Three (and a half) great games were the reward for those of us that tuned into the Elite 8 double-heads on Saturday/Sunday.

Alabama makes its first Final Four after surviving an excellent Clemson team. Grant Nelson hit the bench early for the Tide after 2 fouls and that severely limited his impact on the floor after closing out UNC in the Sweet 16. He finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers in 21 minutes. Sears was a star hitting 7 of Alabama’s 16 threes as they shot 44.4% from three. Jarin Stevenson had 5 threes off the bench and finished with 19 points. Alabama really benefited with Nick Pringle in the post against Ian Schieffelin. Pringle was able to draw 14(!) fouls by my count against the Tigers thanks in part to six offensive rebounds.

Joe Girard III hit 5 of Clemson’s 8 threes and lead the Tigers with 19 points. At the under 8 timeout Clemson hit a three and turned the game into a 3-point track meet until the 4 minute mark. Bama was 8/11 in the 2^nd half from 3. Schieffelin had 18 points and 11 rebounds, but was part of the implosion late. As a 70%+ free throw shooter he missed several three throws late including a 1-1 (4/8 FT finish) and nearly turned the ball over twice in the final possessions that ruined the Tigers opportunities for good shots.

Clemson was up 26-13 early but trailed at the half 35-32 after Alabama got hot. Alabama ended up +11 on the boards but -16 on points in the paint. The Tide narrowly lost to Purdue earlier in the season while hitting 15 threes so beating UConn will be a tough task even if they’re hitting from outside. Nelson avoiding foul trouble and staying on the count will be more impactful, especially after seeing the career UNC game he had.

The Huskes were tied at 23 with Illinois….and then they weren’t. A 28-23 halftime lead extended into an incredible 30-0 run and 53-23 lead that held Illinois with a point for almost an hour of real time and almost 10 minutes of game time.
Illionis only had 8 turnovers, but shot 25%, were out rebounded 45-36 and killed in the paint 52-20. The Huskies shot 51% from the field, but only 3/17 (17.6%) from three. A possible problem area as I previously noted.
Domask was the only Orange in double-figures with 17 points. Superstar Terrence Shannon Jr was 2/12 for 8 points. Clingan was held pretty well in check in the 1^st half, but finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 steals. Good luck to Bama keeping up in the Final 4.

Now the two power players of the tourney so far. Zach Edey of Purdue and DJ Burns will battle after electric performances.

#1 Purdue and #2 Tennessee in the Midwest region was a two-man show. Purdue was down eleven in the first half to Tennessee who shot 42% (11/26) from three. Dalton Knecht exploded for 37 points hitting 6 threes and taking 31 of the teams 62 shots. He was the only shooter in double-figures. Zach Edey finished with 40 points and 16 rebounds as the Vols couldn’t stop the big man-double teams-or otherwise. He took 22 of Purdue’s 33 free throws and hit 14 of them. Tennessee was only 7/11. The rebounding margin was fittingly a huge discrepancy 47-26 the Boilermakers way. Fletcher Loyer was the only Boilermaker in double-figures with 14. The Boilermakers were only 3/15 from three.

In the first ever #4 v #11 seed match-up ever, NC State shocking rallied from a 27-21 halftime deficit to destroy Duke 76-64. NC State shot a season low for a half – 26.5% (9/34) in the 1^st – and a season high in the 2^nd – 73.1% (19/26). It’s hard to explain what happened. Duke gave up 55 points in the 2^nd half to NC State after giving up 54 to Houston, 55 to James Madison, and 47 to Vermont IN THE ENTIRE GAME.

Jared McCain was 8/20 for 32 points and 6 rebounds for Duke. He had 11 of the first 15 points for Duke. Filipowski was 3/12 for 11 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out with 5 minutes left. He struggled to stop DJ Burns defensively despite a four-inch height advantage. Roach was 5/13 for 13 points. Proctor was 0/9 for no points. Scheyer again went double bigs for awhile but foul trouble and scoring limitations saw limited effectiveness.

DJ Burns has 8 of the first 11 points for NC State and hits the bench halfway through the 1^st with foul trouble. The star only logs 29 minutes of action. He shoots 13/19 and finishes with 29 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. Burns is interesting in many ways. He’s a good passer out of the double-team, which didn’t come often in this game as Scheyer chose to go 1v1 often. Burns hit a number of fadeway and interesting shots that didn’t always involve him banging the defender back into the post. He also doesn’t post great rebounding numbers as guard Michael O’Connell had 6 points and 11 rebounds to lead the team. DJ Horne had 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Middlebrook was decent off the bench with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks in 26 minutes thanks to Burns foul issues. Middlebrook makes questionable plays on both sides of the ball but he had very productive moments. DJ is supposedly getting NFL buzz, but realistically he doesn’t seem like a pro prospect of any kind. Still, that doesn’t change this crazy NC State/DJ Burns run. The Wolfpacks 14 losses is the most ever for a Final Four team. They’re the sixth 11^th seed to make the Final Four, the lowest seed to make it that far (86 LSU, 06 George Mason, 11 VCU, 18 Loyola-Chicago, 21 UCLA). DJ Burns started his career at Tennessee in 2019 then transferr to Winthrop and moved over to NC State in 2022. Burns had one 20+ point game all season prior to the NCAA tournament and he now has two (Marquette, Duke) and is playing incredible ball.

I’m not sure he’ll be able to back down or shoot over the mammoth Zach Edey….Uconn v Purdue still looks like the Championship game on the horizon.

Picks: Uconn 90-70, Purdue 77-65