17 Apr 4 - Keep It Running (Part II): The Redemption
I must say I was thrilled to see someone knock off undefeated Connecticut in the Women's National Semifinal (ending their 111-game win streak -- Mississippi State 66 Connecticut 64 [OT]; Morgan William[GWFG]). Great game. Great finish.
Volume XXI, No. 22 - 17 Apr 4: POSTSEASON
Keep It Running (Part II): The Redemption
The National Semifinals at the FINAL FOUR in Phoenix both went down to the wire. [W1]Gonzaga/[E7]South Carolina was a well played (if nervy) game. The Bulldogs had it on the brink of putting it away before the Gamecocks came back. The first half was tight until a late burst at the very end gave Gonz a 45-36 lead at the break. They kept that working margin through to 65-51 midway through the second half but stopped shooting jump shots which allowed SCar to stage a 16-0 run to take the lead at 67-65 with seven minutes to go. A crucial 5-0 spurt from the 'Zags (keyed by pNigel Williams-Goss[23p6a5r] and fPrzemek Karnowski[13p5r]) gave GU a 72-67 lead with five to go and they nursed the endplay to secure the win, 77-73.
Quality-wise, [S1]North Carolina/[M3]Oregon wasn't the greatest (especially down the stretch), but a nail-biter is still a nail-biter. It was interesting to see which 'tweeners could come through without their traditional height advantage against ordinary guards. Both teams like to run so there wasn't a tempo advantage for either team. The Tar Heels' Joel Berry II(11p;2/14fg) was clearly hobbled and couldn't explode or elevate and tJustin Jackson(22p) couldn't get going early either in his head-to-head 'tweener matchup with the Ducks' tDillon Brooks(10p;2/11fg). bDylan Ennis(18p3a6r) sparked a mini-run that put Ore up 30-22 with four minutes left in the first half; but an up-tempo 17-6 spurt keyed by gNate Britt put UNC up 39-36 at the break. The Heels extended to a 10-point lead (66-56) with eight minutes left but couldn't put the game away. The Ducks hung around (thanks to Tyler Dorsey[21p;12/12ft]) and the endplay was mistake-ridden from both teams, frankly, as UNC survived going 0-for-4 on free throws inside the final minute by coming up with two huge offensive rebounds. cKennedy Meeks(25p14r;11/13fg) fully exploited the Ducks in the paint, especially on the offensive boards in the 77-76 UNC victory.
In the final between [S1]North Carolina and [W1]Gonzaga, you figured the front lines would cancel each other out, and certainly neither cKennedy Meeks(7p10r) nor fPrzemek Karnowski(9p9r) was the factor offensively they had been against smaller teams. Furthermore, all that size in the paint led to fouls galore for both teams, which ultimately hurt the Bulldogs more than the Tar Heels. Gonz spurted to a 7-point lead in the first half (21-14 with eleven minutes left). UNC was lucky, frankly, to stay close in the first half as Gonz missed a lot of good looks; as the 'Zags led 35-32 at the break. UNC went inside right away to start the second half for an 8-0 run and 40-35 lead (but, more importantly, got the 'Zag big men in all kinds of foul trouble). It was nip-and-tuck for the entire second half -- and you hoped that the numerous bad calls (both ways) wouldn't ultimately decide it. Then, 8-straight-points from tNigel Williams-Goss(15p6a9r) put Gonz ahead 65-63 with two minutes left; but tNWG turned his ankle and the UNC closed the game 8-0 to pull out the win, 71-65. Despite his own ankle problems, it was pJoel Berry II(22p6a) who was named the Most Outstanding Player -- Berry was 4-for-13 on threes (while the rest of the Tar Heels were 0-for-14).
The National Championship was not the greatest NCAA title game by any means (and, especially not by last year's standards); but the third nail-biter for this year's Final Four. With so much depth up front for both teams, [S1]North Carolina/[W1]Gonzaga turned into a foul-ridden mess, frankly. Some really bad calls down the stretch tainted things, along with the last-minute ankle turn by tNigel Williams-Goss; but give UNC credit for keeping its poise in the final moments once again -- the Tar Heels held their nerve in the close-out against [S8]Arkansas, [S2]@Kentucky, [M3]Oregon and finally [W1]Gonzaga -- (four times isn't luck; it's championship mettle!)
Roy Williams gets his third National Championship (to join Bob Knight and Jim Calhoun; trailing only John Wooden[10], Mike Krzyzewski[5] and Adolph Rupp[4]). "Roy Ball" consists of pushing the pace as much as possible, which requires using the depth of his bench to its fullest. This team wasn't as pure a representative of that style in that it was really the defensive calibre of this team (with its height inside and the 'tweeners on the perimeter) that ultimately saved the day for it more than its offensive capability. The difference between Roy and Dean Smith (whose total of two National Titles he passed, and is inching closer on all other fronts) was that Roy's teams played with a passion that Dean's "corporate" teams could rarely muster. Roy can't compare with Dean in terms of innovation and his impact on the game (and society); but purely on-court, he no longer has to take a back seat.
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The B-Major conferences dominated the NCAA tournament even more than usual, completely locking out the Mid-Majors and 1BCs from the Sweet 16. The BIG 12 went 9-6 over all (but no Final Four team and only one of its "Big Three" even made the Elite 8). Take away 6-0 [S1]North Carolina and the other eight teams from the Mega-ACC only went 5-8 (including three second-round upsets). It was, in fact, the SEC (which moved up to third-rated overall with its 11-5 record [including {E7}South Caroilna knocking out {E4}Florida] with a Final Four team and three teams in the Elite 8) and the PAC-12 (10-4, a Final Four team with all four teams winning at least two games) that shined the most. The BIG 10 (8-7, slumping to fourth-rated) and the BIG EAST (6-7, especially with top-seeded defending champ [E1]Villanova not even making the Sweet 16) were disappointments. The WEST COAST owed all most all of its 6-2 record to 5-1 [W1]Gonzaga.
