GLENDALE, Ariz. — You could argue this Final Four in Arizona has it all.
No, it’s not what we saw two years ago in New Orleans when blue bloods Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova made up the quarter. It isn’t last year’s surprise of Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and UConn. (While I despise the argument, some pundits thought last year’s underwhelming collection of big-time brands was a bad thing.)
But this Final Four sums up where college basketball stands and features a collection of totally different angles. You’ve got the heavyweight in UConn, which is making its seventh Final Four appearance since 1999 and can tie North Carolina for third all-time with a sixth national championship this week. There’s the new blood of Alabama, which is making its first ever Final Four appearance and has answered four losses in six games since entering the NCAA Tournament with an improbable run. Cinderella is here, whether NC State wants to be called that or not, having gone from 17-14 to nine consecutive win-or-go-home victories to reach this point. And then, there’s the monster in college basketball, the best player at this level on the planet: Zach Edey, who has driven Purdue to an amazing redemption story that this month is known for, becoming the first player in college basketball to lead all of Division I in scoring and reach the national semifinals since Oscar Robertson in 1960.
What stood out about the team’s different mindsets and approaches heading into Saturday’s showdowns? I am on the ground at State Farm Stadium and gathered quotes throughout the day.
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“When you’ve tasted a national championship like we have, you’re not satisfied just getting to this stage,” UConn point guard Tristen Newton said in the Huskies’ locker room on Friday. “We will not be happy until we’re walking out of this stadium on Monday night with a trophy.”
[Related: 2024 March Madness betting report: ‘It doesn’t look like anyone can beat UConn’]
That’s the mindset of a place that’s accounted for five of those crowns since 1999, the most in college basketball, and can make it a sixth in Arizona. The front-running Huskies have been rewriting history on this run, winning their four tournament games by a combined 111 points, the fourth-highest margin of victory through this point in the big dance ever. To follow up last year’s run of six wins by an average of 20 points with this increased dominance has been spectacular, but Dan Hurley is well aware of the challenge of meeting Nate Oats and Alabama on Friday. The Crimson Tide head coach is friendly with Hurley, as he got his start in coaching on Bobby Hurley’s staff at Buffalo in 2013. Oats’ team has been practicing in Tempe at Arizona State, where Bobby is now in year nine at the helm.
“This will be the best offense that we’ve guarded this year,” said Hurley of the Crimson Tide, who lead all of college basketball with 90.6 points per game. “It’s as good of an offense as Illinois was. This is better just because they’re deeper, more athletic, and have more guards that can break you down. Look, we’ve lost three games. We got crushed at Creighton. At Seton Hall we got our butt kicked, too. If we’re not on our identity, we’re vulnerable like everybody else.”
As for the identity Oats has his team taking on, they’re embracing the fact that they’re a double-digit underdog in this national semifinal.
“Obviously we’re big underdogs, we know that,” said Oats, whose team started 6-5 on the year and now is one of four left standing. “But I don’t think our guys are scared. I think our guys are confident in their abilities.”
Where could Alabama develop a chance of pulling off what would be an all-time tournament upset? Perhaps the 3-point line. The Crimson Tide are second in the country with 11.2 made 3s per game and fourth in the nation with 30.1 attempts from downtown per game.
Oats, who is one of the biggest analytically based coaches in the country (like Hurley), says there’s no such thing as taking too many 3s.
“I don’t really care if we shoot 50 in a game if that’s how they want to guard us,” the Alabama head coach said. “If they want to take the paint away, we’ll take 3s. If they want to take 3s away, we’ll take the paint. UConn presents a challenge because they have (Donovan) Clingan to run the paint. They’re going to run the three-point line. Most games there’s a pretty good mix of threes and paint shots.”
As for the earlier matchup in the night between another 1-seed in Purdue and 11-seed NC State, the showdown between two-time national player of the year Zach Edey and Wolfpack senior DJ Burns Jr. is the headliner, with those two along with Clingan making up the first trio of players to be listed at 275 pounds or larger to be in a Final Four in NCAA Tournament history.
[Related: Edey, Clingan and Burns, Oh My! Big men set to own the spotlight at Final Four]
Edey, coming off a 40-and-16 performance in the NCAA Tournament, had just the second game of that nature in the big dance since 1968. But heading into the showdown, the seasoned Burns is unafraid.
“He hasn’t had anybody put scoring pressure on him as much as I will. Well, maybe he did, but not under a stage like this,” said Burns, who is coming off a season-high 29 points in the Elite Eight win over Duke.
For Kevin Keatts, who has gone from the hot seat to a contract extension in the last three weeks, the Wolfpack aren’t shying away from the magical emotions of March.
“I’ve talked to these guys about having fun, then getting down to business,” said Keatts, a former Rick Pitino assistant at Louisville. “I use the analogy, they’re so young, they don’t understand it. I said, ‘When you check into a hotel, a good hotel, most of them ask you, Are you here on business or pleasure? Has anybody else heard that? I hope so. I don’t want to be the only one that says that. You typically say, I’m here for business or pleasure. I say, If you get asked that, if anyone asks you that, you need to tell them that you’re here for both.’ Thursday, I wanted it to be 50/50. Today, I want it to be 75 business to 25. I want 100 percent business by the time we get to Saturday.”
After reaching the point that many across the country doubted they could get to the Final Four, 19th-year Purdue head coach Matt Painter talked through the balance of achieving that while looking at the idea that they’re facing an 11-seed for the right to reach the title game.
“My message to them about NC State was we’re playing an undefeated team,” Painter said. “The team that was 17-14 doesn’t exist anymore. The team that’s 9-0 does. That’s the team we’re playing. If we played them six weeks ago, then we would be playing that team. When you start to talk about who they beat in these nine games to get here, it’s pretty impressive. Duke, North Carolina, Virginia. Our guys, we’ve played all those teams in the last couple years. So they understand that. Then you look at who they beat in the actual NCAA tournament. It speaks for itself. They’re one of the best teams in the country and they can beat anybody in the country, including us.”
The Final Four begins Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET with Purdue and NC State before UConn meets Alabama at approximately 8:49 p.m. ET.
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John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.
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