Day 6

Is NC State a Cinderella? Around here, we define Cinderella as a double-digit seed making it out of the first weekend. NC State, check and check. But they are from a Power 5 conference. So I'm making the executive decision that they are not wearing a glass slipper. Which means this tournament did not have a Cinderella. The quality of play in the Sweet 16 has been high and the games have been fun. I'm not mad.

Marquette's Tyler Kolik leads the country in assists per game at 7.9. He's the third player to average 10 points 10 assists and 5 rebounds over two NCAA tournament games. The other two? Draymond Green and Jason Kidd. He had 14 in the first half to keep his team in it (he finished with 17 and 10 boards but only 3 assists).

Marquette started 0 for 9 from deep, finally hitting a 3 with about 7:00 to go in the first. They ended up 2-13 from behind the arc in the opening stanza. That's 15%. They weren't much better overall at 34%. They also missed their freebies, going 2-8. David Joplin got fouled on a 3 with 2 seconds to go before the break. He missed all 3 of the free throws. It was that kind of half. Golden Eagles down 13, 37-24.

DJ Horn is not a novelty act. His footwork in the post is tremendous. But he's also a terrific passer, both in the post and facing the basket. When he gets the ball, he's a point center. Shades of Jokić (in terms of passing; Burns can't shoot like the Joker). Burns had his moments tonight (only 4 points, but 7 assists). State was equally effective without him primarily because of Mohamed Diarra.

Diarra was fasting for Ramadan. Sun set about halfway through the second half. At which point he had a banana. He didn't need the sustenance. Diarra, who hails from Montreuil, France, had 11 points and owned the boards with 15 rebounds.

The second half was more of the same, with the Pack maintaining a double digit lead. Then Marquette went on an 11-2 run starting mid-way through the second to pull within 6 with 4:00 to go.

State's other DJ, Horne, took over down the stretch, controlling the tempo. Three huge State 3s with a short shot clocks in the closing minutes allowed the them to hold off Marquette, 67-58.

DJ Horne led his team with 19 points.

Marquette with a horrible shooting night. 20-60 from the field including a pitful 4-31 from deep. Not sure how they kept this as close as they did.

The first Elite 8 for NC State since 1986.

The last time NC State and Marquette met in the tournament was the 1974 national championship. Marquette was coach by Al Maguire. David Thompson led NC State to the title, breaking a streak of 7 straight championships for UCLA. 

NC State coach, Kevin Keatts, must put Xanax in his OJ. There has never been such a chill coach in all of sports. Keatts was an assisant at UL under Rick Pitino including their championship year. Keatts was on the hot seat heading into the postseason even though he's won 20 or more in 5 of his 7 seasons in Raleigh. In the first round of the ACC tourney his team was down 15 to a miserable Louisville squad. Seat heating up. State came back, obviously, winning against the Cards and then ripped off four more to take the tourney trophy.

The ACC tournament win activated an automatic two year extension (to 2030) for Coach Keatts. And a fat bonus. Before his team even entered the NCAA tourney. He owes his agent a thank you card. Maybe some nice Carolina cigars. Hello job security. If his team wins one more, they'll probably have a parade in Raleigh.

The first half in this one was close. Gonzaga's center, Graham Ike, had hit only five shots from 3 all season. Purdue left him wide open. He took the bait, shooting from 3 twice. He nailed them both. He finally missed a shot from deep as the half closed.

Edey went scoreless for about 10 minutes, then got 5 in the last 2 minutes of the first. Even with that long dry spell, Edey ended up with 11 and 6 at the break. Purdue led by 4, 40-36.

Purdue came out after the half and couldn't miss. The Zags doubled Edey every possession and tried to body him. Edey dropped 27 and 14 on them, a normal day at the office.

All that defensive attention down low opened up the outside and the Purdue guards feasted. Especially Braden Smith who had a dream stat line of 14 points, 15 assists (!) and 8 rebounds. Special.

Graham Ike finished with 18 and 10 for the Bulldogs.

I'm not sure I'm on the Boilermake bandwagon just yet, but they certainly looked good tonight against a disciplined Gonzaga team. Credit to Mark Few, who took one of his lesser talented teams to the Sweet 16.

The resemblance is uncanny!

(their names are Loyer and Ashworth)

The Dan Levy commercials for homes.com are in heavy rotation. He is paired with a Saturday Night Live cast member. You know the one. What's her name? I watch the show every week and appreciate her many sketches, but I had no idea what her name is. Apparently, it's Heidi Gardner. She's been on SNL for seven seasons (!).

Some nerves from the youthful Blue Devils to start this one. Then both teams went cold. Houston led 10-7 with 10 minutes to go in the first (which would translate into 40-28 for a 40 minute game. Ugh).

Houston's Jamal Shead with a bad ankle sprain going for a layup, which sent him to the locker room with about 6:00 to go in the first. Houston has no offense without him (a teammate air-balled a free throw). I wouldn't describe how Duke responded as a run given the pace of this game. More like a saunter. The Devils crawled back to take the lead. Duke committed 9 turnovers and shot 34% from the field and still led 23-22 at the half. Uber physical game. Houston can defend, but their offense without Shead is unsightly.

Shead's ankle was described a severely sprained. He returned to the floor after the break, but started the second half on the bench. He did not play. His team's struggles continued on the offensive end; their D kept them in the game. Cougars down two as we hit the stretch in a game as entertaining as a Steven Seagal film festival. Houston would not quit so the ending was anxious. That's not the same as good.

Houston with the ball down 3 with 15 seconds to go. Missed layup but the Cougars got the ball back out of bounds. Good look from 3 but it wasn't close. Duke wins a 54-51 slog to move on to the Elite 8.

Duke gets NC State in the Elite 8. That'll be interesting. I have family in Carolina. They are farm folks, salt of the earth. They don't even consider Duke to be a Carolina school. The students come from somewhere else and then go on to embody the phrase coastal elites. That's the stereotype but there's more than a little truth to it. Bottom line, NC State fans hate Duke more than UNC fans.  

Santiago Vescovi out for Tennessee with an illness. An important part of their team last year, he's played surprisingly poorly this season. It has nothing to do with Dalton Knecht, who plays a different position for the Vols.

Speaking of Knecht, he does play the same position as Creighton's fellow All-America, Baylor Scheierman. Knecht had a solid first half with 10 points. Scheierman went for 15, leading his team to a 1 point lead at the break, 35-34. Tennessee is a good team, but they are not playing their best ball of the season right now. 

18-0 Tennessee run early in the second to break the game open (seemingly). The 0 was as important as the 18. The Vols turned it up on the defensive end, completely shutting down Scheierman (and all the other Bluejays too). 

Creighton regrouped and pulled to within 10 at the midway point of the second half. Back and forth for a bit and then the Bluejays went on another run to get it down to 5. Surprising. Tennessee was in complete control.

Give Creighton coach Greg McDermott credit. He dialed up a junk defense, face guarding Zeigler and Knecht with the other three defenders playing a triangle zone. It worked. And Scheierman got going again on the offensive end. Heading down the stretch, we had a game.

In a game of runs, Tennessee had the last word, winning by 7. Knecht and Scheierman had 26 and 25. Zeigler with 16 points and 6 assists. Creighton's Trey Alexander, in contrast, only 3-11 from the field. 

Tennessee is yet another team making only its second Elite 8.

Elite Eight by Conference:

ACC - 3 (Clemson, Duke, NC State)

Big Ten - 2  (Illinois, Purdue)

SEC - 2 (Alabama, Tennessee) 

Big East - 1 (UConn)