Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournment

The form on those Sanogo 3 pointers looked very Shaq-esque. But they went in! UConn with an early 9-point lead.

The Host called a UConn kid Joey California. That's not really his name, right? Nah. It's Joey Calcaterra who is from Novato, California. Mrs Notes commented that he needed to get out in the sun. The Host, without missing a beat, said to give him a break. He lives in Connecticut, God's blind spot. And he's a UConn grad/fan!

Nice play for an open UConn 3 to end the half. That extended the lead to 37-24, the lowest scoring half of the season for Miami.

UConn is dominating mainly without Jordan Hawkins, who is hobbled with a "non-covid illness".  Evidently a stomach bug.

Miami tried to make a game of it in the second, but UConn had an answer every time. Sanogo finished with 21 and 10. Hawkins ended playing and playing well, finishing with 13.

The Huskies should be heavy favorites in Monday night.

After watching 50 or so ball games primarily in the solitude of Notes Central, I was reminded that sports is typically a communal experience.

So we loaded up the car and headed down the shore. Margate, New Jersey. Hanging out with the extended Battaglia clan. The master of the house is a UConn grad so I'll have to keep my snarky comments to myself.

There is a tornado warning in the area. They broke into the early game for an extended period of time. You know you are with hard core sports fans when they respond to this news not by figuring out which neighbor has a basement but finding out what channel is still playing the game. [Editor's Note: It was the CW. Which apparently still exists.]

In the most anticipated matchup in either Final Four, Caitlin Clark and Iowa took on Aliyah Boston and the undefeated South Carolina juggernaut. The match pitted the 2022 player of the year, 6’7” bruiser Boston, against the presumed 2023 player of the year, Clark the unguardable guard. 

The game tipped off and almost immediately Boston and Clark had two fouls each. Boston was taken out, but Clark stayed in. That might have been the difference in the game. Boston spent a lot of time on the bench and didn’t get into the flow when she was playing (finishing with 8 points and 10 boards). That said, South Carolina goes 12-deep and they have plenty of talented bigs on the bench. Like 6’7” Brazilian Kamilla Cardoso, who filled in admirably with 14 points and 14 rebounds. South Carolina dominated the boards, as they have all season, outrebounding Iowa 49 to 25 (nearly doubling them up!). USC reminds me of the Patrick Ewing teams of the 1980s. Very big and very physical. Caitlin Clark looked completely gassed at the end of the first half. I thought USC’s relentlessness combined with Iowa’s lack of depth would be an issue down the stretch [Editor’s Note: It wasn’t.].

Blue blood denotes nobility or aristocracy, but where does the phrase originate? Not from a good place, turns out. The etiology is from the Spanish sangre azul. Back in the day, the noble classes in Spain and throughout Europe valued fair skin, which allowed blue veins to show through. Sadly, this was meant to highlight racial purity, excluding people with darker skin.

Racist origins of this idiom aside, there is general agreement that four teams occupy the heights of college hoops aristocracy: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Duke. These also happen to be the four winningest programs in NCAA men's hoops history. The fifth? Would you believe Temple? The Owls were one of the first organized college basketball teams, starting in 1895. They've won 1,961 games. Absolutely no one considers them one of the top programs.

How about titles? UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana and Kansas. Indiana and UCLA also in the top 10 of all-time wins. 

What about UConn, which I refused blue blood status earlier in the tourney? At first glance, they are the most successful program of this century with three titles. Husky fans might protest that it's even better than that, because if we go back one more year (to 1999) they have won four titles (which is all of their titles). Then again, if we go back to 1996 we add two more to Kentucky's list and it we go back a little more, to 1991, Duke has the most with five. At any rate, UConn has won four titles which is the same as Kansas. And they are the favorites to win #5 this weekend. Respect. UConn's all-time wins are about the same as Louisville, 27th on the list. 

To me, longevity also is a factor.  I called UConn new money. That's not a knock. Would I trade a 2015 title for UK (which means a 40-0 season) for our 1949 title. Yes. Yes, I would. Would I trade 2015 for 1948? Probably not. Many consider that UK team to be the best all-time, when considered relative to the competition of the time. Think I'm a homer? Well, duh. But think about this. 1948 was an Olympic year. When the people who decide these things met in a smoke filled room, they came to the conclusion that they weren't going to do better than the UK starting 5. So the UK starters ended up as the core of the US Olympic team. They beat France in for the gold medal, 65-21. Kentucky's Alex Groza was the team's leading scorer. I just wrote all that from memory. Yea, we take basketball seriously in my home state. So, the 1948 title is special. Repeating in 1949? I'd trade that one for a team that actually played in my lifetime. [Editor's Note: Your eye rolls are noted. I haven't written about Kentucky in two weeks - I'm in withdrawal! Back to the Notes.]

