Caleb Love once ended Duke’s run at the Final Four and also ended Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.
Three years later, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Cooper Flagg and Duke knocked out Love and Arizona, ending both his college career and their season.
Love celebrated his 3-pointers with chest thumps — and he made a few. He powered through defenders and helped Arizona stay close to Flagg and top-seeded Duke.
But despite his 35 points in 40 minutes, it wasn’t enough to keep his career and Arizona’s season alive.
Flagg led Duke with 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and three blocks in their 100-93 victory, pushing Duke one win away from the Final Four and ending Arizona’s run.
However, Love left with his teammates expressing their gratitude for him and his impact on the team after he transferred from North Carolina. There, Love had ended Coach K’s career, and at Arizona, he helped them reach a No. 4 seed in March Madness.
Teammates like Jaden Bradley, Henri Veesaar, and coach Tommy Lloyd shared heartfelt words, praising Love’s leadership and presence on the team. Veesaar, unprompted, spoke up: “Anybody ever thinks he’s not a good teammate, it’s not true. He’s the best teammate we had. He’s one of the better persons I’ve ever met. He’s pushed me so much over the last two years, I’m so grateful for him.”
Veesaar continued, sharing how Love had helped him improve. “In the tournament, I was struggling, he talked to me. He came up to me after I missed the free throw because we had been — he made me practice free throws after that game. After that he just came up to me, hey, we worked way too hard, you got this. After that I didn’t miss a free throw, I made seven in a row.”
Bradley also stood up for Love, saying, “You don’t see the workouts and the stuff we do off the court. Y’all don’t see that. He really took all of us under his wing. He’s a leader. He’s been through so much and taught us all so much. So definitely going to learn a lot, miss playing with him. He’s just a great guy.”
Love also got a lot of help from Bradley, who scored 15 points. Love himself finished with 35 points, just one shy of his career high, including 15 straight points during a fierce second-half rally that brought Arizona within five points of Duke with 1:56 left.
Cooper Flagg reacts after making a 3 point basket in the 1st half
Despite the loss, Love expressed how grateful he was to play with Arizona. “I went through a lot transferring from my other school, and they took me under their wing, and they accepted me for who I was,” Love said. “I just want to give all my thanks to them because without them, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be the player that I’ve grown to be.”
The player who scored 27 points in the second half of North Carolina’s Sweet 16 win on their way to the 2022 Final Four was now seen as someone who shot too much, struggled to perform, and hurt the team. So, he entered the transfer portal.
His move to Michigan was blocked by issues with the admissions office. Coach Lloyd, while on a family trip in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, received a call from Love, who expressed interest in visiting Arizona’s campus.
Love narrowed his choices down to three schools before deciding on Arizona, choosing them over Gonzaga and Texas.
Lloyd believed in Love and worked hard to bring him into the Wildcats fold. He was one of the last to hug Love as Arizona’s season ended in March.
“I hope everybody takes a step back, whether they’ve been a hater or whatever or pile on, and give this guy a real chance because he’s special,” Lloyd said. “This is what I know. When he gets there, the right team is going to wrap their arms around him and they’re going to see they’ve got a guy who’s been through it. Been through it, and he’s come out the other side of it better.”
Florida Gull Coast players celebrates after the win
Almost every year, at least one unexpected team surprises everyone in the NCAA Tournament, capturing the hearts of basketball fans and ruining their brackets.
This year, that didn’t happen.
For the first time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all 16 regional semifinalists are from major conferences. Many believe this is because the transfer portal has caused the best players to gather at the big schools that offer the most NIL money and, soon, the most through revenue sharing.
Is this year just a rare event? Purdue coach Matt Painter, whose 2023 team became the second No. 1 seed in history to lose to a No. 16 seed (Fairleigh Dickinson), certainly hopes it isn’t.
“The upsets and how valuable the upsets are to the common fan, it’s created March Madness,” he said on Thursday. “Let’s not get away from it. It’s a big piece of March Madness.”
Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd said it’s too early to determine if the days of Cinderella stories are over or just less common.
“I don’t know if there’s enough sample size yet to say this is NIL-driven or just how it broke this year,” Lloyd said.
There have been 15-seed teams in the Sweet 16 for three straight years recently: Oral Roberts in 2021, Saint Peter’s in 2022, and Princeton in 2023. Saint Peter’s even made it to the Elite Eight.
And let’s not forget Florida Gulf Coast’s “Dunk City” team in 2013, which was the first No. 15 seed to win two tournament games. Or how about 2018 Loyola-Chicago, with Sister Jean and the 11th-seeded Ramblers making it to the Final Four?
These types of stories are missing this year, as the SEC sent a record seven teams to the Sweet 16, with the Big Ten and Big 12 sending four each, and the ACC sending one.
That doesn’t mean smaller teams didn’t create some excitement. No. 12 seed McNeese State, with its social media star student manager, upset Clemson. No. 11 Drake, with its four Division II transfer starters, beat Missouri, and No. 15 Robert Morris played Alabama closely before losing.
Kentucky’s Mark Pope said those games still brought the March excitement, and the talent pool among players and coaches is so deep that there will always be surprising upsets.
“I think it’s because it’s a pure meritocracy,” he said. “Once you start playing, it doesn’t matter what your budget is, doesn’t matter if you came in on a bus or flew in on a plane. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have 17 different uniforms or if you have only one. Doesn’t matter if you have holes in your shoes or your 75th new pair.”
Daryl Banks II celebrates after making a 3 pointer
BYU coach Kevin Young said this year’s Sweet 16 shows the challenge that smaller schools face in today’s college sports world
“It’s not even that people are coming to get their players,” he said. “Kids are smart; they see what’s out there, and they think that they can better their situation by going in the portal and maybe going to a bigger school that can offer more to them.”
