Disappointment resonated in the tone with which Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton spoke to the small gathering of reporters around him outside of the Seminoles locker room in Los Angeles' Staples Center. His team came one game, four points, shy of reaching college basketball's Promised Land, the Final Four. And yet, despite the disappointment,…
SAN ANTONIO – For those of you who don’t know – and only if you’re a citizen of one our smallest states would you – Villanova’s second national championship in three years came courtesy of the “Michael Jordan of Delaware.” And know this: Michael Jordan, in his one shining moment in 1982, did not have…
At the risk of letting myself be prisoner to the moment, the 2018 NCAA Tournament is the wildest in my years following basketball. Maybe if I referred to statistics, my immediate instinct would be disproved. However, no other NCAA Tournament saw a No. 16 seed upset a No. 1. Only a select few featured a No.…
SAN ANTONIO – We have seen the future because it’s already here. Blame or credit the NBA styles used by Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors and Mike Dantoni of the Houston Rockets but college basketball’s current hot trend involves having at least four – preferably five – players on the court who can…
SAN ANTONIO – Dreams die hard at this point of the season. Reaching the Final Four semifinals is the goal of 351 Division I teams because achieving that goal leads to Monday night and the possibility of winning a national championship. But only one team can achieve that dream. The emotional rush of winning four…
It's tough to make the Final Four as any seed. It's tougher if you're an 11-seed, though. You're playing a six-seed in the first round and possibly a three in the second. And it only gets more difficult from there. With all that said, only an 11 has made the Final Four as a double-digit…
SAN ANTONIO – Near the end of the media’s incursion during the 35-minute open locker room session, an assistant coach reminded Villanova’s players that it was time to take the court for Friday’s Final Four practice. “Turn off the phones, get focused. Time to get connected to each other.” Connectivity is a major component in…
Confident in your Final Four pick? You'll be running for your life after this column is done. When the NCAA Tournament started a couple of weeks ago, it had 67 basketball teams (plus Syracuse) all competing for a chance to earn a free tie from Jim Nantz. Now, it's just down to four teams, while…
Leading a double-digit seed to a Final Four berth fits Porter Moser’s career path. Loyola (Chicago) has become the talk of the NCAA Tournament and made Sister Jean the reboot of the Flying Nun. The Ramblers, like most successful teams, take on the personality of their coach. Loyola, the No. 11 seed and winner of…
In most ways, Lawrence, Kan., and Philadelphia, Pa., couldn’t be much different. Lawrence is an idyllic college town with a population approaching 90,000, not quite close enough to Kansas City to be considered a suburb. It has tree-lined avenues with very little crime. It’s a quiet place, unless the Kansas Jayhawks win big and the…
Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson has known Bill Self since 1982. Their friendship could call into question the objectivity of the following statement. “I can unequivocally say without hesitation or reservation (this season is) the best coaching job he's done in his career,” Hinson told The Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson this week. Best friends or…
Two days after the Final Four teams were decided and four days before they play the semifinals in San Antonio, the Associated Press announced its All-America team for 2017-18. For the first time in its 70-year history, three freshmen made the first team: Oklahoma’s Trae Young, Arizona’s Deandre Ayton and Duke’s Marvin Bagley III. All…
The Final Four returns to San Antonio this week, 10 years after an epic edition of college basketball’s final weekend also hit the Alamo City. That 2008 Final Four may well have been the last truly great one, something I say only minimally because my alma mater, Kansas, came out on top. No, whether or…
For the first 21 years of the 64-team bracket, only one double-digit seed survived to the Final Four – No. 11 LSU in 1986. George Mason broke through, also as an 11 seed, in 2006 and now 11th-seeded Loyola Chicago has advanced to the last weekend – the fourth double-digit seed in the last dozen…
Three interviews from Friday's media sessions at the NCAA Tournament West Regional in Los Angeles are up on The Open Man Patreon. Highlights include Michigan forward Moritz Wagner discussing his favorite NBA player, and the similarities Wagner gleans between that all-time great's game and his own. Spoiler: Much of it has nothing to do with…
