While Duke kept it close in the first half, and Ohio St. had a dramatic comeback, for the most part the Elite Eight was a series of blowouts. Rather than look back at that action, let’s look ahead to the Final Four. Here is how every single player in the Final Four has performed in the first four tournament games:

Wichita St. has a reputation for playing a longer rotation than most teams. But Gregg Marshall has substantially shortened his rotation in the tournament. The players on the tail end of the bench each played 15-30% of the minutes in the regular season, but those numbers are much lower now.

Most interestingly, senior Demetric Williams has seen his playing time plummet in the tournament. Williams started 16 games for Wichita St. this year and played vital minutes when the injury bug struck the team in January. But Williams was also the least efficient starter. And Gregg Marshall has decided to give him substantially less playing time in the NCAA tournament. So far it has worked.

During most of the season, Cleanthony Early has been the Shockers high volume shooter, but Malcolm Armstead has taken over that role in the tournament. That hasn’t always been a great formula. Armstead needed 21 shots to score 14 points in the win over Ohio St.

But luckily, Wichita St. freshman forward Ron Baker has saved his most efficient play for the tournament. Baker has 10 assists in 4 tournament games so far, but the real reason his efficiency is so high is that he has lived at the free throw line. Bakers has 23 free throw attempts on 21 field goal attempts in this first four tournament games. And by making 20 of those free throw attempts, Baker has been incredibly efficient. Normally fouling a freshman makes sense, but given Baker’s tournament efficiency, that strategy doesn’t look so good.

Tekele Cotton has also been plenty efficient, but that is largely due to how passive he has been offensively. (He has used only 12% of his team’s possessions.) But for a quiet player, he may have hit the loudest Wichita St. shot of the season when his three pointer stopped the huge Ohio St. rally on Saturday.

Carl Hall has the most blocks in the tournament of any player in the Final Four. Hall has 12 blocks, Louisville’s Gorgui Dieng has 10 blocks, Syracuse’s Baye Moussa Keita has 7 blocks, and the entire Michigan team has only 9 blocks.

In the regular season, Syracuse basically relied on four players for their scoring, and in the tournament that has continued. This is particularly true now that fifth leading scorer Rakeem Christmas has lost playing time to Baye Moussa Keita.

The bad news is that Brandon Triche is still struggling. He looked good against Montana, but shot terribly against California and Marquette and struggled with turnovers against Indiana. This continued the February trend of poor play and Jim Boeheim probably wishes he could let Triche spend more time on the bench until he breaks out of his slump. Unfortunately, Boeheim only has one other choice at the guard slot, and Trevor Cooney is also struggling mightily in the tournament.

Luckily for Syracuse fans, Michael Carter-Williams is playing better. The Syracuse point-guard’s turnover rate is down substantially in the tournament, and he has been a very consistent player while playing nearly every minute of the last three tournament games. Carter-Williams has chipped in a remarkable 13 steals in those 4 tournament games and for a player who experienced tragedy off the court (see house fire), he has channeled his emotions into positive results on the basketball court.

I know it is hard to believe, given how Trey Burke basically carried Michigan to a victory against Kansas on Friday night, but Trey Burke was sick this week. (Russ Smith was too. Seriously, what a bad time to get an illness.) And Burke’s shooting has been off in the tournament so far. He has shot just 42% on his twos and 26% on his threes in the first four games. But Burke is basically the only Michigan player whose efficiency has been lower in the tournament than in the regular season.

First, Mitch McGary has become a star, averaging a double-double per game. His 14 offensive rebounds in the tournament are the most of anyone in the Final Four. Meanwhile, Glen Robinson has chipped in 10 offensive rebounds of his own, which combined with Robinson’s 4 of 10 three point shooting has made Robinson an important offensive piece, despite his low shot volume. Tim Hardaway carried the team with his three point shooting against South Dakota St. in the opener. And Nik Stauskas carried the team with his three point shooting against Florida in the regional final. And just when you want to say this is a five player team, Spike Albrecht stepped in and got a key steal that ended the Gators most important second half run on Sunday.

With an offense like this clicking on all cylinders, it should be really fascinating to see Michigan match up with the long, dangerous Syracuse 2-3 zone.

Russ Smith is once again the highest volume shooter in the Final Four, but unlike last season, he has been unbelievably efficient. Smith also has 13 steals, which ties Syracuse’s Michael-Carter Williams for the most of any player in the Final Four. Oddly Michigan’s Mitch McGary is the only other player in the Final Four with double digit steals at this point.

