The opening weekend of March Madness was a fun walk in the park for the three No. 1 seeds. Purdue won both games by 67 points, UW punished its opponents by 56 points, while North Carolina defeated Tom Izzo's Michigan State team by 16 points after winning the opener by 28 points. I was sweating lightly.
Then there's Houston.
The fact that the Cougars made it safely to Dallas and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight year is largely a tribute to the depth they don't have. On Sunday night, Kelvin Sampson watched in near horror against Texas A&M as an 11-point lead turned into an 86-86 tie at the buzzer on Andershon Garcia's improbable fallback 3-pointer with 1:30 left. I watched it with my senses.
“The first thing that goes through my mind is I'm glad I didn't let him foul,” Sampson said. Part of the reason is because of the argument that teams should foul with a 3-point lead (if they can avoid fouling the shooter), but also because Houston's coach was watching his star players foul one after the other. There is also.
Four Cougars had fouled out at the end of a game in which Houston was clinging to a 100-95 victory against Duke University late Friday at the American Airlines Center. That includes point guard Jamal Shehed, who was not only the glue of Sampson's 32-4 team, but was named Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. . So his replacement, senior walk-on Ryan Elvin, outperformed his scoring average (0.9 points per game) and sank a free throw with 17 seconds left, essentially sealing his pass to the next round.
“It was a little different and definitely a little unconventional,” Shihed said. “When I fouled out, Ryan made the biggest shot of the tournament so far. It was unfortunate that everyone fouled out, but it was a step in the right direction.”
The Cougars, who held the No. 1 ranking for most of the season and are still in No. 2 after losing in the Big 12 Championship, needed little awakening this season. Although they left the seemingly friendly confines of the American Athletic Conference to enter the Big 12, they still finished first in the league with a 15-3 record and a two-game lead. But even before things got messy at the last minute of regulation against A&M, this wasn't a typical Houston game.
The score was 86-86 after 40 minutes. In Houston's 35 games, only one opponent reached the required 80 points and only two opponents reached 70 points. The best defensive team in the country has been ripped to shreds more than they're used to, and that leads into Friday's game against Duke University. These are no longer Coach K Blue's Devils, and this group certainly doesn't match his five national title winners he has produced.
But the No. 4 seed in the South hit a season-high 14 3-pointers and shot 50% from long range two days after JMU defeated No. 5 Wisconsin, 72-61. , defeated James Madison by 38 points. Jared McCain made eight 3-pointers, setting Duke's tournament record and erasing quite a bit of history. For Duke University, this is his 19th Sweet 16 in the last 25 years, and no school is more comfortable advancing to the top of the NCAA Tournament.
“They're known for being great, and rightly so,” Shihed said. “They've had a lot of wins. They have good players today, otherwise they wouldn't be in a position to play against us. We went into the game and prepared like we always do,” I think you just play with the people in front of you, not the name.”
Despite Duke's strong performance in the second round, it's likely to be a typical Houston game, with the Cougars perhaps playing a mirror image of themselves. Duke won't get as much national recognition defensively as Houston, but the Blue Devils had 12 steals against James Madison and held their first two NCAA opponents to an average of 51 points. .
“I think our players have shown all year that we're a really good defensive team,” Duke coach John Scheyer said. “But for Houston, if they're not the best defensive team in the country, they're right up there. You've got to talk about their effort.
“They protect the basket, they protect the pick-and-roll, they protect the shot clock and they work hard over and over again. They make it hard for you to live. Trying to play apart or playing together. It's going to look bad if you try. It's a great challenge.”
Duke overcomes more hardships than anyone else. Meanwhile, Houston has proven it deserves a No. 1 seed and is riding a wave to reach its seventh Final Four. They've never won a championship, but the senior class, which features Shehead and rebounding leader Jawan Roberts, not to mention timely free-throw maker Elvin, has won 117 games. This is the highest amount for Houston in four years, and it's not shabby considering the Phi Slama Jama days of 40 years ago.
My best guess is that Buzz Williams and the Aggies set off more alarm bells than any blueprint for upsetting Houston. But I said the same thing after Iowa State beat the Cougars by 28 points in Kansas City. At some point, these blueprints will be leaked.
Twitter/X: @TimCowlishaw
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