Tag: March Madness NCAA Tournament

Butler’s buzzer-beater sends San Diego State to title game

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HOUSTON (AP) — San Diego State’s vaunted defense staggered well into the second half as free-flowing Florida Atlantic breezed to a 14-point lead.

The Aztecs found their teeth again to get back into the game. Then Lamont Butler delivered at the very end.

Butler hit a buzzer-beating jumper for the ages, sending San Diego State to its first national championship game with a 72-71 win over fellow mid-major Florida Atlantic in the Final Four on Saturday night.

“I didn’t really know how big it was,” Butler said after his calm reaction to one of the greatest shots in NCAA Tournament history. “We’re going to the national championship. That’s not things many people do.”

A diabolical defense had pushed San Diego State (32-6) all the way to the final stop for the NCAA tourney. The Aztecs bumped and harassed opponents all season to create the first all-mid-major national semifinal since VCU and Butler in 2011.

The swaggy Owls (35-4) seemed to have solved San Diego State’s vaunted defense, using constant movement and ball reversals to create mismatches they could exploit.

San Diego State found its defensive mojo midway through the second half, clamping down on the Owls while whittling their lead down to one on Jaedon LeDee’s short jumper with 36 seconds left.

When FAU’s Johnell Davis missed a contested layup, San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher opted to not call timeout, joking that he didn’t have any plays left.

All he had to do was get the ball to Butler.

The clock ticking down, Butler dribbled to the baseline, found that cut off and circled back. He stepped back to create a little room and hit a jumper that sent the Aztecs racing out onto the floor and had San Diego Padres fans going wild at Petco Park.

Butler’s winning buzzer-beater was the first for the Final Four since Jalen Suggs for Gonzaga against UCLA in 2021 and No. 5 overall. But it’s the only one when the winning team was trailing at the time of the shot.

Next up for the Mountain West’s first Final Four team is a chance to win the conference’s first national title Monday night against UConn, which advanced with a 72-59 win against Miami.

“We’ve always been knocked down,” said San Diego State’s Matt Bradley, who had 21 points after struggling in the previous three games. “But the biggest thing we always do is get back up and keep fighting.”

San Diego State had been building toward this since coach Brian Dutcher took over for his longtime mentor Steve Fisher. Dutcher followed the mold Fisher had created, adding an extra dose of nasty to the defense.

The Aztecs lost an opportunity when they were in position for a No. 1 seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, only to have it wiped out by the pandemic.

San Diego State followed a pair of NCAA Tournament first-round flameouts with a solid 2023 season, winning 27 games to earn a No. 5 seed in the East Region in this year’s bracket.

Once the NCAA Tournament started, the Aztecs ramped up their defense even more, holding their first four opponents to an average of 57 points per game and 17% shooting from the 3-point arc.

FAU found an answer through quick ball movement, with the occasional dump into the post to keep the Aztecs honest.

The result: The Owls led 40-33 at halftime after hitting 5 of 11 from 3-point range against a defense that held its previous two NCAA Tournament opponents to 5-of-44 shooting from the arc.

FAU kept making shots, stretching the lead to 14 midway through the second half.

Then, with Fisher watching in the stands, the Aztecs got gritty.

Contesting nearly every shot and pass while pulling down a string of offensive rebounds, including six in 59 seconds, San Diego State rallied to tie it at 65-all.

“They went on a run, getting extra possessions,” said FAU’s Nick Boyd, who hit three early 3s and finished with 12 points. “That was really the turning point of the game.”

FAU kept San Diego State at bay most of the second half thanks to Alijah Martin, who seemed to have an answer for every Aztecs move by scoring 19 of his 26 points in the second half.

He hit a reverse layup with 45 seconds left to put FAU up 71-68, but wasn’t enough to prevent the Owls’ improbable run from coming to an end.

“These guys have created memories and a legacy that will last a lifetime,” FAU coach Dusty May.

So did the Aztecs — with one more chance to add to it.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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April 2, 2023
A different March Madness: Online hate for the athletes

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HOUSTON (AP) — It wasn’t so much that social media was criticizing his son. That happens sometimes — especially after a loss like THAT.

But when a post came up suggesting Terrance Williams II, a junior forward for Michigan, be left for dead in a ditch, his dad decided enough was enough. Terrance Williams Sr.’s profanity-laced response to all the haters was, in many ways, an expected byproduct of social media vitriol that bubbled up after the Wolverines blew an eight-point lead in a one-point loss to Vanderbilt earlier this month — not in the NCAA Tournament but in the NIT.

“You actually root for them when they’re good,” Williams Sr. said of the Michigan fans in an interview with The Associated Press two days after the season-ending loss. “But then they make a mistake, and a game doesn’t go your way and you turn to hate. That’s unacceptable.”

