The Elite Eight is now set: in the West, it’ll be Arizona vs. Purdue. In the Midwest, we’ll get Michigan vs. Tennessee. In the South, Iowa and Illinois will go at it, and in the East, Duke and UConn will fight for supremacy.
Duke had a tense game with St. John’s, highlighted by Caleb Foster’s stunning return from a fractured foot and subsequent surgery – just three weeks ago.
Duke weathered that Red Storm and will play UConn. The Huskies ran out to a 19-point lead over Michigan State and had to hold
on as the Spartans rallied. It was not an easy win by any means.
Iowa and Illinois should be fun. These teams played on January 11th, with Illinois getting a 75-69 win. Would you rule Iowa out here? We wouldn’t. Illinois is playing at a very high level, but Iowa seems to have a warrior instinct, and it’s hugely impressive.
We’d certainly take Arizona over Purdue, but the Boilermakers are playing well. The Wildcats just have more. Purdue’s smallish guards could run into some trouble, too.
We’d also bet on Michigan over Tennessee, but the Vols are a pretty stubborn team. They might be able to beat Michigan up, but the Wolverines seem like they have too many advantages.
We’ll deal with Duke and more later, but for now, let’s just end that discussion with this: what Foster did is insane. It’s sort of a Willis Reed/Mateen Cleaves sort of moment, when he emotionally puts the team on his back and takes them home. That was really incredible to watch.
Saturday’s games start at 6:09, as Iowa and Illinois get things started. We’ll say just one more thing there: we were pushing Ben McCollum for years, because it was just so clear that that guy is an absolute winner. Now that we get a closer look at him, he’s psychotically competitive. He’s taken a team with one really good player and some other guys who are good but not great, and has them one game from the Final Four.
A lot of D-I teams could have hired him, but no one was willing to take a chance until Drake did it last season. He won 30 game there, and now he has Iowa in the Elite Eight. If you don’t see it now, you never will.
That guy is a stone cold winner.
Closer to home, the coaching searches at UNC and NC State continue. There’s a lot we don’t know, but from what we can tell, State’s is moving more quickly. Boo Corrigan and company appear to be down to St. Louis’s Josh Schertz and Tennessee assistant Justin Gainey.
In Chapel Hill, as far as we can tell, the following candidates have said no. Are those firm nos? Or merely negotiating tactics?
No one knows.
- TJ Otzelberger, Iowa State
- Ben McCollum, Iowa
- Billy Donovan
- Nate Oats
Oh, before we forget, NC State’s Darrion Williams posted this on his Instagram after Will Wade bailed. Ouch.
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