We’ve separated the contenders from the pretenders, the teams who can really win it all, who have what it takes to cut down the nets next Monday night, from the wannabes. The Final Four is upon us after four memorable Elite Eight games that were a breath of fresh air following the dreadful Sweet 16.
Below we set up the big weekend — with three No. 1 seeds and Final Four-regular Michigan State — in Indianapolis and take a look back at the second weekend:
Coaches are kings
The men in the suits still rule college basketball. Yes, there will be plenty of star power on the court in Indianapolis this weekend, future NBA players who will soon be millionaires, but the coaches are the real stars of the sport. Just think of the four that have reached college basketball’s biggest stage: Tom Izzo, Bo Ryan, John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski.
There are six national championships and 27 Final Fours between the four (it’s 25 if you don’t count the two Final Fours by Calipari at Memphis and UMass that were later vacated), enough knowledge of the game to fill out a library of basketball books. You have the dry humor of Ryan, the flash of Calipari, the wisdom of Izzo and knowledge of Krzyzewski.
The press conferences may be more entertaining than the games.
Young guns and old hands
The Final Four offers two very different and distinct blueprints for how to build a successful team. There are the hot-shot freshmen recruits Kentucky and Duke rely on, the ready-made players who will be one-and-done, likely four between the two teams — Duke duo Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow, and Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker.
Then there is Michigan State and Wisconsin, who have developed their stars, from bench players to linchpins. Badgers star Frank Kaminsky is the best example, going from averaging 4.2 points per game as a sophomore to potentially the National Player of the Year.
Favorite runs
So much for all that talk of parity. The Final Four will give us three one-seeds — the most since 2008 — along with No. 7 Michigan State. Even the Elite Eight was mostly chalk, the West and South with the top two teams advancing, and the Midwest a one and a three. The opening day of the tournament was an exciting blur, four double-digit seeds moving on, but there were only eight upsets over the ensuing seven days, and nothing close to the dramatics of 14-seeds Georgia State and UAB pulling shockers over three-seeds Baylor and Iowa State, respectively.
Nothing is wrong with favorites winning. It gave us great theater Saturday and Sunday, and the Kentucky-Wisconsin showdown has the makings of an all-time classic, but to call college basketball balanced this season is not accurate. There were a few teams clearly better than the rest. We’ve seen that this tournament.
The Final Four is a power conference party, two from the Big Ten, one from the SEC and one from the ACC. The big dogs still rule.
Hitting the lottery
There may be a few NBA scouts who descend on Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night — a few hundred. Potentially seven lottery picks will be in action — led by the players many feel are the top two picks, Okafor and Towns. A national championship showdown between the two uber-talented freshmen might draw a few viewers. Okafor’s teammate, Winslow, has enjoyed a splendid tournament, displaying his versatility and improved 3-point shot, and could be working his way into the top 10.
The player who has helped himself the most so far this month? Wisconsin swingman Sam Dekker, a 6-foot-9 inside-out force who notched his career-high in points in back-to-back games, leading the Badgers to the West Regional title.
Upperclass action
Experience still matters. But so does talent. The key ingredient? To have both. Of the four finalists, only Kentucky lacks key seniors. Michigan State’s success is bent on the play of veterans Branden Dawson and Travis Trice, Krzyzewski waxes poetic about senior guard Quinn Cook’s leadership and his value without prompting and Wisconsin’s best players are upperclassmen — Kaminsky, a senior, and Dekker, a junior.
Take a look at the four Elite Eight teams that lost. All four were full of upperclassmen, with a few talented freshmen mixed in.
Kentucky proves you can be successful with youth — granted you have underclassmen with NBA stardom written all over them — but there is no substitute this time of year for experience, the understanding of what it takes to advance.