Sports Chalk reigned supreme once extra on Saturday as a pair of No. 1 seeds — Florida and Duke — punched their tickets to the Final Four in San Antonio.
The Gators done a thrilling comeback against the third-seeded Texas Tech Pink Raiders, who had done the same in the Candy 16 against John Calipari’s Arkansas team. Following that game, Duke’s freshman trio of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach build collectively a memorable defensive performance against Alabama’s high-ranked offense to reach to this scheme’s 18th Final Four.
Here is every little thing to understand following Saturday’s Elite Eight action:
Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel lead Duke into Final Four The crowd rose to its toes with decrease than eight minutes to play as Alabama in the reduction of Duke’s lead down to seven elements. Jon Scheyer’s younger Blue Devils team used to be feeling the stress. How would they address it?
Cooper Flagg had the preliminary acknowledge, knocking down a baseline jumper over Mark Sears. Khaman Maluach proceeded to stuff dwelling an emphatic dunk to push Duke’s result in 69-58. True because the Tide appeared as if it would win their hump, the Blue Devils showed their evolution from a team that suffered a pair of early-season heartbreaking losses to Kentucky and Kansas, to a team that looks unbeatable heading into the Final Four.
These early defeats beget given strategy to a team that continues to show conceal a killer instirct and has extra than lived as a lot as the hype since the calendar grew to turn out to be to March. And when the final buzzer sounded Saturday night, it used to be the Blue Devils who stamped their worth to San Antoinio with a dominant 85-65 victory over Alabama.
The Blue Devils did it with defense, preserving the Crimson Tide scoreless for a four-minute stretch and occurring a 7-0 slump after their lead used to be in the reduction of to 65-58. Duke held Sears to factual six elements on 2-of-12 taking pictures. Twelve months after leading the Tide to the faculty’s first-ever Final Four, this used to be a special form of danger for Sears.
With four and a half of minutes to trot, the fifth-year senior had the basketball on the left cruise. He tried to drive on Flagg and took one too many steps, being called for a trot back and forth. After a turnover on the ensuing possession, Sears attempted to assemble out on the destroy and attack Tyrese Proctor, who took a label on the baseline drive, prompting a timeout. After Flagg scored a pair of free throws after which done on Sears factual anxious of the shot clock expiring, it served because the dagger.
A 13-0 slump over five minutes showed why this Duke program needs to be regarded because the front-runner in San Antonio next weekend. Their length and athleticism locked up the nation’s absolute most sensible scoring offense at 91.4 elements per game entering the contest, forcing the Tide into their worst scoring output of the season.
Flagg done with 16 elements on 6-of-16 taking pictures from the ground, and while he wasn’t as tough as he used to be on Thursday night, that’s why the Blue Devils are the last discover team in the country.
Kon Knueppel delivered 19 elements, five rebounds and four assists, one of which used to be a atrocious dish to Sion James for an straightforward dunk to present Duke an 11-point lead with 8:44 left. Maluach supplied the inside presence with 14 elements, eight rebounds and two blocks, while Proctor continued his megastar-studded March with 17 elements on 7-of-10 taking pictures from the subject.
As lovely as Duke used to be on the offensive cease – taking pictures 54% from the subject and 46% from downtown – Saturday night’s fetch used to be all about the Blue Devils’ ability to step up and string collectively stops. Moreover shutting down Sears, Duke held Alabama to factual 8-of-32 (25%) taking pictures from the subject after their 25-of-51 performance Thursday.
For Scheyer, or no longer it is the most modern 2d of validation in a 3-year slump that’s ended in this, his first outing to a Final Four, and proof that he used to be the excellent replace for Mike Krzyzewski.
That first title in a decade? The hope is valid because of this of this Duke team has it all.
