88-20 in two years. He’s never lost two games in a row. Tigers are solid in the half court offense and defense. Caleb Love shot 5-18 for Zona, 0-9 from deep. In the 3 tournament games Love shot a combined 6-29 from 3.
In Boston UConn crushed San Diego State by 30, 82-52. SMH. Not much to say about this one, only good thing about this game was Stan Van Gundy on the call. But…play-by-play was Kevin Harlan. UConn entered the game with the least amount of 3’s made in the first two rounds (12). Last night they made 10. They’ve won all 3 games In the tournament by double-digits. Huskies are rolling. Ran across a good article from Forbes on UConn.https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2024/03/29/dan-hurley-models-uconns-program-after-jay-wrights-villanova-teams/?sh=5b83e8e84350
The Huskies’ coaches credit some of their success to getting to know people close to their players, especially their parents, before offering scholarships.
“The kind of old school people, there’s enough out there still that want to be in a program that holds their sons accountable for the highest level work ethic,” Hurley said earlier this month at Madison Square Garden after UConn won the Big East tournament title. “They’re the type of people when things are going bad, I’m not getting text messages blaming me. They’re text messaging their sons or me saying they’ve got to get better. Those are the type of people we attract because our culture is just different. It’s a Jay Wright culture. It’s a group functioning as one.”
Best game of the night was Alabama and North Carolina. Crimson Tide came out on top 89-87. Nate Oats is one of the best in the country; his guys play hard, they share the ball and just ball out. I thought UNC was a little soft. Bama flexed their muscles all night. Couple of weeks ago there was talk of the men’s game not having any big time players; one thing about the NCAA tournament is someone always pops up and the country falls in love with. Grant Nelson of Bama was that guy. In the first two rounds Nelson scored a total of 6 points on 1-7 shooting in 32 minutes. Last night the North Dakota State transfer exploded for 24 points on 6-9 shooting, 10-13 from the free-throw line. Nelson also had 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Bama played without Latrell Wrightsell who was out with a head injury. Carolina made 12 3’s but RJ Davis was off. He shot 4-20 and was 0-9 from deep. Michael Jordan’s alma mater shot 10-16 from 3 in the first half; second half they were 2-15.
In the nightcap Illinois beat Iowa State 72-69. Terrence Shannon scored 29 points for the Fighting Illini. Iowa State’s coach has some big biceps.
Nice to see Carolina’s Cormac Ryan come to his teammate’s defense, “You guys can write whatever you want about the game. You could talk about RJ, you could talk about the stats. We would not be in this position without RJ Davis.”
If I had a son playing high school ball and he was good enough I would want him to play for Nate Oats, Danny Hurley, Greg Kampe, or Kelvin Sampson.
Clemson will face Alabama and Illinois will play UConn in the Elite 8 on Saturday.
I was 3-1 last night with my picks.
Another four games tonight beginning at 7:09.
Marquette – North Carolina State. Going with Shaka Smart’s crew in Dallas.
7:39 Purdue – Gonzaga in Detroit. Zach Edey and company move on. Did you see what that politician from Michigan said about the 4 buses on the tarmac at Detroit airport? SMH.
9:39 Houston – Duke, going with the Cougars in the second game in Dallas.
9:59 Tennessee – Creighton. I love the Jays in the D.
R.I.P. Lou Gossett Jr. – back in the day when I worked the door at Planet Hollywood in NYC Gossett walked by. “Yo Lou, Lincoln High baby!” I shouted. He looked at me, raised his fist in the air and said, “You know it my man…” Gossett attended Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. Same school that produced Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair, Lee Mazzilli, Marv Albert, Harvey Keitel, and Lance Stephenson.
My man Tari Eason from the Houston Rockets posted a video on Tik Tok (no, I don’t have an account) He called out the Warriors using the line “WARRIORS, COME OUT TO PLAY.” He imitated David Patrick Kelly very well. “The Warriors’ is a movie from 1979 about street gangs in NYC.
The college kids get back at it tonight in the Sweet 16. Four games, two in Boston, two in LA.
7:09 Arizona-Clemson. Going with Zona in this one.
7:39 UConn-San Diego State. A rematch of last year’s finals, Huskies came out on top 76-59. Going with Danny Hurley and company.
9:39 UNC-Alabama. This is a tough one to pick. I’m going with my guy Nate Oats. Roll Tide.
10:09 Iowa State-Illinois. Have to go with the Fighting Illini’ – The Big Ten has not won a National Championship in 24 years (Michigan State 2000)
Will be a great night of basketball. So glad I don’t have to wake up early for work on Friday. Spring break has its advantages.
