THE FINAL FOUR – OVERVIEW

The time is here.

Gonzaga, Oregon, South Carolina and North Carolina have survived the treacherous and difficult road to this FINAL FOUR. And it has been an arduous journey filled will all sorts of twist and turns and near disasters.

Gonzaga took down a game Xavier squad with tough defense, key shot making, and contributions from multiple players to reach. Nigel Williams-Goss; Johnathan Williams, Przemek Karnowski, Josh Perkins and Jordan Matthews all did their part to play up to expectations that produced their one loss season.

Oregon was tremendous at both ends of the court in subduing favoured Kansas and its vaunted backcourt. This no small task was performed by Tyler Dorsey, Dylan Ennis, Dillon Brooks and spectacularly by Jordan Bell who blocked 8 shots and completed nullified any inside game that Kansas was hoping to establish. Dorsey and Brooks hit clutch shots and Bell rebounded {13 boards) to snuff out any type of momentum that Kansas tried to generate. It was a supreme team effort.

South Carolina was, again, a site to behold with its smothering defense and efficient offensive possessions in topping a poor shooting Florida team. The Gamecocks were led again by their Mr. Everything – Sindarius Thornwell, who lead the team in scoring, rebounded and played shutdown defense. This is truly a Cinderella team who last month scored only 19 points in one half against Alabama. This team is exceeding all expectations – except their own – and riding momentum in the form of supreme confidence.

North Carolina lucked out again. They dodged a huge bullet in the win over Arkansas and had over contributions from non-starters to get to Kentucky – who self-destructed with poor coaching and poorer play by their star players. From 60 points to 25 points, the Kentucky freshman Monk and Fox were less than overage offensively and it was solely due to their own poor play rather than anything done by UNC. The Tar Heels are MASSIVELY lucky to have gotten this far. And they will need a boat load of luck to win another game.

This weekend’s games should be fiercely contested. And they will be won with incremental advantages – both positive and negative. None of the teams have great shooters and the coaches will screw up by not adjusting to game conditions. These conditions are both obvious and have history. So, what does that leave? Only the obvious again but it’s not that simple. Coaches cannot blow their game coaching. The teams must shoot to their averages at the very least. If neither of these two conditions happen, the team will lose.

The games will most likely produce anomaly situations wherein someone – who is not a good shooter (like all of them) – gets really lucky and plays over their head. And they will really be anomaly games if it is someone off the bench. The best defensive efforts will be the deciding factors coupled with staying out of foul trouble and making foul shots down the stretch.

For these reasons, Gonzaga and Oregon are the teams that have the personnel and abilities to cover these conditions and possibilities.

PSR Commentary – March 31, 2017