Day 6 of the 2023 NCAA Tournment

Who needs Chris Beard? The Texas coach was fired in January after assaulting his fiancée. He was subsequently hired at Ole Miss. I'll revist this sorry state of events in a future post.

Beard was replaced by assistant Rodney Terry, who has been head coach at Fresno State and UTEP. I think it's about time Texas dropped interim from his title. The Longhorns haven't missed a beat under Terry beating ranked Kansas (twice), Iowa State and TCU.

Tonight Texas completely dismantled Xavier.

Creighton University is a Jesuit university in Omaha, Nebraska. They are the Bluejays, which are notably cranky. I'm not opposed to birds as mascots, but they really need to be birds of prey. Falcons, Eagles, Ravens, all fine. Seahawks? Fine. Cardinals? Nah. Pelians? Definitely not. 

Princeton didn't go quietly, but Creighton was in control throughout ultimately winning 86-75. This is the first Elite 8 for Creighton. 

One of the big stories of Thursday was Nowell and Massoud, prides of Harlem, leading Kansas State into the Elite 8 in Madison Square Garden. Not a word tonight, in contrast, about two star players from the Garden State: Alabama's Jahvon Quinerly (Hackensack) and Miami's Isaiah Wong (Piscataway, home of Rutgers including my lab).

Quinerly originally committed to Arizona but got caught up in the pay for play scandal involving Sean Miller and adidas. He ended up at Villanova, where he clashed with Jay Wright, and finally transferred to Bama. A point guard, Quinerly averaged over four assists a game this season. Quinerly had 10 points and 3 assists as his team fell to SDS tonight.

Isaiah Wong played his senior season of high school hoops in Philly and was named MVP of the city Catholic league. This is his senior season at Miami and he is their undisputed star averaging 22 points, 7.5 board and 2.5 assists. Wong had 20 points in the upset of Houston.

Jersey has long been a hotbed of hoops talent from Tommy Heinsohn to Shaq to Kyrie Irving to current top ranked hoops star DJ Wagner, who will look sharp in Kentucky blue next season. In fact, a third of this year's McDonald's All-American East team hail from the Garden State.

Fairleigh Dickinson and Princeton made huge statements in this tourney. Last year it was St. Peter's. Maybe Rutgers will get with the program one day.

Fun first half. Miami came to play, powered by Pack and Wong both of whom were already in double figures in the first. The Hurricanes up six at the break.

Miami came out of the locker room hot, extending their lead to nine. They withstood a Houston mini-run and then won going away 89-75.

Kelvin Sampson's teams don't give up 89 points. Only four teams have scored more than 70 against the Cougars this season before tonight. The Hurricanes shot 51% from the field and 44% from 3. 

Piscataway's Isaiah Wong led the way with 20 points for the Canes. 

The brilliant career of Houston's Marcus Sasser comes to an end with a whisper.

I've always been impressed with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. He was fired at Indiana because he texted recruits too frequently. What a stupid way to lose a job.

On the court, he's been successful everywhere he's coached. At Oklahoma, Indiana and now at Houston (with a rehab trip through the NBA assistant ranks after Indiana).

Sampson seems like a genuine person. The in-game coach interviews are annoying, I'm sure, but Sampson always treats the interviewer with respect and often gives an interesting analysis of the game. Other coaches should take note.

Sampson grew up in North Carolina, a member of the Lumbee Indigenous Community. His father is one of the tribe members who is revered for driving the KKK out of Maxton, NC in 1958 in what is known as the battle of Hayes Pond.

Sampson had a twin sister, Karen, who lost her battle with cancer two weeks ago today.

Poor first half for the Tide. Their freshman star, Brandon Miller, was a little too eager to impress. He didn't. Two early fouls and only four points at the break on 2-9 shooting. Coach Oates continued to play him with the foul trouble. Miller didn't pick up a third but didn't help his team much on either end of the floor. Give the Aztecs credit. Their defense was legit as Bama only hit 27% of their shots in the first (1-11 from deep).

Alabama averages 82 points a game, fifth in the country. They scored only 23 in the first half, trailing by five at the break.

A different Alabama in the second stanza. After nine minutes, the Tide had already scored more than they had in the first half. A much greater sense of urgency and a complete role reversal.

SDS made defensive adjustments and promptly went on a 12-0 run to take a three point lead with eight minutes to go. The game settled into a defensive struggle as we eyed the stretch run.

SDS was relentless defensively and on the boards. The Aztecs hit enough free throws in the final minute to pull off the upset 71-64.

The stars didn't show up for either team. SDS's Matt Bradley finished with six points. Alabama's Brandon Miller, the most talented player in college hoops, was just terrible. Nine points on 3-19 shooting. 

The first Elite 8 for San Diego State, which is also the first to make it this far from the Mountain West Conference.

Most famous San Diego State b-ball alumnus?

Kawhi Leonard, who averaged 24, 6 and 4 back in 2011, his sophomore year. He led the Aztecs to the Sweet 16 that year where they lost to eventual national champion UConn (I forget who they beat in the finals). 

That tourney established Leonard as a player and he entered the draft, selected 15th by the Pacers who traded him to the Spurs. He won a title with the Spurs in 2014, partnering with Tim Duncan. He was traded to the Raptors, which he led to a title in 2019. He was the MVP in both finals. He is one of only three players to be awarded finals MVP on two different teams (the others are LeBron and Kareem).

Speaking of Kawhi, he's featured in the New Balance commericals that are running with annoying frequency during the tourney. He's paired with rapper Jack Harlow, who is ridiculously depicted as a legit opponent for Kawhi in a game of one on one.

I get it. You wear New Balance and you can compete with a two time finals MVP even if you are a pasty white rapper from Louisville, Kentucky. Shades of the Be Like Mike ads back in the day, but come on.

Harlow seems like a good dude, but he's a Louisville fan. So screw him. His rhymes are as weak as his jump shot.