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What We Learned From the Elite Eight, Sweet 16 Rounds

What We Learned From the Elite Eight, Sweet 16 Rounds

What happened in the Elite Eight to bring us to this point? Let’s look at what we learned from the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight action.

From 68 to four, we’re only a week away from crowning a new champion. For viewers, the journey may have started two weeks ago, but for these players and coaches, it started last August with training camps and lifting sessions. Getting to the Final Four is an incredible accomplishment itself, but all these teams will have thoughts of a national championship on their minds.

So, what happened this weekend to bring us to this point? Let’s look at what we learned from the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight action:


First weekend showers bring second weekend flowers

People lamented the lack of upsets or highly-dramatic games in the first two rounds, and understandably so. Compared to the last few years, most of the favorites won, and many of the games did not come down to the final seconds. Sure, there were some compelling finishes, like Duke-UCF, Maryland-LSU, Auburn-New Mexico State, Iowa-Tennessee and others, but nothing like we were spoiled with last season.

But it paid off in the long run. We got some absolute thrillers in the Sweet 16 in Duke-Virginia Tech, Purdue-Tennessee, Kentucky-Houston and Virginia-Oregon, and every Elite Eight game was a classic. That was made possible because, for the most part, the best teams advanced in this year’s tournament. Besides, the tournament wouldn’t be the tournament if we knew what was going to happen, whether that’s Cinderella runs every season or chalk always winning. We need a variation of results, and that’s what this event provides every season.

The difference among the nation’s top tier is slim

Every Elite Eight game could have gone either way, especially Duke-Michigan State, Auburn-Kentucky and Virginia-Purdue. The margins in these games were so slim, one bounce, one call or one bit of luck here or there would have changed the outcomes. Same goes for several of the Sweet 16 games, some of which have the winners playing this weekend in the Final Four.

Some seasons, there’s a clear few teams that are head and shoulders above the rest of the sport. That is not the case this season. Any of the Elite Eight teams were plenty good enough to win a national championship, and a few Sweet 16 losers were, too. Someone has to lose games, though, and that’s the way she goes, but more than usual, razor-thin margins seem to be determining these late-tournament matchups.

Get ready, this Final Four will be crazy

What happens when you have a handful of great, even teams that are playing for their national championship lives? You get the games we had in the Elite Eight. Well, we’re looking at a similar situation for the Final Four, and now the stage is even greater.

This as wide open as any Final Four we’ve seen, and the best part? No blue bloods, and three of the four contestants have never won a national title. We will either have a first-time champion or a school winning its first championship in 19 years. No repeats. No team that just won winning again. No team winning its third, fourth or fifth title in 15 years. Two of the four faces are fresh to the Final Four, and another hasn’t been around since the 80s.

I don’t remember the last time I was this excited for a Final Four, and it feels like a near guarantee that it’ll live up to the billing.

Chris Beard is an elite coach

This is something that should have been known with or without the Final Four appearance this season, but the tournament success only solidified Beard as one of the best in the business. His defensive scheme has stifled potent offense after potent offense, claiming its latest victim in the Elite Eight: Gonzaga’s offense, not only the most efficient offense in the country this season, but one of the most efficient of the last 15 years. Beard’s Red Raiders held the high-octane Zags to 69 points, their third-lowest total of the season.

Texas Tech does not have a historic basketball program and hadn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 2005 when Beard arrived in Lubbock. The Red Raiders went from 2008 to 2015 without a tournament appearance, let alone a 20-win season. Tubby Smith got them to the tournament in his final season in 2016 as a No. 8 seed, losing in the first round and going 19-13 overall, still not breaking Tech’s nine-season streak without 20 wins.

Beard took over in 2016, and his team went 18-14 in his first season. It’s been skyward since, getting ranked in the top 10 for portions of last season and making a run to the Elite Eight, and then this year with a share of the Big 12 regular season title and the program’s first-ever Final Four. This isn’t his only quick success story, either. He had Little Rock 30-5 and in the second round in his only season as head coach in 2015-16, took Angelo State to the third round of the Division-II tournament in his second or two seasons there and had McMurry in the NCCAA Regional Final in his lone season at the helm in 2012-13. He has soared through the coaching ranks since starting at McMurry in 2012 to where he is now, and it’s no mistake. This man is a defensive genius, creates mastermind game plans and knows how to get the greatest sum from his team’s parts. Texas Tech should consider itself lucky to have him, and UNLV should be depressed for what could have been.

Tom Izzo still has it

Michigan State really shouldn’t have needed to get back to the Final Four for the eighth time in 20 years for people to believe in him, but in today’s hyper “what have you done for me lately” culture, there were people questioning if he was over the hill after a few disappointing early tournament exits for his Spartans the last few years.

That’s not to say there weren’t errors made that causes those early exits. No one is above reproach or criticism. But to suggest the game has passed Izzo by? That Michigan State should consider moving on from one of the best coaches of all time? It’s laughable, and everyone who disregarded the unbelievable record and overall coach Izzo has proven himself to be for decades deserves to eat the crow he has so gleefully served them.

The same can be said for criticism of Tony Bennett and Virginia, who were always going to get to a Final Four eventually with how consistently great the program has been for half a decade now, and it goes the other way, too. I’ve seen people questioning Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari, ignoring how extremely difficult the tournament is to navigate and how much luck and good fortune can play into outcomes in these single-elimination games with the nation’s spotlight, all being played by (alleged) college-aged amateurs. This is again not to say that criticisms cannot be levied, because they can. But there’s a difference between critiques and dismissals, and none of these coaches are remotely close to deserving the latter.

Bruce Pearl’s job cannot be overstated

Auburn did not look like a Final Four team a month ago. Hell, Auburn didn’t look like a Final Four team a week ago when it needed some luck to make up for its mistakes against New Mexico State in the first round. But the team that came out to open the tournament and Kentucky blew out a month ago is not the same one that met the Wildcats in the Elite Eight over the weekend, and Pearl deserves a lot of praise for the work he did. The emotion he displayed after the Sweet 16 win over North Carolina regarding forward Chuma Okeke’s gruesome ACL injury was a great example of the leader he is, and the postgame videos of him addressing his team only further solidified it.

When coaching college basketball, strategy, development and the physical side of basketball is important to success. But galvanizing your team, getting them to buy in and play as a unit is just as important, and Pearl is a natural. If you give this same roster to most coaches, they don’t get it to where its gone. I’m happy for Pearl to have finally reached the Final Four, a milestone his history in coaching deserved.

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