The episode was just one of countless examples of the toxic minefield that athletes, coaches, friends and family face all too often on social media, all of it amplified for college basketball players when the calendar flips to March and the madness begins.

College administrators and coaches alike have warned for several years that students and athletes are facing increasing mental-health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. And never have there been more outside voices that not only scrutinize every move players make on the court, but impact their emotional well-being away from it.

“The feedback right now, it can be so harsh and it’s so immediate, and I think that’s the hardest part,” said Melissa Streno, a Denver-based mental health consultant for high-level athletes. “It’s the immediacy of the feedback from people they don’t even know. And it can be so impactful on their identity and how they see themselves as a player on the court.”

Turning off social media is one option, but it’s not really practical, not with the way society interacts in the 21st century. And many athletes use social media to open the door to cash. It comes with a toll.

A survey conducted by the NCAA in the fall of 2021 found spikes among athletes who experienced mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression compared with a similar survey two years earlier — before the pandemic, and also before name-image-likeness deals became an everyday reality of college sports. The survey also found that despite a growing recognition of mental health as something to be addressed, fewer than half the respondents felt comfortable seeking support from a counselor on campus.

Even so, those counselors have been busy; a growing number of questions they field from the players involve how to manage social media.

“For some of them, social media brings pressure to put out information, to create content, build their brand and that can cause anxiety,” said Charron Sumler, a former college basketball player who is now an athletic counselor at Ohio State. “On the flip side, there’s the input where they’re receiving messages. And with phones in the locker room, sometimes they’re receiving that negative feedback and content before they’ve even had a chance to debrief with their coaches or with themselves.”

Just this month, Virginia’s Kihei Clark started trending for the wrong reasons when his ill-advised pass at the end of a first-round March Madness game against Furman allowed the Paladins to make the game-winning 3-pointer that sent the Cavaliers home.

After the game, Clark sat in the locker room and patiently answered every question. Predictably, social media was destroying him before the final buzzer even sounded.

Among those who knew the feeling was Matthew Fisher-Davis. He was the Vanderbilt guard who, thinking the Commodores were trailing, fouled a Northwestern player in the waning seconds of a first-round game in 2017. In fact, Vanderbilt was ahead by one; Northwestern made both free throws after the foul and won by a point.

Before the next season, Fisher-Davis released a slickly produced video showing him working out, the main theme of which was: “Everybody’s got something to say.”

“It gets to the point where, the stuff coming from outside the locker room doesn’t make anything easier,” Fisher-Davis told the AP in an interview this month.

Stanford’s Haley Jones was named most outstanding player at the women’s Final Four after helping the Cardinal win the national title in 2021. Two weeks ago, when Stanford made an early exit from this year’s March Madness, Jones’ performance — and her prospects for the upcoming WNBA draft — were being dissected, sometimes cruelly, on social media.

“Right after every game. I know what I did well, and I know what I didn’t do well,” said Jones, who is part of a program called Game 4 Good that focuses on mental wellness for athletes. “I don’t need to go and listen to thousands of people who don’t know me tell me these same things, and probably say it in a lot meaner way.”

On rare occasions, players get ripped for doing something good.

In an episode that illustrates the parallel explosive growth of both social media and online sports wagering, TCU’s Damion Baugh was the object of scorn in the second round this month when he launched a shot at the buzzer from near the halfcourt logo in a game that had already been sealed by Gonzaga.

Baugh’s 3 went in. It trimmed TCU’s final deficit to three, which allowed the Horned Frogs to cover the 4.5-point spread. That shot did nothing to change the brackets, but it did flip millions of dollars across the country and Baugh was roundly ripped on Twitter.

Baugh barked back: “I don’t get how y’all mad because I played until the last buzzer.”

Former Ohio State guard E.J. Liddell also felt compelled to defend himself after he missed a late free throw that was key to an upset loss to Oral Roberts two years ago.

“Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I’m human,” he said in a post in which he posted screenshots of some of the insults directed at him, including a death threat.

Even one of social media’s biggest stars, Oregon’s Sedona Prince, who became famous after her video outlining the disparity between men’s and women’s weight rooms at the 2021 NCAA Tournaments went viral, had to take a brief break last year from TikTok.

“I’m not any different because I’m on TikTok. I’m still a person,” Prince said in a tearful video since taken down, while acknowledging her mental health had been declining.

Streno, the mental health consultant, said social media can exacerbate depression and anxiety.

During a three-month stretch last spring, at least five college athletes died by suicide. Among the reasons given by friends and family were the constant pressure of performing at a high level, the pressure to maintain a certain weight or physique, the fear of being perceived as weak because of injuries and the limited social opportunities because of the demands of a sports schedule.

