Day 5

Clemson came out hot against the Desert Wildcats. Their efficient offensive attack was balanced, led by under-rated big man, Ian Schieffelin, with 9 points. Arizona's star, Caleb Love, had a shaky start to the game with 4 points on 2-9 shooting. Zona made a mini-run late in the first half to pull within 8 at the break. 

Clemson put Arizona in the bonus with 12:00 to go (!). Their center PJ Hall in foul trouble with 3. The Tigers immediately went to a 2-3 zone to limit fouls. It worked. And they were able to rebound out of it (they rebounded like crazy on both ends, actually). The Clemson bigs are sneaky good. Schieffelin and Hall are both great passers out of the post and they play a nice little two man game as well. 

Under a minute to go, Arizona's Bradley made an unlikely 3 to pull them within 2. Chase Hunter for Clemson was clobbered driving to the basket and still spun in a layup. Huge play. He hit the and-one to put the Tigers up 5. After a Love floater in the lane, Clemson threw over the press and scored (it was Love's man that got loose). Ball game.

Incredibly, Clemson is holding opponents below 20% from behind the arc. Even though Clemson employed a zone for most of the second half, Arizona still shot a putrid 5-28 (17.9%) from deep (Love was 0-9 - ouch!).

Clemson's Joseph Girard leads the country in free throw shooting at an impressive 95%. He missed two in a row in the second half.

This is the second Elite 8 in Clemson history (1980). 

Clemson is playing well but it makes no sense. To everyone except AJ and Melissa, evidently! They limped into the tournament having lost 3 of 4 including a loss to Boston College in the first round of the ACC tournament.

Clemson was led by senior Chase Hunter (18, 6 and 5). His brother Dillon Hunter comes off the bench as does their childhood friend and teammate RJ Godfrey. All three hail from the suburbs of Atlanta. Interesting backstory that we'll delve into on Saturday.

Zona's Caleb Love, who transferred from UNC, was the Pac-12 Player of the Year after averaging 18.7 points, 3.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game this season. Love led UNC in scoring last year. So why transfer? Remember that UNC fell apart. They were the 2022-23 pre-season #1 ranked team but failed to make the Big Dance. Bacot and RJ Davis decided to come back and coach Hubert Davis wisely built his team around him. 

That apparently did not include Caleb Love as well as five other players on the team, all six of whom entered the portal. It's one of those happy break-ups that worked out well for all involved. Love was the best in the west and UNC rolled to a #1 seed.

Caleb Love considered turning pro two years ago after an outstanding sophomore year at UNC. He stayed in school to prove he can shoot. He still hasn't, going 41% overall and 34% from deep this year. He's also not much of a playmaker, which is kind of important for a point guard. He's 23, which the NBA views as ancient. Love is big and strong and is great finishing at the rim through contact. That alone is not valued in today's NBA (see Westbrook, Russel who is far better than Love will ever be). Love is not projected to be a first round pick in the draft. Sad to say, he should have entered the draft two years ago.

By the way, Love wanted to transfer to Michigan but the school wouldn't accept his credits (from UNC?!). So, he ended up at Arizona. True story.

The Buffalo blocking everyone out at B-Dubs? That got old pretty quick. The Buffalo is voiced by former SNL cast member Beck Bennett. He got the SNL gig after starring in the AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials where he interviewed kids. He says he left SNL to be closer to his wife, actress Jessy Hodges, in Los Angeles.

UConn came out and went to work, establishing an 11-point lead. UConn then went stone cold including 3:30 without a bucket late in first half. The Aztecs pulled back to within 4 but somehow ended up down 9 at the break. UConn gave them an opening but San Diego State did not capitalize. Not good for SDSU. They are a strong defensive team and UConn hung 40 on them in the first even though they shot under 40%. And Clingen only had a bucket. UConn dominated the glass 28-16. Things could get ugly in the second.

And they did. UConn heated up after the break and pounded yet another tourney opponent, winning by 30. UConn had four guys in double figures. Castle with 16 points and 11 boards.

UConn's Cam Spencer is a 5th years senior after spending three years at Loyola Maryland and one at Rutgers. The kid can shoot. 44% from deep (#5 in college basketball) and 91.5% from the line.

The last defending champion to make the Elite 8? Florida in 2007. We all know how that turned out. [Editor's Note: Florida repeated, the last team to do so.]

A furious pace, as expected, from these high octane offenses. Carolina with an 8-0 run as the half closed out to take an 8-point lead into the break, 54-46. Bama is impressive when they have the ball, but they have no clue on defense. UNC got repeated open looks from downtown in the first and hit them (10/19, Cormac Ryan 4/6).

This just in: The Tide actually annoyed UNC's offense in the second half holding the Heels to 33.

Then Bama's Grant Nelson and his ridiculous moustache took over. He had a solo 7-0 run down the stretch to put Bama up 5. UNC countered with a team 8-0 burst to go up by 3. 

Alabama went away from Nelson with some hero ball. It looked like their free wheeling ways might cost them. Grant Nelson thought otherwise. Under a minute to go, he got an and-one on a layup. UNC with the ball down 2. All-America RJ Davis goes to work and ends up guarded by Nelson on a switch. Davis pulls up for a floater. Blocked by Nelson!

Nelson ended up on the line again, his team up 2 with 0.9 seconds to go. He missed the first then missed the second on purpose. UNC's Harrison Ingram rebounded and got a length of court shot off before the buzzer. Blocked by Nelson! 

Grant Nelson finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. Epic performance. Terrific ball game.

Mark Sears had 18 tonight, one of four Bama players in double figures.

UNC's Cormac Ryan went 5/8 from deep. Bacot with 19 and 12. Both are seniors.

The Heels' RJ Davis finished with 16 but on 4/20 shooting (0/9 from deep!). An uncharacteristic poor performance at the worst time.

This is the second Sweet 16 in Alabama program history.

Alabama's Latrell Wrightsell did not play due to a head injury suffered in the win over Grand Canyon. His replacement, Nick Pringle, got hurt in the second half of this game after pulling down 9 boards.

Illinois, the offensive force, held Iowa State to 26 first half points. The Cyclones (nice) were lucky to be down only 10 at the break. Illinois missed a bunch of open shots including from the line (only 7/16). Iowa State was even worse, shooting 29% from the field. 

Terrence Shannon was the Illinois offense with 16 in the first.

ISU dropped 43 in the second, outscoring Illinois by 7. But they could never quite get over the hump. Terrence Shannon would not be denied, with 29 points. He could have put this one away at the line, but the usually excellent free throw shooter went only 5/10. Illinois with the minor upset in the 2-3 game, winning 72-69.

Iowa State got 26 off the bench from Curtis Jones. 

Love that Iowa State are the Cyclones. But their mascot is a cardinal, apparently because depicting a tornado is too hard. Sad.