Day 7

Houston won a very close game with Purdue early Saturday morning with a beautiful last-second out of bounds play. It was well past 1:00 am when they went to the studio. Jay Wright and Candace Parker proceeded to analyze this play like, well, the Zapruder film. They got into it! They discussed one play for 5 and a half minutes! It was awesome. I wasn't sure about Wright as a studio guy, but he's really won me over. And Parker is a consummate pro. On the last play, Wright thought the play call was superior while Parker argued that the defense was poor. [Editor's Note: They were both right.] 

The Houston win sets up an Elite 8 match-up with Tennessee. Neither team may score in that one.

That contrasts wildly with the Saturday games pitting high octane offenses of Florida and Texas Tech (betting total=156) and later Duke and Alabama (total=175!).

Lots of comments about Weetabix! Mathieu noted its popularity in France, although as a child he thought it originated in Northern Europe. The fact that it's British has him re-thinking his life choices. Mat says the fact that it soaks up the milk is what makes it good, but you have to eat it before it turns soggy. That's just what I want first thing in the morning, to have a race with my breakfast! 

I come bearing good news for those who are pro-Bretix: Weetabix is Australian. Weet-Bix was developed by Bennison Osborne in Sydney in the mid-1910s. It is still marketed in Australia and New Zealand as Weet-Bix. In Europe it is called Weetabix and, I cannot lie, it is manufactured in Northhamptonshire, England. The Australian version is considered a health food and was purchased as such in 1928 by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia (I am not making this up).

I don't know what "overnight Weet-Bix" is and I don't think I want to know.

Half of the Elite 8 is from the SEC (Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee)

Two from the Big 12 (Houston and Texas Tech)

One from the Big 10 (Michigan State)

One from the ACC (Duke)

Speaking of Australia, Florida's Alex Condon is from Perth, Australia. Condon was an Australian rules football player with pro potential in that sport, just like his father Damien. Condon is a post player, nearly 7 feet tall.

Texas Tech has a player named Federiko Federiko (not a typo). His story is as interesting as his name. His parents are Sudanese but he was born in Cairo (his parents were refugees). The family moved to Finland when Federiko was small. He's now a 6'11", 220 pound Finnish citizen. I'll bet he doesn't stand out at all back home in Helsinki. 

Tech come out bombing from 3, nailing three straight to open the game. Both teams got what they wanted on the offensive end, which is to say there wasn't much in the way of defense. Tech pulled out to a 6-point lead but Forlida ended the half on a run to lead 40-37 at the half. Tech only shoots 25% from 3, by far the worst in the Elite 8. They started the first half 6/7 from deep but then missed 8 of their next 9.

Florida is led by their All-American point guard, Walter Clayton. The Gator's power forward, Thomas Haugh (pronounced Hauk), has been their best player this tournament so far - he led his team with a dozen a the break (plus six boards). Haugh, a sophomore, is from New Oxford, PA (near Gettysburg). He led his high school team to the PA state title in 2023. He went to Florida because he loves...Tim Tebow? Haugh was a baby when Tebow won a title with the Gators.

In the second half, Tech's Darrion Williams took over, backing down and shooting over and around the Florida bigs. He also pulled down seemingly every defensive rebound. Toppin, in contrast, was out of sync. He went to the bench and Tech went on a 12-2 run. Toppin came back with renewed vigor. Florida (finally) doubled Williams so they got the ball to Toppin, who scored repeatedly out of the pick and roll. With 3:14 to go it was Tech's game. 9-point lead and they were in complete control.

Then the wheels fell off. Tech missed two front ends of two one-and-ones (that was huge). Hauch had been passing up 3s all night. They left him open and he finally shot it. Haugh nailed two huge 3s. And then Clayton did Clayton things (see the clip below). Florida tied it up with 90 seconds remaining and then hit a bunch of free throws to win 84-79. Florida ended the game on an 18-4 run.

Tech had it and blew it. But give Florida credit. The way they played down the stretch was more typical of Gator ball this season.

