Publisher’s note: This article is part of the Central Bracket series, an interior overview of the Male and Female NCAA tournament period, as well as analyzes and choices during tournaments.
With so much chalk in the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament, we had great hopes for the big games in Sweet 16. The Tour delivered for the most part; Even the eruption of the byu Alabama produced a record offensive display.
Thursday’s Nightcaps were fantastic, with a versatile virtuoso performance of Cooper Flagg from Duke and a furious return from Texas Tech which led to the first extension of the tournament. The Blue Devils needed each piece of the power of their first year, while the Arizona Caleb Love transformed a last score explosion of its last university match. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, dragged by up to 16 years and were down 13 with just over four minutes, but they paved together enough key buckets and defensive stops to overthrow the John Calipari’s razorbacks after an additional five minutes.
Friday offered more drama to Atlanta, Michigan State fighting against Ole Miss in Squeak by late. Coen Carr has experienced changing games, and the first -year student Jase Richardson (20 points on the shooting of 8 out of 12) asserted himself when the Spartans needed it most. Auburn must have rally against Michigan (and the rally did it), then Houston crowned an exceptional hoop evening with an off -aded masterful game to beat Purdue just before the final buzzer.
All this action sets up an Elite Hight starry with the four seeds n ° 1, three seeds n ° 2 and the de facto Cinderella, n ° 3 seed Texas Tech. An elite weekend awaits you!
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Cooper Flagg is already the best player in university basketball, and in a way continues to improve. Thursday evening was his Mona Lisa (so far), an unprecedented performance in the university match.
This, in addition to the death -eye shots of Kon Knueppel, of the Sion James and Duke bench, was sufficient to survive an effort to play Caleb Love and the Wildcats. The scene is now ready for a force test with Mark Sears and Alabama, participants in the Final Four last year. Priority No. 1 for Duke is obvious: finding a way to limit the absurd perimeter weapons of Alabama, which buried a record for the NCAA 25 3S tournament against Byu.
No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s
93-49
Florida took serious punches from Maryland and the injury bug on Thursday evening, but the Gators came out on the other side as impressive as ever. Head coach Todd Golden described the performance of his team “Elite” during the post-match press conference, and it is difficult not to agree with him. Despite an ankle injury that limited the great start-up man Alex Condon, the Golders of Golden preceded the Terps 47-33 within 20 seconds of the second minute, forcing Maryland to a surrender of “sub-rings” with more than two minutes in the match. Florida now faces a Texas Tech Duch technical team for a trip in the Final Four.
N ° 16 Norfolk condition
95-69
The cougars led almost the second half against Purdue on Friday evening. But an effort to play boilermakers – directed by a masterful performance by Braden Smith (15 assists) – equaled the game with just over 30 seconds. A missed Milos Uzan jumper and a boundary advice prepared the ground for a huge entrant with 2.8 seconds to play. Houston executed a dandy, obtaining the inbounator, Uzan, a layup just before the end of time. Smith’s last uprising sailed to the right, and the cougars qualified for the elite eight. The Sunday afternoon conflict with Tennessee is sure to be a brutal battle.
For the second consecutive round, Auburn looked incredibly fatal for a large part of the game. And just like last Saturday against Creighton, the Tigers found the gas pedal in the second period and won two figures. Johni Broome wore the tigers for about 30 minutes against Michigan, and reinforcements finally arrived in the form of Tahaad Pettiford and Denver Jones. The two guards fueled a massive score race, erasing a deficit of 48-39 in an instant while the defense of the tigers withdrew to the other end. Auburn will get the seeded n ° 2 on Sunday from the South-2 region with a chance to win a four-day final trip to a friendly crowd from Atlanta.
No. 16 Alabama State
83-63
Thursday evening, the explosion of the Crimson Tide shooting sent a message: the last final participant of the Final Four of 2024 wants to play in another. Despite an impressive offensive performance by Byu, the Alabama led comfortably for the second half thanks to a record for the NCAA 25 tournament is 3S. This brand completely erased the previous summit of 21 by Loyola Marymount in 1991. Mark Sears, All-American paved the way with 34 points (including 10 3s) and eight assists, giving the early tone with a burning beginning beyond the arc. Alabama has shown its ceiling, and it will have to access this level again to eliminate the mastodon which is the seeded n ° 1.
N ° 15 Robert Morris
90-81
A victory is a victory, especially on this scene. Things seemed ugly for Texas Tech while hanging the Arkansas throughout the whole match, but the Red Raiders never left, fighting through a night of icy shooting to hang out with the hot razors. Like the rest of his team, Darrion Williams fought for most of the night, but he hit several huge buckets – including the triple game to end the regulations and the crazy madman at the end of extension – to lead the Grant McCasland team to the elite eight. McMillian long threat status is essential on Saturday: his oblique injury retained it on Thursday, but it is closer and closer to a return. Texas Tech will need him against Florida.
N ° 14 UNC Wilmington
82-72
N ° 10 Arkansas
85-83 (OT)
Tennessee has abused Kentucky for 40 minutes, taking revenge against a team that swept out the flights during the regular season. Tennessee had painting, and above all, he held the powerful offense of the Wildcats to a 3 -point attempt from the 15 -point season. By transforming the game into a physical fight, Tennessee transformed Kentucky at a high scoring into a style in which it was much more comfortable. Zakai Zeigler continued his stellar qualifying series, accumulating 18 points and 10 assists while controlling the pace of the match. The Tennessee now faces Houston, who needed every second to survive an effort to play Purdue.
He looked disastrous for Michigan State for most of the first half on Friday. Ole Miss has ahead of Spartans, winning the Battle of Rebound – which was supposed to be the greatest advantage of Michigan State. MSU ended up being crushed in the battle of the firing volume (Ole Miss attempted 64 goals on the ground compared to Michigan State 48), but the formidable shooting and the interior score of the Spartans saved the day. The 20 effective points of Jase Richardson paved the way, but the immense day of Coen Car (15 points, including a transitional transition dunk at the end of the game) helped to trigger the return. Tom Izzo’s team is now waiting for Auburn after seeded No. 1 broke into Michigan in the Nightcap.
The central Bracket series is sponsored by E * Trade by Morgan Stanley.
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(Illustration: Will Tullos / Athletics; Photos: Patrick Smith, C. Morgan Engel, Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