Given the amount of daily interaction athletes have with friends and family on social media apps, Streno said it’s more realistic to coach players on how to deal with feedback than simply advising them to shut down everything.

“If it were as simple as ‘don’t look at your phone,’ then this wouldn’t be an issue,” she said. “But there’s such a quick, immediate, ‘Oh, this must mean this about me. I’m not good enough, or I’m not living up to this level.’ And then your mind can kind of start going down into this spiral.”

Williams, the father of the Michigan forward, said his son does a good job of shutting out social media during the season. After the events of this month, the dad planned on going dark for a while, too.

“People said he didn’t play well, and I get that,” Williams said. “But when you say my son, who I’ve raised and who I love tremendously, that you wish him to be dead in a ditch, that’s when I’ve got to turn the switch.”

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 30, 2023
Women hope Sweet 16 next step to own March Madness TV deal

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Women’s college basketball believes it has the makings for a hit reality TV show with star power driving a marketable product that has a growing audience.

So they’re taking the ensemble on the road for the Sweet 16.

The NCAA changed the format of the tournament this year, featuring two regional sites instead of the traditional four. The games in Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle are the latest step to grow the sport and show the ladies can stand on their own.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley believes the question of whether women’s hoops merits its own March Madness TV contract has already been answered, even though the women’s tournament loses money under the current deal.

“Somebody’s watching women’s basketball,” Staley said. “Somebody feels like we’re in high demand, and obviously the decision-makers that put us on now realize that they’ve got to keep putting us on.”

The women’s title game will be broadcast on ABC — the first appearance on network television since 1995. Women’s basketball is part of a current contract that bundles all NCAA championships under one deal except for men’s basketball and football.

The NCAA is expected to decide by the fall if the women’s tournament will become a separate entity after hiring Endeavor, a consulting firm, to determine how to take championships to market.

“It’s an exciting time. Year over year, we continue to demonstrate the value that women’s basketball brings to that space,” said Lynn Holzman, the NCAA vice president of women’s basketball. “It’ll be exciting to see what the results are of this for the sport itself, but also for the NCAA more broadly in our championships.”

TV ratings have been trending up over the last two years. This year’s regular season was the most viewed on ESPN networks in eight years and was up 11% from last season. That came on the heels of last season’s title game between South Carolina and UConn that averaged 4.85 million viewers — the most for a women’s championship game since 2004. The first round had a 27% ratings increase from last year.

“People enjoy watching close games. They like the fact that there’s some semblance of uncertainty of who’s going to win,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “There’s been so many changes in the top 10 all year long. … Teams are in, they start out at the top they go out they come back in. I think all that creates a level of excitement.”

People aren’t just tuning in during March Madness, they have also been showing up.

Attendance at the NCAA Tournament has continued to rise the past five seasons, growing by 60% in the first two rounds from an average of 4,464 in 2016 to 7,240 this year. This season had the highest attendance ever for the first two rounds.

“It makes us very bullish on women’s basketball,” Holzman said. “It is demonstrative of the growth we’ve been seeing in the sport.”

Now the NCAA hopes that growth is reflected in increased television revenue.

ESPN pays $34 million per year for the championships package, which it agreed to in 2011, including women’s basketball. But the law firm the NCAA hired to investigate equity issues in 2021 said in its report that estimated women’s basketball annual broadcast rights would be worth $81 million to $112 million.

The NCAA said the 2019 women’s tournament lost $2.8 million and those losses have multiplied the last two years since the the sports governing body increased spending after disparities between the men’s and women’s tourneys were pointed out.

If the NCAA can get close to the numbers projected in the 2021 report, it might be able to offer revenue shares — known as financial units — to women’s teams in the tournament in a structure similar to what the men receive from their March Madness tournament.

Men’s teams earn a slice of the money pie for their conference for every game they play excluding the championship. Each unit is paid by the NCAA over a six-year cycle. This year the NCAA will dole out $170 million to conferences from the men’s tournament.

It’s fair to say the women have a lot riding on this weekend at the two regional sites.

The NCAA is hoping the success of the Final Four — which sells out every year — translates to its new “mini Final Fours.”

Holzman believes the new format gave fans a better chance to know where their teams would be headed. The NCAA vice president of women’s basketball also anticipated greater economic impact on host cities would lead to more bids to host in the future.

But for some coaches, it’s all about location.

The regional sites the next two years will again be held in cities on opposite coasts. The closest team playing in Seattle this year is Colorado, located 1,300 miles away.

Texas coach Vic Schaefer is “a little concerned” about the distance some teams will have to travel, but eager to see how the tournament unfolds.

