Day 8

I'll admit it. I thought the game had passed Tom Izzo by. It seemed as though nothing interesting had happened in East Lansing in years. The last national title was in 2000 and Michigan State was not on the short list of Cooper Flagg or seemingly anyone else who would make an impact in the NBA. This is a little unfair. The Spartans made a Final Four run in 2019 and a Sweet 16 in 2023. And they make the tournament literally every year. That's great...if you're Purdue. But this is the program that Magic built. Lose focus and your program is no longer among the elite. Looking at you Indiana.

Tom Izzo has a brilliant basketball mind. But he refuses to change with the times like others of his generation. Rick Pitino, for example. And, notably, like Kelvin Sampson and Rick Barnes, who also have teams in the Elite 8. Tom Izzo thinks the current state of college basketball is chaos. That the transfer portal is tantamount to institutionalized cheating. The portal opened last Monday (not sure who thought that was a good idea, right in the middle of the tournament). Tom Izzo couldn't care less. That's not the way be builds a team. In this year's Sweet 16, teams averaged 4.4 transfers. Many lead their teams (Walter Clayton, Johni Broome, Mark Sears, the whole Tennessee roster not named Zakai Zeigler). Ole Miss' top six players were transfers. Michigan State has one transfer, Frankie Fidler, who ranks in the top 8th in playing time. And he ranks 8th.

Much has been made about the similarities among the three 70 year olds coaching today. Izzo, Sampson and Barnes all prize defense first and all three of their teams rank in KenPom's top 5 in defensive efficiency accordingly. But the similarites end there. Tom Izzo is a more pleasant person than Bobby Knight, but he's just as stubborn. He'll win his way or not play. Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Tennessee's Rick Barnes also are nice guys. Sampson ran afoul of the NCAA back in the day, for texting recruits too frequently. Seems quaint given the current landscape. In contrast to Izzo, Barnes and Sampson jumped into the transfer portal with both feet. May the best philosophy win.

Rick Barnes and Kelvin Sampson have been friends for decades, going back to their college days playing hoops on tobacco road, Barnes at Lenoir-Rhyne and Sampson at UNC Pembroke.

Houston won the defense war initially, making life particularly difficult for Tennessee's playmaker, Zakai Zeigler. The Vols setlled for deep shots, and missed them all. 17-4 Cougars. It got worse from there. Tennessee went 15 minutes with only two field goals. They finally hit a floater in the lane at 3:35 in the first. It was 29-10 at that point. The Vols finally hit a 3 with 30 seconds to go in the half bringing making them 1 for 15 in the first 20 minutes. 6/28 from the field overall. That's 21%.

Houston up 34-15 at the break. That's the fewest points scored in a half of Elite 8 basketball ever. Pretty standard offensive performance for Houston. 42% from the field, on pace for 68 points. Average. Holding Tennessee to 15 first half points. Beyond oustanding. It wasn't just defense. The offensive rebounding also was dominant.

Houston alum Jim Nance enjoyed an outstanding first half performance by his school in person.

The Vols are too good to be that pitiful for two halves. And, indeed, they started hitting shots in the second (particularly Gainey). After netting 15 in the first, Tennessee scored 15 in the first seven minutes of the second. Houston was happy to sit on the ball when they had it. That's fine if you score, but it can throw off your rhythm if you don't. Houston went on a scoring drought. The Vols chipped away pulling to within 10 with 5:33 to go. Houston's Sharp nailed two huge 3s to give his team some breathing room (the Vols left him wide open). The Cougs scrapped the stall ball and went back to pounding Tennessee. Final, 69-50. Houston's seventh Final Four. They have never won a title.

Emanuel Sharp with 16 for Houston. He only went 4-10 from deep, but three of those were down the stretch to put this one away.

Most commercials running in the tourney originally aired at the Super Bowl. A few new ones for the Madness. The Capital One ads with Spike and Barkley and Sam Jackson aren't all winners, but they can be amusing. I like the new one where they magically attend the first basketball game, or "hoopla" as James Naismith says he calls it. Naismith is played by SNL alum Will Forte. I like him although it's hard to remember any sketches he carried other than MacGruber. 

I do remember his TV show, "The Last Man on Earth". Am I the only one? Forte's character thinks he's the only person to survive a global pandemic (this was 2015!). He travels across North America in a RV searching for another survivor. It's a comedy, if a bit dark. Spoiler alert: he finds a few other people, including Jason Sudeikis, whose character does not have the sunny disposition of Ted Lasso (which is returning for season 4).

Hot start over the first few minutes for both teams. Then Michigan State went ice cold. A 17-0 six minute Tigers barrage opened up a 15 point lead 10 minutes in. State missed a bunch of open looks; Auburn did not.  Inexplicably, Auburn did not get their star, Johni Broome, the ball for about 5 minutes. Their offense stalled allowing the Spartans back in the game. MSU got to within five but Auburn pushed the spread to 33-24 at the half. Broome with a double-double at the break: 17 and 11.

Broome injured his right (non-shooting) elbow with about 10 minutes to go with his team up 10. He went to the locker room. He returned at 5:30 with his team still up 10. He promptly pulled in a defensive rebound and hit a 3. With his right arm hanging limply at his side. MSU hit a bunch of 3s down the stretch but Auburn did just enough to preserve the victory, 70-64. Broome finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Poor game from Auburn's mercurial Chad Baker-Mazara who shot 2-10 and had 3 untimely turnovers. 

Michigan State was led by Jaxon Kohler, the junior from American Fork, Utah. 17 points and 11 boards. Bill Raftery compared him to Jokić. Kid played great, but slow down. MSU's star freshman, Jase Richardson, wasn't on tonight although the talent is clearly there. Coupled with fellow freshman Jeremy Fears, the future looks bright.

All four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Fout. The only time that happened previously was in 2008 (UNC, Kansas, UCLA, Memphis). That Final Four also was in San Antonio and also on April 5 and 7.

The temperature in Philly on Saturday touched 80 degrees. With the Saturday games not starting until after 6:00 and Mrs Notes visiting a friend in the burbs (hi Mary!), I had the whole day to myself. I definitely enjoyed the weather, putting a coat of stain on our new deck. I also had something else on the agenda. Replaying The Last of Us II game before the second season of the series comes out on April 13. Trust me, I am as surprised as you are. Rewind to January, 2023. Mrs Notes was in Chile, which means we pause all the TV shows we watch together, which is most of them. The alternate choices were slim. In my opinion, HBO has dominated televison this century. I usually give them the benefit of the doubt. But their new prestige show at the time focused on the zombie apocalypse. I'm not into zombie shows. And it was based on a video game? Seriously? Despite my hesitance, I gave it a try. And loved it. The third episode of Last of Us Season 1 is one of the best hours of TV ever produced. [Editor's Note: You can watch it out of sequence and still get it. Check it out if you haven't already.] Andrea returned from Chile and I re-watched the show with her. She loved it as well, and not just because it stars a Chilean, Pedro Pascal. Years ago I bought a PS3 for the then-young people in our life. Would the Last of Us game work on that? Indeed it would. And it was great. As were the remastered versions of Last of Us I and II, which I bought a PS5 to play. All of which is to say that I know what I'll be watching when the tourney is over.

In the meantime...