Tag: NCAA Men’s Basketball

Darrion Trammell broke down in tears after sending San Diego State to school’s first Final Four

“I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life.”

It may have come with a degree of controversy to some, but San Diego State’s men’s basketball team is on to the Final Four.

After defeating Creighton 57-56, San Diego State will feature on the last weekend of college basketball for the first time in the program’s history dating back to its first tournament berth in 1975. Before this year, San Diego State had never advanced past the Sweet 16. (The win also gave us a very sweet brotherly moment between San Diego State’s Adam Seiko and Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma.)

The young man who sent San Diego State to the Final Four was Darrion Trammell, who made a clutch free throw in the closing moments to give his team the final winning margin.

And when Trammell was interviewed in the postgame, the guard was almost immediately moved to tears at what he and his team had accomplished:

What a beautiful moment for Trammell and San Diego State. It’s these kinds of interview soundbites that make March Madness all the worthwhile.

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Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell had one of the best men’s NCAA tournaments ever

Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell had one of the best men’s NCAA tournament runs ever.

Even though Kansas State couldn’t quite get past Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight, Wildcats senior guard Markquis Nowell had one of the best men’s NCAA tournaments of any player ever.

After Nowell’s historic Sweet 16 performance against Michigan State, he continued that stellar play in the Elite Eight.

It was special to watch him bank an incredible 3-pointer while falling on a hobbled ankle  or see him execute that stunning sequence where people thought he pulled off a fake argument with coach Jerome Tang to set up a basket.

Nowell actually finished his 2023 men’s NCAA tournament as the only player in men’s college basketball history to record 80-plus points, 50-plus assists and 10-plus steals.

You can see how he tallied up all these points, assists and steals in four games below.

Nowell also joined some fantastic company with his tournament performance.

Nowell showed his appreciation for all the support his team had garnered during their impressive men’s NCAA tournament run.

His brother, Marcus Nowell, talked about why he was so proud of his sibling after his incredible March Madness run.

Nowell’s basketball future is uncertain, but it feels like he’ll get a chance at some level to prove himself at the professional level. After this stunning tournament run, he deserves it.

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang showed serious class by encouraging FAU after his team’s loss

Now this was a classy move by Kansas State coach Jerome Tang.

Kansas State men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang didn’t let an Elite Eight loss to Florida Atlantic keep him from showing some real class.

After the Wildcats fell to the Owls on Saturday, 79-76, Tang visited the FAU locker room and offered words of encouragement for the Owls as they celebrated their first Final Four appearance.

“Nobody can beat y’all,” a supportive Tang told FAU after Saturday night’s game. “Just stay together. Don’t get distracted between now and then, alright? Stay locked in. Keep doing what you’re doing. Y’all the toughest son of a guns we’ve played all year long.”

That’s just the epitome of classiness.

Tang has been one of the best stories during the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament, and his Kansas State came awful close to punching a ticket to this year’s Final Four.

Most coaches don’t go to congratulate the opposing locker room and offer them support as they advance in the tournament, but that’s exactly what Tang did.

You just hope he’ll be back next year because March Madness just won’t be the same without him if he’s not.

FAU trolled Kansas State by playing the Wildcats’ pregame playlist during Elite Eight locker room celebration

Florida Atlantic got some incredible trolling in on Kansas State after its Elite Eight win.

The Florida Atlantic Owls didn’t let beating Kansas State in the Elite Eight keep them from getting a little trolling in after the game.

After FAU topped Kansas State for a spot in the Final Four, 79-76, a video showed the team dancing and clapping along to rap artist Lil Baby in the locker room.

It was a way to poke fun at Kansas State’s pregame tradition of getting hyped by clapping along to Lil Baby’s song “Low Down.” In today’s social media age, it’s impossible for traditions like that not to go viral.

It’s also hard to avoid some playful trolling when you’re playing a team with that tradition, which is what FAU capitalized on after Saturday’s win.

FAU will now prepare to compete as only the third No. 9 seed in men’s NCAA tournament history to make the Final Four.

Can the Owls continue to shock the world during this March Madness? Time will certainly tell.

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.

Brothers Arthur Kaluma and Adam Seiko will face off again in a second straight March Madness clash

The Elite Eight’s Sunday clash between Creighton and San Diego State will feature a sibling rivalry.

Creighton sophomore forward Arthur Kaluma and San Diego State senior guard Adam Seiko will put their sibling rivalry to the test one again in the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

After facing each other in the first round of the 2022 men’s NCAA tournament, the two will square off in the Elite Eight on Sunday for a chance at the Final Four.

No. 6 Creighton and No. 5 San Diego State will try to settle who wins the South Region and gets to compete for a national title.

Last year, Kaluma and Creighton topped Seiko and San Diego State in overtime, 72-69, to advance past the tournament’s first round. This year, Seiko’s San Diego State will try to return the favor.

The elder Seiko recently praised Kaluma’s growth and talked about the potential for Sunday’s family clash with the Final Four on the line.

“You know, it’ll just be a surreal feeling,” Seiko told Hurrdat Sports about a possible Elite Eight matchup with Kaluma. “You know, something I can’t even put into words, really.”

The two brothers offered each other some social media support ahead of their Sweet 16 victories.

Creighton head coach Greg McDermott very much has a bias as to which sibling he wants to continue to play for the title.

Miami players got stuck in an elevator and somehow that fiasco helped them upset Houston

Miami players getting stuck in an elevator might’ve led to Houston being sent packing.

The Miami men’s basketball team somehow turned getting stuck into an elevator into a game-changing defensive strategy for the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

After his No. 5 Hurricanes dominated No. 1 Houston in the Sweet 16, 89-75, Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga detailed how an elevator breakdown might’ve helped the team even more than a film breakdown.

Larrañaga explained on Thursday, 12 Miami players got stuck in an elevator after the team’s defensive-centric meeting. After 30 minutes of being trapped, the Miami players were rescued by firefighters.

Somehow, the team got inspiration from that claustrophobic experience to play lockdown defense against one of the best teams in the country in top-seeded Houston.

“You guys got to be in the paint like you were in the elevator yesterday,” Larrañaga told his team during Friday’s shootaround to fix a stretched-out defense. “And they did that.”

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons.

It’s one thing to play a good game after such an uncomfortable fiasco. It’s another to actually have getting stuck in an elevator power you to a men’s NCAA tournament win against a No. 1 seed.

Drew Timme reveals the NSFW nickname Gonzaga’s Mark Few gave him as a freshman

The First-Team All-American has certainly come a long way.

Drew Timme is one of college basketball’s best characters, and the star Gonzaga big man delivered another gem following the Bulldogs’ win over UCLA in the Sweet 16 of the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

While discussing coach Mark Few’s nicknames for players, Timme — a senior and consensus First Team All-American — revealed the not-so-flattering moniker Few picked out for him while he was a freshman in Spokane, Washington.

“My nickname was dumbass for a while my freshman year,” he bluntly said, according to USA TODAY Sports national columnist Dan Wolken. “Pretty fitting.”

Well, at least we may now know the source of Timme’s penchant for foul language.

Few jumped in to clarify that Timme is no longer known as “dumbass,” and has now earned a new (and potentially even funnier) nickname: The Union Rep.

Moving up in the world, indeed.

With the win over the Bruins, Gonzaga will face UConn in the Elite Eight, which Few’s Bulldogs have now reached in five of the last eight NCAA tournaments.

Gonzaga has reached the championship game twice in program history — in 2017 and 2021 — but lost both times. Few will hope things will be different this time in his last run with Timme, who he went on to call “one of the all-time greats of the modern era.”

He sure has come a long way.

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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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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.”