"The Stack" 3-31-17
The health of Joel Berry II's ankles is going to be the key if UNC can take down Oregon and advance to the national championship game and win it all this year.
Gonzaga has finally made it to the Final Four. Can they get past the Cinderella team this year in South Carolina?
The Stack is back on this Friday and it has been a pretty slow week in the world of sports…at least from my standards. We have Final Four previews to get to though and maybe something else sprinkled here or there so let’s get right to it and see what is in “the stack” for today, Friday, March 31st:
NCAA Final Four (University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ)
#7 South Carolina vs. #1 Gonzaga 6:09 PM ET CBS
What a Cinderella run the South Carolina Gamecocks have been on in this NCAA Tournament. They play stifling defense and their offense has been much better than throughout most of this season. Sindarius Thornwell has become a star in the tournament. He was already a good player, but few knew of him. He is one of if not the main reason South Carolina is here. You should not doubt the Gamecocks yet here stands Gonzaga, a team that finally has the monkey off their back in making their first ever trip to the Final Four (this is also South Carolina’s first time making it as well). They also play tremendous defense and between the big guy Karnowski, Nigel Williams-Goss, Jordan Matthews, Johnathan Williams and a whole host of other talented players, they can make you pay on the other end. They struggled with West Virginia, but ultimately prevailed. This game will be similar, but that means that Gonzaga has some experience going against this sort of defense. I think Gonzaga will just be too much in the end. Forgive me Frank Martin.
Pick: Gonzaga
#3 Oregon vs. #1 UNC 8:49 PM ET CBS
I was on Oregon all season long and then the injury to Chris Boucher scared me away from taking them in the Midwest Region. That was wrong of me. Jordan Bell has come to play in this tournament and put him with Brooks and Dorsey and this is one formidable team. They play with great efficiency on both ends of the court and they will need to be every bit as good on both ends against Justin Jackson and the Tar Heels. UNC played like a desperate, sharp and focused team against Butler in the Sweet 16. The game against Kentucky was far more difficult. Going long stretches without making a field goal like they did in that game will doom them against the Ducks. The health of Joel Berry II’s ankles is also a key factor for North Carolina. As much as I like Oregon, North Carolina has been the best team for most of the season and I think they will be just be too much for Oregon in the end.
Pick: UNC
Women’s Final Four (American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX)
#2 Stanford vs. #1 South Carolina 7:30 PM ET ESPN2 (Friday)
As mentioned on Tuesday, the NCAA Women’s Final Four is getting set to tip off in Dallas tonight so we’ll give a brief preview of both games here. The championship game is Sunday night. That is different than in years past when the Final Four started on Sunday with the championship game Tuesday night. Stanford is a good team and Tara VanDerveer is an outstanding coach, but this South Carolina team is a fun team to watch. They have outstanding players and play you really tough. The Gamecocks will be too much for Stanford. There is going to be a lot of South Carolina college hoops love this weekend.
Pick: South Carolina
#2 Mississippi State vs. #1 UConn 9:30 PM ET ESPN2 (Friday)
Mississippi State is in their first ever Final Four. They lost to UConn by 60 in the Sweet 16 last year. And do you really think I or anybody else in their right mind would pick against Geno Auriemma and UConn? Absolutely not. They won’t win by 60, but they’ll win by a lot.
Pick: UConn
Quick college basketball notes
A couple of other short newsworthy items from the college basketball world before we go. Like Lonzo Ball, his UCLA teammate T.J. Leaf is also a one-and-done and will enter the NBA Draft. He averaged over 16 points per game and over eight rebounds per game and is a projected first round pick. Would have been nice to see him stay, because with the recruiting class coming next year, UCLA has the makings of a potential Final Four team. They still might be.
The state of North Carolina is repealing the “bathroom bill”, but its replacement has left the LGBTQ community and others unhappy with the fact that local governments are prohibited from passing from passing new anti-discrimination laws before December 1, 2020. It’s still a repeal though and the NCAA will decide next week if they will grant the state conference tournaments and regional sites for upcoming NCAA Tournaments. The ACC Championship game in college football also will be decided on as that is usually played in Charlotte. Given some of the reaction to this repeal it would not be a surprise if the NCAA keeps their ban until North Carolina can pass a law that won’t be “anti-discriminatory.”
The Naismith Player of the Year award is down to four and will be announced Sunday, April 2nd in Arizona. The four finalists are:
· Lonzo Ball (UCLA)
· Josh Hart (Villanova)
· Frank Mason III (Kansas)
· Caleb Swanigan (Purdue)
Tough call to make, but Mason III has been absolutely stellar this season and even in Kansas’ Elite Eight loss to Oregon he was the best player on the team and kept Kansas in the game. All four are great players, but it should be Mason III winning the award with Swanigan a very close second.
Coming up Monday: Final Four reaction, championship game preview and men to this week's "The Sports Block" podcast here