Three of the five first-team AP All-Americans this season started at schools outside the power conferences—Auburn’s Johni Broome at Morehead State, Alabama’s Mark Sears at Ohio, and Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. at Iona. The same is true for three of the second-team picks—JT Toppin of Texas Tech (New Mexico), RJ Luis Jr. of St. John’s (UMass), and John Tonje of Wisconsin (Colorado State).
Nate Oats, who moved from Buffalo to Alabama after March success, said coaches at strong mid-major programs have a tough time keeping their teams together.
“I don’t know that I would have been able to keep my whole team together at Buffalo in today’s day and age,” said Oats, whose 2018 and 2019 teams won first-round games.
While power-conference teams are getting older with the transfer portal and not relying as much on high school recruits, Oats believes mid-majors that bring in the best young players will still have chances to win in March.
“There’s a lot of freshmen that are not getting offered at the high-major level that would have used to get offered that now are ending up at mid-major schools, and some of them are really good,” Oats said. “Those mid-major schools, they’re going to have to do a really good job of evaluating talent coming out of high school.
“I think it’s still going to be done, but it might be a little bit harder. I think you’ll still see some Cinderellas coming through.”
Zakai Zeigler gestures towards his teamates in the 1st half
Kentucky and Tennessee are set to add a new chapter to their rivalry on Friday night as they face off in Indianapolis for the first time in the March Madness.
This NCAA Tournament matchup holds more significance but brings similar emotions.
Tennessee guards Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack discussed how much they dislike the Wildcats during Thursday’s press conference. Kentucky guard Koby Brea, on the other hand, expects the second-seeded Volunteers to make some adjustments after the Wildcats beat them twice this season.
The passionate fan bases from both Southeastern Conference teams expect nothing less.
“I’m big on rivalries. When I don’t like a school, I don’t like it and I want to do everything I can to make sure we win that game,” Mashack said. “I’m taking this as serious as I possibly can, and everybody knows, we want nothing more than to not just win but make a statement with a team like this.”
With a spot in the Elite Eight at stake, they will face one of college basketball’s most successful programs.
The third-seeded Wildcats (24-11) hold records for the most March Madness games (187) and tournament bids (62). They’re also in the top five for tournament wins (132), Final Four appearances (17), and national championships (eight).
A win over the Vols (29-7) would send Kentucky to its 35th regional final in its first season under coach Mark Pope, where they will face either top-seeded Houston or fourth-seeded Purdue for the Midwest Region title on Sunday in Indianapolis.
“They’ve been a really good defensive team, but I feel we’ve seen their defense a couple times this year, teams that do similar things. So we kind of just do what we do every game,” Brea said. “I’m sure they’ll probably try to change things up a little bit since the first two times didn’t work out too well.”
Kentucky has struggled in recent trips to Indianapolis. In 2022, the Wildcats lost in the first round to Saint Peter’s, and in 2015, Wisconsin ended their perfect season in the national semifinals.
Koby Brea reacts in the 2nd round
This time could be different
Brea helped Kentucky make 12 of 24 3-pointers — twice — against Tennessee, which has the nation’s third-best 3-point shooting defense (28.3%).
If the Vols find a way to adjust, they could reach their second straight Elite Eight by defeating their rival.
“We know we’re the best defense in the country. We didn’t show that either time we played them,” Zeigler said. “Just being ourselves on defense, going out there, showing we’re the No. 1 defense in the country and doing all the little things and everything then we’ll be fine. I don’t feel we did that in either game. We’ll make sure to do better this time.”
Feels like home for Pope
Pope feels at home in Indiana. He was a 1996 second-round draft pick of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and played parts of two seasons under coach Larry Bird and alongside Reggie Miller. Both teams reached the Eastern Conference finals.
Despite playing just 32 games with Indiana, Pope met his wife, Lee Anne, in Indy.
“Come on, I’m the most blessed human being in the world that I got to be here on those great Indiana Pacers teams in this tremendous city, playing for Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle and the whole crew. I’ll never forget it,” Pope said.
A memorable return for Cryer
Houston guard L.J. Cryer played only three minutes as a freshman in the 2021 Final Four with national champion Baylor. That year, the entire tournament was held in Indiana because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cryer is familiar with the setting at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, which is transformed into a massive basketball arena.
“I think we got the same locker room as that year,” Cryer said. “When I walked in there today, I kind of got the chills a little bit. A lot of good mojo for sure.”
Cryer left Baylor after three seasons and has become one of Houston’s top offensive players. He’s averaging more than 15 points over 73 games.
Matt Painter calls to his players in the 1st round
Changing times at Purdue
Purdue coach Matt Painter has focused on player development and experienced rosters, leading the Boilermakers (24-11) to six Sweet 16 appearances in the last eight tournaments.
However, Painter suggested that could change soon. He hinted that the Boilermakers might be more active in the transfer portal after this season.
“We’ve taken two people out of the portal in four years, probably the fewest amount in the country,” said Painter, whose team was last year’s national runner-up. “It will be interesting to see where we go from here, though, because there’s no doubt that we’re going to use the portal. We’re probably just not going to use it as much as everybody else.”
Tennessee’s coach not retiring anytime soon
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, 70, put any rumors of his retirement to rest. He said he’s not stepping down next season.
“I think God will make it perfectly clear when he wants me to step down and my time will be up,” Barnes said. “But it’s not now. If it is, I don’t feel that. But I love coaching basketball. I love being around it.”
Barnes is 231-108 in 10 seasons at Tennessee and 835-422 in 38 years as a head coach, including stints at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, and Texas.
For Tom Izzo, his career as a head coach began with lessons that still shape him today.
He might not remember all the details—Izzo recalls his 1995 Michigan State team grabbing 26 offensive rebounds in a win against Arkansas, though it was actually 24—but the lesson remains clear.
Some aspects of success never change.
“I always say you can win games in a lot of different ways, but to win championships, it’s pretty standard still,” Izzo said Thursday. “You’ve still got to be able to do things with some accountability and some discipline.”
Michigan State (29-6) is making its 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the longest active streak in the country. At 70 years old, Izzo has guided the Spartans to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time in his career.
