After SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher opted not to use their final timeout, Butler was trusted to make the right play. The guard took the ball down the floor in transition, dribbled near the baseline, and showed stellar footwork as the clock continued ticking.
Butler very nearly stepped out of bounds once on the baseline and if he had moved his right foot an extra inch, SDSU’s season would have come to a sad close due to a turnover. Instead, he was able to make his way to the midrange and nail the shot.
“I ran out of plays so I decided not to take a timeout.”
San Diego State had a timeout remaining as the clock neared an expiration, but Brian Dutcher trusted his players and didn’t use it.
After trailing Florida Atlantic by as many as 14 points earlier in the game, SDSU had a chance to secure the victory. SDSU big man Nathan Mensah grabbed a rebound following a missed shot by FAU, then Lamont Butler took the ball up the floor in transition.
Butler stepped up on the biggest stage and managed to take an incredibly impressive off-the-dribble jumper from midrange. The shot went in for a thrilling buzzer-beater, earning a trip to the national championship.
“I ran out of plays so I decided not to take a timeout. So Lamont said if we get the rebound, let’s get downhill, send all three bigs to the rim. He got downhill and made the play.”
SDSU was an average team when it came to their typical shot quality after a timeout, but they were also relatively inefficient in a transition offense during the tournament.
This decision was bold but brilliant and it worked like a charm.
The most notable is UConn’s Jordan Hawkins, who scored at least 20 points in the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight. Some players (e.g. UConn’s Donovan Clingan or FAU’s Johnell Davis) would likely appear on our mock draft if they decide to turn pro.
Our draft order is based on what was listed on Tankathon on March 30. The official order will be set after the much-anticipated lottery in Chicago on May 16.
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UConn’s Jordan Hawkins is a ready-to-play movement shooter perfect for the NBA.
This is a fascinating Final Four in the NCAA men’s tournament, especially because we may only have one first-round draft pick playing in either game.
Between the two matchups, UConn vs. Miami is the game to watch if you want to see likely future NBA players. Even if there aren’t many players selected in the first round, there are several who could find their way onto your favorite pro team.
Before the two games have their tipoffs in Houston on Saturday, these are the top NBA draft prospects you should keep your eyes peeled for whenever they are on the court.
NOTE: UConn’s Donovan Clingan would also make this list if he decides to declare for the 2023 NBA Draft.
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Twitter reacts to Miami’s upset win over Texas in the Elite Eight.
The Final Four field is officially set as the Midwest Region’s No.5 Miami Hurricanes erased a 12-point second-half deficit to beat the No.2 Texas Longhorns 88-81 in the Elite Eight.
It’s the Hurricanes’ first Final Four appearance in NCAA Tournament history, joining San Diego State and FAU in that category. Miami’s Final Four opponent, UConn is making their sixth appearance all time.
Like Sunday’s earlier game between Creighton and San Diego State, the referring in Sunday night’s evening matchup between the Hurricanes and Longhorns had some referring controversy.
After a rather quiet first half in the foul department, the referees became whistle happy in the second half, calling 28 fouls including 23 on the Longhorns.
Either way, the Longhorns were ahead 65-53 with under 12 minutes to go in the second half on Sunday, comfortably in control. The Hurricanes over the next seven minutes would outscore the Longhorns 19-7 to the game up at 72-72 with 5:26 remaining in the game.
Over the next four minutes, the two teams would exchange baskets bringing it to a 79-79 game with just a minute left. Miami, however, would dominate the final 60 seconds of the contest, outscoring Texas 9-2 to walk away with the 88-81 win and advance to the Final Four.
It’s the second Final Four berth for Miami head coach Jim Larranaga after previously leading George Mason to the Final Four in 2006.
This simply wasn’t the tournament that NBA scouts wanted to see from Alabama freshman Brandon Miller.
This simply wasn’t the tournament that NBA scouts wanted to see from Alabama freshman Brandon Miller.
With the Crimson Tide eliminated the same night as the Houston Cougars, the Elite Eight will not feature a No. 1 seed for the first time in men’s NCAA tournament history.
But that’s not the only history Miller made during Alabama’s unexpectedly short tournament run. According to CBS Sports, Miller was the only player with at least 40 field-goal attempts “since at least 1960” to ever shoot under 20% in the tournament.