Back to UConn. Nothing but respect, let me be clear. But allow me to bring up a few curious facts. UConn is either terrific or terrible. Terrific: Six Final Fours and they've won four going on five. With three different coaches. But the terrible is pretty bad. Over the past 24 years, UConn missed tourney 8 times! Then add in 7 times failing to get past the first round. (Checks math) That equals futility in 15 of the last 24 years! But of the remaining 9, they might win it all 5 times! That's a lot of exclamation points!

I'll admit that I figured UConn was done after the Kevin Ollie experiment cratered. I was obviously wrong. The least famous Hurley, Dan, turned the program around and is about to take them all the way to the promised land. 

THE BEST BASKETBALL PLAYER NOT IN THE NBA IS A UNICORN LIVING IN FRANCE

Disturbing legal woes aside, the most talented men's NCAA player remains Brandon Miller. His off the court issues appeared to catch up to him the in tourney, where he played his worst ball of the season. I'm not sorry that his Bama team went home early. He will still be the #2 pick the the NBA draft this summer. Most likely.  It could be Scoot Henderson from the G-League. It's one or the other. Scoot is a combo guard, whereas Miller is a modern "small" forward. Both are great. Neither will go #1.

The top spot is a lock. It belongs to Victor Wembanyama. He's a 19 year old from Le Chesnay, France (it's near Versailles). Wicked first step, can finish at the rim. Smooth shot extending well into NBA range. Remarkably mature game for his age. Did I mention he's a legit 7'2"? (He also can protect the rim). Check out his highlight video. Kid is unreal. Note that those are grown men he is playing against.

A generational talent, but is he a unicorn? In basketball, a unicorn typically describes a big man with guard skills. Think Le Bron or Giannis. That's not my definition. I think a unicorn is a player with extraordinary skills that change the game. What player was the first unicorn? Some will say Bill Russell. One of the greatest rebounders to play the game and an undisputed leader and winner. But he was a big who could rebound. He did it better than anyone before him, but I wouldn't call his game transformational.

I would happily lose that argument. I love Russell, who died last summer, and would much rather have him on a team than notorious ball hog Wilt Chamberlain. But I think Wilt was the original unicorn. Wilt was the first great seven footer, and great he was. He was unguardable. In 1962, playing for the Sixers, he averaged more than 50 points a game. If Wilt didn't exist, Kareem is probably the first unicorn. Kareem was a better player, in my opinion, but he was basically Wilt 2.0.

Who else? The first 6'9" point guard? Yea, Magic was a unicorn. Jordan and LeBron? The best male basketball players ever. LeBron is Magic 2.0. Jordan had plenty of precursors - Ervin, Gervin, take your pick.

Are there any unicorns in the NBA today? Giannis is amazing. But he's not even 30 and Wembanyama has similar skills and is three inches taller.

I think Curry is a unicorn. Have there been great shooters before? Of course. No one regularly threw up shots from as far out as Steph. He taught the league that the 3 was the most effective shot, which changed the game. When guards started routinely shooting from 30 feet, everything opened up. Bigs have nothing to do if they stand around waiting for a post pass that never comes. So they started shooting 3s. And hitting them. Karl Anthony Towns just won the NBA 3-point shooting contest.

Pointless and arbitrary discussion, I'll concede. The point is that Wembanyama is coming and we should all be excited.

When I write things like "best shooting percentage in college hoops" it is implied that I am talking about the men's game. I don't have the bandwidth to follow the women's tourney very closely, which is a pity. Because the best player in college hoops, without question, is Iowa's Caitlin Clark. She just had a triple double to lead her team to the Final Four. The first 40 point triple double in the history of the college game, period.

It's truly a shame that UConn's Paige Bueckers tore her ACL late last year. Bad for her, obviously, but also bad for the game. Clark and Bueckers are the future of women's hoops.

So, Iowa is going to win it all, right? Not so fast. They face South Carolina in the Final Four (Friday at 9:00). Dawn Staley's squad, led by Zia Cooke, is unreal. Look for the Gamecocks to repeat. Although it's worth tuning in to that game on Friday.

What a pity that Miami gets UConn in the Final Four. Which means that Florida Atlantic or San Diego State will show up in the finals and get destroyed. 

The Finals could be a battle of the Florida Treasure Coast.

The Miami women also made the Elite 8 but lost today to LSU.