How many No. 9 seeds have reached the men’s NCAA tournament Final Four?

How many No. 9 seeds have made the Final Four of the men’s NCAA tournament?

No. 9 Florida Atlantic accomplished a rare feat on Saturday night after the team defeated No. 3 Kansas State, 79-76, in the Elite Eight.

The Owls punched their ticket for the Final Four, becoming just the third No. 9 seed to make the prestigious final stage of the men’s NCAA tournament.

The other two teams are Wichita State, who made the Final Four in the 2013 tournament, and Pennsylvania, who made the Final Four in the 1979 tournament, per PrintYourBrackets.

It’s an incredible statistic for the Owls to join, even though some would argue that the team should’ve been seeded higher after a 30-plus win season.

The NCAA started seeding its men’s tournaments in 1979, which was the year No. 9 Penn reached the Final Four.

However, no No. 9 seed has won its first Final Four game and competed for a national title.

If FAU can keep playing like it has, the team could really continue to make men’s NCAA tournament history.

Kansas State football delightfully recreated men’s hoops Sweet 16 highlights with a mini basketball setup

We love to see it.

It’s always wonderful during the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments when others associated with the schools show up in some way to support the players trying to make a deep March Madness run. We see it in different forms all the time each March.

Kansas State football took that sentiment to another level.

Following the No. 3 Wildcats topping No. 7 Michigan State in a men’s Sweet 16 thriller on Thursday to advance to Saturday’s Elite Eight matchup against No. 9 Florida Atlantic, Kansas State football players celebrated the hoops victory in the best way.

With a mini basketball, a mini net and a “court” set up in the football locker room, they brilliantly recreated some of the stunning moments from the basketball team’s 98-93 overtime Sweet 16 victory.

And they hit the major highlights, including, of course, Wildcats guard Markquis Nowell’s unbelievable shot while falling on a hobbled ankle, one of forward Ismael Massoud’s several deep 3-pointers and Nowell arguing with coach Jerome Tang before connecting with forward Keyontae Johnson for a jaw-dropping reverse alley-oop.

It’s so great to see this kind of support from the Kansas State football team, which also had an impressive season with a Big 12 championship.

And Tang was among the many people on Twitter who loved this awesome recreation, including running back Deuce Vaughn playing Nowell.

Kansas State’s unlikely Elite 8 run means we get more Jerome Tang, who we can’t get enough of

More Jerome Tang is a good thing for college hoops.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang has an infectious personality. Even without meeting him, you can feel it ooze through the screen during interviews and in behind the scenes footage of his team’s incredible March Madness run.

The Wildcats continued that run Thursday with an impressive overtime win over Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans, demonstrating just how good they truly are. If it wasn’t evident after a 26-9 regular season and top-15 AP finish, it certainly is now.

Markquis Nowell is an absolute star and Keyontae Johnson might hear his name called on NBA draft night. But not to be overlooked in Kansas State’s success is the first-year head coach.

The more Tang and the gang hang around, the more we’ll get moments from him like this.

“We had to celebrate a little bit. Hope y’all didn’t mind.”

Thursday’s game was the biggest in the careers of many of his players, and you wouldn’t have been able to tell by their demeanor on the court. They were loose, even in the most tense moments of a game that was tight throughout, and it’s hard to think that’s not a reflection of their coach.

Tang is even the main hype man during a pregame Lil Baby listening session K-State apparently has been doing since before the tournament.

That’s a 56-year-old man getting more hype off a Lil Baby song than his 20-year-old players who I can assure you are the intended audience. Sure, they might be a little embarrassed in the way a kid might be embarrassed by a parent doing too much at the sleepover, and Tang’s dance moves leave a little to be desired, but they love him anyway.

And it’s not hard to see why. He’s good for that program, and he’s good for college basketball.

Prior to this season, Kansas State hadn’t qualified for the NCAA tournament since the 2018-19 season. Not only did they make it back in Tang’s first year, they shattered all expectations.

In a Big 12 preseason poll, the Wildcats were picked to finish last in the conference. Instead, they were third. And now they’re the first and maybe only conference team to reach the Elite 8 (Texas plays Friday).

Whether or not Kansas State advances any further, the season is a success, and Tang has officially put himself on the map as not only a fun head coach, but a legitimately good head coach.

The more the Wildcats win, the more he’ll get to show both.