Caitlin Clark was offered $5 million to play in Ice Cube’s tournament? Like Steve Miller said, “Take the money and run.”
Draymond Green was ejected four minutes into the game (8:24) against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. He wasn’t even involved in the play. After a foul was called on Golden State Green argued with the official.
Opening day in the MLB is today – back in the day it used to be a huge deal for me, not anymore.
Quick question; why is the media and society curious about who is dating who? A story about Scottie Pippen’s ex wife and Michael Jordan’s son breaking up just popped up. Did you really think that relationship was going to last?
Reading an outstanding book by Dave Grohl “The Storyteller.” Good stuff.
Can’t wait for Thursday and Friday – it’s the men’s Sweet 16. ACC has 4 teams left. Big East and SEC 3 each.
I looked over the match-ups and came up with my picks. I’ll save them for tomorrow – in the meantime, here is the 3-point shooting for each team in their first two rounds:
Creighton 25-56 .446
Marquette 22-57 .385
Houston 22-57 .385
Arizona 21-53 .396
Alabama 21-54 .388
Duke 20-46 .434
Purdue 20-47 .425
North Carolina 19-44 .431
Illinois 19-47 .404
Gonzaga 18-36 .500
Iowa State 18-37 .486
San Diego State 18-45 .400
North Carolina State 14-39 .358
Tennessee 14-39 .285
Clemson 13-38 .342
UConn 12-46 .260
There’s an outstanding program on Netflix; “Survive and Advance.” The story of the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack. It’s worth a watch if you dig on hoops.
Michigan Wolverines have made an outstanding hire in Dusty May. Here’s a good read on him.
“My preference — I enjoy younger players and having continuity; building, growing together and therefore the lifelong relationships I feel like I have with almost every player I’ve coached,” May said about a long-term roster construction.
“It’s modern athletics though. The portal will be a valuable asset every year. We’ll use it. Our goal has always been (to) find the best players we can find and help them be the best they can be.”
After six straight days of men’s college basketball, it was time to switch over and check out some action from the women’s side.
The night got underway with Syracuse at UConn. At first I wondered how the two teams did against each other in the regular season, thinking to myself they played twice, maybe squared off in the Big East tournament but wait, the Cuse is in the ACC. Dumb. The Orange should be in the Big East. Huskies at home, which I love. The men should do the same thing; give home court advantage to the higher seeds. The crowd in Storrs was rocking. Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack does a great job. I met her back in the day when she was an assistant at Michigan State. Cool lady. Good coach. Huskies came out on top, 72-64. UConn will advance to the Sweet 16. Geno Auriemma is 70 years old and has been at UConn for 39 seasons. He said Paige Bueckers is the best player in the country; Geno has a point, but I’m still taking Caitlin Clark. Buekers played all 40 minutes, scored 32 points on 14-25 from the field, 1-4 from 3, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. Bueckers numbers for the year: 21.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.9 APG. Clark’s numbers: 31.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 8.8 APG.
Next up was West Virginia at Iowa. Again, the crowd in Iowa City was rocking. West Virginia is a tough, defensive team. Loved how they picked up on D and made it hard for Iowa. Their coach Mark Kellogg does a good job. First half was tough to watch, Hawkeyes up 26-24. It was the lowest total for Iowa all season. They had 10 field goals and 9 turnovers. In the second quarter they scored 6 points. At the half Iowa’s coach Lisa Bluder told Holly Rowe, “We gotta make better passing decisions. We have 9 turnovers. We gotta use ball fakes, step and meet our passes. It goes back to fundamentals.” Things picked up in the second half. It was a fun game, Mountaineers kept it close. The teams were tied at 52 with 2:15 left in the game. Iowa pulled it out 64-54. Clark finished with 32 points on 8-22 shooting, 5-14 from distance, 11-12 FT, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. She turned it over 6 times. Free-throws were a huge difference; Iowa shot 25-30, West Virginia 3-5. Gabbie Marshall of Iowa had the best line of the night following the game. The senior came up with a huge blocked shot with 2:30 left in the game, score tied at 52: “Even if I’m not scoring, I didn’t score a single point tonight (0-4 FG) I’m focused on the team and what we have to do to win and anything I have to do on the defensive end I’m gonna do it for the team.” Atta girl…great attitude.
