A look around the sights and sounds of the NCAA Tournament from reporters at the games and surrounding events:
ANOTHER CINDERELLA JOINS BIG DANCE’S FINAL FOUR: The Final Four will feature three teams that need no introduction and one from out of nowhere.
Though this year’s NCAA Tournament produced the biggest upset in the history of the event along with a seemingly endless string of unexpected results, the season’s last weekend will look a lot like it has over the last handful of years.
In one of Saturday’s semifinals, it’s a barnburner of a matchup between top-seeded programs with rich histories: Villanova vs. Kansas.
In the other, it’s an upstart vs. another school that knows this road: No. 11 Loyola-Chicago vs. No. 3 Michigan.
Remarkable as Loyola’s run has been, this will mark the fifth time in the last six seasons that three teams seeded 1 through 4 have been joined by another seeded 7 or higher.
THEM’S THE BREAKS: Texas Tech star Keenan Evans, who scored 12 points for the Red Raiders’ 71-59 loss to Villanova on Sunday, revealed after the game he had been playing with a broken toe since injuring his foot in mid-February against Baylor.
“We take a lot of pride just knowing that the amount of work we put in to get here,” Evans said. “We came short of what the ultimate goal was, but just for us digging down and us going through injuries … we took a lot of pride with it.”
Texas Tech had never reached the Elite Eight in the 93-year history of the program but easily handled Purdue in the Sweet 16.
CUTTING DOWN NETS: It’s Villanova’s third trip to the Final Four in coach Jay Wright’s tenure; in 2009, they also advanced from the Boston regional before losing in the national semifinals. Four players remain from the team that won it all two years ago.
“You just see how together we are. Every Villanova team I’ve been on has been like that,” guard Jalen Brunson said. “Every time you get to do it is special, every time you’re on that court with those group of guys, it’s special.”
LIKE WATCHING MAGIC AND SHOWTIME?: Jalen Brunson finished with only four assists, but he had the ball in his hands for much of Villanova’s possessions and didn’t seem troubled by the defense.
Texas Tech coach Chris Beard compared Villanova to the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers that played across the way in the old Boston Garden.
“It was like watching Magic Johnson back down. They’ve got (Michael) Cooper in one corner,” Beard said. Brunson is “a multi-dimensional player. He can play at the next level for a lot of reasons. I think his toughness and intangibles … are at the top of that list.”
KANSAS DID IT WITHOUT BIG STARS: Kansas might have the unlikeliest of coach Bill Self’s three Final Four squads. They are not stacked with obvious future NBA starters and they lost three times at home this season.
But the Jayhawks banded together to win the Big 12’s regular season and conference titles and now the Midwest Region. By doing so, they proved to their coach that they were hardly soft — a claim that Self had made often earlier in the season.
FINAL FOUR BOUND!!! pic.twitter.com/j1G4Mp2xhH
— Kansas Basketball (@KUHoops) March 25, 2018
On the other hand, the Duke Blue Devils might see four of their freshman stars bolt for the NBA Draft, an expected exodus led by Marvin Bagley, a likely top-five pick. Duke will also lose Grayson Allen, one of the best players in school history.
Don’t cry for Coach K, though, who has four five-star recruits committed to join the program next year.
But this season will likely be remembered as a lost opportunity for a program that expects to make the Final Four more often than not.
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