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Markquis Nowell revealed he was actually trash talking Isiah Thomas before throwing the alley-oop pass to Keyontae Johnson

Markquis Nowell might be the coolest player in college basketball right now

Just when you thought things actually couldn’t get any cooler with Markquis Nowell’s epic performance against Michigan State, it just keeps going.

Nowell made the play of the night when he threw a lob pass to his teammate, Keyontae Johnson, in the final moments of Kansas State’s game against Michigan State. That’s already cool on its own.

It’s not the play people are obsessed with — it’s what happened before it. It looked like Nowell was actually arguing with his coach about something before catching his teammate cutting using his peripheral vision and tossing the lob. That’s what it looked like initially. Jerome Tang even played it up a bit like that’s what actually happened.

But now, Nowell himself is telling us a different story.

As it turns out, while he was arguing with his coach, he was also trash-talking Isiah Thomas and Mateen Cleaves. They were both in the Michigan State section and Nowell told them to “watch this” before he tossed the alley-oop.

He was asked about that moment in the postgame press conference and had so much fun with it.

“Yeah, I was talking to Isiah Thomas because I think he had a friend over there, and he was rooting for them. And I’m like, y’all not going to win today, and I just kept looking at him for some added motivation. But it was nothing but cool vibes with them over there. “

That’s just amazing, man. Not only did Nowell have the guts to throw that extremely dangerous pass in such a sensitive moment, but he did it while trash-talking an NBA legend. That’s just wild.

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He was certainly right about the good vibes, though. Thomas loves him and thinks he’s got an NBA future.

That’s some high praise from the Hall of Famer. After watching Thursday’s game, though, it’s hard to disagree with him.

Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell had one of the greatest performances in March Madness history

Heart over height. What a game, Markquis Nowell.

Kansas State senior guard Markquis Nowell didn’t let a hobbled ankle keep him from turning in one of the best performances in men’s NCAA tournament history on Thursday.

As his No. 3 Wildcats toppled No. 7 Michigan State in the Sweet 16, 98-93, Nowell celebrated setting a men’s NCAA tournament record for assists in a game with 19.

You could sum up Nowell’s incredible game by him executing arguably the most fascinating play of the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

At one point, it looked like he possibly set up a pivotal bucket on a fake argument with Wildcats coach Jerome Tang. The coach disputed that it was a fake out, but it still looked incredible.

All in all, few basketball players have ever had such a stunning performance as Nowell’s during this year’s March Madness.

Nowell also scored 20 points in the stellar contest, including this final layup before the buzzer to widen the margin and send Kansas State to the Elite Eight.

The Harlem, New York, native got to shine in front of his home crowd at Madison Square Garden, and he’ll now stick around in the Big Dance with his fellow Wildcats.

At the very least, Nowell sure knows that everyone saw his magnificent performance.

After the game, the 5-foot-8 Nowell also got a special shoutout from Muggsy Bogues, one of the NBA’s most notable players to overcome stature and succeed in the pros.

Nowell is following in the 5-foot-3 NBA legend’s footsteps. Bogues even paid homage to Nowell’s signature slogan: “Heart over height.”

Did Markquis Nowell fake an argument with Kansas State coach Jerome Tang before alley-oop pass?

WAIT A SECOND. Was this an orchestrated play for K-State?!

Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell just had arguably the best game of March Madness thus far, and it was highlighted by one crazy possession.

Nowell, who was rudely referred to as “little kid” after Kansas State defeated Kentucky in the Round of 32, recorded 20 points and a tournament-record 19 assists during the victory over Michigan State. He created, assisted, or scored 69 of the 98 points for K-State.

While he had several incredible moments during the match, the alley-oop pass that he threw to Keyontae Johnson for the reverse dunk was an instant highlight during the men’s tournament.

Watch as the teammates connected for an instant classic:

This was a tremendously impressive basket during the clutch final seconds of overtime, but upon a second viewing, something else stands out.

Don’t look at the dunk and instead watch what Nowell does as he is handling the ball. He looks to the sideline and has an apparent disagreement with head coach Jerome Tang.

On a second watch, it sure looks like Nowell and Tang may have faked their dispute to distract the opposing defense only to find Johnson on the backdoor cut.

During the walk-off interview, Tang was asked about the moment with Nowell. Tang said they were at a “place of fire” and that Nowell was ready for what happened next.

Tang told Richard Johnson that he was calling one play and Nowell was “calling something else” when the guard noticed that Johnson was cutting to the basket.

However, the coach also said during his postgame press conference that Nowell couldn’t tell reporters because then the “next team” would know to expect it.

