SLAM DUNKS: FDU, Princeton make historic runs in NCAA Tournament

During the NCAA Basketball Tournament, CBS has been running promos for the upcoming Masters golf tournament saying “It is a tradition unlike any other.”

There may have been no NCAA Tournament weekend like any other this weekend as well.

The three upsets that blew everyone’s mind was № 16 Farleigh Dickinson (Also known as FDU) 63–58 win over Purdue and №15 Princeton’s 59–55 victory over Arizona and the 78–63 thrashing of Missouri to advance to the sweet 16.

We will get to Princeton’s historic run in a minute, but I don’t think theirs is as surprising and shocking as what FDU did this weekend.

I first noticed FDU in the First Four or what people know as the play in games on Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio. The TV announcers were talking about what a huge underdog they were against Texas Southern.

Their resume showed that they were not really an NCAA Tournament team. FDU was barely above .500 and also did not win their conference or conference tournament but was let into the field on a technicality because Merrimack won the conference but was in their transition period coming from Division II and was not allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament.

I wonder what Merrimack thinks of all that transpired this week, but that is water under the bridge?

FDU won a total of four games last year, but enter head coach Toban Anderson, a very confident person who believed this was possible.

Honestly his style kind of reminded me of Shaheen Holloway last year who was at nearby St. Peters now the head coach at Seton Hall. They both can come across as crass, but Anderson is a great coach.

I watched the game on Wednesday and I made a comment to dad that I think this FDU team is going to give Purdue a game. I didn’t think much of what I said but boy did they ever.

FDU was not scared of Purdue and they were not scared of Zach Edey, the 7-foot-4 inch monster from Purdue.

FDU held Edey in check in the second half of that game and every time it looked Purdue was going to run and hide, FDU had an answer.

This game took a lot of people back to 2018 and the Pre-Covid era when UMBC stunned Virginia 74–54 and became the first №16 to beat a №1. UMBC put on its twitter account on Friday night “We have a friend.”

Is it the greatest upset of all time? Technically I would have to say 1A and 1B. The way UMBC dominated Virginia might give the Retrievers the nod, but both were especially impressive.

FDU playing its third game in five days on Sunday looked tired, but still managed to take Florida Atlantic to the distance in a 78–70 defeat to the Owls.

I will never forget these last three games FDU played as a sportswriter. I just saw something in them in that first game that caused me to believe in this team. It was a phenomenal run and one we will never forget.

Though less dramatic, Princeton’s run, another New Jersey School, has been one for the ages and still going.

Princeton may really not be as big of an upset just because it does have a tradition in basketball going back to Bill Bradley in the 1960s who later challenged Vice-President Al Gore for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination in 2000, but before got Princeton to the Final Four.

There was also the memorable game in 1989 where as a №16 seed Princeton almost defeated №1 seed Georgetown which have been first №1 to defeat a №16. Earlier that day East Tennessee State as a №16 lost by one point to №1 Oklahoma.

Yeah despite the past success in the NCAA Tournament, I don’t think many had Princeton in their bracket making to the Sweet 16.

After beating Arizona, Princeton had to do one of the toughest things in sports and that is back up an upset. Princeton did it with ease.

The Tigers were never in danger against Missouri. In fact they dominated the battle of the Tigers.

Princeton’s unique offense took down the SEC. It is a hard style to prepare and when you only have two days it is difficult.

Princeton now takes on Creighton in the Sweet 16. I think the Tigers can win but I have a feeling Blue Jay head coach Craig McDermott will be prepared. It isn’t quite like playing the Blue Bloods though.

The runs FDU and Princeton made were truly tremendous and made for one of the most memorable weekends in NCAA Tournament history. Cinderella is flying high in this tournament.

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TENNESSEE SURPRISES DUKE

Ok, I said a few months ago that if I ended up being wrong about Tennessee that I would publicly admit it in this column.

I have to go ahead and get it off my chest that I thought there was no way Tennessee would beat Duke on Saturday. I actually thought there was an outside shot Duke made the Final Four.

I was totally wrong. Tennessee’s defense is good enough to withstand the loss of point guard Zekai Zeigler. More that enough.

Tennessee defeated Duke 65–52 on Saturday in the second round and as a result silenced a lot of critics including me.

I do get a lot of heat from the Vols fanbase I think mostly because I live 100 miles from Knoxville in Northeast Tennessee and I am not afraid to speak my mind about the University of Tennessee and be objective about them.

I think sometimes people believe that I am being unfair or because I am from here I am supposed to be on the Vols bandwagon.

I really believe the time period when Tennessee made a nine to two jump in the poll in two weeks was excessive. And I made my voice clear on it.

I also think I didn’t take Tennessee serious as a national contender because Rick Barnes had a history of choking in the tournament.

Truth be told the last week has maybe been Barnes best coaching job in all his years in coaching because this team was down for the count without Ziegler.

Barnes decided to put his focus on defense and as a result has found a winning formula in the NCAA Tournament, one that has them possibly on the road to the Final Four as the Vols have Florida Atlantic next then the winner of Kansas State-Michigan State.

I will say unlike what I have seen from some Tennessee fans on social media I don’t think FAU is a cakewalk. However the Vols will be favored in that game.

We will see what I am writing next week, but right now definitely props to the Vols for making it this far and beating a quality Duke team.