Five teams among the two Mid-Major leagues only went 2-5 all together. The 1-3 ATLANTIC 10 did earn a B-Major first-round upset win (but also suffered a 1BC upset loss). The 1-2 AMERICAN split results matched up with B-Major Play-In opponents.
There was little joy in 1BC-land in this year's NCAAs. 23 teams made it in (two down from last year) and they only managed two wins (not counting two Play-In self-knockouts) as both MVC/[S10]Wichita State and CUSA/[S12]Middle Tennessee were splashworthy TiTo squads many people saw coming.
In the NIT, the B-Major also-rans ended the dream runs of the Mid-Major and 1BC hopefuls as teams from the top two conferences made the final and held form. In the semis, BIG12[7b]/[s4]TCU dumped AMER[4]/[m4]UCF (68-53 behind the all-around play of xKenrich Williams[14p7a14r]) while ACC[11]/[e6]Georgia Tech routed WAC title champ/[w8]Cal State-Bakersfield (76-61 behind cBen Lammers[15p11r5b] play in the paint). The final turned out to be a laugher as TCU routed GT (88-56 led by Most Valuable Player xKenrich Williams[25p12r]). (A B-Major also-ran's winning the NIT is par for the course.)
In the CBI, the Championship Series followed form with the home team having an increasingly easier time. SUNB[6c]/[seB1]Coastal Carolina won Game 1 (@91-81 with six players in double-figures) -- its fourth-straight home game. Home games were just as good to MWC[7]/[nwA1]Wyoming who won two routs to close things out (@81-57 and @83-59 led by Most Valuable Player bJustin James) giving the MOUNTAIN WEST
its second-straight CBI crown (after Nevada won last year).
In the CIT, MAAC runner-up/[1b]St. Peter's did benefit from a second-round bye (and a home game against SOCON tri-champ/[1b]Furman -- a @77-51 rout), but it had to win the other three games on the road (including the final at SLAND/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 62-@61 led by Most Valuable Player xQuadir Welton and thanks to the game-winning free throw from Trevis Wyche). (A splashworthy 1BC's winning the CIT is about right.)
The
With so many 1BC teams going TiTo, nearly half the NIT draw was made up of B-Major also-rans (14) compared to 15 1BC title champs. The 1BCs went 8-7 (including two self-knockouts) in the first round and did place WAC/[w8]Cal State-Bakersfield into the semifinals at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. Still, a B-Major also-ran won it for the FIFTH TIME IN SIX YEARS -- a measure of the top-down power structure of College Baskeball in this era.
The CBI had one BM and two MM squads, but it was a team from the highest rated 1BC league that took the crown -- (another blow for top-down supremacy).
Likewise, with the CIT entirely a 1BC affair this year, its champion came from one of the highest rated conferences that sent representatives.
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Overall, in many ways, this season of College Basketball was a continuation -- (call it "Part Two") -- of last year's story line. Veteran squads repeated as title champs in SIX OF THE SEVEN B-Major LEAGUES (with Kansas/Bill Self matching the all-time record with THIRTEEN-STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLES, Gonzaga/Mark Few continuing its dominance with SIXTEEN OF SEVENTEEN WCC TITLES [including FIVE-STRAIGHT TiTo CROWNS], Villanova FOUR-PEATING THE BIG EAST, Kentucky 3-peating the SEC, North Carolina repeating in the ACC, and even Oregon claiming a share of its second-straight PAC-12 title). So many solid returning nuclei had unfinished business left over from last year's NCAA tournament. Oregon made it through to its first Final Four since 1939 (before there even was a "Final Four"). Gonzaga finally made it through to its first Final Four ever. Upstart South Carolina came from nowhere with a golden run to its best postseason ever into the Final Four. And North Carolina held onto the motivation from last year's heartbreak in the Championship Game to tough out clutch performances for Sweet Redemption with this year's National Championship crown.
Player Of The Year pFrank Mason III(Kansas) wasn't able to get his team through to the Final Four. Transfer tNigel Williams-Goss(Gonzaga) would have been the postseason hero if not for turning his ankle in the closing moments of the National Championship game. bSindarius Thornwell(South Carolina) led his school on its greatest postseason run all the way to the Final Four. cPrzemek Karnowski(Gonzaga) set the record for most wins all-time in a college career (137). pJoel Berry II(North Carolina) hobbled his way to be this year's Most Outstanding Player.
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Once again, I got a month behind in writing this year's weekly columns and never caught up by the time the NCAA tournament came around. It wasn't my own health issues this time that was the problem so much as it was other factors that demanded more of my attention. (Again, the last month of columns were written anachronistically [after the season was over] in as faithful a way as possible as to how I would have perceived things at the proper concurrent time.)
The Hoops Contest was a ball this year (especially some wonderfully off-topic reminiscing). [In an unsatisfying "kiss your sister" result, this year's winner turned out to be the picks from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED by Dan Greene and Luke Winn atop a field of 145 contestants -- it's a first on the Hoops side for an "expert pick" entry to win it; although it's already happened in the Pigskin Pool.]
Thanks, everybody, for reading this year's columns. Hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I still very much enjoy writing them.
Next year, it's the Road To San Antonio!
-- Ron
posted by Ron @ Wednesday, September 13, 2017