“The powers that be believe it’s going to be great, and I’m hopeful that it will be,” Schaefer said. “Those are two opposite ends of the spectrums, west and east, three time zones between both of them. And there’s just nothing in the Midwest. And we have a lot of teams in the Midwest. We’ll see.”

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AP Sports Writers Pete Iacobelli, Pat Eaton-Robb and Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 23, 2023
Clark, Czinano lead Iowa past Georgia in March Madness

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Catilin Clark admits she didn’t have her best game, but it was enough to get Iowa to the Sweet 16.

The unanimous AP All-American had 22 points and 12 assists to help the Hawkeyes defeat Georgia 74-66 in a second-round women’s NCAA Tournament game Sunday.

Clark was held scoreless for 13 minutes in the first half, but scored 14 second-half points as the Hawkeyes (28-6), the No. 2 seed in Seattle Regional 4, finally shook off the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (22-12). She made just 6 of 17 shots, but either scored or assisted on 30 of Iowa’s 33 second-half points.

“I think any time you’re one of the 16 teams who get to keep playing basketball, it’s pretty special,” Clark said. “But it wasn’t a huge party or celebration in the locker room. This wasn’t our goal. It’s one of the steps for reaching our goal, but it’s not the end-all, be-all for us.”

Clark knew she could have hit more shots, but was happy with the win.

“I probably could have made a couple of more shots,” she said. “I thought I had at least open threes that usually go down for me. But sometimes that happens.”

Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson thought they did a good job containing Clark.

“She averages 27 points a game, that’s a lot. I think we did a great job on her,” Abrahamson-Henderson said.

Monika Czinano had 20 points, Gabbie Marshall added 15 points and McKenna Warnock had 14 for Iowa, which erased the memory of last season’s second-round home loss to No. 10 seed Creighton.

Georgia got within 68-66 on a 3-pointer from Audrey Warren with 2:17 left in the game, but the Lady Bulldogs would not score again, committing three straight turnovers and missing a layup.

“We made a lot of runs,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “I know everything is going to be about Iowa right now. But my team is really good. They are really good. We came in here, we fought like crazy, we were the underdogs, but there was no underdog here today.”

Iowa led by as much as 10 points in the first half behind Marshall and Warnock, who combined for five 3-pointers to open the second quarter. But a 14-3 run by the Lady Bulldogs gave them a 35-34 lead, and it took a late surge to give the Hawkeyes a 41-40 halftime lead.

Brittney Smith and Javyn Nicholson each had 12 points for Georgia.

Iowa plays the winner of Duke-Colorado.

STUELKE OUT

Iowa was without freshman forward Hannah Stuelke. Stuelke, the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year, suffered an injured ankle in practice on Saturday.

“She literally hurt her ankle with about three minutes left in practice,” Bluder said.

Stuelke scored 14 points, making all five of her shots, in Friday’s 93-45 first-round win over Southeastern Louisiana. She averages 7 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Bluder said she expects Stuelke to be available next weekend in the regional semifinal.

BIG PICTURE

Georgia: The Lady Bulldogs fell short of their first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2013, but they finished strong in Abrahamson-Henderson’s first season as head coach. Georgia had won nine of their 12 games coming into Sunday’s game. “We had two really really good teams on the floor today,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “And one of them was Georgia. For sure.”

Iowa: The Hawkeyes were held 13 points under their national-best average of 87.8 points, but came up with enough offense against Georgia’s zone defense, which forced 17 Iowa turnovers.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 20, 2023
Ole Miss stuns Stanford, reaches first Sweet 16 in 16 years

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Sobbing as she received hugs from friends, family and administrators, Mississippi coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin tried to grasp the magnitude of her team’s stunning win against top-seeded Stanford when someone reminded her there’s more basketball to be played.

Her two young daughters danced for joy on the floor.

Her proud father provided a shoutout to everybody back home in The Bahamas.

Her team posed at midcourt and shouted, “Seattle!” That’s where the Rebels are headed next.

Madison Scott hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left that gave Mississippi the lead for good, Angel Baker scored 13 points, and the Rebels delivered on their declaration to get defensive, stunning top-seeded Stanford 54-49 on Sunday night to reach the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.

“First of all just incredibly grateful. I have a lot of mentors in my life and one of my mentors would always say to me that the person with the experience is at the mercy of the one with the anointing,” the 40-year-old McPhee-McCuin said in reference to Hall of Famer and winningest women’s coach Tara VanDerveer. “He spoke that over my life maybe 10 years ago. And so to be in this situation right now, to take down an historical program like Stanford, a coach and a woman that I admire I have watched is incredible.”

Behind the entire game and never with a lead, Stanford called timeout with 28 seconds left then Hannah Jump turned the ball over and Scott converted. Haley Jones lost the ball out of bounds on the Cardinal’s last possession with a chance to tie then again in the waning moments.

