March Insanity: The perfect and worst from Saturday’s Elite Eight video games

Two spots within the Last 4 secured. One by a powerhouse with extra nationwide titles than any program since 1999. The opposite by a program that had by no means tasted an NCAA event victory this time two weeks in the past.

Let’s get to it.

(9) Florida Atlantic 79, (3) Kansas State 76 (East)

Florida Atlantic, a program which two weeks in the past had by no means received an NCAA event sport and had appeared within the Large Dance simply as soon as earlier than, is headed to the Last 4.

Dusty Might’s Owls bought there by advantage of a 79-76 thriller that ended one of many higher particular person runs we’ve seen in March in fairly a while.

Kanas State star guard Markquis Nowell’s 30 factors, 12 assists and 5 steals someway weren’t sufficient to doom the nationwide title hopes of the Convention USA champions. Maybe extra improbably, neither had been FAU’s 22 turnovers.

Whereas Florida Atlantic is understood primarily for its frenetic tempo and thrilling guard play, it was 7’1 huge man Vladislav Goldin who performed the largest half on the Owls’ greatest day. Goldin managed the center of the paint all night lengthy in opposition to Ok-State, ending with 14 factors, 13 rebounds and a pair of blocked pictures.

After a back-and-forth first half-hour, Kansas State had appeared to grab management halfway by way of the second half with a six level lead. Then, the Wildcats appeared to cease working the offense that had gained them their benefit, as an alternative settling for a collection of heat-check pictures to attempt to bury their plucky adversaries for good.

The transfer backfired in a significant means.

Florida Atlantic capitalized on the string of unhealthy offense with a 15-1 run that mimicked the one which allowed to take management of their Candy 16 sport in opposition to Tennessee. The Owls out of the blue discovered themselves in entrance by eight with simply 2:44 to play when Ok-State determined to launch its personal comeback try.

Some free-throws, some stops, and a pair of three-pointers left the Wildcats trailing by only a level with 22.8 seconds to play.

Michael Forrest, whose private 8-0 run was the largest catalyst to FAU’s win over the Volunteers, then stepped stepped as much as bury 4 consecutive free-throws to keep up the Owls’ benefit.

Ok-State had a last shot to tie the sport, however as an alternative of making an attempt to play hero one final time, Nowell handed the ball to sharpshooter Ismael Massoud. Massoud was instantly trapped and was unable to even try a last shot.

Bing, Bang. Increase. Florida Atlantic is 2 wins away from a nationwide championship.

Along with being wildly aggressive all through, this was maybe essentially the most full offensive sport the event has seen thus far.

FAU shot 48.1 % from the sector and related on 9-of-23 (39.1%) pictures from past the arc. Kansas State countered with a 46.6 % taking pictures effort, together with a 10-of-22 (45.5%) efficiency from three.

The Owls’ whopping 22 turnovers resulted in 30 Kansas State factors, however FAU made up for that drawback by out-rebounding the Wildcats by 22 and outscoring them 15-2 on second probability alternatives.

And identical to that, Florida Atlantic now has extra Last Fours than Tennessee, Missouri, Xavier, BYU, Alabama, Arizona State, Texas A&M and Boston Faculty. Mixed.

It additionally has as many Last 4 appearances as Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Washington, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Auburn and Seton Corridor.

Greatest sporting occasion on the planet.

UConn

With out query, the best choose within the decade-long historical past of those recap posts.

UConn capped off one of the crucial dominant regional title runs in NCAA event historical past with an 82-54 absolute ass kicking of Gonzaga to say the West Area. The 28-point margin of victory — which may have been a lot bigger if Danny Hurley hadn’t began placing his walk-ons in with over three minutes to play — is essentially the most lopsided in a regional last since Cincinnati beat Memphis by 31 again in 1992.

As was the case with every of their three earlier March Insanity wins, the Huskies confirmed from the leap that they had been going to have the ability to get just about no matter they needed offensively.

Jordan Hawkins — later named the West Area Most Excellent Participant — continued his red-hot taking pictures, pulling down 6-of-10 from past the arc and scoring a game-high 20 factors. Andre Jackson performed his level ahead position to a tee, meting out 10 assists (in opposition to no turnovers) whereas additionally scoring eight factors and grabbing 9 rebounds. And when Gonzaga made it clear early on that they had been going to break down on Adama Sanogo and never let the massive man kill them together with his scoring, Sanogo responded by setting a brand new career-high for assists … within the first half. He completed the sport with six, together with 10 factors and 10 rebounds.

Even with what Connecticut had executed within the prior three rounds, the destruction of Gonzaga in what many believed may be the de facto nationwide championship sport was jarring.

UConn held the Zags 33 factors beneath their season scoring common and compelled them to shoot worse than 35.0 % from the sector in a sport for the primary time since 2018. The Huskies held their better-seeded opponents to 2-of-20 from past the arc and outscored them by 21 factors within the second half. And, once more, it may have been worse.