“He’s Mount Rushmore of this sport,” said Mississippi coach Chris Beard, whose team will face the second-seeded Spartans on Friday night in the South Region.
“He’s coached in all these different eras of college basketball. He’s had different players, different coaches, different rules, different styles of the game. Now here we are in the name, image, and likeness and portal era, and Michigan State is here on the main stage. What’s the common ingredient? It’s coach Izzo.”
Izzo admits he’s had to adjust over the years.
He had to, to stay relevant in a college scene that’s changed since his early days at Michigan State.
“The fat tie goes out, the skinny tie comes in,” he said with a smile. “The bell bottoms, the straight leg, the miniskirts, the short and long skirts, the different hairstyles. I think that’s where you adapt.”
His players don’t see him as an older figure but as someone with a youthful spirit.
“I feel like he still has a really young spirit at heart,” senior guard Jaden Akins said. “Every day in practice, he always brings the energy. I don’t really think about his age that much.”
It’s been 25 years since Izzo won his only national title.
He’s determined to add another.
“Once you win a national championship, winning a tournament game means nothing,” Izzo said. “To our fans, it doesn’t mean much. To me, it doesn’t mean as much.”
A remarkable comeback season
Out of all the teams in the Sweet 16, Michigan has made the biggest turnaround from last year.
The Wolverines finished 2024 with a record of 8-24, the most losses in program history, which led to the firing of coach Juwan Howard.
Enter Dusty May and a strong group of transfers, who quickly turned Michigan back into a contender. The fifth-seeded Wolverines (27-9) will face top-seeded Auburn on Friday night.
Michigan State players in the practice
“Expectations weren’t that high,” said Danny Wolf, part of Michigan’s strong frontcourt with two 7-footers. “As soon as we started playing and meshing, we knew we weren’t really underdogs at that point. We had such a high-level team and high-level locker room.”
“It doesn’t happen in one day,” Goldin said. “Day by day, we’ve been getting better and better.”
Is Auburn becoming a basketball school?
While football is still the main sport in the Southeastern Conference, basketball has grown in importance at Auburn.
Under coach Bruce Pearl, the Tigers have thrived even as their football team has struggled.
Sellout crowds and fans camping out for tickets are now a regular occurrence. The team, with a 30-5 record, is the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, with their first national title as the final goal.
“We’re real proud, man,” fifth-year forward Chris Moore said. “We’re going to continue to build on that legacy.”
This could feel like a home game for Auburn, located only 110 miles from Atlanta, with plenty of Auburn fans expected in the crowd at State Farm Arena.
“We love our fans,” freshman point guard Tahaad Pettiford said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without them.”
Ole Miss reaches the Sweet 16 for just the second time
For Ole Miss, reaching the Sweet 16 is a big achievement, as it’s only the second time in the school’s history. Their first appearance was in 2001. If the Rebels (24-11) can defeat Michigan State, it would mark their deepest run in the tournament.
Beard, in his second year as Ole Miss’ coach, pointed out the importance of having three top returning players from the previous year.
“When you study our team and why we’ve been successful, why we’re here on this stage in the Sweet 16, our roster management, I think we did a good job,” Beard said. “The first building block has got to be returners.”
Tom Izzo watches his team practice
A showdown beyond the arc
One of the most exciting matchups in Atlanta will feature Ole Miss’ 3-point shooters, led by Sean Pedulla, against a Michigan State defense that is one of the toughest at defending the 3-pointer.
The Rebels hit 19 of 39 (49%) from long range in their wins over North Carolina and Iowa State last weekend. Pedulla made 5 of 10 from beyond the arc, scoring 20 points in each game.
In their first two tournament games, the Spartans allowed opponents to hit 9 of 37 3-pointers (24%).
“You’ve still got to defend, rebound and run,” Izzo said, “Everybody wants to hear some fancy new phrase, but it’s still the meat and potatoes.”
There were no bad shots for Alabama in the Sweet 16.
Especially not from three-point range, where the Crimson Tide set a new March Madness record by making 25 three-pointers on 51 attempts, eliminating Loyola Marymount from a record they had held for 35 years.
Mark Sears stood out in Alabama’s 113-88 win over BYU on Thursday night, hitting 10 of 16 from beyond the arc and scoring 34 points.
“I was just in a zone,” Sears said. “Once I saw the first three go in, I felt like the basket was as big as an ocean. Every time I shot, I thought it was going in. I just got lost in the game and let everything happen.”
Sears made the 22nd three-pointer of the game late in the match, breaking the previous record, and received a standing ovation as he left the game with over four minutes left, having made 10 threes.
Sears was just one three-pointer short of breaking the record set by Jeff Fryer during Loyola Marymount’s 149-115 victory over Michigan in 1990. That Lions team, led by Hank Gathers before his tragic death on the court, was coached by Paul Westhead, whose team often scored over 100 points that season.
A fun fact: After beating Michigan, Loyola Marymount also defeated Alabama, coached by Wimp Sanderson at the time, with a close score of 62-60, which was Loyola Marymount’s lowest-scoring game of the season.
This year’s Alabama team, coached by Nate Oats, is the highest-scoring team in the country, averaging 90.8 points per game. This was the ninth game this season in which they scored more than 100 points.
Sears, a first-team All-America guard, had been struggling with his shooting before this game. He made only 1 of 9 attempts in the first weekend of the tournament and just 3 of 25 in his last five games, which dropped his season shooting percentage to 33%.’
This was a significant decline from the previous season when he made 44% of his threes and helped Alabama reach the Final Four for the first time in the school’s history.
Mark Sears reacts after scoring in the 2nd half
But after this game, the slump was over
“I told Mark he’s playing chess, not checkers,” Oats said. “He set everyone up, making them think he was in a slump, and then came out shooting.”
The rest of the Crimson Tide followed suit.
The team, with its experience from previous deep tournament runs, continued its strong performance. Alabama attempted just 15 shots inside the arc, making 10 of them. As a team, they shot 53% from the field and made 18 of 21 free throws.
