Tag: NCAA Men’s Basketball

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.

Tracking each major hire during the 2023 men’s college basketball coaching carousel

Some major shakeups in the Big East kicked off the 2023 men’s college basketball coaching carousel.

The whiplash of the first weekend of the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is now behind us, and aside from 16 teams — for whom everything is pretty Sweet right now — and a handful of teams competing in other postseason tournaments like the NIT, the season is over for most of the country.

Among other things, that means coaching changes and lots of them. We saw some openings that were more or less expected, like Jim Boeheim’s retirement at Syracuse after 47 seasons or the merciful end of a doomed tenure at Georgetown for former Hoya and NBA superstar Patrick Ewing.

The latter opening led to one of several major moves in the Big East that will shake up the coaching dynamics in the conference moving forward.

Several dominoes have already fallen in this cycle of the coaching carousel, and there will surely be more to come. Here, we’ll keep you posted on all the major hires in college basketball this offseason.

Update: Though it was reported Mike Brey would be hired at South Florida, the former Notre Dame coach told ESPN that he was not offered the job and will take time off to pursue television opportunities.

Awesome video of Furman’s game-winner vs. Virginia shows Kevin Harlan almost falling out of his chair

Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Dan Bonner were just as stunned as us!

Furman might be out of the men’s NCAA tournament now, but we won’t soon forget its instant classic upset of the Virginia Cavaliers. Something tells me the folks who brought it to life on our screens might have been just as mesmerized by the sheer pandemonium.

A video from CBS Sports provided another angle of the final moments of Furman’s 68-67 win, punctuated by JP Pegues’ game-winning three-pointer. It shows the broadcast team of play-by-play Kevin Harlan and color commentators Stan Van Gundy and Dan Bonner trying to process the final seconds of chaos in real-time.

And as Furman stole victory from the jaws of defeat, everyone’s reactions were so amazing and relatable.

From Harlan almost falling out of his seat to the stunned silence of Van Gundy and Bonner — all ends of the spectrum were covered here:

Hearing the excitement and thrill from someone like Harlan is one thing.

It’s another to see him at work, absolutely losing it over an instant classic moment in sports. And for two guys like Van Gundy and Bonner — who are present to offer insight — to be literally speechless?

That’s priceless. That’s March.

The complete power rankings of the remaining men’s March Madness teams before the Sweet 16

Ranking the remaining teams from 16 to 1.

The men’s Sweet 16 is set for the NCAA tournament, and it’s time for a reset. We lost half the No. 1 seeds over the first round as Purdue lost in historic fashion to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson, and reigning champion Kansas dropped a heartbreaker to No. 8 Arkansas.

There are 11 different conferences represented in the final 16 teams, with only the Big East (3), SEC (3), and Big 12 (2) having multiple representatives. Once again, the Big Ten — which hasn’t won a men’s NCAA basketball title since 2000 — is leaving everything up to Michigan State and Tom Izzo.

The last seven title winners have all been eliminated, and there is no Kentucky, Kansas, Villanova, Duke or North Carolina remaining to vie for the championship. There doesn’t feel like there’s a ton of separation from 1 to 16 here, so breaking them out is challenging.

Let’s take a look at how the remaining teams stack up.

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FAU’s Johnell Davis accidentally swore on TV after his epic NCAA tournament win and the broadcast was so chill about it

“We’re on truTV, man.”

After taking down No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson and making men’s NCAA tournament history, No. 9 Florida Atlantic University sophomore guard Johnell Davis accidentally dropped a curse word in his postgame interview.

While talking with reporter Jamie Erdahl, Davis spoke to what he’s been trying to prove in his career and accidentally said the “s-word” while giving his answer.

“It happens to all of us; we’re on truTV, man,” Erdahl said to ease Davis’ concern after he dropped a PG-13 swear on national television.

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Hey, we’ve all said this word at some point in our life, so nobody hate on Davis for giving an honest answer in a very routine setting.

Davis earned the right to say what was on his mind after he set a men’s NCAA tournament record with 25-plus points, 10-plus recounds, five-plus assists and five-plus steals in a tournament game.

Florida Atlantic has emerged as one of the coolest stories of the tournament, and now they’ve got a Sweet 16 berth to add to the list.

John Calipari rudely referred to Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell as ‘little kid’ after he torched Kentucky

John Calipari might want to apologize for this rude verbal gaffe after Kentucky lost to Kansas State.

Kentucky coach John Calipari seems to already be putting his team’s 2023 men’s NCAA tournament loss out of his mind.

After his Wildcats got toppled by Kansas State, 75-69, in the round of 32, Calipari embarrassingly forgot the name of the main K-State player whose offensive explosion was one of the primary reasons for his team’s loss.

Calipari called Kansas State senior guard Markquis Nowell the “little kid” during the postgame presser, which is a pretty bad flub to make.

Nowell’s 27-point, nine-rebound performance in Sunday’s men’s NCAA tournament matchup helped propel his team to the Sweet 16 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

It’ll be a homecoming for Nowell, who is from Harlem, New York.