The win was the crown jewel of a West Area run that noticed Connecticut defeat its 4 opponents by a complete of 90 factors.

Keep in mind that this area was broadly thought of to be the strongest of the 4 going into the event. What the Huskies did to it was traditionally brutal.

No matter what occurs in tomorrow’s sport, UConn will head to Houston as a stable favourite to chop down the nets for the fifth time in program historical past.

If solely somebody had instructed everybody earlier than the beginning of the event that the Huskies had been the group to beat.

And look, earlier than you all begin with the “good name on Oral Roberts” bullshit, I used to be proper in regards to the prime seeds within the East being terrible and a bizarro group successful the area. I simply picked the fallacious one. At the very least that’s what I say at evening to my spouse … who’s been asleep for 45 minutes … and who didn’t care in any respect to start with.

Gonzaga

See above.

The one factor that’s going to totally put to mattress the “overrated yearly” narrative is to win a nationwide title, however in the event you’re trying to strike some kind of center floor till that occurs, historic ass kickings like this aren’t going to assist.

Gonzaga has the longest lively, and third longest ever, streak of consecutive Candy 16 appearances at eight. It additionally fell brief within the final two NCAA tournaments because the No. 1 general seed, and was humbled within the 2021 title sport with an 86-70 drubbing by Baylor.

As spectacular because the final 25 or so years have been for the Zags, their event runs have too usually ended with an imprint-leaving thud. Saturday evening was the sixth time since 2004 that Gonzaga has misplaced an NCAA event sport by 19 factors or extra.

There’s definitely no disgrace in dropping to this UConn group. Having the sport be determined by the primary TV timeout of the second half? Nicely, there’s at the very least a bit little bit of disgrace in that.

1. Markquis Nowell

One final time for our diminutive March prince.

Falling in need of successful a nationwide title implies that Nowell’s 2023 NCAA event magic received’t be remembered in the identical mild as Kemba Walker’s unimaginable run in 2011, however it is going to definitely be remembered.

Along with his 30-point, 12-assist, five-steal effort on Saturday, Nowell grew to become first participant ever with at the very least 80 factors, 50 assists and 10 steals in a single NCAA event. He additionally grew to become simply the second participant within the final 5 tournaments to be named a area’s Most Excellent Participant regardless of his group not successful the area, becoming a member of Purdue’s Carsen Edwards in 2019.

Nowell additionally grew to become the primary participant with greater than 25 factors and 10 assists in an Elite Eight sport since Dwyane Wade posted a triple-double for Marquette in opposition to Kentucky in 2003.

The record-setting help numbers, the unbelievable no-look passes that bought him there, the 26-foot-bombs, the thefts, the ground managing, the quotes; all of it. This was Markquis Nowell’s event for 2 weeks, and it was superb.

2. Ken LaVicka

Ken LaVicka has been the radio voice of Florida Atlantic males’s basketball since 2009, and he’s a one-man group. Since getting the job (he added FAU soccer play-by-play to his repertoire in 2011), LaVicka has been there for 10 seasons through which the Owls misplaced extra video games than they received. His solely postseason expertise earlier than this yr (exterior of the C-USA event) consisted of an NIT first spherical loss in 2011, a CIT first spherical loss in 2019, and a CBI first spherical loss final season.

On Saturday evening, that very same man discovered himself preparing for the decision of his life. The decision that each group broadcaster at each degree desires of. The decision that may make each day of the final 14 years of thankless work, sleepless nights and dropping basketball all price it.

After which his connection crashed.

With Florida Atlantic simply 18.6 seconds away from the Last 4, the ethernet connection on the whole media row the place LaVicka was sitting inside Madison Sq. Backyard went out. He spent 30 seconds off the air, scrambling to discover a new method to join.

Fortunately, Kansas State referred to as a timeout whereas LaVicka was frantically looking out, or else his listeners would have been tuned in to lifeless air whereas the Owls celebrated the largest win in class historical past. Fortunately, he was capable of finding a stay ethernet wire from the row behind him, join it to his Comrex unit, and get again on the air to explain FAU’s history-making scene in New York.

He recounted the story for NCAA reporter Andy Katz after the sport.

LaVicka’s years of service had been additionally rewarded by attending to spend extra time with FAU coach Dusty Might than anybody else after the win.

If you happen to’re eager about listening to LaVicka’s name of the ultimate moments of Florida Atlantic’s Last 4 clinching win, right here you go:

Definitely worth the scrambling.

3. Jerome Tang

First-year Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang is a finalist for just about each nationwide Coach of the 12 months award on the planet for a purpose. He inherited a Ok-State group that received 10 video games three years in the past, 9 video games the yr after that, completed final within the Large 12 a season in the past, and was picked to complete final within the Large 12 once more this yr.

All Tang did was lead the Wildcats to 26 wins, a 3-seed within the NCAA event, and get them inside one win of their first Last 4 look since 1964.