Toppin and Williams with 20 and 23 each. Toppin also pulled down 11 boards.

Walter Clayton had 30, including 13/14 from the line. Haugh with 20 and 11 off the bench.

In 1954, Texas Tech ws playing in the Gator Bowl. Unexpectedly, the team was led onto the field by a masked rider sporting a red cape on a black horse, who proceeded to circle the stadium. The crowd sat in stunned silence. A writer for the Atlanta Constitution proclaimed that "No team in any bowl game ever made a more sensational entrance." The Red Raider has been a tradition ever since. However, you can't take a horse to road games. So Texas Tech created Raider Red, a mascot that likes to make gun hand gestures. 

The 2023-24 Monteverde Academy basketball team was led in scoring and rebounding by Cooper Flagg and Derik Queen (both exactly the same 16.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG). Liam McNeeley scored 12.5 PPG and Asa Newell shot 68% from the field. These guys, all 5-star prospects, ended up at Duke, Maryland, UConn and Georgia; they all avereaged better than 14 PPG and 6 RPG as college freshmen this season. 

Looking at the photo of their undefeated high school squad, Cooper Flagg is #32. So who is #11? That would be Cooper's twin brother, Ace. 

Cooper should be a senior in high school right now. He re-classified and went to Duke. Ace decided to finish high school, but transferred to Greensboro Day School in North Carolina so he and his family could stay close to his brother. Ace is now as unassuming as is possible for a kid who is 6'7". Some of his current classmates are unaware of his famous twin. Maybe that's for the best. These two shared a womb and a healthy dose of brotherly love but apparently that's about it. Cooper is intense, so much so that this trait is parodied in those AT&T commercials where Cooper wins at bingo and taunts the aging crowd. Ace has a nickame: the human slug. His favorite pasttimes are naps and Call of Duty. 

The Flaggs are from Maine, going way back. The twins' mother, Kelly, was a star for a University of Maine team back in the 90s that upset Stanford in a NCAA tournament game. They left Maine after the twins freshman season of high school, knowing that Cooper needed better competition to develop. To no one's surprise, Ace Flagg is heading home next season to play for the Maine Black Bears, a program whose men's team has never made it to the NCAA tournament. 

Ace typically is a stronger rebounder than scorer, but some games he doesn't show up at all. That may frustrate his coaches, but Ace's parents worry that his casual attitude applies to everything in his life. For Christmas this year they got Ace an ornament imprinted with the slogan "I hate to lose more than my need to win." Ace's reaction: “That was deep, Mom.”

The late game was the track meet that everyone expected. Duke played decent defense and their offense was unreal. At the half Knuepple with 11, Flagg 10. The Devils were 56% from field and the same from deep. Bama doesn't play D and their shots weren't falling. 5/19 from 3 and 40% from the field. Mark Sears with a single field goal. Bama was lucky to only be down 46-37 at the break.

Duke cruised through the second half, winning by 20. Kon Knuepple and his Beverly Hills 90210 side burns was the player of the game with 21 points, 5 boards, 3 steals and 5 assists, many lobs to Maluach for dunks off the pick and roll. All of the Duke starters scored in double figures. [Editor's Note: It's a tiny quibble considering, but Duke has no bench.]

Duke played solid defense (especially in the paint), but the Tide missed a lot of open shots. Scoring 28 in the second half? No chance. 35% from the field, 25% from deep? No chance. Sears with 6 points and 5 turnovers? Absolutely no chance.

Another Aussie in this game. Duke's Tyrese Proctor is from Sydney.

This tournament has been all chalk, more so than I can ever remember. I'll research the tourneys with the fewest upsets and get back to you. What does "chalk" mean in this context? It's from horse racing. Back in the day, the bookies would write the odds on a chaklboard. As bets came in on the favorites, their odds would be decreased repeatedly leading to smudged chalk. Put another way, the horse with the odds in a cloud of chalk was the favorite.