Worth mentioning even though it was ladies night, 45 years ago today Michigan State played Indiana State in the men’s NCAA championship. Spartans came out on top, 75-64. Magic Johnson led the way playing 35 minutes, 8-15 from the floor, pulled 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Larry Bird did all he could for Indiana State ended up playing all 40 minutes, 7-21 from the floor for 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 6 turnovers. It was the first college basketball championship I watched as a kid.
If you have read my blog in the past, or know me, you know I am a basketball junkie. For me it’s family first, work and basketball. Day 4 of the men’s NCAA tournament was awesome once again. I’ll say it over and over, this tournament is the best in all of sports. We are down to the Sweet 16. I’ll need a few days to recover but I’m going to tune in tonight for Iowa-West Virginia women’s NCAA second round tournament action at 8:00 pm. I love Caitlin Clark. How can you not? She’s awesome.
First up on Sunday was Marquette-Colorado. Golden Eagles with the 81-77 win behind another favorite player of mine, Tyler Kolek, 21 points (10-14 FG) and 11 assists. This guy reminds me of one of those “Jay Wright Villanova guards.” Happy for Shaka Smart, when I found out he collects motivational quotes, I took a liking to him.
Purdue crushed Utah State 106-67 behind Zach Edey’s 23 points, and 14 rebounds in 27 minutes. Matt Painter after the game, “How can we get better?” Love it.
Duke blew out James Madison in Brooklyn, 93-55. Jared McCain scored 30 points for the Dookies. 8-11 from deep.
Clemson over Baylor 72-64. Tigers were the only underdog to win on Sunday. Billy Donlon is an assistant coach at Clemson.
Alabama 72-61 over Grand Canyon. I heard analyst Robbie Hummel say, “Alabama is gonna have to rebound.” What an incredible thought. Mark Sears scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds with 6 assists. Nate Oats is one of the best in the nation. He’s got so much juice and passion on the sidelines. “Great group of guys, couldn’t be happier for them,” Oats said.
UConn handled Northwestern 75-58. Huskies don’t have a weakness. Oh wait, yes they do, they shot 3-22 from distance. Bill Raftery the analyst on the game said. “Chris Collins is a Dookie who knows a lot about basketball.” Boo Buie played his last game for the Wildcats, I think? He spent five years in Evanston playing 149 games. Buie leaves as the program’s all-time leader in games played, shots attempted, minutes played, and total points.
Houston over Texas A&M in OT 100-95.. Cougars were in a foul or defend in regulation and elected to defend. After a couple of misses from deep, Aggies took it out under the basket and made a 3 at the buzzer.
San Diego State sent Yale home 85-57. Bulldogs have to get back in the classroom. Wonder if Yale’s players did any studying or homework while on the road?
Here’s a breakdown of the Sweet 16:
ACC 4 schools, Big East and SEC 3, Big Ten and Big 12, 2 and Mountain West and West Coast with 1 each. The Big East, which got only 3 teams in the tournament are 6-0. ACC is 8-1.
I was 7-1 with my picks on Sunday, which brings me to 12-4 in the second round. First two days I was 21-11.
Thursday night:
Clemson-Arizona, San Diego State-UConn, Alabama-North Carolina, Illinois-Iowa State.
Day 3 of the men’s NCAA tournament started at 12:45 pm and ended at 12:24 am. Tell me a sport or sporting event that even comes close to this incredible post-season competition?
Before I get to the games, congratulations to Dusty May, new head coach at the University of Michigan. Dusty will do a great job. He’s a good guy and a very good coach. He’ll have the Wolverines at the top of the Big Ten soon.
Arizona and Dayton started things off with Brendan Haywood and Brad Nessler on the call. Haywood is very good. I love his analysis and truth telling. Plus, he doesn’t feel the need to scream nor does Nessler. When I think of Dayton Flyers basketball first thing that comes to mind is Roosevelt Chapman. Dayton had a 3-on-2 break with 11 minutes left in the game, down 5. Guy with the ball in the middle jacked up a long 3 from the top of the key; he had a good shooter wide open on the right wing. Haywood said, “You gotta get a better shot than that.”
Charles Barkley in studio once again said something spectacular. “Two important things on offense; ball movement and body movement.”
Love the All-State commercial with Dean Winters and Larry Bird.
Checked in on Iowa against Holy Cross in women’s basketball. The announcer said, “It’s going to be a possession game.” Hawkeyes win 91-65. Why does Holly Rowe have to mention the price of tickets for the women’s games and compare them to the men’s games? Caitlin Clark’s numbers: 31 minutes, 27 points, 8 rebounds 10 assists. Hawkeyes will play West Virginia Monday night at 8. Wonder if Clark shares her NIL earnings with teammates?