– John Fanta
Gators full narrative comeback, punch worth to Final Four By advantage of scheduling, Florida grew to turn out to be the first of four SEC colleges with a possibility to reach the Final Four in what could per chance per chance successfully be remembered because the absolute most sensible basketball weekend in convention ancient past. The Gators, seeded first in the West, had arrived at this point by pulling away from fourth-seeded Maryland in the Candy 16 earlier this week. They entered Saturday’s date with No. 3 Texas Tech on the precipice of the national semifinals, a situation this scheme hadn’t been since broken-down head coach Billy Donovan used to be easy prowling the sideline in 2014, the penultimate season sooner than he ascended to the NBA. No season between then and now had captivated the fan unsuitable quite like this one, which integrated 33 wins in 37 video games forward of the Elite Eight, including an SEC Match title, and a string of 9 consecutive victories courting to March 1. It used to be straightforward to take care of why the Gators were a refined national championship pick for observers and analysts alike.
Standing between Florida and the Final Four used to be a collection of Pink Raiders that fundamental a fearless, slack-game comeback — plus extra time — to beat tenth-seeded Arkansas in the Candy 16. Head coach Grant McCasland’s team trailed by 16 elements with 10:23 remaining sooner than cobbling collectively a frantic rally that culminated in an extra session. JT Toppin, Darrion Williams and Christian Anderson all topped 20 elements that night to preserve Texas Tech’s season afloat. And the Pink Raiders obtained one other wide enhance on Saturday afternoon when it grew to turn out to be determined that taking pictures guard Likelihood McMillian, who averages 14.2 elements and 4.1 rebounds per game, would return to the court docket against Florida after lacking five video games with an indirect destroy. The stage used to be problem for a fight between two groups ranked amongst the tip 9 in the country by KenPom.
A nip-and-tuck first half of ended with Florida carrying a 3-point lead into the destroy, at which era this scheme’s bound of 28 consecutive victories when leading at halftime — tied for the longest such bound in the nation — came squarely into play. Might perchance Texas Tech, which had fundamental disadvantages in high and quality depth in contrast to the Gators, mount a 2d-half of worth while relying so heavily on perimeter taking pictures and 2d-likelihood elements? Or would a weekend that would simply consist of a sequence of SEC coronations initiate with Golden’s team pulling away in the latter phases, factual as it did against UConn and Maryland in the preceding two rounds?
The solutions to those questions came in the gather of an incredible, punishing 12-2 slump by the Pink Raiders that bridged the midway point of the 2d half of. It used to be for the length of that sequence when the inside trio of Williams (23 elements, five rebounds), Toppin (20 elements, 11 rebounds) and Federiko Federiko (four elements, two rebounds) began punishing Florida in the low put up with an onslaught of physicality and offensive rebounding that, in the raze, induced Golden to name a timeout in hopes of stopping the bleeding. A flurry of buckets on the inside, many of which stemmed from isolation performs by Williams, helped push Texas Tech’s surprising result in 10 elements with 7:49 remaining, saddling the Gators with their ultimate deficit of the tournament because the opportunity of an upset intensified. When Florida used to be dinged for a shot-clock violation quickly thereafter, Golden build both palms on his head sooner than slapping a shut-by object in frustration.
But then Florida began doing the thing that Florida continuously does: igniting from 3-point differ with such ruthlessness and rapidity that its opponent can no longer presumably gather better. Thomas Haugh (20 elements, 11 rebounds) made support-to-support 3s in the span of 33 seconds. Walter Clayton Jr., who made several grab pictures to gas the comeback against UConn final week, buried two extra 3s in the span of 48 seconds, with his 2d shot coming on a improbable turnaround after he retreated support late the arc from the heart of the lane. Such heroics, any such backbreaking 16-2 slump gave the Gators a one-point lead with decrease than a minute remaining in a game they never again trailed. Clayton scored 22 of his game-excessive 30 in the 2d half of, including 13 elements in the final 5:24.
The fracture-and-rob conclusion produced an 84-seventy 9 remaining win that left Texas Tech horrified and terrorized. But extra importantly, it sent Florida to the Final Four.
– Michael Cohen
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports actions. He covers the sport in a diversity of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Community to offering commentary on The Field of 68 Media Community. Tell him at @John_Fanta .
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports actions. Tell him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13 .
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