#2 Michigan defeated #11 Tennessee
Virginia fans feared the end of one of the most successful seasons in school history. Michigan St. fans knew that every four-year Spartan player under Tom Izzo has made the Final Four, and feared that the streak could be broken this year. Louisville fans feared that Russ Smith, one of the best players in school history, would see his career come to an end. Kentucky fans feared that the preseason #1 team would bow out to its bitter rival. Iowa St. fans feared that this might be Fred Hoiberg’s last game, given all the noise about NBA teams contacting him this off-season. Connecticut fans feared that if Kevin Ollie lost in the Garden, it would be a sign that the Connecticut program could no longer reach the heights it reached under Jim Calhoun. Friday night was a night where the fanbases had a lot on the line.
But oddly, the Michigan vs Tennessee game had the least tension. John Beilein is on an incredible roll, and if he can have this much success with this young group of players, the Wolverines future is incredibly bright. And while Tennessee fans wanted their team to advance, this NCAA tournament run has already been special.
Almost every NCAA tournament game is filled with tension, but to my eyes, Michigan vs Tennessee was all about the lack of tension. It was about the comfort that the players had on the floor.
In the first half, Michigan calmly ran their offense. They hit five of their first six threes. They ran around picks at the free throw line and drove for easy lay-ups. They played with such freedom in the first half that at one point Nik Stauskas threw the ball off the backboard, got it back, and kicked it out to Derrick Walton for a three. Walton was fouled and made all three free throws. It was backyard basketball and the Wolverines were playing like a team without a care in the world.
There were a few signs of concern. Michigan had some uncharacteristic puzzling turnovers in the first half. But with basically every shot dropping, they eventually built a 15 point lead.
Late in the second half, things changed. That is when the Volunteers started playing like a team with nothing to lose. They suddenly looked more comfortable on the court, and executed on offense and defense. They attacked the basket with reckless abandon. They reached for steals and knocked the ball off the Michigan players. And out of nowhere, the big Michigan lead was erased.
With Tennessee down three and needing to foul, we saw one of those perfectly amusing basketball plays. Michigan tried to push the ball ahead to beat the pressure, but the ball ricocheted off of several players. And as you watched the replay, you could just see all the players on both teams leaving it all on the floor, trying to reach for the ball. The Volunteers grabbed it, scored, and then caused one more turnover. This set up the games’ deciding play.
Michigan’s Jordan Morgan made a reputation in last year’s tournament as an outstanding interior defender. He drew a huge charge to get Michigan past Syracuse and into the title game. And anyone who has watched a Big Ten game and heard Dan Dakich on commentary is probably sick of hearing how great Morgan is at moving his feet defensively and holding his position.
But a funny thing happened this year. Because of the rule changes, Morgan has not had the same dynamic defensive season. There have been plenty of times when he’s been called for a foul instead of drawing the charges that he drew last year.
But on this night, Morgan was ready for the defensive challenge. Jarnell Stokes caught the ball in the corner, lowered his shoulder into Morgan, and the offensive foul was called. A few plays later, the Wolverines prevailed.
Final Random Note: I’ve talked before about how Michigan games don’t have whistles. At the end of the first half, we almost didn’t get the under 4 minute timeout. But eventually the ball was kicked out of bounds with 4.2 seconds left in the half. This begs the question: What happens if there is no under 4 minute time out in the first half? Does the game stop on the first whistle of the second half?
#7 Connecticut defeated #3 Iowa St.
Grantland’s Brian Phillips wrote a beautiful essay on Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery this week.
“Lundquist and Raftery treat college basketball games like they’re important. But they always locate the games’ importance in the human beings who make them happen… Lundquist and Raftery project [that] the game is worth watching … because for the 25 or so players and six or eight coaches and handful of officials and timekeepers and cheerleaders and moms and dads and clarinetists, the game was worth having in the first place.”
And after reading that piece, I couldn’t help but watch UConn playing Iowa St. through that lens.
-Early in the game two players fell to the floor after a blocked shot. And Lundquist and Rafter reacted with genuine concern for the health of both players. That may seem minor, but it is too rare.
-Lundquist raved about Dustin Hogue’s haircut (chiseling Hogue in the back of his head.) Raftery joked that Lundquist should copy Hogue. But as Lundquist put it, to carve Lundquist in the back of his head would require the barber to go “from ear to ear”.
-Lundquist praised Iowa St.’ DeAndre Kane for turning his basketball career around. After leading the NCAA in technical fouls at Marshall and having his scholarship revoked, Kane became a star player under Fred Hoiberg.
-And Raftery was lavish in his praise as always, “This is the best game I’ve ever seen DeAndre Daniels play.”
Statistically, there were a ton of key factors that swung the game. Iowa St. had a terrible night at the free throw line while Connecticut made almost every free throw attempt. Iowa St.’s superstar scorer Melvin Ejim couldn’t make a shot from anywhere on the floor. And Connecticut was incredibly hot from three point range early in the game.