Basically every Louisville player has been more efficient in the tournament than in the regular season except for Peyton Siva (and those guys at the end of the lineup card). But even if Siva has struggled some in the tournament, his scoring surge after Duke tied the game at 42 points on Sunday was still critical.

Louisville’s Kevin Ware’s ORtg was only 96 on the season, but he was playing the best basketball of his career prior to the devastating injury. He had a 114 ORtg in 4 tournament games. I can’t add anything about the injury that hasn’t already been said, but the sight of all those Louisville players hunched over on the court showed me how much love this team has for each other.

Conference Performance

There are four Big Ten teams in the Sweet Sixteen and Charles Barkley is eating crow. But has the Big Ten done anything yet? After all, the Big Ten earned a lot of highly protected seeds in the tournament. As I have done in previous years, today I look at which conferences have actually exceeded seed expectations.  What are seed expectations? Based on past tournaments, here are how many games each seed has traditionally won in the field of 64:

(I’m ignoring the opening round. For teams that played in the opening round, I give them half-the expectation. So La Salle was expected to win 0.13 games in the round of 64.)

The next table shows how many wins each conference should have been expected to get in this tournament based on seeding, and how many wins each conference has so far. I also list the number of teams still alive in the tournament.

The Big Ten needs just two more wins to exceed traditional seed expectations, and with four teams still alive, that seems quite plausible. The A10, Pac-12, SEC and MVC have already exceeded expectations in the tournament.

The Big 12 has been the biggest disappointment in the tournament by far. With just three wins through two rounds, even if Kansas wins the national title, the league cannot match pre-tournament expectations. The Big East has also been a big disappointment. While the league was a perfect 3-0 in the round of 32, it was only 3-5 in the previous round. Other disappointments include the WCC and MWC.

Of course, dominating the early rounds of the tournament may not mean that much if the Big Ten doesn’t win a national title.

Ice Water in His Veins

Jim Nance, “Can we just have great games the rest of the tournament?” Apparently that wasn’t too much to ask. Sunday was easily the best day of the tournament so far.

We start in Dayton. Ohio St.’s Aaron Craft was not having a perfect game. He missed the front end of two one-and-ones. He went for a steal, but couldn’t corral it, which caused his teammate to commit a foul. And as he dribbled the ball in a tie game in the final seconds, it seemed like he was wasting too much time. Was there enough time to get to the rim? Was there enough time to kick to a teammate? Craft was only a 29 percent three-point shooter and he probably shouldn’t force a shot here. It didn’t matter. With ice water in his veins Craft nailed the buzzer beating three. It wasn’t clear if that was the first choice. But when Iowa St. switched and left Georges Niang on Craft, and when Niang sagged bad to prevent the drive, Craft stepped up with the buzzer beating shot.

Meanwhile, Temple seemed to have the perfect game-plan to beat Indiana. As Wisconsin had proven, the way you frustrate Indiana is by slowing the game down. I thought a sequence with nine minutes left in the second half showed it perfectly. Jordan Hulls (injured and heroically returning to action with a vest on to protect his injured shoulder) hit a huge three pointer to pull Indiana within one point. And it seemed like Indiana was about to have one of its patented blitzes. But with two players trapping the ball mid-court, Temple didn’t panic. They passed the ball around the perimeter and then made the extra pass to get TJ Dileo a look at a lay-up. Dileo missed, but grabbed his own rebound and kicked it out. Then Temple passed on two great looks at jump shots and fed Anthony Lee for a beautiful lay-up. By making at least 3 extra passes on the possession, Temple worked 44 seconds off the clock, scored, and prevented Indiana from gaining any rhythm offensively.

But then something changed. While Indiana had been stymied by the slow pace against Butler, Minnesota, and Wisconsin twice, the Hoosiers refused to let it happen again.  Zeller and Oladipo worked their way to the free throw line to give Indiana the lead. And then, in a must-score situation (not wanting to hand a one point lead to Temple with the chance at the final shot), Victor Oladipo rose to the occasion. Oladipo is a player who makes less than one three point shot per game. But with ice water in his veins, Oladipo nailed a three that made the margin 4 points and sealed the Hoosiers victory.

Elsewhere, ACC champion Miami was not having a vintage day. After some early success feeding Tonye Jekiri (of all people), point guard Shane Larkin was not having much success feeding his big players for easy shots. And with Durand Scott struggling, it seemed like Illinois might be prepared to pull the upset. Tracy Abrams had just drove for a wide-open lay-up after Larkin made a huge mistake defensively and followed behind a screen. And Brandon Paul had just followed it up with a huge drive for a dunk to give Illinois the lead. And that’s when Shane Larkin, with ice water in his veins did it again. The ACC player-of-the-year stepped back for a three point attempt and nailed it to give his team the lead. Free throws sealed it.

