Jerardi: This Final Four is utter madness
NEW YORK - It seems appropriate in a year when the Final Four will make its first stop in Arizona, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, the first FF in the west since Seattle in 1995, that the first two teams to qualify were western teams, Gonzag
NEW YORK - It seems appropriate in a year when the Final Four will make its first stop in Arizona, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, the first FF in the west since Seattle in 1995, that the first two teams to qualify were western teams, Gonzaga for the first time and Oregon for the first time since it won the first NCAA Tournament in 1939, followed Sunday by a complete outlier in South Carolina, which won as many NCAA games (four) in 10 days as it had in its history and the requisite blueblood, North Carolina, making its record 20th Final Four appearance.
Gonzaga has not only played the best defense in this tournament, the Zags have the best defense in school history and the best in America this season. They have defended 284 possessions in the tournament and allowed just 236 points, a sensational .831 points per possession, the exact number they put on Xavier in the all-Jesuit West Regional final Saturday in San Jose when they blew away the Musketeers, 83-59.
Xavier's Trevon Bluiett had made 11 threes and scored 75 points in his first three NCAA games. He was 3-for-14 and had 10 points against Gonzaga.
Three pointers almost always matter. They really matted on Saturday when Gonzaga shot 12-for-24 from the arc while Xavier was just 2-for-16. Oregon was 11-for-25 from the arc while Kansas, one of the country's best three-point shooting teams, was just 5-for-25.
If you like defense, you will love the first game Saturday (6:09 p.m.). Gonzaga (36-1) will play South Carolina (26-10) which is a solid second nationally in defensive efficiency after a second-half clinic against Florida at Madison Square Garden in the East Region final. The Gators led at the break after going 7-for-12 from three. It was all Gamecocks in the second half as Florida went 0-for-14 from the arc. Old-school South Carolina attempted just 10 threes, making two and still put up 77 points, winning the second half by 14.
When the buzzer sounded, South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC player of the year and the region's most outstanding player, tossed the ball to the very top of the scoreboard at midcourt, a fitting end for the nearly extinct power guard in this three-point era. All Thornwell did in his first four NCAA games was score 103 points and take his team flying over the finish line with a brilliant stretch run.
South Carolina had no easy path, beating seeds 2 (Duke), 3 (Baylor) and 4 (Florida). Gonzaga had an easier route, getting an Elite Eight game with Xavier, an 11 seed and the last team to receive a bye, No. 41 on the tournament committee's S-Curve. After being tested by a second-half Northwestern comeback in the second round and the mayhem that is "Press" Virginia in the Sweet 16, it was not Gonzaga's problem that No. 2 seed Arizona collapsed late against Xavier and gave th Zags what amounted to a free space to Phoenix when "X" hit the wall.
Oregon (33-5) plays North Carolina (31-7) in the second game Saturday, 40 minutes after the first. This should be much more of a scoring show, with the sixth (UNC) and 16th (Oregon) most efficient offenses.
The Ducks have the hottest shooter in the tournament - Tyler Dorsey. In four games, he has shot 34-for-51 (66.7 percent) overall, 17-for-26 (65.4 percent) from the arc and scored 98 points. He hit KU for 27 in Kansas City, with a killer six points at the end of the first half, a three with 43 seconds left and a banked three just before the buzzer that so stunned the Jayhawks they never really recovered.
Kansas had won its first three NCAA games, 100-62, 90-70 and 98-66. The Jayhawks lost to Oregon, 74-60 and it felt worse. They had scored those 288 points in the first three games on just 217 possessions, 1.333 PPP. They needed 65 possessions to get those 60 against Oregon, which put a wall around the basket in the form of Jordan Bell (11 points, 13 rebounds, eight blocks).
Kansas, playing a quasi home game 40 miles from campus, looked tentative all game. Point guard Frank Mason had 89 points in the four NCAA games, but had almost no help in a spot where, in recent years, KU teams go to die. Even when Oregon was playing a bit not to lose late, KU could never make a big momentum basket despite numerous chances. The Jayhawks fumbled rebounds, looked confused. They played very much like a team that was worried about the consequences of losing, never a good idea.
The Ducks beat Iona, Rhode Island, Michigan and Kansas without Chris Boucher, their best two-way player. That could catch up with them in Glendale, but, if Dorsey keeps making every big shot, many at the shot-clock buzzer, they will be no easy out.
Playing in Memphis this time, it wasn't their flying 79 possession, 103-100 classic on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas when UK freshman Malik Monk went off for 47 in the Wildcats' win over the Tar Heels. It was every bit as contested, with so much more on the line and a finish that was hard to believe.
North Carolina was tied in the 2016 national championship game when the buzzer sounded in Houston, losers a few tenths of a second later when Kris Jenkins' three settled into the net. There were 0.3 seconds left Sunday when Luke Maye hit the game-winning jumper in a 75-73 game that turned wildly in the final five minutes and then turned again in the last minute, almost like that Villanova-UNC classic last April. Only this time, it was UNC's turn to get tied and then win just before the buzzer.
On consecutive Sundays, UNC had its NCAA life flash before it, trailing Arkansas by five late before running off the game's last 12 points, trailing UK by five with five minutes left before scoring the next 12 and looking home until they weren't until they were.
Kentucky did not make the Final Four despite doing John Chaney proud, committing just 34 turnovers over 277 possessions in its four NCAA games. Committing just nine turnovers would have been a winning formula against just about any team in the tournament except one with UNC's firepower.
Three coaches, Mark Few (Gonzaga), Dana Altman (Oregon) and Frank Martin (South Carolina) will be making their Final Four debuts. Roy Williams was on the bench with Dean Smith when Michael Jordan made that shot in 1982. He was a Final Four regular at Kansas and has won two of the five North Carolina titles.
On Selection Sunday two weeks ago, there were 68 teams. Now that 64 games have been played, we are left with just four, three games and a first-time champion, a six-time champion or a second-time champion, 78 years after its first.
@DickJerardi