They also broke the record for 3-point attempts, surpassing the 46 shots taken by Texas Tech in their first-round win over UNC-Wilmington.
“We’ve been preparing all week to get our shot right,” Sears said. “The amount of preparation we put in led to the success we had tonight.”
Aden Holloway made six 3-pointers, Chris Youngblood hit five, and Alabama finished the game shooting 49% from beyond the arc. Their 25 three-pointers were the most in any game in Alabama’s program history.
“An open 3 is kind of a layup, so we’re happy with 77% of our shots coming from 3 today,” Holloway said.
Alabama’s previous 3-point record was 23, set against LSU in 2021. John Petty Jr. had twice made 10 threes, including a game against Samford in 2019.
BYU struggled with their shooting from beyond the arc, missing 24 of their 30 attempts.
The defense was solid but not perfect. “We don’t want to give up 3s,” Oats said. “Our defense did a decent job at times, but not at the level we need. We try to play sound basketball on both sides of the ball.”
The Crimson Tide relied heavily on three-pointers during their run to the Final Four last year. In an Elite Eight victory over Clemson, Sears made seven 3-pointers, and Alabama hit 16 from beyond the arc.
“If Duke or Arizona, or whoever ends up winning, decides they’re not going to give us some 3s, that’s fine, too,” Oats said. “Let’s get to the rim.”
Cooper Flagg reacts after making a 3 point basket in the 1st half
Duke player Cooper Flagg had an impressive game, highlighted by a 3-pointer just before halftime, a no-look pass for an alley-oop, another no-look pass for a 3-pointer, and a huge block that sent the ball into a row of Arizona cheerleaders.
Flagg’s performance helped Duke secure a 100-93 win over Arizona in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, sending the Blue Devils to the next round, just one win away from the Final Four.
Flagg ended the game with 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and three blocks, making this his biggest win in college so far.
Coach Jon Scheyer, who has seen many great games, said, “That’s one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of.”
Caleb Love, who has been a challenge for Duke over the past five years, led Arizona with 35 points, one point shy of his career high. Love had 15 straight points during a strong second-half run, helping Arizona cut Duke’s 19-point lead down to just five with 1:56 left in the game.
But in the end, it was Duke, the top seed, who came out on top. Next, they will face Alabama in a 1-vs.-2 matchup on Saturday in the East Region. Alabama set a March Madness record for most 3-pointers in a game, beating BYU 113-88 earlier that evening.
A win would send Duke to the Final Four for the 18th time. The last time Duke reached the Final Four, in 2022, Love was on North Carolina’s team and scored 28 points to end Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s legendary career.
This time, Flagg, who is 18 years old, helped end Love’s college career and showed why he could be the top pick in the NBA draft if he decides to leave.
Coach Scheyer said, “What I’ve wanted from him was not to defer. Just wanted him to fully be him. I thought he was in his element tonight. He was loose, talking, competitive, the whole thing.”
Arizona worked hard to close the gap and got within five when Carter Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 1:56 left. Flagg then made three out of four free throws, and Duke made 9 out of 10 to seal the win.
Cooper Flagg reacts in the 1st half
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said, “They were a machine on offense.”
Duke shot 60% from the floor and 57.9% from 3-point range, finishing a game that saw both teams score over 100 points.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats focused on the 6-foot-9 freshman Flagg, trying to make him work for everything, but he was just too good for them.
Here are a few standout moments from Flagg’s performance
At the end of the first half, Duke grabbed Love’s missed 3-pointer, passed it to Flagg, and he hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. He then turned and screamed “Let’s go, man!” as he ran to the locker room, giving Duke a 48-42 lead.
A spinning, no-look pass to Sion James, who made an open 3-pointer early in the second half, as part of a run that stretched Duke’s lead to 19.
Two alley-oops, one a no-look pass to Khaman Maluach and another to Kon Knueppel.
A huge block against Arizona’s KJ Lewis, sending the ball into a row of Arizona cheerleaders with about five minutes left in the game. This was a key moment because a basket there could have cut Duke’s lead to seven.
Love had a strong game, finishing with 35 points. He missed his first three shots but made 11 of 21 attempts and hit five 3-pointers, keeping his team in the game.
Lloyd praised Love, saying, “He’s had an amazing career and I’m so excited for his future. He was tremendous today. He’s going to wake up tomorrow and he’s going to smile. He has a lot to look forward to and so I’m really, really proud of him.”
Love’s 35 points were seven more than he scored when he helped end Coach K’s career two years ago. This time, he had strong support from Jaden Bradley, who finished with 15 points. But Arizona couldn’t repeat their success from 2011, when they beat Duke in the tournament, knocking out the top-seeded Blue Devils.
Duke’s Maliq Brown returned to action after missing two weeks due to a shoulder injury. He wore a sleeve on his left shoulder and came into the game with 7:51 left in the first half. He played four minutes, finishing with one rebound and one assist.
Arizona had a big win earlier on Thursday when Koa Peat, one of the nation’s top high school recruits, announced on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he would commit to play for the Wildcats. Peat is expected to join LeBron James’ son, Bryce, in coach Tommy Lloyd’s program next season.
Todd Golden shakes hands with Cooper Josefberg in the practice
Todd Golden knows he might need to save a couple of NCAA Tournament tickets for some special people, his longtime mentors and former coaches at nearby Saint Mary’s College.
That’s just how things work sometimes in March when you’re younger and part of a coaching tree that stretches far.
While Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith were both busy checking the transfer portal on Wednesday for possible new players for their teams — with Smith just finishing his first season as Stanford’s head coach — Golden was focused on getting top-seeded Florida ready for a Sweet 16 game against Maryland.
It really felt like a reunion at Chase Center. As the Gators started their practice, Golden said a quick hello to Smith, who was sitting on the baseline talking with Golden’s father, Scott. Former NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo stopped by to chat with them too.