Well, Coach Cal is probably going to regret this verbal gaffe if this is really his last men’s NCAA tournament appearance as Kentucky’s head coach.

However, Nowell probably won’t mind the blooper too much since his team is still dancing.

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Kansas State used a football formation to perfection for a key inbound pass in win over Kentucky

Kansas State ran a very football-like inbound pass against Kentucky. It was awesome.

While trying to drain the clock during its 2023 men’s NCAA tournament clash with Kentucky, Kansas State ran what looked to almost be a football formation on a key inbound pass.

Leading 69-64 with about 23 seconds to go, Kansas State knew that Kentucky would try to come away with the quick steal and wanted to get in position to draw the foul.

Rather than run a traditional inbound play, Kansas State spread four players out wide in a shotgun formation next to the inbound passer. It almost looked like they were spread out in a four verticals football formation with the inbound passer acting as the quarterback.

As the whistle blew, the four K-State players ran in vertical directions and one caught the ball without problem as he quickly got fouled by a Kentucky player.

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When you’re trying to punch your ticket to the Sweet 16, nifty formations like this on something as routine as an inbound pass can make a world of difference.

After the game, Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang said the inbound play was called the “Mahomes” in honor of, you guessed it, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, per KSHB 41 sports producer Nick Jacobs.

Basketball coaches across the country will be trying this inbound play when they return to the hardwood.

The genius of the play was getting the two players out in front to block for the Kansas State player who caught the inbound pass. It created some hesitation on Kentucky’s part to majorly press and gave Kansas State the situation it wanted to be in that late in the game.

Kansas State has had a remarkable tournament so far, and creative plays like this could keep them alive for much longer.

Tennessee’s Olivier Nkamhoua got a splashy celebration from his fellow Vols after toppling Duke

Olivier Nkamhoua got quite the celebration from his teammates after Tennessee’s big win over Duke.

After No. 4 Tennessee took down No. 5 Duke during Saturday’s round of 32 game in the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament, the Vols found the perfect way to celebrate their leading scorer.

Forward Olivier Nkamhoua led Tennessee with 27 points in the big victory that will get the Vols to the Sweet 16 next weekend.

After the game, Tennessee teammate Uroš Plavšić carried Nkamhoua into the locker room where the latter got a welcomed water bath and plenty of cheers.

This is the kind of locker room celebration we love to see March Madness, and Nkamhoua was certainly deserving of the ample love from his teammates.

The Vols are trying to keep the good feelings going in Knoxville after the football team’s exciting fall, and knocking off Duke in the men’s NCAA tournament just never hurts.

Nkamhoua had the game of his career on Saturday, and he got the hero’s welcome that everyone on Rocky Top would approve of after the victory.

Kansas State’s Nae’Qwan Tomlin had some delicious NCAA tournament trash talk for Kentucky

Kansas State does NOT sound too concerned about playing Kentucky on Sunday.

No. 3 Kansas State does not sound all that worried to take on No. 6 Kentucky on Sunday in the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament’s round of 32.

While discussing the upcoming tournament matchup, Kansas State forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin did not seem like his team was all that concerned about playing against Kentucky’s style of basketball, per 247Sports writer Aaron Gershon.

Tomlin gave Kentucky star forward Oscar Tshiebwe his deserved flowers for what he can do on the court. Other than that, the higher-seeded Wildcats don’t seem all that worried about playing the lower-seeded Wildcats.

As the old saying goes, we’ll know soon enough if Tomlin’s confidence is warranted. We’ll also know if Kentucky catches wind of this trash talk.

Well, Kansas State-Kentucky is going to be a fun one, if only because you’ve got a legacy program in Kentucky trying to prove itself against a higher-seeded Kansas State.

Will Tomlin’s words come back to haunt his team? Are they a sign of what’s to come? Answers will be known soon enough.

Jay Wright tried (and maybe intentionally failed) to recreate Tom Izzo’s rageful clipboard snap

Maybe it’s not quite as easy as Izzo made it look.

Michigan State slipped by USC in the first round of the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Friday thanks to a big second half, but coach Tom Izzo went viral for a different reason.

Heading into a timeout in the second half after a heated conversation with an official, Izzo effortlessly snapped his keyboard in one of several overt emotional displays we saw Friday.

But perhaps it’s not quite as easy as the longtime Spartans coach made it look. After the game, former national title-winning Villanova coach turned studio host Jay Wright attempted to recreate Izzo’s angry clipboard snap with less successful results.

Compare that to Izzo’s form:

 

Now, I’m just going to say it. I find this dubious.

First of all, Wright pretty clearly isn’t putting all his effort into it. I think there may be some theatrics going on here.

If you don’t find that argument compelling, though, may I direct you to Exhibit B, straight from the mouth of one of his former players?

Something seems fishy here. But hey, maybe Izzo’s just been putting in time in the weight room between games.

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