Day 7 of the 2023 NCAA Tournment

The first half had the feel of two heavyweights testing one another's defenses but not able to land a solid punch much less a knockout blow. Although that Karaban 3 at the end of the half to put UConn up by seven landed pretty squarely. It bears mentioning that the Zags are not a bunch of sluggers; brawls are not their style. At all.

In the first half, Sanogo scored (6) and rebounded (8), as expected, but he also had 5 assists (!). He's a really good passer out of the high post. In the other half of the Battle of the Bigs, Timme had 9 and 3 and 3. Both impressive but advantage Sanogo.

Gonzaga starting guards have two points in the last game and a half. That's not gonna get it done.

The second half opened and Timme immediately commited an offensive foul, his third. Mark Few left him in the game. Didn't matter. UConn came out swinging to extend their lead to 12. Timme continued to play pretty aggressively, and got his fourth on a defensive rebound. He's lucky it wasn't called a flagrant foul. Smart player, dumb play. He went to the bench with 17:39 to go and his team down 10. 

With Timme on the bench, UConn started throwing haymakers. [Editor's note: In the pre-industrialized era, those who harvested hay did so by swinging a scythe. Something that required a lot of force. A sportswriter applied the term to boxing ("a powerfull knockout punch") at the turn of the 20th century. Back to the Notes.] With UConn up by 21, the Zags had no choice but to bring Timme back in with around 15 minutes to go. His team was already out on its feet. You can't throw in the towel in college hoops. The Zags had to endure a 28 point humiliation.

No one predicted a blowout, but this result shouldn't be too surprising. It certainly wasn't an upset, even though the Zags were somehow the higher seed. Timme is a great college player, but he's all they have. They miss a strong backcourt player like Jalen Suggs (who is playing well for the Magic). Gonzaga won the battle of the west coast, but they did it against a UCLA team with two starters out with injuries.

Sanogo didn't play much of the second half. He was replaced with 7'2" freshman Donovan Clingen. The kid impressed. Very active on both ends of the floor with an impressive motor. 

Timme finished with 12, 10 and 4 in what was probably his last game. Incredibly, he still has a year of eligibility even though it seems like he's been in Spokane since the days that Nirvana played in bars there. Timme says he's not coming back. Given a choice between a high six-figure NIL deal and playing god knows where overseas, I think I would spend another year in Lilac City (the birthplace of Father's Day, supposedly). [Editor's Note: I lived in eastern Washington for four years. 90 minutes south of Spokane. You drove and hour and a half...and you were in Spokane. Actually, it's a nice town but it is seriously in the middle of noplace.]

Great start to the Florida Atlantic-Kansas State game! If you like scoring and frentic pace, which I do.

None of the Kansas State players started school there. They are all transfers. Four KSU players are from New York City. When Coach Tang took the job last summer, KSU had two returning players (Nowell and Massoud, both previously transfers). He created the rest of the roster from scratch recruiting 10 players from the transfer portal.

The last time KSU made a Final Four was in 1964, when they were coached by legendary Tex Winter, the creator of the triangle offense made famous by Jordan's Bulls. 

FAU plays fours guards arrayed around  7'1" Vlad Goldin, who is from Nalchik, Russia (which is in the Causases between the Black and Caspian seas). Golden stays in his lane, which is the lane, which caused K State multiple problems especially in terms of rebounding. Goldin had room to operate because KSU was focusing on guarding the 3-point line because FAU is one of the best in the country from deep.

The good news for KSU at the half? Nowell overcame a slow start to rack up 15 points and 7 assists. The bad news, his team trailed 42-38. The FAU lead would have been up by more if not for 12 (!) turnovers. Highly entertaining first half.

KSU's game plan in the second half was to get Johnson involved. It worked on the offensive end but then he picked up his third foul with over 17 minutes to go. Coach Tang left him in. Very risky. He picked up his fourth and went to the bench with just over 14 left with his team up five. He came back in around the six minute mark with his team giving up four points in his absence. FAU immediately posted up Goldin for a dunk and the lead.

We hit crunch time and FAU took control. They turned their defense up a notch, Goldin controlled the paint and they hit some big 3s. And then Jonson fouled out with 2:44 remaining with FAU leading by six. (Stupid and obvious push off by Johnson on an offensive rebound). The foul put the Owls on the line where they added two to their lead. 15-1 FAU run.

Exciting finish. Two more players fouled out, one on each team. KSU hit some big shots to make it interesting. But FAU's senior, Mike Forrest, hit his free throws in the last minute of the game to send the Beach Boys to the Final Four!!

The second half was a repeat of the first. FAU kept turning the ball over (22 for the game, the most by any team in the tourney). Markquis Nowell was brilliant for KSU: 30 points, 12 assists, five steals. Goldin, surprisingly, was the difference turning in a double double with 14 and 13. I found myself cheering for the underdog, but both teams proved they deserved a starring role on the big stage.

Who the hell is FAU coach Dusty May? That's my homework assignment. His team executed his game plan to perfection.

It didn't decide the game, but there were questionable held balls on both sides. Touching the ball does not equal shared possession. The refs have been too quick to make that call all tourney, IMO.

CONSPIRACY CORNER

Remember that incredible 40-foot pass Nowell threw for a reverse dunk on Thursday? The video is right over there to remind you.

In real time, I thought Nowell was arguing with his coach about the play call and then casusally threw the pass.

After the game Seth Davis, who is a bright guy, said it was a called play. How do you call a play that is prediated on spontaneously taking advantage of a blown defensive assignment? Smart people sometimes say dumb things.

Then the conspiracy theory emerged the next day, which posited that the whole argument was for show to distract the defense and then drop the dime.

What does Nowell have to say? According to him, he wasn't arguing with his coach at all. He was yelling at 2000 NCAA tourament MOP Mateen Cleaves, who was sitting courtside with Isaiah Thomas and had been giving Nowell crap all game. So, what did Nowell say to Cleaves right before he threw the pass? "Watch this!"

Coming into the weekend, Nowell is averaging 21.3 points, 14 rebounds and 3.7 steals while hitting nearly 50% of his shots for the tournament.