NCAA Tournament Elite Eight: UConn vs. Illinois - Kill Shot!

We started with 68 and we are down to just four

The Elite Eight has wrapped up this weekend with two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday

I'll admit I'm a little sad that this tournament is quickly coming to a close

However, we had some great basketball played this weekend, so let's just dive right in

Game one, UConn versus Illinois. This is one of the weirdest college basketball games I've seen in a while

With a minute and 23 seconds left to go in the first half, Illinois was tied with UConn 23-23

Both teams were struggling from the field, but Illinois was fighting. And then from that point on until 12.39 to go in the second half, Illinois would not score a point

That included 17 straight shots missed and UConn going on a 30-0 run

I think the craziest part about this one is that moments before this run took place

Brad Underwood, Illinois' coach, was getting interviewed in one of those mid-game interviews

CBS likes to do, stating they're going to keep going at 7'2 big man for UConn, Donovan

Klingon, and then that 30-0 run happens. Speaking of Klingon, he finished with 22 points on 9-for-13 from the field, 10 boards, and

5 blocks. He will be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft

Evan Mayakawa has this thing called the kill shot that he talks about. It's where a team goes on a 10-0 run, and teams that accomplish kill shots win 81% of the time

Well, UConn's triple kill shot is the first in any D1 men's game in over three years

and for it to happen in the Elite Eight is pretty absurd. This makes back-to-back years where UConn has won by 25-plus points in the Elite Eight

Illinois shot 25% from the field. Terrence Shannon Jr., probably the best offensive player in the tournament up until this point

struggled going 2-for-12 from the field. But I think the craziest part about this game is that UConn went 3-for-17 from 3

That's 17.5%. Now, it's not necessarily uncommon in the NCAA tournament for a team to shoot less than 20% from 3 and win

Matter of fact, it happens multiple, multiple times every year. but I was curious how many teams in tournament history have won by 25 while shooting less than

20% from three. So I put that into stat head and this became just the 10th game in tournament

history. The first since 2012 that a team has won by 25 plus while shooting less than 20

from the three point line. Seven of these 10 games came in the round of 64, AKA the first round

and were against double digit seeds. I'm talking 14, 15, 16 seeds

There's really only one other game in NCAA history that compares to this

And it was Utah in 1998 when they defeated Arizona 76 to 51

in the Elite Eight. They went two for 10 from three. This really is such an impressive win for UConn

They shot 28 for 43 from two. And at this point, they're really giving me Kentucky 2015 vibes

where we just thought this team was unbeatable. but we all know what happened to Kentucky in the Final Four, which we'll get to later in this video

Per Ken Palm, UConn now has a plus 35.10 adjusted efficiency margin, which is one of the best

efficiency margins of the last 25 years, with only 2021 Gonzaga, 2015 Kentucky, 2008 Kansas

2001 Duke and 1999 Duke being better At this point my only question I have for UConn is who Who is going to give this team a competitive game Game two of the Elite Eight and the final game of the Saturday night slate four seed Alabama versus six seed Clemson

Alabama is looking to make their first Final Four in program history

And meanwhile, Clemson is looking to make their first Final Four since 1980

Bama's big man, Grant Nelson, would pick up two quick fouls in this one, sending him to the bench early

And it was all Clemson early on, leading 26 to 13. The Tigers were dictating the flow like they usually do. It was a slower paced

game. They weren't allowing Bama to get in transition much. Bama was also missing quite

a few shots going one for 13 through the first 14 minutes of the first half from three continuing

the trend of Clemson opponents continuing to shoot poorly from three throughout this tournament

But after Jack Clark's three put Clemson up 13 26 to 13 with 756 to go in the half Bama would go on

a 16 to two run, finishing the half up 35, 32 and going five for seven from three in those six

minutes. This was just the second time this tournament I've seen Clemson give up the pace

of play and lose control of a game with the other time being Baylor making a comeback late in their

second round matchup. Unfortunately for Clemson, the second half turned into a track meet. 104

points were scored total. Bama would win this one 89 to 82, and it was back and forth for most of

the half, but Bama just did not miss, especially from three. They were playing the style that they

love to play and it worked out for them. I think a great microcosm for how this half went was around

the 747 minute mark when Joe Girard hit a three, cutting Clemson's deficit to 359.56. Within 10

seconds of that made three, Ryland Griffin makes a three of his own, putting that lead back to six

and then Gerrard hits another 3 for Clemson putting it back to 3 and again just 14 seconds

later Jaron Stevenson hits a 3 that has to be so demoralizing for a Clemson team but this is what