Marquesha Davis hit a pair of free throws with 15.4 seconds to play as Ole Miss overcame not making a field goal over the final 5:47, going 0 for 8.

“This is such a big accomplishment. A lot of us came here to make history and that’s what we’re doing,” freshman Ayanna Thompson said.

These upstart Rebels (25-8) advance to the Seattle Regional semifinal next weekend, while VanDerveer’s Stanford team (29-6) is eliminated far earlier than this group envisioned — the season ending on the Cardinal’s home floor. Jones fought tears after her final game, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds but five turnovers.

“Some of the things we did were self-inflicted. The turnovers really hurt us,” VanDerveer said. “They’re really a tough team, they’re a lot better than (No.) 8 teams we’ve played before. Sometimes you don’t have a really good matchup.”

Only four No. 1 seeds had lost before the Sweet 16 since 1994, with Duke the last one in 2009. Stanford did so once before, falling to 16th-seeded Harvard in the first round of the 1998 tournament.

The Cardinal had reached 14 straight Sweet 16s and hadn’t lost in the first or second rounds since No. 10 seed Florida State shocked the fifth-seeded Cardinal 68-61 at Maples Pavilion in the second round exactly 16 years ago to the day before on March 19, 2007.

Cameron Brink came back from a one-game absence because of a stomach bug to finish with 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots, but Stanford never led and tried to come from behind all night. The program’s career blocks leader, the junior star finished with 118 on the season and has 297 total.

“Cam wasn’t 100% today but I thought she really battled,” VanDerveer said.

Stanford had won 21 consecutive NCAA games on its home floor and is 41-5 all-time at Maples during March Madness.

Ole Miss led the entire first half on the way to a 29-20 advantage at the break at raucous Maples Pavilion, where the crowd went wild when Brink blocked three straight shots in the same sequence by Rita Igbokwe midway through the second quarter. About two minutes later, Igbokwe grabbed at her mouth after being hit.

The Rebels got a scare when senior guard Myah Taylor went down hard grabbing at her chest with 6:41 left in the third after colliding with Francesca Belibi while moving to defend Indya Nivar. After a short break to catch her breath, Taylor was back running the point.

The Rebels declared from Day 1 arriving in the Bay Area they were ready to play their tenacious defense to make a mark on the NCAA Tournament. Stanford’s layups regularly rolled out. The Cardinal got called for repeated offensive fouls. They made mistakes when it mattered most.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” said Gladstone McPhee, coach McPhee-McCuin’s father. “It’s beautiful. This is what you wait for.”

BIG PICTURE Ole Miss: Parents Gladstone and Daisy cheered on fifth-year coach McPhee-McCuin as her team reached the second round after last year’s first-round exit by South Dakota. Her daughters, 10-year-old Yasmine and Yuri, 5, rooted the team all the way, with Yasmine yelling, “That’s my mom!” when Ole Miss came out before tipoff. … The Rebels advanced to the Elite Eight in 2007. After grabbing 24 offensive rebounds in the win against Gonzaga, the Rebels crashed the boards again to create second chances with 20 more.

Stanford: The Cardinal also never led in the first half of 55-46 loss at USC on Jan. 15. … They had a 14-game home winning streak since a 76-71 overtime loss to No. 1 South Carolina on Nov. 20. … VanDerveer announced Jump plans to return for another year of eligibility. Jones will turn pro and Belibi has been accepted into a program at Harvard.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 20, 2023
Florida Atlantic ends Fairleigh Dickinson’s run for Sweet 16

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Fairleigh Dickinson came up just a little short this time.

Johnell Davis scored 29 points, Alijah Martin added 14 and Florida Atlantic ended underdog FDU’s magical March by outlasting the No. 16 seed 78-70 on Sunday night in the NCAA Tournament.

The ninth-seeded Owls (33-3) needed everything they had to put away the Knights (21-16), the nation’s smallest team and a surprise winner Friday night over 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey and top-seeded Purdue in just the second 16-over-1 upset in tournament history.

It will be FAU, not FDU, which will play Tennessee in the East Region semifinals on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“It’s a nice place,” Davis said of the world’s most famous arena. “But we’ve still got to go in and put the work in as every other gym.”

Davis certainly put in the work against FDU, finishing with 12 rebounds, five assists and five steals in 34 minutes.

The Knights couldn’t come up with an encore after eliminating Purdue, but not before fighting to the finish.

When their tourney ended, first-year coach Tobin Anderson and FDU’s players walked across the floor of Nationwide Arena to thank their fans, most of whom never expected to spend five days in Ohio watching their team make history.