But as in almost every Lundquist/Raftery game, it wasn’t the stats that mattered. The game was about the players who left it all on the floor.
#4 Michigan St. defeated #1 Virginia
Early in the game, Virginia forced a shot-clock violation. It sent a clear message. No matter how patient the Spartans were offensively, no matter how much they tried to attack in transition, Virginia was not going to go away. The Cavaliers play such fantastic defense at such a slow tempo, that it was virtually impossible for this game not to come down to the wire.
When Virginia tied the game at 23, at that point eight different Cavalier players had scored. Perhaps they lacked star power, but Virginia truly had the ultimate “team” this season. Everyone was capable of contributing offensively, and everybody was locked down in a stance defensively.
And for Michigan St., we finally got our litmus test. Could the Spartans find ways to score in the half-court in the final minutes of a close game with Keith Appling limited?
First, Appling did his best. He had an amazing drive for a bucket with the shot-clock winding down near the 6:50 mark. But Appling missed a key FT late in the game, and he could have been called for a push-off offensive foul late in the game. Appling was clearly giving his all, but it was also clear that he will never be 100% again this season.
And with Appling limited, Tom Izzo elected to yell at Adreian Payne in the huddle. Faced with that pep talk, the Spartan big man decided to be the closer. Payne nailed a clutch three. He fed Branden Dawson on a beautiful high-low pass to extend the lead. And then he knocked down some clutch free throws to seal the game. For Michigan St., Payne’s late play was the difference.
This game also showed that sometimes talent beats teamwork. Michigan St. clearly had the better athletes. Besides Payne, Branden Dawson was a beast again in the paint. Even when his shot was blocked, he was there corralling the rebound and putting it up again. And Travis Trice, whose three point shooting has reached new heights this year, hit a huge three in transition late. Against that athletic execution, Virginia had no chance.
The Spartans are still learning what it means to be a team. They’ve practiced little together this year because of all the injuries. But given their explosive ability in the half-court and in transition, if they ever do build perfect chemistry with one another, the sky is the limit.
#8 Kentucky defeated #4 Louisville
I thought there was something interesting in the difference in the reactions when Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell and Kentucky’s James Young fouled out. While Harrell was emotional and distraught, throwing his towel to the ground, Young seemed calm and observant.
In many ways, this shows why Kentucky will never be as sympathetic a team to most fans. For Young, a talented athlete who plans to play in the NBA soon, he has never been to the NCAA tournament before. He has never experienced the regret of losing in the tournament and seeing his season end. And he knows he will soon have professional opportunities to do more great things. Winning may be very important to Young, but he doesn’t view this moment as fleeting.
For Harrell, who spent most of last year coming off the bench, he knows that this was his window for success. Even if his team won a title last year, he knows the regret of not being able to make plays in tournament games. The off-season is long. The moment in the spotlight is short.
But even if many fans feel like they cannot relate to the one-and-done players, there are always stories of redemption. Alex Poythress was once an elite athlete. He initially expected to go to Kentucky, win lots of games, and become an NBA lottery pick. Instead he spent his freshman season on a team labeled as a failure. That was a lot to live down, but he was an efficient scorer, John Calipari wanted him back, and he accepted a bench role this season. And again, he had to live down the criticism that this team was a disappointment. Poythress started at the top of the mountain, and became the poster-child under-achiever.
Thus when Poythress got a key block late, and got a key offensive rebound that helped put the game away, it was more than just a few crucial plays by a bench player. It was a story of redemption. And that’s why Calipari was so emphatic in high-fiving and embracing Poythress in a late game time out. However demonized this squad may be by people who hate the one-and-done culture, these are still young adults struggling to find success in the world.
Russ Smith will go down as one of my favorite college basketball players of the decade. And in his final game, he played fantastic basketball. Smith attacked with such a frenetic pace in this game, that I personally found this game to be even more compelling than the Wichita St. vs Kentucky game that preceded it.
But it was crazy how this became a much bigger war of attrition than I would have ever expected. In the NCAA tournament, normally tight rotations and short benches dominate. But while Kentucky lost Willie Cauley-Stein to injury and James Young to foul trouble, they still had a Top 10 recruit in Dakari Johnson ready to step up his minutes and score big points. And they still had the aforementioned Alex Poythress.
But Louisville, usually one of the deepest teams in the land, seemed like the team more impacted by the foul situation. For the first time since early January, I found myself wondering how much this team missed Chane Behanan’s play as an inside scorer. No one really has an answer for Julius Randle, but this Louisville line-up seemed particularly ill-equipped to match the inside play of Randle and Johnson together. And no matter how well Smith and Luke Hancock played, their dream of back-to-back NCAA titles, came to an end.