And what about La Salle. After Ole Miss had started to dictate its advantage in the paint following layups by Nick Williams and Reginald Buckner, the Ole Miss lead had swelled to 5 with just 4:15 left. That’s when La Salle’s Sam Mills caught the ball in transition and nailed a three pointer while drawing contact. It looked like a chance for a four point play, but it turned into a five point play when Mills’ missed free throw was rebounded and put-back in by teammate Jerrell Wright. In a moment’s time, the five point lead was gone. And in the final seconds, La Salle seized the moment.

Seth Greenberg loved to use short rotations at Virginia Tech. He believed it gave him the best chance to win. But that made a player like Tyrone Garland the victim. Garland played just 10 minutes per game as a sophomore at Virginia Tech, (at least in part because of his poor shooting numbers.) But Garland believed he had so much more to give. He left Virginia Tech mid-semester and joined La Salle at mid-season this year. And as I noted three weeks ago, La Salle became a better team with Garland in the lineup. They went from being something near the 63rd best team in the nation, to one of the nation’s Top 40. But Garland still wasn’t a great three point shooter. The turnaround, if anywhere, was in La Salle’s defense. And so it came down to the final seconds. La Salle drove and kicked the ball out to Garland. Almost everyone takes the three point shot in that opportunity. And even if it misses, there is a chance for an offensive rebound. But Garland is not a great outside shooter. So without the above ice water, he chose the smart play. He drove to the right side of the key, hung in the air, and banked home the game winning shot.

Four of the best games of the tournament in one day, and I haven’t even talked about the first 15-seed in NCAA tournament history advancing to the Sweet 16 yet.

Other Notes

-During the Illinois-Miami game Nnanna Egwu tried to back down Reggie Johnson in the post. “He might as well have tried to push over the stanchion.”

-I thought Charles Barkley nailed it regarding Ben Howland leaving UCLA. “Ben Howland is a good coach. He doesn’t deserve to be fired. But it is hard enough to win when everyone is on your side. When everybody wants you out of there, it is just best to move on.”

-I thought it was amazing how effective Iowa St. was at drawing fouls on Ohio St. The Buckeyes almost never foul, but Iowa St. managed to get enough contact to get in the bonus much earlier than expected in both halves.

-We all hate the elbowing rule. But I thought the referees got it wrong when they called James McAdoo’s elbow of Jeff Withey inadvertent contact. I saw the same play called a foul on at least two other occasions in the round of 64, and this seemed to be a case where the referees missed the initial call and didn’t want to admit they were wrong. McAdoo picking up three in the first half could have completely changed the game.

But in many ways, it was also perfect basketball karma. No one has been winning in this tournament by getting things handed to them. As Florida Gulf Coast’s Sherwood Brown said in his pre-game introduction before the Georgetown game, “They aren’t going to give it to us, we have to take it.” In the first half against North Carolina, Kansas (and Jeff Withey) were asking for someone to give them the win against North Carolina. And Withey begging for a flagrant call really summed it up perfectly. That was why North Carolina led 30-21 at halftime.

But when Travis Releford decided he wanted the game, and when Kansas decided they were not going to give up another easy look the rest of the game, that was when Kansas advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

-What is it with potential draft prospects flopping in this tournament? Kansas phenom Ben McLemore looked like a deer in the headlights against Western Kentucky in the first round, but that was nothing compared to his 0-9 performance against North Carolina that had him riding the pine. Kansas made it to the Sweet Sixteen without McLemore playing well, but they won’t make it much further if the freshman superstar doesn’t start playing better.

-On paper, Creigthon-Duke sounded like a fun offensive match-up between two great three-point shooting teams. But no one denies three-point attempts like Duke and the game didn’t live up to the hype.

-Florida Gulf Coast has now shredded two of the Top 15 defenses in the country. This is scary. They also lead the nation in crazy late-game dunks. If Brett Comer had dunked late in the game, I don’t know what would have happened to the world.

Thank You Seniors

I wish every tournament game could be close so every senior could go out with a few more hero plays.

-I feel so bad for Temple senior Scootie Randall putting up an 0-for-12 performance. He heroically returned from a knee injury and was Temple’s second leading scorer this season. But his career ends with a nightmare game, and a lot of fingers pointing in his direction since the loss was so close.