On the court, meanwhile, Miller (groin) was playing through an injury. He was “still not 100 percent” before the game against San Diego State and that showed in his play.
My colleague, Mike Sykes, wrote about the nightmarish nature of Miller’s month. We also wanted to take a deeper dive into the numbers to figure out, from a basketball perspective, what went awry.
Miller was 3-for-19 (15.8 percent) on his 3-pointers, missing each of his attempts off the dribble. His shot chart also indicates that he didn’t connect on a 3-pointer from the top of the key or from either the left or right corners.
He was also 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) from the midrange and 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) at the rim. Maybe due to his injury, he didn’t record a dunk during any of the three games during the tournament and according to Synergy, he was just 2-for-10 (20.0 percent) on layups.
Perhaps most concerning, Miller was highly inefficient on 2-pointers when matched up against a strong opponent. This was an alarming trend for Miller throughout the year.
Brandon Miller ends up shooting 48% (116-240) on 2's this year. But the breakout by competition is stark: – shot just 38.5% (55-143) on 2's vs top 50 teams – 63% (61-97) vs all other teams
As we wrote about here, we can look at the shot quality to see what went wrong. Synergy Shot Quality (SSQ) grades each shot based on the type of shot, shot distance, shot angle, play type, shot clock, and other variables.
SSQ is divided into three categories to grade shots: Low (< 20th percentile), Medium (20th-80th percentile), and High (> 80th percentile).
Miller took 10 shots that graded in the lowest group when Alabama was eliminated. He had never previously taken more than 6 and he averaged just 1.8 low-quality shots per game before this performance.
Meanwhile, he took 0 shots that were considered high-quality looks.
Perhaps one reason for this was the clashing of Alabama’s offensive identity with San Diego State’s defensive identity.
Alabama averaged 15.3 seconds per possession on offense, per KenPom, which was the sixth-fastest in the nation and the quickest among all teams that made the NCAA men’s tournament. Especially with Miller on the court, they liked to play fast.
Meanwhile, however, San Diego State’s average defensive possession length (18.5 seconds) was the slowest among teams that made it to the Sweet 16.
The Crimson Tide still played at a high-tempo but San Diego State limited Miller’s chances on the fastbreak and in the open floor. Miller finished 4 offensive possessions in transition and 21 in the half-court. That discrepancy (17 possessions) was one of the largest in Miller’s career and showcased a weakness for the projected top-5 pick.
Miller was one of the most productive transition scorers in the nation. But throughout the tournament, his half-court screen navigation was suspect. He was 0-for-6 with five turnovers as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll and 0-for-5 when using off-ball screens while playing in March Madness.
Overall, based on his shot quality in a set offense during the tournament, Miller was expected to score 0.87 points per shot. But he averaged just 0.37 points per shot in the half-court, per Synergy.
That difference (-0.50) means his overall shot-making in a set offense was the worst overall of the 110 players who finished at least 25 possessions in the half-court during March Madness.
In our latest mock, we projected that Miller would hear his name called as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. ESPN’s latest mock draft also has Miller as the third prospect projected off the board.
NBA prospects are selected based on their full body of work, and a few bad games in the tournament won’t tank his draft stock. He averaged 18.8 points per game as a freshman in the SEC and shot 38.4 percent on 3-pointers.
But scouts will assuredly at least consider how Miller performed during March Madness when they make their final evaluations of him as a future NBA player.
Miami basketball coach Jim Larrañaga has led the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight for the second season in a row, and he has reason to celebrate.
Nijel Pack (8-12 FG, 7-10 3P) scored 26 points while Isaiah Wong (5-11 FG, 1-2 3P) added 20 points during the win. Now, after convincingly defeating Houston, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, the Hurricanes have excellent momentum and will advance for another round of March Madness.
The vibes are high, too, as Larrañaga enjoyed a fun postgame exchange in the locker room with his team. Watch as the 73-year-old former Naismith College Coach of the Year showed off some delightful dance moves in front of his team:
More than seven years ago, we got to watch him as he learned how to whip and how to nae nae. If his team is able to advance another round and win in the Elite Eight, who knows what kind of dancing we can see next!
ACC leads the way for most Final Four appearances this century.