Demetre Roberts scored 20 points and Sean Moore had 14 for FDU, which didn’t even win the Northeast Conference tournament before becoming an NCAA team that won’t soon be forgotten. The Knights followed up a win in the play-in game at Dayton by ousting the Big Ten champion Boilermakers and taking FAU to the wire.

“We always talk about 6-0 runs, we were one 6-0 run away from the Sweet 16,” Anderson said. “We went toe to toe with a top-five team in the country, and this team is a top 25 team in the country. We went toe to toe the last few days with two great teams and didn’t back down, didn’t go away.

“We’re not just happy to be here.”

FAU, which edged Memphis on Friday for the school’s first NCAA tourney win, finally took control late in the second half of a game that was played at high speeds and at times looked more like a playground pickup game.

FDU was still within 67-64 when Davis fought for a rebound and made a put-back. After Roberts missed a long 3, FAU’s Bryan Greenlee knocked down a 3-pointer and the Owls pushed their lead to 10.

The Knights got within 76-70, and still had a chance when Greenlee missed two free throws. But Roberts, FDU’s lightning-quick 5-foot-8 guard, misfired on a layup, and the graduate student who followed Anderson to FDU from Division II St. Thomas Aquinas began to untuck his jersey, knowing his tournament was over.

Anderson, who turned around a program that went 4-22 a year ago, told his players not to foul and let the final seconds run off.

But FAU’s Martin tried and missed a 360-degree dunk, leading to an awkward exchange and tense postgame handshake between Anderson and Owls coach Dusty May.

“I apologized to him for that but also reminded him we’re the adults,” May said. “We’ve got to fix that behavior. It’s part of the game. I apologized to him.”

FDU came up short in its bid to become the first No. 16 to win twice in the tournament. The same thing happened to UMBC five years ago. After shocking No. 1 overall seed Virginia, the Retrievers lost to Kansas State in the second round.

Strikingly similar in their playing styles on the floor, there was also a commonality between the fan bases as “F-D-U” chants from one side of the court were met with cries of “F-A-U” from the other as the teams traded baskets.

May was proud of his team’s composure and ability to perform when it felt like the world was in FDU’s corner.

“We never felt like we were a Cinderella team,” said May, who got his hoops start as a student manager at Indiana under coach Bob Knight. “We went into an SEC school and won and have been in some very tough environments.

“But obviously when you’re playing FDU and they’re on the run they’re on, they’re easy to root for.”

For Anderson and the Knights, the tournament is over. The memories will carry them.

“Last year, we were 4-22,” he said, “and we’re right there to go to the Sweet 16. If that’s not one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life or anybody else has seen, that’s crazy. So every part of this I’ll remember forever and they will too.”

BIG PICTURE

FAU: The Owls will carry a nine-game winning streak into their matchup against the fourth-seeded Volunteers, who took out Duke on Saturday. FAU does have some experience against SEC schools this season, losing at Ole Miss and winning at Florida.

FDU: The Knights seemingly came out of nowhere to become the tourney’s biggest story. Anderson said he and his assistant coaches have already heard from players interested in joining them in Teaneck, New Jersey.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 20, 2023
Gonzaga, Timme move to Sweet 16 with 84-81 win over TCU

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DENVER (AP) — Drew Timme added something new to his twisting, turning, head-faking, mustachioed repertoire — a 3-pointer to help Gonzaga get over the hump and back to the Sweet 16.

The Gonzaga big man extended his one-of-a-kind college career by at least one more game, finishing with 28 points Sunday to help the Zags make their eighth straight Sweet 16 with a come-from-behind 84-81 win over TCU.

Timme made his first 3 since December — and only his third of the season — as part of a 13-1 run that helped the third-seeded Zags (30-5) take a seven-point lead with just under nine minutes left after trailing most of the night.

“It was huge — the clock, the two-point lead,” Timme said of the margin before he made his shot. “I just launched one up there. All you can do is smile and laugh.”

After TCU pulled back within three late, Timme made a twisting shot in the lane with a defender draped all over him to trigger a 4-0 mini-run that put the game out of reach.

Next stop for the 6-foot-10 senior and his social media-friendly mustache: Las Vegas for the West Region semifinals and a meeting with UCLA on Thursday. It will be a rematch of the teams’ Final Four game two years ago, when Jalen Suggs banked one in from the half-court logo at the buzzer for the win.

Mike Miles Jr. finished with 24 points and four assists in his second straight electric game for the sixth-seeded Horned Frogs (22-13), who were trying to win two games in the same tournament for the first time in program history.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few pulled Miles aside briefly during the postgame handshake.

“He said that he’s coached a lot NBA players and that I am one,” Miles said. “It’s appreciated.”