“This is why he is the way he is,” proud dad Scott said, talking about all the people who helped shape his son’s journey from San Francisco to Gainesville. “It’s been beyond surreal, the year they’ve had. This year’s been beyond belief. Hopefully it keeps going.”
Golden has shared with his players some stories about his life here. He worked as an assistant to Smith at the University of San Francisco before taking over as head coach in 2019 when Smith left for Washington State — a move that eventually brought Smith back to the Bay Area for the Stanford job last spring.
The Gators visited the famous Crissy Field by San Francisco’s waterfront on Wednesday morning to see the Golden Gate Bridge in all its beauty.
After practicing in Golden’s old gym at USF, which he called “a full-circle moment,” they managed to fit their large group into Golden’s favorite Original Joe’s in the North Beach neighborhood for dinner on Tuesday night. The coach had prime rib because “being here in San Francisco you can’t go wrong.”
Todd Golden in the press conference
At first, the restaurant told Golden they couldn’t accommodate his group of about 35 people.
“It’s been amazing. When the bracket came out and we saw we were the 1 seed in the West and obviously you see that the regionals in San Francisco, you can’t help but think about how awesome it would be to be able to experience that,” Golden said. “But there’s two games before that that you have to find a way to advance.
“And once we were able to get past UConn on Sunday, it kind of all hit me and (wife) Megan and our family that we’d have a chance to come back to the Bay Area. Just landing in San Francisco yesterday and just kind of driving back through the city, I had to pinch myself a little bit.”
The Gators (32-4) hope to make it an extended stay by getting past No. 4 seed Maryland (27-8) on Thursday. Florida, which ended UConn’s bid for a third straight NCAA championship in the second round, is aiming for its first Final Four appearance since 2014.
Golden even has one of Smith’s former Washington State players starting, Rueben Chinyelu.
No matter how long this NCAA run lasts, Golden will have big supporters in Bennett and Smith. Seeing the 39-year-old Golden on the big stage brings a smile to Smith’s face. He finds it amazing that Golden “doesn’t age.”
Golden recalled Smith always pushing him to be tough as a mid-major player in the East Bay suburb of Moraga. They’ve both come a long way.
“It’s awesome,” said Smith, who had dinner with the team Tuesday and never saw a bill. “I think part of why they’re successful and why they’ve been able to get good quickly is because Saint Mary’s is one of the tougher programs in the country and Todd did five years. He had to bring it every day and prove himself.”
Tre Holloman smiles as he walks off the cout after the game
Tre Holloman isn’t the main player on the Michigan State team.
He doesn’t start, is averaging less than 10 points, and hasn’t scored double digits in assists or rebounds in a game this season.
Standing at 6-foot-2, he won’t overpower players in the post. He also has a 34.3% shooting rate from the 3-point line.
But he knows how to win games.
In Michigan State’s last five games — the regular-season finale against Michigan, two Big Ten tournament games, and two NCAA Tournament victories — he’s averaging 12.8 points, making 47.6% of his 3-pointers, and averaging three assists to one turnover.
His biggest moment during this time happened during a break in the game.
For the last 30 years, Michigan State seniors have had a tradition of kissing the center-court logo when they leave the floor for the last time. It started with Shawn Respert on Senior Day in 1995 after a record-breaking career, and Mateen Cleaves helped bring it back into the spotlight during the 2000 NCAA championship season.
However, on March 9, Michigan’s Phat Phat Brooks and L.J. Cason stood on the logo in the last minute of Michigan State’s 79-62 win, trying to ruin the tradition.
Holloman and Jaden Akins asked them to move, and when they didn’t, Holloman moved them himself. This led to a small shoving match, and both Holloman and Cason were given technical fouls.
Holloman, who finished with 20 points, did his part, allowing the seniors to finish their tradition.
Tre Holloman celebrates after scoring in the 1st half
“I was just trying to do the best thing for my seniors and let them get their moment,” he said. “Coach told me that we needed me for the Big Ten tournament, so I couldn’t lash out, but I wanted to protect the tradition.”
Spartans coach Tom Izzo praised Holloman for protecting a tradition that has spread beyond the men’s basketball team.
“Shawn started it and Mateen took it over, and now it is something our hockey team, our women’s (basketball) team and our softball team and our baseball team… that’s who we are and I’m damn proud of it,” Izzo said. “We have to make sure we handle ourselves right, but that’s what rivalries are all about.
“If everyone is hugging and kissing out there, it probably isn’t a rivalry.”
Holloman wasn’t amazing in the Big Ten tournament, scoring six points in a win over Oregon and 10 in a loss to Wisconsin, but he has stepped up in the NCAA Tournament. He has scored 14 points in each game — a 87-62 win over Bryant and a 71-63 victory against New Mexico — and he’s making key plays. He’s 6 for 10 on 3-pointers and has eight assists with no turnovers.
“We started out slow, so I was trying to bring some energy off the bench with my shooting and defense,” Holloman said after adding three steals and a block against New Mexico. “I’m trying to be a leader and a point guard and just play hard for my teammates.”
That’s the role Izzo has wanted Holloman to take on since moving him from the starting lineup to the sixth-man spot in February.
“He’s a starter for us, he’s just the sixth starter,” Izzo said. “He’s just as valuable to us in a lot of ways. It helps our rotation the way we did it — it has nothing to do with his skill.”
A win against Ole Miss on Friday will put Michigan State into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010, but it could mean more. With a victory, the Spartans will get a chance to watch Friday’s second game in Atlanta, with Auburn taking on Michigan.
A Wolverines win would set up the first NCAA Tournament meeting between Michigan and Michigan State, and it would happen with a Final Four spot on the line.
The Wolverines and Spartans each have NCAA championship banners in their gyms, but that game would be as big as any they’ve played in a long time.
Chance McMillian speaks to the reporters in a press conference
In an NCAA Tournament without many surprising teams, Coach John Calipari has taken on the rare role of being the closest to a surprise story.