-Meanwhile Minnesota senior Trevor Mbawke never really regained his inside dominance after tearing his ACL last season. While he did get one nice dunk-and-one on an airball late in the Gophers loss to Florida, one of the Big Ten’s all-time most physical players didn’t really go out in style. Minnesota senior Rodney Williams also chipped in one relatively meaningless dunk late in the game against Florida. For a player whose heroic dunks have often been the only reason to watch Minnesota play, I had hoped for one more highlight reel. (Rodney Williams put-back dunk against Florida St. remains my personal favorite because of how far back he had to go to get the ball.)

That said, I hope Minnesota fans still feel like Mbakwe and Williams contributed something to the program. The Gophers are not completely lacking tradition. But after an academic scandal removed their 1997 Bobby Jackson Final Four run from the record book, it has been a long road back. Dan Monson was never able to overcome the recruiting sanctions. And Tubby Smith is a quality coach, but one who can’t quite match the Thad Matta’s and Tom Izzo’s in the Big Ten. This is especially true given his lack of a practice facility on campus which hurts Minnesota’s recruiting.

Minnesota doesn’t start Top 100 recruits up and down the lineup. They hope to win when the seniors all click. Things didn’t click this year for Mbakwe and Williams as they struggle to an 8-10 conference finish in a year where they almost certainly should have gone 10-8 or better. But the Gophers did restore the tradition of winning in the NCAA tournament. And when a team has a drought of 16 years, that shouldn’t be overlooked.

-Similarly, Mississippi senior Reginald Buckner, one of the school’s all-time best shot-blockers, may have wished he could get a re-do on the last second loss to La Salle and get a better chance to deflect Garland’s shot. He may view the loss to the 13 seed as a bit of a disappointment. But for an Ole Miss team that hadn’t won a tournament game since 2001 this was an off-the-charts great year. Winning the SEC tournament title, and earning a tournament win against Wisconsin is an extremely special accomplishment. Rebel pride has clearly been restored.

-If seniors have to lose, I at least prefer for them to be at their best. Illinois senior Tyler Griffey lost his job as a starter three times in his career. The truth is that he was not meant to be a Big Ten player. He was a perfect stretch four, but he couldn’t live up to the brutal physicality of the Big Ten. But Griffey hit a buzzer beater to beat Gardner Webb. He made a buzzer-beater to defeat #1 Indiana. And the player most known for his outside shooting hit four big threes against Miami in the near upset. Even in the loss, that is how a senior should go out, by doing what he does best.

Expected Wins in Field of 64

As I do every day of the tournament, I once again track the expected wins (based on the Pomeroy Rankings) and how these change.

Based on their own win, Florida is now expected to win an additional 0.60 games in the tournament. And based on other events (namely Florida Gulf Coast advancing), that added another 0.18 to Florida’s expectation. (Florida would have been heavily favored against San Diego St. too.)

Sunday’s biggest loser is obviously San Diego St. which let a 15 seed advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time. But Ole Miss also let a real opportunity slip away, especially since Gonzaga did not make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Michigan and Michigan St. didn’t play but saw their odds fall slightly with Kansas and Duke advancing. 

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Gonzaga led 58 to 51 and then the baskets started falling. In Doug Gottlieb’s words, “Wap, Wap, Wap!”

-Tekele Cotton Three Pointer

-Cleanthony Early Three Pointer

-Ron Baker Three Pointer

-Carl Hall Jumper

-Ron Baker Free Throws

-Ron Baker Three Pointer

-And then, with the shot-clock down to one and Fred Vanvleet fumbling the ball, the shot of the tournament, another three. Wap!

19 points in 7 possessions

In 14 years, Mark Few has won 12 WCC titles at Gonzaga. But in 14 years, Mark Few has never made it to the Elite Eight. You can say all you want about how this is bad coaching. If Mark Few really had Gonzaga playing great basketball, they would have led by more than seven points late in the game. If Mark Few’s teams really played elite defense, Gonzaga wouldn’t give up runs like this.

But really that is all hyperbole. How do you make sure four separate guys don’t get hot from the perimeter in a short-stretch. What coaching adjustment are you supposed to make? 19 points in four minutes and 34 seconds. Sometimes, even for the best coaches in the world, basketball isn’t fair.

Meanwhile, if Gregg Marshall isn’t coaching in a Power Conference next season, he’s making $1.75 million at Wichita St. His NCAA tournament appearances at Winthrop, rebuilding a winner at Wichita St., and exceeding expectations in the tournament make him the hottest coaching prospect not named Shaka Smart. (I honestly don’t see Brad Stevens leaving Butler, especially with Butler headed to the new Big East.)

