The second weekend of March Madness fully delivered with exciting matchups and finishes. Whether it was an upset or a historic game winner, the tournament delivered some fireworks. Michigan and Arizona both roll on into the Final Four, while Illinois escapes two tough matchups to secure their spot in Indianapolis. The Big Ten continues to dominate the tournament, and Duke collapsed for the second straight season.
East
Duke vs. St. John’s and Michigan State vs. UConn were the Sweet 16 matchups for the East region. Both of these matchups fully delivered. St. John’s led by 10 at one point, but ultimately was unable to quiet the duo of Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans who combined for 47 points. St. John’s had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but their 3-pointer was offline, and Rick Pitino’s team got sent home.
Michigan State vs. UConn was a close game, but it didn't start out that way. Dan Hurley’s UConn squad jumped out to an early 19-point lead, and it seemed like they were going to cruise on to set up a matchup against Duke in the Elite Eight. Tom Izzo had a different idea, and his team started to claw back in the game and even retook the lead. Much of the second half was a back and forth game, leading to UConn’s leader Alex Karaban coming up with huge points in clutch time, as the Huskies advanced. Michigan State wasn’t able to come up with a 3-pointer when they needed it, which seemed to be their Achilles heel all season.
UConn and Duke played in the Elite Eight and it was an elite matchup of two blue blooded programs. Duke had the big lead early on in this game, peaking at 19. They were clicking on all cylinders and the only reason UConn was hanging on was because their big man Tarris Reed Jr. was putting up such an impressive performance. He has been a force all tournament, and this game was no different. He kept UConn in the game and the Huskies just wouldn’t go away.
They clawed at the lead until Duke had a two point lead with 10 seconds left in the game. All Duke had to do was hold onto the ball and get fouled, but they made extra passes. Cayden Boozer’s pass got deflected and UConn took the ball with five seconds to play. Then the shot heard around the world was hit as a 3-pointer was swished by freshman Braylon Mullins. The Indiana kid sent his team to Indianapolis with this shot, and Duke choked a game for the second straight year.
West
Before the tournament the west region was simply seen as Arizona’s region, and it certainly played out that way. Arkansas was seen as a fun team because they could score, and they had Darius Acuff Jr. who was one of the stars of this tournament, but they had zero answers for the monster that was Arizona. Arizona put up 109 points with only eight 3-point attempts in the modern era. The intensity that Arizona played with was too much for Arkansas to handle. Arizona is just overall too physical for most teams to handle and they are aware of it.
Texas vs. Purdue was a slow paced game interrupted by many reviews, but behind all of that was a great game of basketball. Purdue’s starting lineup all had double digit scoring, and Trey Kaufman-Renn was great with 20 points and eight rebounds on 8-for-10 shooting. It all came down to the final shot where Braden Smith missed a mid-range jumper, but Kaufman-Renn cleans it up off the boards and wins the game for Purdue. Texas attempted to go from the first four to the final four, but came up short in the sweet sixteen, largely due to just being banged up towards the end of the season. Texas put up a good effort, but Purdue was better.
Purdue played very well in the first half against Arizona as they went into half up 38-31. Arizona then came out differently after the half after finally facing adversity. Arizona won the second half 48-26, as they claimed a comfortable victory over the Boilermakers. Arizona’s ability to score within the paint, and just bully their opponents was too much for Purdue in this game. Arizona moves onto the Final Four, as they continue their collision course with Michigan.
Midwest
Just like the West region, the Midwest region was Michigan’s to lose, and they demonstrated why this past weekend. Alabama’s offense was a lot for Michigan to handle in the first half as Alabama led 49-47 at the half. Alabama likes to run and shoot a lot of threes, and it worked in the first half. After the half, Michigan came out as a completely new team. Their defense was absolutely suffocating, while their offense continued to click, led by All American forward Yaxel Lendeborg who had 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Michigan woke up defensively and held the Crimson Tide to 14-for-47 3-point shooting in the game.
Iowa State handled Kentucky despite the absence of Joshua Jefferson, but against Tennessee they couldn’t weather the storm. Tennessee is one of the most physical and best rebounding teams in the league and it showed as they out rebounded the Cyclones 43 to 22. This disparity was enough for the Vols to comfortably get a win against Iowa State with a score of 76-62.
Tennessee then faced one of the largest teams in Michigan and this size was too much for them. Michigan went on a 21-0 run in the first half, and then never looked back. It was a dominant performance from the Wolverines from start to end. Michigan's unique size and speed was too much for Tennessee, and Michigan won its fourth game of the tournament, all by double digits. This will set up the before mentioned collision course between Michigan and Arizona.
South
The South region is run by the Midwest Big Ten teams of Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. Illinois faced off against Houston and demonstrated to the world that they aren’t just an offensive juggernaut, but rather that they can defend with the best. They held Houston to 55 points on 34 percent shooting. Illinois proved to themselves and to others that they are a defensive force.
Iowa and Nebraska met each other in the “Sweet corn 16” and the game fully delivered. Nebraska led the game early and felt comfortable the entire game. Every time they would get a good lead, Iowa would make some plays to just hang on in the game. Eventually Iowa finally retook the lead with three minutes left in the game, and they never looked back. Iowa had the ball up three with 50 seconds left and Nebraska mistakenly put only four players on the court leading to an Iowa and-one that sealed the Iowa victory.
Now the all-Big Ten elite eight happened as it was Iowa vs. Illinois. The game was back and forth, where Illinois would make shots, but Iowa and Bennett Stirtz would stay in the game. This happened all the way down to the final five minutes where Iowa finally went cold offensively. Illinois defense was suffocating and they made enough shots down the stretch to close out the victory and cut down the nets.
Final Four Preview
The stage is set in Indianapolis as Illinois will face UConn and Arizona will face off against Michigan at Lucas Oil Stadium. The games will be played on Saturday, as the teams look to put themselves into the history books.
UConn and Illinois faced off earlier this season as UConn won 74-61 in Connecticut. This game was played a long time ago and it was before the emergence of Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler, but I do think that the familiarity between these two teams matter. If you can give head coach Dan Hurley prep time and experience against the opponent, that can be a dangerous thing even if Illinois has been a wagon this tournament. Illinois has been very good all tournament long, but UConn is just so hard to kill that I have to assume they will find a way to get over this hill.
Michigan and Arizona have been the best two teams all season long, and that hasn’t changed this tournament. Both teams have won every game by double digits, and now they meet in Indy. Michigan likes to use its size to get stops, and then speed up the game with transition offense. Arizona loves to use its physical strength to impose their will in the paint. Michigan's size will be quite equipped to guard Arizona, but that exact thing could be said about Arizona. I see this game being an all time classic, coming down to the final minute. I see Michigan’s star Yaxel Lendeborg hitting shots in the clutch to get Michigan to the championship game.
Then UConn vs. Michigan will be a very interesting matchup as Michigan is certainly the better team, but UConn is so hard to beat. UConn’s star big man Tarris Reed was a Michigan player in 2023 so he certainly would take this as a revenge game. However I don’t think it will be enough, as Michigan will get the win by about 10 points and raise a banner in Ann Arbor.