Bama loves to do to opponents Jack Clark would make a layup cutting the lead to 4 with a minute

40 left and Mark Sears hits this absolute dagger 3 with the shot clock counting down giving Alabama

a seven point lead and securing their first ever final four appearance in school history which is

crazy to think about i plan on doing a final four preview video that goes over the entire journey

throughout the season and how each team has gotten to this point so we'll stick to this game alabama

shot the heck out of it from three and if you remember earlier i said they started one for 13

from three and then went five for seven to finish the half well in the second half they went 10 for

15 and if you're clemson you just can't be mad about that opponents were shooting awful from three

in the tournament versus you at some point you're gonna run into a team on a hot night you have to

figure out how to limit it but i'm so impressed with bama's speed obviously this is their mo this

is how they've gotten here but it's one thing to see it in a regular season game it's another thing

to see it in the elite eight and they just let clemson play right into their hands for all my

bama fans out there that have watched me these past couple videos i apologize for doubting them

they are the real deal. I just never believed in that defense being outside the top 100 in Ken Palm

And speaking of defensive efficiency, it got me wondering when was the last time a team with a

defensive efficiency outside of the top 100 made the final four? So I did some digging on Ken Palm

and he has data going back to 1998 It only happened two other times in 26 years Last season In 2023 Miami Florida who if you remember correctly they were dead in the water versus Drake with only a couple minutes to go before Drake completely folded And Dwayne

Wade's number three seed Marquette in 2003. This is no diss on Bama, by the way. I'm giving them

their props. They've actually played good defense in this tournament for the most part, and they've

let their offense just supercharge everything. Game three of the Elite Eight, our first game on

Easter Sunday, number one seed Purdue versus two seed Tennessee. This game had some awesome

storylines as well. Purdue has not made the final four since 1980. Ironically, that 1980 Purdue team

was also led by dominant scoring big man in Joe Barry Carroll, who ended up being the first overall

pick in the 1980 NBA draft. And then you have Tennessee, who is in their second ever Elite Eight

appearance first since 2010, looking for their first ever final four appearance. The player of

the year in Zach Eady versus the presumed runner-up player of the year in Dalton Connect

And I'll tell you what, these two did not disappoint. Connect finished with 37 points

and Eady had a career high 40. Both of them scored more than the rest of their team. This game was

tight right up until about the three minute mark when Purdue slowly just pulled away by a couple

possessions. Purdue would win 72 to 66. And like I said, Dalton Connect literally did everything he

could for this Tennessee team, but he got absolutely zero help on offense

Sakai Ziegler, their point guard, shot three for 12 from the field, including one for eight

from three. And sure, you could say Dalton Connect took a ton of shots. He only went 14 for 31 from the field, but he had to

Nobody else on that team can score. I'm sorry. Also, Tennessee fans, you've got to help me with this one

What is wrong with Jonas Adu? He played 10 minutes over four from the field, had three fouls, could not defend

and just like the sweet 16, he barely played. This was the lowest minutes he's played on the season

even including blowouts. And sure, you could say it's the Zach Eadie effect, fine

But he was awful against Creighton and only played 17 minutes as well

including being benched down the stretch in crunch time. I don't know, guys. I really like Jonas Adu coming into this tournament

I'm not sure what happened. Dalton Connect has a bright future in the NBA

I'm excited to see him at the next level. but honestly, he deserved better in this effort around him on the offensive end

Like I said earlier, Edie finished with a career-high 40 points on 13 from 21 from the field

including 14 for 22 from the free throw line. I'll look up some more research in my Final Four preview video

but I'm pretty sure if he makes the national title, he has the chance at breaking the all-time NCAA Division I free throw attempt record in a season