The success gained him notoriety, however it’s the best way he’s dealt with himself over these final two weeks and the sunshine that has been shed on the relationships he has together with his gamers which have actually constructed up his nationwide fan base.

Working example, Tang doing this after his group’s nationwide title desires had simply been crushed:

If that wasn’t sufficient, Tang additionally made it a degree to go into the Florida Atlantic locker room and congratulate them on being the “hardest sons of weapons” his group had confronted all season.

And about these player-coach relationships …

Cherish that man, Ok-State.

1. Danny Hurley’s portray

I’ll be trustworthy: This phase was essentially the most entertaining a part of the second half of UConn-Gonzaga.

The “Michael Scott Marriage ceremony Reward Portray of Jim and Pam” vibes are off the chart right here.

It’s form of comforting to know that Hurley sucks at one thing proper now, as a result of his group has been rattling close to good the final 4 occasions it’s taken the ground.

2. Drew Timme’s foul hassle

Each faculty basketball season, particularly throughout March Insanity, we’re flooded with 1000’s of solutions on methods to “repair” faculty basketball’s greatest issues, most of which don’t truly exist.

As exhausting as this annual train is, there are at all times at the very least just a few solutions which have precise benefit.

One essentially the most constantly pointed to flaws that I do suppose is a big problem for the kind is that it’s brightest stars are too usually spending lengthy intervals of the time on the sidelines due to foul hassle. Working example, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme on Saturday evening.

Now, let’s get the apparent out of the best way first: Gonzaga didn’t get blown out by UConn as a result of Drew Timme was saddled with foul hassle for many of the evening. Timme may have been given 15 fouls to make use of and the Huskies had been going to advance to Houston convincingly.

That mentioned, it was annoying to see one of the crucial prolific scorers in NCAA event historical past on the bench late within the first half. It was much more annoying to see him choose up two fast fouls early within the second half, the second of which coming 20 ft away from the ball and having no have an effect on on the sport’s motion.

Kansas State’s Keyontae Johnson was additionally considerably hampered by foul points in the course of the Wildcats’ loss to Florida Atlantic. In contrast to the case with Timme, his extended absence might have value his group a visit to the Last 4.

I don’t know if the answer is upping the foul restrict to 6, shifting to quarters, altering the best way the sport is officiated or what, however conditions like this occur too usually in faculty hoops, and we’ve been saying that for too lengthy with none kind of repair being proposed.

3. Willie the Wildcat

Generally at video games I feel it’s humorous to observe the mascot doing mascot stuff after which think about him as a standard human with none kind of costume doing the identical weird motions and gyrations.

Different occasions I’ll watch a group mascot who isn’t carrying a dressing up and marvel if they might reasonably be totally lined up so they might take part a few of the “wacky” conduct with out trying ridiculous.

By no means, ever do I feel that we’d like some kind of half-measure between totally costumed and totally uncostumed mascot.

Principally, there’s no defending Kansas State’s Willie the Wildcat.

That’s an excessive amount of pores and skin. That’s simply means an excessive amount of pores and skin.

When your mascot seems just like the half-assed Halloween costume of a child who’s means too previous to be trick-or-treating however doesn’t have an amazing relationship together with his mother and father, possibly that’s when it’s time for some kind of re-brand.

Markquis Nowell, Kansas State

Nowell turned in a single final spectacular effort, going for 30 factors, 12 assists and 5 steals within the last sport of his faculty profession.

Jordan Hawkins, UConn

The West Area MOP drilled six three-pointers and scored a game-high 20 factors.

Bryan Greenlee, Florida Atlantic

Greenlee performed simply 21 minutes due to foul hassle, however hit 4-of-6 pictures from past the arc and scored 16 factors for the Owls.

Vladislav Goldin, Florida Atlantic

Goldin managed the center of the paint all night lengthy in opposition to Ok-State, ending with 14 factors, 13 rebounds and a pair of blocked pictures.

Andre Jackson, UConn

UConn’s level ahead at all times appeared to be in the fitting place on the proper time, and completed the Huskies’ regional last win with 10 assists, 9 rebounds and eight factors.

Alijah Martin, Florida Atlantic

1. Hoot Hoot

Picture by Elsa/Getty Photographs

2. Husky get together

Picture by Carmen Mandato/Getty Photographs

3. The flip aspect

Picture by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Photographs

1. “I anticipate the prognosticators to choose us fifth within the Last 4.” —Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty Might

2. “I’m simply so grateful that this system and the place took me for who I used to be. They didn’t ask me to be anyone however myself.” —Gonzaga senior ahead Drew Timme

3. “It’s one thing you dream of. My feelings took all of me. And I simply needed to flex UConn. UConn is again.” —UConn sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins

No hoops for six days after this. Soak all of it in.

• No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 6 Creighton | 2:20 p.m. ET | CBS
• No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Miami (Fla.) | 5:05 p.m. ET | CBS