Re-Match

Brad Stevens has seemingly had a lucky horseshoe in his pocket the last few years. A lot of that is planning and preparation, but his fortune in close games has been too good to be true. There was Butler’s last-second lay-up win against Pittsburgh in the NCAA tournament a few years ago; there was the former walk-on hitting a floater to beat Indiana in OT this season; there was the possible shove, steal, and miracle basket against Gonzaga. And oh-by-the-way, there was that buzzer-beating three pointer to beat Marquette in the Maui Invitational to open the season.

Execution absolutely has a lot to do with it. And even down four with five seconds left, Butler executed enough to give itself a chance to win. Butler pulled off a beautiful full-court pass to Andrew Smith whose (goaltended) basket cut the lead to two. And there was the great inbounds defense that forced a turnover and gave Butler a chance for the win in regulation. But finally, even with good execution, the percentages finally caught up to Brad Stevens. Rotnei Clarke was used as a diversion, and Andrew Smith a capable if not elite three point shooter (read 29%) caught the ball at the top of the key. He should have had the size to get up a clean look. But instead he tripped over his own feet. And Butler’s chance at a miracle three pointer came up short.

A Double Digit Seed to the Sweet 16

I absolutely believe Oregon was under-seed in this tournament and they were better than a 12-seed. But the talk about how Oregon is a different team with Dominic Artis in the lineup has to stop. Artis was 0-for-7 with one assist and one turnover on Saturday, and this follows up a string of recent games where Artis has posted ORtgs of 47, 48, 81, and 34.

This isn’t a team that we vastly overlooked in the regular season. Rather, this is a team that lost its last two regular season games and blew a chance to share the Pac-12 title. What they have done in the Pac-12 tournament and NCAA tournament is simply start playing better basketball.

It was Damyean Dotson on Saturday who provided the surprise boost for the Ducks. St. Louis does a fantastic job at denying three-point opportunities. Much like Duke, they do everything possible to stop teams from even attempting shots on the perimeter. But somehow Dotson got open on Saturday and the freshman 31 percent three-point shooter made five of six three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Ducks as a team made 8 of 11 from deep. And that surprise outside shooting made a normally stout St. Louis defense look suspect. A team that had not lost in regulation since January 12th, and that many of us felt could handle Louisville’s pressure in the Sweet Sixteen, was blown out of the water.

Elsewhere

The rest of the games were all relatively easy wins by the favored seeds. I was amused at the CBS graphic that said “Lost Shoes” and listed one apiece in the Michigan St. vs Memphis game. I am nervous that Michigan St.’s Keith Appling injured his shoulder. But mostly in the other games, I was just sad to see another crop of seniors go out.

I hope Memphis forward DJ Stephens isn’t too upset to see his career come to an end with a 1-for-7 performance. Because even in defeat he showed plenty of grit. Whether it was his blocked shot in the first half that seemed to temporarily change Michigan St.’s inside attack, his hustle to knock a ball out from behind, or simply the play at the seven-minute mark of the first half where Stephens dove horizontally to keep a possession alive for his team, Stephens was worth the price of admission. And in my opinion he has absolutely done enough to get invited to the NBA summer league this season. He is under-sized and has no plausible NBA position. But someone needs to evaluate his raw athleticism against the other top prospects. And for a former 0-star recruit with asthma, his senior year highlight reel of dunks and blocks reminded us all why we love college basketball.

Finally, I hope Saturday’s game reminded Shaka Smart that he isn’t done learning yet. Smart seems to be a young Rick Pitino, a master of the full-court pressure, and a master motivator of his program. But one of the key lessons Pitino has learned over the years is that you can’t press every team. Sometimes you encounter teams with brilliant guard play and outstanding passing, and the only right call is to play tough-nosed half-court defense. Until Smart learns to better adapt to his opponents, he won’t quite be able to reach elite status. He isn’t quite there yet, but I think someday Smart will reach that point.

Expected Wins in Round of 64

As I have done throughout this tournament, I am tracking the expected wins in the Round of 64, according to the Pomeroy Rankings. Saturday saw more losers than winners as more of the favored seeds advanced.

As a reminder of how to interpret this table, Wichita St.’s win over Gonzaga increased the shockers expected wins in this tournament by a full 1.34 games. But since it was more of a mismatch, Arizona’s win over Harvard only increased Arizona’s expected wins by 0.38. (See own game.)

The margin of games also matters as well as other results in the tournament. Thanks to a dominating performance, Michigan added another 0.13 to their expected wins in the tournament. And thanks to Gonzaga losing, Mississippi and La Salle saw their odds of advancing improve as well. (See Other.)

With Michigan St. advancing, Duke’s expected wins fell slightly. Similarly, the fact that Michigan won in such dominating fashion lowered the Kansas expectations slightly.