Puppet Ramblings: Sweet Sixteen Halftime Show

-Jon Teitel is in Las Vegas, and I think is providing more coverage of The Tournament than everyone else other than perhaps CBS and Turner themselves.  So, check out his work!  You should ALWAYS check out his work even when he isn’t in Vegas, but definitely check out what he’s doing while he IS in Vegas!  What happens in Vegas with Teitel DOES NOT JUST STAY IN VEGAS!!!  Scroll down!  You can’t miss it!

-I hate backhanded compliments, so I hope this doesn’t sound like one.  UCLA had an incredible season.  The fact that they made it to the Sweet Sixteen without such a key player in Jaylen Clark, and then lost two other key front court guys before having to face Gonzaga, and damn near won the game is…just…WOW!!!  I know all the moods of the Bruins and their fans would have been a lot better had they won, but the level of pride the Bruins and their fans should have today should be through the roof.  I personally define toughness as one’s ability to keep fighting through adversity even when your instincts are telling you to stop.  This UCLA team showed more toughness than any other team I’ve seen at any point this season.  And, BTW, if you read or follow this site at all, you know that I’m not particularly a fan of UCLA.  I do think that UCLA and Gonzaga should have to play every year!!  The NCAA should mandate it during this year’s Summer Meetings!!  Whenever they play, it’s awesome!!

-Florida Atlantic has become just the second team in history to advance to the Elite Eight after beating a #16 seed in the Round of 32!!  (***Take THAT bit of trivia John Stalica!!!  He thinks he’s such an expert and acts so important because his team is in Kansas City!***)  Some point out that had it not been for the once-in-an-eon-upset of Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue they wouldn’t have had such an easy path.  While that is undeniably true, we at Hoops HD actually picked FAU to knock out Purdue in the Round of 32, and I believe they would have if that’s who they had ended up playing.  People will also say had Tennessee been at full strength, and had Zeigler been able to play, Tennessee would have probably won.  Well…perhaps…BUT had Zeigler not been injured then Tennessee probably isn’t a #4 seed and FAU isn’t even playing them last night in the first place.  If FAU wins the National Championship, I think naysayers will point to something that happened in all six of their games and try to argue that they got lucky and don’t deserve it.  The truth is, FAU is in the Elite Eight because they DO deserve it!!  And if you’ve been following the other tournaments, Conference USA looks like the paper and metrics did not properly measure just how good the league actually was.

-Kansas State vs Michigan State was a great game.  I believe it is the first time the two had played since 1997.  I hope we don’t have to wait as long until they play again!  I don’t know when K State last made the Final Four, but I’m pretty sure it was somewhere around…say….FOREVER ago!!!  Earlier I mentioned that FAU is just the second team ever to advance to the Elite Eight after beating a #16 seed in the Round of 32.  The other team to do it was….KANSAS STATE!!  They beat UMBC back in 2018 after the Retrievers knocked off Virginia.  No team has ever made the Final Four after beating a #16 seed in the Round of 32!!  We will see history made on Saturday!!  (***Take THAT bit of trivia John Stalica!!  He thinks he’s such an expert and acts so important because his team is in Kansas City!!***)

-As for tonight’s games, I thought Texas should have been a #1 seed over Purdue, and had been saying that for the last month or so, but while I was proven correct (I feel I am ALWAYS correct) the one thing about the NCAA Tournament is that as much as people like us love to forecast the seeding throughout the season, nothing is less important once the games actually start.  The best team is the best team regardless of what their seed is, and Texas may be as good as anyone.  It would be a lot of fun to see them finally square off against Houston if both get through the Sweet Sixteen tonight.  I think both should, but that doesn’t mean they will.  Miami FL has been good all year and is a team I’ve liked all year, but I think Houston is just better.  Xavier has looked fantastic at times, and managed some huge wins during the regular season, so if “Good Xavier” shows up they may be able to take down Texas, but Texas just looked better on more occasions.

-Princeton’s 1-3-1 defense confused the hell out of Arizona, and confused Missouri even more.  It was a bad match-up for Mizzou, and I would have probably picked Princeton to win that game had the two played during the regular season, but Arizona, with so much size, strength, and talent underneath, should have been able to pick Princeton apart.  The way to beat that type of zone is to move the ball and feed it into the low post.  This causes the defense to make a choice of either doubling down (which means someone else is open) or not doubling down (which means the advantage is to the offense if they have high caliber post players, which Arizona did).  While it made complete since that Princeton beat Missouri (rather badly) it made almost no sense at all that Princeton won that first game against Arizona.  As for the game against Creighton tonight??  Creighton SHOULD win, but Princeton has a chance!  Creighton has good outside shooters, but if Princeton can extend just a little bit out of their zone to contest those shots, or if Creighton simply isn’t hitting, Princeton does at least have a shot.

-San Diego State is a really good team.  Alabama is an absolutely outstanding team.  As a match-up, I don’t think there is really much to deep dive into when it comes to the schematics.  I think Alabama is just better.

 

ENJOY THE GAMES!!!

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