Bracketeers,
The Final Four has yielded a lot of great moments over the years. This year would be no different, as teams put it all out on the floor to get to Monday’s Championship game.
Game 1: It’s Not How You Start It’s How You Finish
#5 San Diego State did not get a lot of shine prior to Saturday’s game against #9 Florida Atlantic. After all, the Owls were trying to be the first 9 Seed to reach the National Finals in history, but history had been broken by this team every single week with first wins, Sweet 16 and Final Four. Still, Coach Brian Dutcher’s team in the Aztecs would have to beat the team with the most wins left in the tournament.
In the first half. the pace favored FAU, but San Diego State was able to jump out to a quick lead guard, Matt Bradley (21 points, 6 rebounds) hit back to back jumpers more offense than he displayed in either game in the regional – the Aztecs led, 14-5. Still, this Owls’ team is resilient, and it was Alijah Martin’s turn to lead the scoring charge as FAU stormed back on a 16-3 run to take a 21-17 lead with 10:01 to play in the half. As the half went on, the pace of scoring was much higher than expected, and FAU was able to build a 40-33 lead at the half.
In the second half, the Owls continued their attack. When, Martin (26 points, 9 of 10 from the line) hit 2 free throws with 13:53 to play, FAU led by 14 at 56-42. This Aztecs team has a tendency to figure out an offense and slowly suffocate it over the course of time. That’s exactly what happened again, as San Diego State went on a 18-6 run over the next 5 minutes and 46 seconds to pull the game to 62-60 with 8:07 remaining. Then, Martin hit another triple, and the game ground to a halt. Neither team scored for the next 2:06, and SDSU’s Jaedon LeDee (12 points, 6 boards) split a pair to break the drought with 5:40 left. The Aztecs literally clawed their way back one free throw at a time as both Bradley and Aguek Arop (9 points) split pairs of free throws to get the lead to 65-63, and Arop on the offensive rebound tied the game with 4:26 to play. The defense was fierce by both squads to the finish. Then, with FAU’s Johnell Davis (8 points) hit 2 free throws with 1:20 left, the Owls led 69-66. The Aztecs answered with a LeDee layup up with 1:06 to play, then Martin answered with a layup for FAU to get back to 3, 71-68. On their next possession, LeDee hit another jumper in the lane to cut the lead to 71-70 with 38 ticks left. On the FAU possession, the Owls worked the shot clock to 3 and game clock to 10 seconds, as Davis missed his jumper. Then, without a timeout, the push down the floor by SDSU’s Lamont Butler (9 points) who drove right, nearly stepped out on the baseline, turned, rose up and shot as the buzzer went off and it was GOOOODDDD!!!!! The tournament’s first buzzer beater sends San Diego State to the Finals for the first time ever, despite trailing every second of the 2nd half. The Aztecs have defied the odds time and again, so maybe they can do it again on Monday.
#5 San Diego State 72 #9 Florida Atlantic 71
Game 2: Huskies Continue Their Dominance
#4 UConn had not had any close games in this tournament. As the Huskies have been able to run and defend at an incredible level. #5 Miami had been able to come from behind in most of their games in amazing fashion staring down elimination and laughing at it. In this one, would Miami’s Coach Jim Larranaga have an answer for this Huskies team.
In the first half, the early answer was no. UConn got out to a quick 14-4 lead as center, Adama Sanogo (21 points, 10 rebounds) hit back to back threes in that initial run to get the team going. Miami in their familiar role bounced back, this time with Harlond Beverly (7 points) getting into the act, and his big dunk with 10:21 to play in the half cut the lead to 16-13. Then, a couple possessions later the hero in the Elite 8 game, Jordan Miller (11 points, 10 rebounds) completed a 3-point play with 8:57 to get the lead down to 2, and a Nijel Pack (8 points) three on the next possession completed the full comeback tying the game at 19. Game on. Well, the only difference between this week’s opponent for the Hurricanes was the Huskies just keep coming, and they went on an 8-0 spurt of themselves as Tristan Newton assisted on a 3, hit a jumper and two free throws in that stretch. Plus, to add a little salt in the wound, UConn’s Alex Karaban (8 points,9 boards) hit a triple with 3 seconds to go in the half to give them a 37-24 lead at the half.
In the second half, UConn did what it does. They continued to attack the bucket and drill threes extending the lead to 20 at 16:36 to play. What became apparent was the UConn size compared to the undersized Canes. Miami’s Norchad Omier (8 points, 7 rebounds) was the only big on the floor, and the UConn bigs – Sanogo and Donovan Clingan (4 points, 6 rebounds) were just too much for the Hurricanes. The closest they would come down the stretch was 10 after 2 Miller free throws with 4:48 to play at 64-54. However, the Huskies closed the game with relative ease winning by 13. UConn is undefeated in title games, so we will see if Coach Danny Hurley can follow in the footsteps of Calhoun and Ollie and bring another title home to Connecticut.
#4 UConn 72 #5 Miami 59
Wegs Pool Standings After Final Four
As for our pool, we have a winner. Despite having one poolster with UConn as the champ, they are too far back to get in the money. Such is the pain of the pool scoring. Still, we have a 3 way tie for 5th right now, which means that 2 will be in the money and one will be out of the money depending on the tiebreaker.
Ok, one more game tomorrow. Should be a good one.
Da Commish Wegs