Yesterday, the Final Four dance card for Minneapolis was filled up. Auburn will join Texas Tech as a first-timer after their 77-71 overtime victory against Kentucky. Jared Harper (26 points) and Bryce Brown (24 points) accounted for 50 points combined for the Tigers; PJ Washington had a double-double (28 points, 13 rebounds) for the Wildcats, but they missed out on an opportunity to return to the Final Four for the first time since the 2014-15 season in which their bid for perfection was thwarted by Wisconsin in the semifinals.
The most anticipated game of the tournament was Michigan State-Duke, and this game also came down to the closing seconds. Kenny Goins hit a 3-point shot that put Michigan State up by 2 with about 30 seconds left to play. After a missed 3 by RJ Barrett, the Blue Devils would end up with one more chance to either tie or take the lead. Barrett was fouled on a drive attempt, but ended up missing his first free throw and, ironically enough, made his 2nd free throw while trying to miss that attempt. Duke fouled on the ensuing inbounds play by Michigan State, but since the Spartans were not in the bonus yet, they inbounded the ball one more time and ran the clock out for a 68-67 victory. For Michigan State, this will be their tenth Final Four as a program and eighth under Tom Izzo. Cassius Winston was named Most Outstanding Player in the East Regional.
CBI Championship Series (Game 1)
DEPAUL AT SOUTH FLORIDA (7:00 PM, ESPNU) – This game will be a battle of contrasting styles; the Bulls are a defensive-oriented ballclub that have won three straight games at home (including their win against Loyola Marymount last Thursday) to advance to the CBI Best-of-3 Championship Series. DePaul, on the other hand, has been the highest scoring team in the tournament with an average of 94.3 points per game. Max Strus alone is averaging 31.7 points per game in the tournament for the Blue Demons.