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TOM IZZO: MR. MARCH

I will be the first to admit I am not a big fan of a lot of the Blue Blood coaches in college basketball. I tend to secretly want the Blue Blood schools to lose.

However, there is an exception. I do like Tom Izzo. I actually think he is a tremendous coach and human being.

The numbers do not lie. 28 straight NCAA Tournament, 15 sweet 16s and one national title. Izzo is one of the best who has ever done it.

This year though is probably the best job Izzo has done at Michigan State under the circumstance.

Michigan State defeated Marquette Sunday 69–60 Sunday when a lot of experts had the Eagles going all the way to the Final Four. Michigan State will play Kansas State in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

This was a trying year for Michigan State. The Spartans were in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten most of the season, but that paled in comparison to what happened last month.

Three Michigan State students were killed in an on-campus shooting and it totally broke the heart of Izzo.

Izzo gave an incredible speech to the students during a memorial service and the Spartans players had something to play for. They have responded.

Izzo has his team believing now and Michigan State is in a very open part of the bracket where another Final Four berth is distinctly possible.

Don’t ever count out Izzo in March.

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KANSAS GOES DOWN

Many experts thought Kansas was robbed of the №1 overall seed on Selection Sunday. They turned out to be wrong.

Kansas fell to Arkansas in a 72–71 defeat to the Razorbacks in Des Moines, Iowa Saturday.

It had been a tumultuous week for the Jayhawks who was without head coach Bill Self because of an apparent heart issue and in his place Norm Roberts coached, the former St. John’s.

This is no slap against Roberts, but there is a reason he is a head coach and I saw some questionable coaching in that game at the end.

I think Kansas has proven that 17 quad one wins is a little bit deceiving when every game is a quad one game.

Despite the Big 12 Conference being the greatest conference in NCAA basketball history according to the metrics, only two teams, Kansas State and Texas, reached the Sweet 16. In comparison the SEC and Big East had three (More on the Big East coming up in this column).

I think the basketball world in this technological age may be putting too much emphasis on metrics and not looking at team records like they used to.

Kansas kept losing regularly during the regular season and the metrics kept being in its favor.

It seems like the committee did it better the old way. I admit I was on the Kansas bandwagon, but looking back the Jayhawks were not as good as I thought. (My bracket is destroyed by the way).

Give Arkansas credit they played great and now the Razorbacks take on UCONN on Thursday night in the West Region Semifinals. Arkansas deserved to win. The SEC has had a great tournament.

Most of all I hope and pray for Self’s recovery. His health is more important than a ball game.

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THE SUPERIOR BIG EAST

Big East founder Dave Gavitt would be proud of the way his conference has reconfigured itself the last few years and now it is having one of its most successful NCAA Tournaments in recent memory

Creighton, Xavier and UCONN have all reached the sweet 16 and the Big East is tied with the SEC for most teams left in the tournament.

The Big East only had five teams in the tournament, making the accomplishment even more impressive.

There is not a lot of depth in the Big East, but the teams at the top are really strong. The two teams that didn’t make it to the Sweet 16 were Marquette and Providence, who on Monday lost coach Ed Cooley to rival Georgetown.

I actually had four teams from the Big East in the Sweet 16, so this did not surprise me. It might have surprised other people who are not as familiar with the league.

I know I have mentioned this before, but the Big East is the only Power 6 conference that at the current moment does not have an ESPN contract as its main contract is Fox Sports and FS1. As sad as it sounds, a lot of people turn to ESPN first for their college basketball watching. They are not turning to FS1.

Also a lot of the schools in the league are private religious based schools mainly Catholic that don’t have huge fanbases. It just doesn’t interest people in the heart of SEC country.

It doesn’t change the fact that these schools have built solid programs and found their niche in recruiting.

One reason the Big East is so successful is it is a brotherhood that knows basketball is king in that league. They are genuinely happy for each other.

It would be cool to see a couple of them in the Final Four. It would be a party like 1985.

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SWEET 16 PREVIEW

We have reached the business end of March Madness we are now into the Sweet 16.

Here is a brief look at the games on Thursday and Friday.

EAST REGION

Florida Atlantic vs Tennessee: Everything points to Tennessee winning this game and that is when the Vols get in trouble. Rick Barnes is trying to snap the postseason curse.

Kansas State vs Michigan State: Jerome Tang has secured national coach of the year in my book for Kansas State.

WEST REGION

Arkansas vs UCONN: This is a huge matchup problem for UCONN. Arkansas is better than their record would indicate.

UCLA vs Gonzaga: Sorry Vols fans but this is the game I am going to be watching at 9:45 pm on Thursday night. Best game of the Sweet 16.

SOUTH REGION

Alabama vs San Diego State: The grind it style SDSU plays could give Bama so problems. They will try to keep the pace slow.

Creighton vs Princeton: Princeton has to be relieved that they are not playing a blue blood. but I don’t think Princeton is scared of anyone. We will see what kind of game plan Creighton comes up with.

MIDWEST REGION

Houston vs Miami: I have the one as a potential upset. I think Miami’s guards are going to be the difference.

Xavier vs Texas: Rodney Terry has Texas playing excellent ball right now. So does Sean Miller at Xavier. Something has to give.

Matt Hill covers College Basketball (Slam Dunks) and Love-40 (Tennis) for Medium.com