Following the completion of Sunday’s Elite Eight games we will have the Final Four teams that will battle it out to be the 2023 national champions. CBS would televise all three games from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The Final Four games will be held on Saturday, Apr. 1, and Monday, Apr. 2. It should be quite a finish if the games from Thursday are any indication. As we march towards the championship game a week from Monday, we are focused on which conference has produced the most Final Four teams.
Since 2000 the ACC and Big Ten have produced 33 Final Four teams between them. However, the Big Ten has been in a title drought since Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans cut down the nets in 2000. The last time a team from the conference made it to the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament was in 2019, and it was with the Spartans. On the flip side, the ACC has won two titles since 2017. The North Carolina Tar Heels won it all in 2017 and the Virginia Cavaliers cut down the nets in 2019.
The Big 12 checks in at No. 4 and have back-to-back national champions with the Baylor Bears and Kansas Jayhawks. Neither team made it to the Sweet 16.
Here are the breakdowns for all 88 Final Four appearances by conference and when they last appeared.
Conference
Appearances
Last Appearance
ACC
18
2023 (Miami)
Big Ten
16
2019 (Michigan State)
Big East
14
2023 (UConn)
Big 12
12
2022 (Kansas)
SEC
11
2019 (Auburn)
Conference USA
3
2023 (Florida Atlantic)
American
2
2021 (Houston)
Colonial
2
2011 (VCU)
Horizon
2
2011 (Butler)
Missouri Valley
2
2018 (Loyola-Chicago)
West Coast
2
2021 (Gonzaga)
Mountain West
1
2023 (San Diego State)
*Editors note: Appearances updated following Sunday’s games
Twitter reacts to another instant classic between Gonzaga and UCLA.
It was another instant classic between what has been one of the best rivalries in all of college basketball over the 20 years. This time, 17 years to the day of UCLA’s famous upset win over Gonzaga in the 2006 Sweet 16, Mark Few’s Bulldogs came out on top.
It was a game in which both teams would blow double-digit leads. The Bruins found themselves up 13 points at halftime, 46-33 while Gonzaga after making an immense second-half push would be up 10-points with under three minutes to play.
It would be an ending to remember.
Down 72-62 with 2:30 remaining in the second half, UCLA would go on a 14-3 run over the next two minutes and 12 seconds to take a 76-75 lead with just 13 seconds remaining. Gonzaga fans at the time were seeing ghosts of the past 17 years later, thinking it couldn’t be happening again.
Luckily for them, Gonzaga and Julian Strawther would have different plans. On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs would run a play very similar to that of Villanova’s game-winning play to win the 2016 National Championship.
Sophomore guard Hunter Sallis would bring the ball up the court before dropping it off to Strawther while crossing past him, allowing Strawther to get some much-needed extra room for the shot. However, instead of Kris Jenkins’s shot which came from close to the three-point line, Strawther would pull up from the logo to give the Bulldogs a 78-76 point lead. The shot would absolutely stun the Bruins who were not expecting the junior guard from Las Vegas to take such a shot considering there were still over nine seconds remaining when he took the shot.
After a free throw a few seconds later made it a three-point game, the Bruins would look for one final look but Tyger Campbell’s three-point attempt at the buzzer would fail to fall.
With the 79-76 win, the Bulldogs will move on to play the No. 4 seeded UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
“Darren Sproles, Deuce Vaughn and now Markquis Nowell… is Kansas State Short KingU?”
The month of March usually belongs to Michigan State and Tom Izzo, but today it was about the “little man.” Kansas State point guard Markquis Nowell might be listed as 5’8″ but his play was much larger.
Nowell and the Wildcats needed an extra five minutes to put away the Spartans but they were up to the challenge under first-year head coach Jerome Tang. Nowell led the way for Kansas State with 20 points, 5 steals, and an NCAA record 19 assists. Keyontae Johnson led KSU in scoring with 22 points.
Mr. New York City helped send KSU to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2018. With a win over the winner of Tennessee-Florida Atlantic winner and they will reach the Final Four for the first time since 1964.
Michigan State certainly pushed their opponents to the limit behind the effort of AJ Hoggard, who scored 25 points and handed out 6 assists. Joey Hauser dropped another 18 points with plenty coming from deep.
As usual, Twitter was buzzing after a tremendous game that ended 98-93.