After consistently leading strong teams at Kentucky to the Sweet 16 and beyond, Calipari has done the same in his first season at Arkansas. The 10th-seeded Razorbacks are set to face No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the West Region semifinals on Thursday night. They are the only double-digit seed left in the tournament.
“My guess is other than a fan of Arkansas, no one is picking us to win the game,” Calipari said Wednesday. “But the great news in this tournament, you’ve got to play the games.”
Top-seeded Florida will play No. 4 seed Maryland in another Sweet 16 game in San Francisco.
Calipari is getting ready for his 16th trip to the Sweet 16, having made it there before with UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky. Lon Kruger and Eddie Sutton are the only other coaches to reach this point with four different schools.
Calipari reached Final Fours at all three of his previous schools, winning his only championship in 2012 with Kentucky.
After not making it to the second weekend of the tournament in his last four seasons at Kentucky, Calipari left after a first-round loss to Oakland last season to become the coach at Arkansas.
While he has been successful everywhere he’s coached, it seemed like things might take longer to get going at Arkansas when the Razorbacks started SEC play with a 1-6 record. However, a win in Calipari’s return to Kentucky helped turn the season around. Now, he’s back in the Sweet 16 with an underdog team, after having a top-two seed in his region in 11 of his first 15 trips to this round.
“We approach the postseason the same. I’ve been the 10 seed. I’ve been the 8 seed. I’ve been other seeds,” he said. “There’s so many ways of doing this, including on the court. There are a lot of ways to do this and have success. So, for me, what I’ve done, I want this to be like regular season like nothing has changed.”
Derik Queen warms up in the practice
Homecoming
Since no teams from the West are playing in the regional in San Francisco, Texas Tech might have the strongest claim to being the local favorites. Guard Chance McMillian is from San Francisco and went to high school in nearby Vallejo, while forward Darrion Williams is from Sacramento.
“I have a lot of people from San Francisco expecting to come to the game,” McMillian said. “Feels good to be back home because this is my first game in Northern California, too, so I have a lot of people excited to watch this.”
McMillian has missed the last three games due to an oblique injury he got in the Big 12 Tournament. He will be a game-time decision on Thursday.
“I’m getting better day by day,” he said. “Been in the training room, doing a lot of pool workouts and breathing workouts because I strained my oblique pretty bad. But my goal is to play tomorrow.”
Thiero’s Status
Arkansas received a big boost last weekend when guard Boogie Fland returned from injury, and now they have a chance to get another important player back this weekend.
Star big man Adou Thiero participated in a full contact practice on Tuesday for the first time since injuring his knee on February 22. He didn’t practice during the open session on Wednesday because his leg was still bothering him, but Calipari remained hopeful that Thiero could give them around 10 minutes of play against Texas Tech.
John Calipari instructs his team in the practice
Going Deep
The game between the Gators and Terps features two teams with different playing styles. Maryland depends a lot on its “Crab Five” starting lineup, while Florida regularly plays eight or nine players. Maryland has gotten almost 85% of its scoring from its starting five, which is the fifth highest in all of Division I.
However, coach Kevin Willard knows that he will need help from the bench to ease the workload on big men Derik Queen and Julian Reese so they don’t get too tired against the fast-moving Gators.
“We’re going to have to play all four bigs,” Willard said. “There’s just no way Derik and Ju are going to be allotted 36 minutes against this team. They run consistently. They’re fresh. They’re as good a basketball team as I’ve seen on film all year.”
Willard’s Whereabouts
Willard’s future has been a big topic during the tournament as he has openly discussed his frustrations with the school and the changes he wants to make to the program. Athletic director Damon Evans left last week to take the same job at SMU, and Willard is reportedly a candidate to become the coach at Villanova.
When he was asked about it on Wednesday, he responded by talking about the matchup against the Gators and their All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to stop Clayton,” he said. “He’s really good. He shoots the basketball going left 48%. He shoots it right going at, like, 38%. So really the last couple of days trying to come up with a game plan to stop Clayton because I think he’s one of the best guards in the country that we’ve seen.”
West Virginia hired Ross Hodge from North Texas as its new men’s basketball coach on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old Hodge replaces Darian DeVries, who left after just one season to join Indiana. Hodge agreed to a five-year deal to become West Virginia’s fourth coach in as many years. The details of the contract were not immediately shared.
“Ross Hodge is a proven winner and leader who has demonstrated success at every stop of his career,” West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker said in a statement.
Hodge has a 46-23 record in two seasons as the coach of North Texas, where this year his team is 27-8 and advancing to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals next Tuesday in Indianapolis.
He has also been part of coaching staffs that made three NCAA tournament appearances, including an upset of Purdue as a No. 13 seed in 2021.
Though Hodge may not have been the first choice when the West Virginia job opened, other coaches believed to be in the running took other jobs: Drake’s Ben McCollum went to Iowa, Colorado State’s Niko Medved moved to Minnesota, and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino joined Xavier.
Baker found Hodge by looking back to his past.
Baker was the athletic director at North Texas from 2016 to 2022. Hodge worked as an assistant coach for six seasons under Grant McCasland. When McCasland moved to Texas Tech in 2023, Hodge became head coach, leading the team to a 19-15 record in their first season in the American Athletic Conference, despite facing many injuries.
Hodge is known for building North Texas’ strong defense, with the team ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. During that time, they won 25 and a school-record 31 games, including the 2023 NIT championship.
Ross Hodge reacts in the 1st half
“I have such respect for the toughness, grit, and pride of the people of West Virginia, and my hope is that we can reflect that with how our team competes on the court,” Hodge said.
A Dallas native, Hodge also worked as an assistant under McCasland at Arkansas State and served under Larry Eustachy at Colorado State and Southern Miss.
McCasland, whose Texas Tech team faces Arkansas in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, said he sees Hodge as a brother who cares deeply about people, holds them accountable, and tells them the truth.
