85 Expansion - The Final Four is Set
“Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos.” — The Joker
The #1 movie in 2008 was the Dark Knight, and it must be the chaos of '08 again because for the first time in 13 years, the four final four teams are #1 seeds. While "chaos" might not feel the appropriate term for all the top seeds making it to San Antonio, it feels that way with how it is only the 2nd time in tournament history for it to happen.
The first game was Florida vs Texas Tech on Saturday, and to quote the great Bill Raftery, Walter Clayton Jr's got ONIONS! The Gators needed all 30 of his points, because with 2:59 left and trailing 75-66, the Gators had only a 4.4% chance of winning. So you're telling me there's a chance? Yeah, with Walter Clatyon Jr there sure is. From that point, Florida went on an 18-4 run to win the game, and the Tortillas went into the frying pan.
The second game of the night was Duke vs Alabama, and my biggest takeaway is the envy of my Villanova group chat that how come Duke can find a successor to their legendary coach without issue!? (UNC joins us in those sorrows even more so). Jon Scheyer is only 37 years old, everyone get used to seeing Duke's name at the top of the CBB world for another three decades. Duke's length held the Tide to 65 points, going from 49% from 3 vs BYU to 25% vs the Blue Devils. The team remaining that has the least amount of stress, only Arizona coming within 7 was a close game so far.
Duke will take on Houston, the most popular #1 seed to not make the final four. And despite several close games, the Cougars defense held Tennessee to just 15 points in the first half, proving the haters wrong. 15 points is the lowest amount of points in the first half for a 1 or 2 seed in NCAA tournament history. Most basketball fans would agree, 1/17 from 3 is not a winning formula for the Volunteers. The win here for many of the true nutcases like myself, is thank God we didn't end up with 3 SEC teams in the final four, that conference does not deserve that level of basketball success, stop funding football so much.
There are 2 SEC teams though, as Auburn beat Michigan State to finalize our San Antonio bookings. Tom Izzo suffered his first ever loss in the NCAA tournament to an SEC team, and Auburn is more concerned and thrilled that their superstar Johni Broome is not seriously injured. Leaving the game at 10:37 after a right elbow injury, the Tigers held their breath for not just their first ever championship aspirations but also the game at hand. But Broome returned with 5:29 remaining, keeping the Tigers alive for the night and the next weekend. Of note, Florida faced Auburn earlier on February 8th, and the Gators won 90-81 at Auburn. But really... what does February matter as we enter April now? And as we saw with Kentucky and Tennessee, it mattered for nothing in the previous SEC matchup.
There's an obvious storyline I have to begrudgingly address in our scoreboard. The Brennan family (aka my wife and in-laws if someone is still missing that connection) rises to the top, with Lelia, Caitie, and Jim in possession of the top three placements. All three have identical brackets remaining, meaning they cannot pass each other. Lelia is looking to go back-to-back, which would have been so much more appropriate had she picked Florida not Duke... Instead, I just shake my head and keep my 9th place distance. As I heard a certain Piscataway friend say "he knows a lot about basketball, he just can't pick the games right." Well your faith in Houston that almost no one else had was a little bit of luck there Chris, plus one really great end of game play, but I give you credit as you remain in striking distance with very few others having Houston in the championship game.
Not so fast my friend said the Clousers, as the scoreboard is still close, and the champion being picked is 32 points. I think I heard some screams on Saturday night from Jersey City coming over here to Morristown, and bags are being packed to help ensure victory in both life and the bracket. Enjoy your San Antonio trip, send some pictures, although we know there's only one determining factor if the trip was a success or not, and it certainly isn't the weather.
Who should we not sleep on? Rob Karabin, obviously, as all the LaGuardia folks know. An incredibly rare Auburn Houston championship game pick, and by rare I mean the only one to pick it, is still alive and very much possible. Were that to happen, we would easily see him jump to the top with most others having Duke, or Florida, or both.
Games resume Saturday evening, with Florida vs Auburn kicking us off, followed by Houston vs Duke.
In the meantime, two great women's games are tomorrow in TCU vs Texas and UConn vs USC. I have the #2 seeds in both, give me Hailey Van Lith and Paige Bueckers!
Enjoy the last few games everyone!
Rory F Beglane
Founder of the 85 Expansion Bracket Challenge
Villanova Enthusiast
0 Time Bracket Winner
0 Time Always March Winner