Good point! You should never tip your hand with trick plays.

Nowell said it was just a “basketball play” between him and Johnson, and they were able to pull it off because they knew Michigan State’s defense likes to play high and tight.

Johnson said that the two have a strong feel for each other.

K-State was one of the most efficient teams in the nation when finishing offensive possessions after timeouts, per Synergy. Meanwhile, only one team in the tournament has scored more points per game on cuts to the basket thus far.

No team in college basketball ran cutters more often (10 percent) than the Wildcats, per ShotQuality. Meanwhile, the Spartans’ defense allowed 1.19 points per possession on cuts to the basket — which ranked far worse than the NCAA average (1.12) in 2022-23.

In fact, Johnson has scored more points when cutting to the basket (117) during this past campaign than the entire Spartans roster managed on this play type (104) all season.

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Intentional or not, especially after K-State’s Tang ran a football-inspired formation on an inbound pass, it’s safe to say that the Wildcats do not lack creativity. Regardless of whether it was scripted or if it was improvised, that possession just fully rocked.

Despite the post-game statement from Tang, several fans and analysts all believed that this could have actually been an orchestrated play designed to catch their defenders off guard. Here is why:

Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell knocked down an unbelievable 3-pointer while falling on a hobbled ankle

What *can’t* Markquis Nowell do?

Kansas State senior guard Markquis Nowell didn’t let a hobbled ankle keep him from making what’s going to be one of the best 3-pointers of the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

As the Wildcats took on the Michigan State Spartans in the Sweet 16 round on Thursday, Nowell went down with a rough-looking ankle injury during the game’s second half and missed a good stretch of time.

Once he left, the Spartans went on a run and got back in the game as Kansas State struggled to adjust without their star guard.

However, Nowell returned with a taped-up ankle and immediately knocked down an equalizing trey that brought the house down at Madison Square Garden.

Nowell has been one of the best stories of this year’s tournament. He sure hasn’t let an unintended critique from Kentucky coach John Calipari keep him from dominating whenever he’s on the court.

As Kansas State fought for a spot in the Elite Eight, the team surely was glad that Nowell could return to the game and stop the bleeding with such a beautiful 3-pointer.

Michigan State basketball: breaking down Kansas State starting lineup, rotation

Breaking down Kansas State’s starting lineup, rotation

After taking out USC and Marquette in the first weekend, Michigan State is headed to the Sweet 16 where they will have a date with the Kansas State Wildcats.

The Spartans will look to continue their run through March by hopefully defeating the Wildcats and moving onto the Elite 8. It wont be an easy task, though, as Kansas State is filled with star power and can score the ball in bunches while providing strong defense.

Check out Kansas State’s starting lineup and rotations:

How each Big 12 team fared in the first weekend of March Madness

Only Texas and Kansas State are alive in the Big 12.

The Big 12 Conference sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament this weekend. Despite being regarded as the nation’s top league in college basketball this season, only two Big 12 schools are off to the Sweet 16.

Texas and Kansas State are still alive after winning their first two matchups in March Madness. The Longhorns took down Colgate and Penn State, while Kansas State topped Montana State and Kentucky in a thriller.

Texas and Kansas State took care of business but other top-seeded Big 12 schools did not play up to expectations.

Kansas’ national title defense fell short in the second round as the Jayhawks were upset by Arkansas. Baylor ran into a red-hot Creighton team in the Round of 32. The Bears dropped its second-round matchup for the second straight season.

Here is a complete look at the results for each Big 12 team in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

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Kansas State joins Texas to represent Big 12 in the Sweet 16

Jerome Tang scoffed at Kentucky’s “tradition,” after K-State joined Texas in the Sweet 16.

Kansas State followed Texas to the Sweet 16 on Sunday with a win over the Kentucky Wildcats, 75-69. K-State head coach Jerome Tang had interesting comments about Kentucky after the huge win.

Tang said the following about his team’s win over Kentucky.

Well you know, we have a program that’s rich in tradition also. You know, all those old dudes that played for Kentucky, they ain’t coming back. Tradition does not help you if you don’t go out there and play with some dudes. And we had more dudes than they did today.

Few college basketball fans, if any, consider Kansas State anywhere near a blue blood program. Even so, the point Tang makes resonates with fans of underachieving programs. You’re only as good as your current team and coach. Kentucky coach John Calipari might be the better recruiter, but it’s evident Tang is the better talent optimizer.

Texas and Kansas State still stand as potential Final Four representatives for the Big 12 Conference.

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