A truly unique Final Four
It is a very unpredictable Final Four
The best postseason tournament among all of sports is about to wrap up in four days with the Final Four on Saturday and the National Championship on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona. The 7-seed South Carolina from the East Region, the 1-seed Gonzaga from the West, the 3-seed Oregon from the Midwest and the 1-seed North Carolina from the South are the last four teams remaining.
At first glance you think ok, Gonzaga, North Carolina and Oregon were all highly ranked teams throughout the season and the one big surprise is South Carolina. A 7-seed though reaching the Final Four shouldn’t come as that much a shock. All you have to do is look back at five of the last six Final Fours and you’ll notice a familiarity. A team seeded 7th or worst made it to the last weekend of the tournament. In 2011 11-seed VCU, 2013 9-seed Wichita State, 2014 8-seed Kentucky (7-seed Connecticut defeated the Wildcats in the National Championship), 2015 7-seed Michigan State and last year 10-seed Syracuse.
The biggest shock is how all four of these teams got to this point.
Let’s start with the Cinderella of the tournament, South Carolina. When the brackets first came out South Carolina matched up against Marquette in the 7-10 game. A lot of the experts thought Marquette’s three-point shooting would get them the win. South Carolina trailed at the half and stifled Marquette in the second half en route to a 94-73 win. Then they took on a Duke squad that a lot and I mean a lot of people had winning the whole thing because they looked so dominant in winning the ACC Tournament the week before. Once again South Carolina came back from a deficit in the second half and put up a massive 65 points in the second half to complete the upset. In the Sweet 16 their defense stymied Baylor and in the Elite Eight they beat one of their conference rivals Florida to reach the Final Four.
What makes this run so unprecedented is that the Gamecocks finished the year 3-6 before the tournament. No one had them on their radar when it came to picking a team to make a deep run. They have got this far with swarming defense and outstanding play from Sindarius Thornwell. The rest of the team doesn’t have those household names and the fact they are only two wins away from being a National Champion is unbelievable. Coach Frank Martin is already a legend in South Carolina.
Their opponent on Saturday night is the Gonzaga Bulldogs who have lost just once during the entire season. Yet many are still surprised that Gonzaga and Coach Mark Few are in the program’s first Final Four. Many thought that the 2-seed in the region, Arizona, would get to their home state and give Sean Miller his first Final Four but 11-seed Xavier had other plans and upset the Wildcats in the Sweet 16. The Zags toughest test came in the Sweet 16 against West Virginia, aka Press Virginia where the Bulldogs couldn’t find a rhythm on offense but were able to match the Mountaineers toughness. With under a minute to go and Gonzaga down 58-57 Cal transfer Jordan Mathews hit the go-ahead three-pointer that sealed the win. After the Zags tacked on a free throw West Virginia couldn’t even get a clean shot off at the end of regulation to force overtime.
After getting by West Virginia Gonzaga was able to run their style of offense against Xavier in a fairly easy 83-59 victory. Johnathan Williams, the Missouri transfer averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds in the two games to spark the Zags. A lot of people doubted how good this Gonzaga team is because they play in the West Coast Conference. Well I hope they see how good they are now because out of the four teams left there is no better center/guard duo than Przemek Karnowksi and Nigel Williams-Goss.
The other 1-seed is the “blue-blood” North Carolina. The team that was oh so close to winning it all just a year ago against Villanova. Of the four teams still standing they had the most difficult region with fellow blue bloods Kentucky and UCLA waiting in the wings. They survived Arkansas in the Round of 32 and blew out Butler in the Sweet 16. Their toughest test came against 2-seed Kentucky in the Elite Eight. This game was also being played in Memphis which is relatively SEC country. The Tar Heels were in command most of the game until a late Kentucky run gave the Wildcats a five point lead with under four minutes to go. UNC then answered with a run of their own. Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox wouldn’t go down without a fight though. Each hit crucial three pointers to keep it a one possession game. With the score at 73-70 in favor of UNC Justin Jackson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Malik Monk nailed the tying three with about 10 seconds. UNC’s Luke Maye though hit the game-winning shot with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. UNC won what arguably is the best game of the tournament so far 75-73.
It’s hard reaching back-to-back Final Four’s let alone back-to-back National Championships. UNC is trying to be the first to do so since the 2010 and 2011 Butler squad. Their success all comes down to the health of Joel Berry II. Both of his ankles are now injured so if he isn’t 100% then there won’t be any redemption for this team.
Last but not least the Ducks of Oregon. Many experts who dissected the brackets didn’t give Oregon much of a chance to advance past the Sweet 16 because of the injury to big-man Chris Boucher right before the tournament. He led the team in blocks and was third in scoring. With Boucher’s absence certain players have found more succinct roles. Tyler Dorsey, Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell have all upped their game. After close victories over Rhode Island and Michigan their toughest test came against 1-seed Kansas in Kansas City. So it was basically a road game for Oregon. Kansas looked dominant in their 98-66 win over Purdue a few nights before. The Elite Eight game however belonged to the Ducks. From start to finish Oregon was the more aggressive team. They took an 11-point lead into the half and they left off where they started. Kansas took bad shots and never looked comfortable.
Oregon is back in the Final Four for the first time since 1939. There players knew how close they were a year ago when they lost to Oklahoma in the Elite Eight and they didn’t want to have that same feeling again.
Once the dust settles Saturday night there could be some compelling matchups for the National Championship. It could be the battle of the Carolina’s, an all-west battle, two 1-seeds going head-to-head or a clash of the underdogs.