“You’ll see he will win in the Big 12. And it will not be what other people think,” McCasland said Wednesday. “It will be at the highest level. And I’m not looking forward to playing him, but I am looking forward to going on this journey with him, because I love him. And I love him because who he is as a husband, and who he is as a father and who he is as a friend.”
West Virginia had a tough week last week, first missing out on the NCAA Tournament despite a 19-13 record and six Quad 1 wins, then seeing DeVries leave just two days later.
DeVries had been hired last year to replace interim coach Josh Eilert, who led the Mountaineers through a tough nine-win season in 2023-24 after Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins resigned following a June 2023 drunken driving arrest.
After DeVries left, Baker was asked if it was important to find someone with ties to the program for a long-term solution.
“I know that there can be a knee-jerk reaction when you lose a coach after a year,” Baker said last week. “Human nature is to think, ‘Oh God, we have to get somebody who’s connected to here.’ I just think your job is to go out and get the best coach that you can. And you want to have coaches that other people covet and want to come after. Because the alternative to that is, nobody wants your coach. And that’s not very good.”
West Virginia will go through its third consecutive season of roster changes. Five players from the current roster have entered the NCAA transfer portal, including four starters. Baker has expressed hope that the players will give the new coach a chance to recruit them back for the next season.
If there’s one player Duke or its fans would rather avoid when the stakes are this high, it’s Caleb Love.
Love was once a player for Duke’s biggest rival, North Carolina. Now he plays for Duke’s next opponent, Arizona.
They will meet on Thursday in the Sweet 16, with Love, a fifth-year senior averaging 16.8 points per game for the fourth-seeded Wildcats, trying to ruin another season for the top-seeded Blue Devils, who have seen this story before.
Love was the one who scored 22 points in 2022 to give Coach Mike Krzyzewski a loss in his last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He’s the same player who, four weeks later, hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left, followed by a couple of free throws to finish off Duke at the Final Four — officially ending Coach K’s career.
“I just think that’s me not being afraid of the moment and me trying to impose my will,” Love said. “Kind of like my St. Louis swagger to the game.”
In nine career games against Duke, he has a 5-4 record. His scoring average in the wins: 20.8. In the losses: 9.8. If Duke (33-3) wins Thursday, it will likely be because the Blue Devils managed to stop Arizona’s best player.
“The thing he does is, he can shoot shots at any time and he can hit shots at any time,” said Jon Scheyer, who succeeded Krzyzewski as Duke’s coach. “He’s an improved passer, someone who’s not afraid. A really good player, and a challenge for our guys.”
Love grew up in St. Louis, committed to North Carolina, and played his first three seasons there
The year after his big wins over Duke, the Tar Heels began the season as the No. 1 team in the poll but became the first preseason No. 1 to miss March Madness.
The player who scored 27 points in the second half of the Sweet 16 win on the way to the 2022 Final Four was suddenly seen as someone who shot too much, couldn’t perform when needed, and was slowing down the Tar Heels.
He decided to enter the transfer portal. A move to Michigan was blocked by issues with the admissions department. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was on a family trip in Puerto Vallarta when Love called and said he wanted to visit the campus.
Caleb Love and Nate Bittle in the 2nd half
“My wife flew down and right when she landed, I said ‘I’m going back to Tucson for another day,’” Lloyd said. “Went back, had a great visit, and he committed. Listen, it’s been an awesome experience.”
Since the bracket was released, the chance of this reunion has been on everyone’s mind. When Love was asked about it on TV after Arizona’s win over Oregon last Sunday, he seemed ready to answer, but he paused, gave a small grin, and took the diplomatic route: “We’ll be ready for them when it’s time.”
Asked about that moment on Wednesday, he explained: “I didn’t want to give them no fuel or bulletin board material. I just wanted to focus on what this group got to do and not give them anything that they can feed off of.”
Not a bad approach.
Starting with freshman Cooper Flagg, whose ankle injury seems like it’s no longer a major concern, the Blue Devils have up to six players who could be chosen in the NBA draft.
With so much talent, they weren’t challenged during the first week of the tournament, beating Mount Saint Mary’s by 44 points and Baylor by 23. Out of their 33 wins this season, 28 — including one in November against these Wildcats — have been by double digits. Of those, 11 have been by 30 or more points.
So, it’s no surprise that the Wildcats are entering this game as a 9 1/2-point underdog — the largest spread in a Sweet 16 filled with top programs.
That doesn’t change how Love is thinking as he heads into his 10th matchup against the Blue Devils.
“We’re not shying away from anything,” he said.
Caleb Love reacts in the 2nd half
Knowing how he’s troubled them before, why would he?
In Thursday’s opening East Regional game, Alabama faces BYU in a matchup of two of the best offenses in the country. Because of that, both teams are focusing on defense.
The second-seeded Crimson Tide will take on the sixth-seeded Cougars in a game expected to be fast-paced, with plenty of 3-point shots and transition baskets.
Alabama coach Nate Oats said his scouting report sees BYU, which is shifting to a more open, NBA-style of play, as having the best offense in college basketball since February 12.
The Crimson Tide doesn’t need to make such claims — they lead the nation in scoring with 90.8 points per game.
“It should be a very fun game, but it’s going to come down to getting stops,” said Mark Sears, who leads the Tide in points (18.6) and assists (5.0).
Both teams can score from anywhere. They favor 3-pointers — both are in the country’s top 25 for attempts — or high-percentage layups. They are both ranked in the top 10 in KenPom’s offensive efficiency ratings.
“I’m excited to hopefully be able to play some good defense, not have it be 150-149, or something like that,” BYU’s Trevin Knell said.
West Liberty basketball heard coach Jim Crutchfield directs his team during college basketball practice on the campus of the Division II
The coach with the best winning percentage in college basketball history won’t be near San Antonio when the Final Four takes place next week.
By that time, Jim Crutchfield might be playing pickleball or tennis, a sport that started his long coaching career before he moved into basketball. Now 69, Crutchfield is just two wins away from his second Division II title at Nova Southeastern.