He also had 16 boards. Fletcher Lawyer was the only other Purdue Boilermaker in double figures in this game

and they shot an uncharacteristic 3 for 15 from 3 which is crazy because Purdue is 2nd in the nation in 3 point percentage at 40.6

I heard them say on the broadcast this is the first 1-2 matchup in the Elite 8 in 5 years

I find that very hard to be true so let's fact check it really quick Alright the broadcast was right

it was 2019 Duke, Zion Williamson's team playing number 2 seed Michigan State

What's crazy is before the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID, this was a regular occurrence

I mean, look at this. It's happened almost every year dating back to 2000

Besides what? 2011? And then 2021, 2022, 2023, it doesn't happen. Anyways, again, the story with Edie as always is these fouls and whatever

I just don't care enough to talk about that. Game four number four seed Duke versus 11 seed NC State I got a lot of people upset with my Duke take last video that I know did not watch my Sweet 16 preview because you would have heard how much I was glazing Duke I always willing to

admit when I'm wrong but honestly I think I was right on this one NC State takes down Duke making

the Wolfpack the 6th 11 seed all time to make a Final Four the first since Johnny Juzang carried

UCLA in 2021 and I'm gonna toot my own horn I picked NC State and yes I'm proud of it not

as much as my Clemson over Arizona in the Sweet 16, but nonetheless, let's get to this game

DJ Burns and DJ Horn, NC State's two star players, absolutely balled out. Big boy DJ Burns finished

with 29 points on 13 for 19 from the field. Again, I said this in the Sweet 16, I did not think

Filipowski could guard him, and he could not. Flip followed out with a couple minutes left

finishing with 11 points on 3 for 12 from the field, and then point guard DJ Horn finished with

20 and they didn't really need much else. I mean the role players for NC State were great as always

Diara did not play as much as he usually does but their backup Middlebrooks was great in this game

and then Marcel and O'Connell just did what they needed to do for the most part but the craziest

thing about this game is that NC State shot it awfully in the first half. They only scored 21

points. Thankfully Duke only scored 27 and then the Wolfpack would go on to put up 55 points in

the second half they still didn't shoot it well from three but it did not matter they beat duke

props to jared mccain he's my guy freshman for duke he's going to be a good player in the nba

scored 32 points on 8 for 20 5 for 11 from 3 11 for 11 from the free throw line jeremy roach was

the only other guy in my opinion that was decent he didn't go 5 for 13 from the field but he scored

13 points i mentioned filipowski already but tyrese proctor had an awful game going 0 for 9 from the

field putting up zero points and Duke got two points from their bench. They shot just 32.2

from the field, 25% from three. This and one from DJ Burns late was absolutely hype. He was just

making plays all second half to be honest. In my final four preview, I plan to really dig into Ken

Palm and figure out what NC State ranks in efficiency since they've been on this run. If you don't know

they finished the regular season 17 and 14 and went two and seven in their final nine games then

won five games in five days to win the ACC tournament getting them into the tournament

they never would have been in it otherwise and now here they are winning four straight games

in March Madness going to the final four they'll face Purdue we'll talk about that matchup in the

final four preview but this is just the third time NC State has made it to the final four

with the other two appearances resulting in national titles, including the 1983 Jimmy V team that defeated Goliath in Houston

by Slamma Jamma with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon. It's highly unlikely, but if the Wolfpack can number one

upset Purdue and Zach Eadie in the final four, and then UConn

it would easily be the best Cinderella story ever. An 11 seed has never made the national title

It's never won a national title, obviously. The highest seed to win one is an eight seed, 1985 Villanova

And then to knock off the National Player of the Year and Zach Yeadie in the Final Four

and a historically great UConn team that is on a double-digit streak

dating back to last year trying to defend a title. I don't know, guys. I think I'm all on the NC State bandwagon

Let's see if they can do it. If you enjoyed this video, your viewership means the world to me

If you have any suggestions ever, put them in the comments. I may start a Discord if that's something people are interested in

If you enjoyed this video, YouTube thinks you'll like this one as well. Thanks for watching and as always we'll see you on the hardwood