Damion Baugh finished with 15 points for TCU, including a not-so-meaningless 3 he hit at the buzzer to help the Horned Frogs cover the 4.5-point spread listed on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Small consolation for TCU, though for 30 minutes-plus, the Frogs looked like very much like one of the 16 best teams in the country. They came at the Bulldogs in waves, trying to stop Timme with every big man on the roster.

But while the Gonzaga big man worked for every one of his 12 baskets and his eight rebounds, TCU’s bigs were all in foul trouble as the game wound down. One of the two Horned Frogs who fouled out was JaKobe Coles, who made the last-second runner that gave TCU the first-round win against Arizona State.

“Obviously, it was pretty early in the first half when we had to make some adjustments, play a lot of different lineups, probably even deeper than I thought we would,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said.

TCU had led by as many as 10 in the first half.

Rasir Bolton (17 points) led Gonzaga’s first big run. His two 3-pointers and another by Julian Strawther gave the Bulldogs a 46-45 lead after they had missed 12 of their 14 attempts from behind the arc in the first half.

Strawther, a Las Vegas native, will head home for his team’s next game. And Timme joined a list that includes Bill Bradley, Elvin Hayes and Danny Manning as only the seventh player with nine NCAA Tournament games of 20-plus points.

“I think he’s going to go down as one of the all-time great college players in the history of the game,” Few said. “And he still wasn’t supposed to shoot that 3. But that’s what makes him good. He does things like that every once in a while.”

TIMME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Timme said he was annoyed by what he called “some nice things on the internet before” the game that took shots at him and Gonzaga. “Throw a little lighter fluid on the fire if you wish,” he said. “I thought TCU was a highly educated school, and they didn’t sound so smart with their comments pregame, so you know. …”

SWEET 16 ANNIVERSARY

The meeting Thursday with UCLA in Vegas will fall on the 16th anniversary of their classic Sweet 16 game, won 73-71 by the Bruins. Over the final, frenetic 40 seconds, UCLA made two steals, scored the last five points and left Zags star Adam Morrison nearly crying on the court.

ONE FEWER BIG MAN

With TCU’s big men in foul trouble, one difference might have been the absence of Eddie Lampkin. Lampkin, a key cog in the TCU frontcourt much of the year, entered the transfer portal just before the Big 12 tournament.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madnes and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 20, 2023
Michigan State outlasts Marquette; Izzo back to Sweet 16

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Tom Izzo leaned on star guard and native New Yorker Tyson Walker to get Michigan State to Madison Square Garden for the Sweet 16.

Walker, a fourth-year player who grew up in Westbury on Long Island, delivered against Marquette in March Madness on Sunday night, scoring 23 points and punctuating Michigan State’s 69-60 victory with a steal and his first ever collegiate dunk late in the game.

And Walker wants to make sure his 68-year-old, Hall of Fame coach has a quintessential Big Apple experience.

“It means everything,” said Walker, who played two years at Northeastern before transferring to Michigan State. “Just growing up, seeing everything, playing at the Garden. Just to make those shots, look over see my dad, see how excited he was. That means everything. And I just owe Coach some pizza now. And a cab ride.”

Joey Hauser — a Marquette transfer — had 14 points and A.J. Hoggard had 13 as seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-12) took over in the last three minutes. The Spartans advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in four years and will play third-seeded Kansas State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday.

“I’ve been in Elite Eight games; I’ve been in the Final Four — that was as intense and tough a game as I’ve been in my career,” Izzo said. “And a lot of credit goes to Marquette and (coach) Shaka (Smart) and how they played, too.”

Izzo reached his 15th regional semifinal and won his record 16th March Madness game with a lower-seeded team — one more than Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who retired after this season.

This one was particularly meaningful. Izzo became the face of a grieving school where three students were killed in a campus shooting on Feb. 13.

“It’s been a long year,” an emotional Izzo said in a courtside interview. “I’m just happy for our guys.”

Olivier-Maxence Prosper led second-seeded Marquette (29-7) with 16 points and Kam Jones had 14 points, including three 3-pointers, for the Big East champions.

Michigan State led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Ben Gold and Prosper made back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Golden Eagles close within 33-28 at halftime.

Prosper hit two more 3s in the first minute of the second half to give Marquette its first lead of the day. Michigan State grabbed back the lead with an 8-0 run and didn’t relinquish it.

Back-to-back baskets in the paint by Hoggard and then Walker, both times as the shot clock expired, gave the Spartans a 60-55 lead with 2:20 left. Mady Sissoko then blocked shots on consecutive Marquette possessions, and Walker had a steal followed by a game-sealing dunk with 39 seconds left.

Marquette’s nine-game winning streak ended, concluding a season in which the Golden Eagles exceeded expectations under coach Smart, who has referred to Izzo as a mentor.

Michigan State, meanwhile, finished fourth in the Big Ten but appears to be improving at the right time.