Although he works at a smaller school in South Florida with around 7,000 undergrad students, Crutchfield competes at the same level as big-name coaches like Izzos, Pitinos, and Caliparis, just in a different way. It’s the same game, though: a game involving growing piles of NIL money, promises that don’t always get kept, and players who come and go.
What Crutchfield refuses to change is his focus on teaching, learning, and doing things differently in a field full of copycats, all working in an industry that no one has fully figured out yet.
“We never won a warm-up in tennis,” Crutchfield, a former math teacher, explains about his first big job.
He took a job in the early 1990s at West Liberty University in West Virginia, mainly because no one else wanted it. It gave him a chance to work as an assistant for a struggling basketball team that he would later take over.
“They were the kind of tennis players nobody wanted to play against,” he says about a tennis team that wasn’t good when he started but later went on to win 11 league titles. “They didn’t look good, but they’re hard to beat. When I got over to the basketball team, I thought, ‘We need to have a little of that here, too.’”
Derik Queen celebrates with the team after the win
By thinking outside the box, Crutchfield discovered the key to success
Crutchfield is like the classic Frank Sinatra song, “My Way.”
“Everything I like to do is sort of homegrown, even the drills we do,” he says. “But, you know, I didn’t invent the game.”
He did, however, create his version of the full-court press. Not the kind you see on TV, but one that pressures opponents for 40 minutes straight—off missed shots, made shots, inbounds passes, and steals. From all angles. All the time.
Teaching it, emphasizing it, and recruiting players willing to commit to it is what has led to a 561-86 record over 20 seasons as a head coach. That’s an .867 winning percentage, the best among all coaches with 10 or more years of experience in college basketball.
“It’s a small, rural Division II school, and he took full advantage of it,” says Jordan Fee, now an assistant at FAU. Fee played for Crutchfield at West Liberty and also coached with him there and at Nova. “The great thing about him was that he said, ‘We’re going to play this way.’
Other people would say, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t keep up that pressure for 40 minutes.’ And his response is, ‘Why not?’ There’s a certain innocence in that attitude that is really special.”
One of Crutchfield’s signature drills shows just how much his time as a math teacher influences his coaching. He figured out that a player trapping in the backcourt with their back to the baseline can pivot and sprint to halfcourt in 2.5 seconds. From there, it only takes another second to reach the opposite free throw line.
By not slowing down to assess the situation or catch their breath, most players can cover the 75 feet in 3.5 seconds. Crutchfield knows that if they do this, more often than not, there won’t be an easy layup on the other end, even if the offense breaks the press.
On Tuesday night, it took about five minutes for Nova’s first Elite Eight opponent, Assumption, to crack. Nova built an early 10-point lead, stretched it to 25, and cruised to a 102-93 win. Their next game is a semifinal on Thursday against Washburn.
“It’s part of that brainwashing process,” Crutchfield says, half-joking. “I’m just trying to convince the guys that if we’re going to play this game, since we’re all spread out and the basket’s open, we have to do things differently. We have to play harder.”
Fee shares a story about his dad, a veteran high school coach in Pennsylvania, bringing some friends to a coaching clinic where Crutchfield was presenting. Their goal was to find a new drill, method, or idea they could bring back to their own programs.
They spent hours watching “Coach Crutch” with notebooks in hand. At the end of the session, Fee’s dad had only written down about three lines.
“If something’s not working, Coach Crutch is a ‘play harder’ guy,” Fee says. “Everyone is looking for a secret trick, but it’s not really there. They don’t want an answer like this.”
One way to know if it’s working: Fee estimates that 5-10 other Division II programs across the country are using some version of Crutchfield’s approach, from Chaminade in Hawaii to Gannon in Pennsylvania to Coker in South Carolina, Bluefield State in West Virginia, and West Liberty, which lost in the national quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Maryland players celebrates after the win
Others try to learn from him
Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra is known to drive up I-95 for occasional visits with Crutchfield, looking for advice on how to get 15 different players with different agendas to work together. Former Miami coach Jim Larrañaga was a regular visitor. When Dusty May was coaching at FAU, just a short drive away, he would set up scrimmages against the Sharks.
“I said, ‘If nothing else, we’ll learn what the hardest-playing team in the country looks like,’” May says.
May recalls attending a coaching clinic with Crutchfield, where some of the biggest names in coaching were presenting, like Matt Painter and Billy Donovan.
“I don’t think he knew who 90% of those coaches were,” May says. “I think he knows who Jerry Tarkanian is and Bobby Knight.”
And Rick Pitino.
Though Crutchfield mostly made up his methods on his own, he says something clicked when he saw Pitino’s 1987 Providence team, led by Donovan, make a Cinderella run to the Final Four with a full-court press and the use of the newly introduced 3-point line.
“I have no idea what Pitino had in mind, but the pressure was more random,” Crutchfield says. “There was a lot more running from behind. I thought, I like the randomness of that. People are really uncomfortable when you’re running with them or behind them, as opposed to a 2-2-1 or a diamond-and-1 press. So I thought, if I ever get a chance to coach college basketball, that’s probably the route I’m going to go.”
Caleb Furst celebrates after the dunk
A coach who enjoys building things
In 13 years at West Liberty, Crutchfield took a program that had won just four games the season before he arrived and built a strong record of 359–61 with six trips to the Elite Eight.
A fan of taking on challenging projects, he moved to Nova Southeastern, which had just finished with a six-win season in 2017. By his second year, the Sharks were in the Elite Eight. This week, they are aiming for their third trip to the final and second national title in three years.
That’s impressive for a program that lost four players to bigger programs offering better name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals after the Sharks went undefeated in 2023. In Division II, schools can offer some scholarships and a bit of NIL money, but they can’t match what higher-level schools can offer.
Crutchfield wonders how much longer he’ll be able to keep rebuilding in today’s environment. He’s not ready to stop trying.
“I’m kind of old school,” he said. “I like to develop players into a system. I think that’s the way to win.”
