Elite Eight takeaways: Kansas, UNC send the same message to overmatched underdogs: Not today
The men’s Final Four is set, and despite all of the surprising results from this year’s NCAA Tournament, the quartet left standing represents some of the most historically successful programs in college basketball.
Sunday’s pair of regional finals featured a couple of underdogs, upstart Miami and ultimate overachiever St. Peter's, hoping to further their list of program firsts. In the end, however, it will be heavy favorites Kansas and North Carolina joining Villanova and Duke next Saturday in New Orleans.
We’ll talk about those matchups a lot during the coming week, of course. But here are three key takeaways from Sunday’s action as the mismatches unfolded.
Life comes at you fast
Miami returned to the floor after halftime with a six-point lead and still feeling somewhat good about its chances of upending the last remaining No. 1 seed. Before the first 10 minutes of the second half had elapsed, an Ochai Agbaji three-pointer following an offensive rebound gave Kansas a 12-point lead, and the Hurricanes would draw no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
North Carolina didn’t even let St. Peter’s hang around that long. The Tar Heels put together a pair of early seven-point runs that built a 19-7 cushion in the game’s early minutes, and the rout was on as the Peacocks’ deepest ever run for a No. 15 seed came to an end.
The arc giveth, and the arc taketh away
The three-point line can be a great equalizer for underdogs, who are usually also undersized. Miami had some success from the arc, going 3-for-8 before intermission. But the second half was a different story, as the Hurricanes missed all 13 of their three-point attempts when forced into desperation mode. The Peacocks didn’t have a lot of luck there, either, going just 4-for-16 from distance.
Sometimes, there are no answers
The Tar Heels were well-aware that the Peacocks are a scrappy group, but they also knew their opponents had nobody who could match up physically with Armando Bacot and Brady Manek. They took full advantage of those assets. Bacot dominated the boards with 22 rebounds to go along with his 20 points, and Manek went for 19 points and eight boards while hitting 7-of-11 shots.
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