“We’ve still got some dancing to do,” Izzo said. “And we’re going to New York. I couldn’t be more excited for Tyson and even A.J., being a Philly guy.

“After watching the tournament, it doesn’t matter who we play, when we play, where we play, or how, it’s going to be a hell of a game. And I’m looking forward to it.”

BIG PICTURE

Marquette: Coming off their first Big East Tournament title, the Golden Eagles dominated Vermont in the first round of March Madness, but Michigan State was a much tougher opponent. The Golden Eagles committed 11 of their 16 turnovers in the second half, and those giveaways led to 19 Spartans points.

“I thought (Michigan State) played with great aggressiveness, particularly early in the game and at the very end of the game,” Smart said. “And those two the stretches were the difference in the outcome of the game.”

Michigan State: The Spartans came out of their shooting funk after the halfway point of the second half and pulled away. They made 15 of their 17 free throws after halftime.

KOLEK HURTING

Tyler Kolek, the Big East Player of the Year, injured his thumb when he caught it on the jersey of a Vermont player in the opening round Friday night.

He finished that game with eight points. He wasn’t much of a factor against Michigan State, either, scoring seven points, losing six turnovers and committing four fouls.

Kolek insisted the thumb “wasn’t an issue at all.”

“Just trying to be out there for my team and command the game. And I didn’t do that today,” he said.

UP NEXT

Michigan State’s next opponent, Kansas State, is making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018 and first under coach Jerome Tang.

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 20, 2023
March Madness top teams bring talent and, for some, baggage

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Kansas and Alabama are no strangers to playing for national championships.

For the Jayhawks, another high-expectations trip to March Madness is a rite of spring. For the Crimson Tide, well, this path to glory travels through some unfamiliar ground — the basketball court.

Alabama rolls in as the top overall seed in an NCAA Tournament that feels both familiar and foreign this season. Yes, there are plenty of heartwarming stories and unbelievable upsets to come when the action begins Tuesday with the first of four play-in games.

But this was also a season clouded with police blotters at Alabama and Texas, injuries at Houston and UCLA, some unsightly losses at Kansas, and enough twists and turns at the top of the field to make this as unpredictable a bracket as ever.

“I’m not sure we would’ve predicted this,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said of the top seeding that belongs to the Crimson Tide for the first time.

Alabama’s ability to set aside distractions — namely, the inevitable questions that will be directed at its star, Brandon Miller, and others about an o ngoing murder case against a former member of the team — could have as big an impact on the Crimson Tide’s chances as anything.

But all these teams, especially at the top, have their issues.

It starts with Houston, the 1 seed in the Midwest, which was cruising along until Saturday, when its star guard, Marcus Sasser, fell awkwardly and left the game with a groin injury.

Sasser didn’t play in his team’s conference title game and Houston lost. How quickly he gets back to form could dictate whether the Cougars make the Final Four, which will take place at NRG Stadium, not far from their home arena.

Or take the Jayhawks, who looked like the top overall seed for a time. Two double-digit losses to Texas knocked them down a few notches. They are top seeded, but will play in the West, not the Midwest — one of those rare teams that might have preferred a possible trip down the road to Kansas City over a flight to Las Vegas for the Sweet 16. Not helping the situation was the recent illness of coach Bill Self, who was feeling chest tightness and checked himself into the hospital before the Big 12 Tournament. He was released Sunday and is expected to be with the Jayhawks this week.

“They mark it how they feel and we’re just going to do what we need to do to get where we need to be,” Kansas forward KJ Adams said.

There are issues one notch down the bracket, too.

No. 2 UCLA has been dealing with injuries all season. Most recently, guard Jaylen Clark (Achilles) and big man Adem Bona (shoulder) have gone down. Clark won’t be back; Bona might. It takes a hunk out of a team that still has the core of a roster that lost to Gonzaga on a buzzer-beater from near midcourt at the Final Four two years ago.

Another 2 seed, Texas, has had months to bounce back from the firing of coach Chris Beard, whose fiancee called in a domestic dispute that led to the coach’s arrest. Charges were eventually dropped. By then, Rodney Terry had taken over the team and it found its footing, though the ugliness of the episode is bound to be rehashed during basketball’s biggest month.

Back among the No. 1 seeds, Purdue has a 7-foot-4 playmaker, Zach Edey, leading the way and also has a little baggage of its own. Coach Matt Painter’s program has now made the tournament 14 times in his 18 years but has advanced as far as the Elite Eight only once. This is the first time one of Painter’s teams has come in as a top seed, though.

The coach is as aware as anyone how a trip to the Final Four might just cover up a lot of those old blemishes.

“Obviously, I know,” Painter said, “you get judged on what you do in the tournament.”

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AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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March 13, 2023