Men’s basketball should do what the women do; play home games in the first couple of rounds of the tournament. Give top seeds an advantage. Reward them for a fantastic season.
Gonzaga crushed Kansas 89-68.Zags will play in their ninth straight sweet 16.
North Carolina beat Michigan State 85-69. RJ Davis and Tyson Walker played in the CHSAA in NYC; Davis at Stepinac, Walker at Christ the King. Walker finished with 24 points, Davis 20. AJ Hoggard shot 1-10 from the field. MSU had just 6 assists with 11 turnovers. Tar Heels were 12-5. Harrison Ingram made 5 3’s for UNC.
Oakland had their chances to beat North Carolina State but came up short late in the game. Wolfpack wins in OT, 79-73. DJ Burns scored 24 points for the Wolfpack and pulled down 11 rebounds. NC State has now won 7 games in the last 12 days. Love Trey Townsend of the Golden Grizzlies; he’s an undersized warrior. The Oxford, Michigan native played all 45 minutes scoring 30 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Jack Gohlke was 6-17 from 3. Grizzlies fought hard, kudos to Greg Kampe.
Tennessee over Texas 62-58. Vols shot 3-25 from deep.
Illinois crushed Duquesne 89-63.Terrence Shannon scored 30 points and his teammate Marcus Domask scored 22 points and had 7 assists.
In the nightcap Creighton beat Oregon in OT 86-73. Blue Jays outscored the Ducks in the extra session 15-2. Oregon didn’t attempt a free-throw until there was :27 left in the game. Three guys on Creighton played all 50 minutes. Announcers talk too much about “fatigue” and “tired legs.” Please stop. These kids don’t get tired. N’Faly Dante scored 28 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in 48 minutes. Jays made 15 3’s.
Love what Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said after the game, “We have no drama and no off-court issues.”
Why do we have to have a check in from Gene Steratore when there’s a close play? Does it matter what he says about a close call? Move on.
One thing I notice reading about the games, following each one there is talk of players returning next year. Who cares? If a kid doesn’t want to come back to their respective school, let them go. You want good people who want to be on campus.
I went 5-3 with my picks. Today I’m going with: Marquette, Purdue, Duke, Baylor, Alabama, UConn, Houston and San Diego State.
Enjoy the games today and always play the right way…
Yesterday both guys said something on air that was wonderful and refreshing.
Let’s start with the head coach of the Connecticut Huskies:
UConn was up 52-19 on Stetson at the half and Hurley didn’t seem too happy during his interview with the sideline reporter.
“We gotta grow up a little, the last couple of minutes I didn’t like.”
To fill you in, Hurley wasn’t happy with his team and the way they played to close out the half. They have a high standard at UConn. Now there are some people in society who will criticize Hurley and say, “oh come on Dan, you’re up 33, relax.”
NO, NO, NO…You have an obligation to coach your guys up and hold them to the expectations of the program. That’s why they’re the champions and may just win back-to-back titles.
Which leads me to what Barkley said in studio, “you gotta wanna be coached.”
We have too many players who don’t want to be pushed to give their best.
Just relax, let the coaches coach you. Parents, stay out of it.
QUICK HITTERS:
I said it yesterday, I’ll say it today – the University of Michigan should reach out to Greg Kampe at Oakland and offer him the men’s head basketball coaching position. He’ll turn it around in Ann Arbor. Golden Grizzlies take on NC State at 7:10.
Saw a gambling commercial yesterday, “don’t regret the bet,” was their slogan. In all my life, all the bets I made, I regret them all.”
I have been tracking 3’s in the tournament. Winning teams made more 3’s in 23 of the 32 games.
I like seeing the college coaches wearing pullovers and sneakers on the sidelines. Not feeling the suit and tie look.
Why can’t basketball coaches talk more to the officials like they do in baseball and football?
After going 11-5 with my picks on the first day I went 10-6 yesterday. Here’s my picks for today:
Arizona over Dayton, Kansas over Gonzaga but this one will go down to the wire. Michigan State over North Carolina. Iowa State over Washington State, Oakland over North Carolina State, Tennessee over Texas, Illinois over Duquesne, and Creighton over Oregon.
Caitlin Clark in action today on ABC at 3:00. She takes on the Crusaders of Holy Cross. Shout out to the late Togo Palazzi.
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY 