Sixty-eight teams began March Madness, and now it is down to just four. The men’s NCAA tournament semifinal stage is here and after almost three weeks of grueling action the best of the best remain. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of a must-watch Final Four fixtures.
Quick Read
- March Madness Climax: The men’s NCAA tournament is reaching its climax with the Final Four showdown set for April 6 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
- Semifinal Showdowns: The semifinals feature No. 1 seed Purdue vs. No. 11 NC State at 6:09 p.m. ET, followed by No. 1 seed UConn against No. 4 Alabama at 8:49 p.m. ET.
- Purdue’s Resurgence: Purdue Boilermakers have bounced back from previous disappointments, making their first semifinal appearance since 1980, led by dominant player Zach Edey.
- NC State’s Cinderella Story: NC State, with breakout star DJ Burns Jr., has had an extraordinary run, making their first Final Four appearance since their 1983 championship win.
- UConn’s Dominance: UConn Huskies, the reigning champions, have been unstoppable, aiming to become one of the few teams to win back-to-back titles.
- Alabama’s Historic Run: Alabama Crimson Tide, known more for football, are making their first-ever Final Four appearance, boasting the US’s leading scoring offense.
- Key Players: Purdue’s Zach Edey, NC State’s DJ Burns Jr., UConn’s Tristen Newton, and Alabama’s Mark Sears are players to watch during the semifinals.
- Coaching Insights: Purdue’s Matt Painter emphasizes skill and experience, while UConn’s Dan Hurley credits the team’s success to their relentless play. Alabama’s Nate Oats sought advice from Nick Saban to improve the team’s defense.
- Championship Dreams: The winners of the semifinals will advance to the championship game, with teams eyeing the coveted NCAA tournament title.
The Associated Press has the story:
Men’s March Madness: How to watch Final Four as UConn eyes for back-to-back titles
Newslooks- (AP)
Sixty-eight teams began March Madness, and now it is down to just four. The men’s NCAA tournament semifinal stage is here and after almost three weeks of grueling action the best of the best remain. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of a must-watch Final Four fixtures.
How to watch
The four teams left in the men’s edition of March Madness this year will duke it out on Saturday, April 6 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Firstly, No. 1 seed Purdue will play No. 11 NC State at 6.09 p.m. E.T., before reigning champion and No. 1 seed UConn takes on No. 4 Alabama at 8:49 p.m. E.T.
Both games will be available to watch on TBS, TNT and tru TV.
No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 11 NC State
Saturday’s first game sees the high-flying No. 1 seed face the plucky underdog riding a wave to the Final Four.
The Purdue Boilermakers have bounced back from last year’s disappointment – being the victim of the tournament’s second ever 16-over-1 upset defeat – in emphatic fashion.
Resounding victories in the opening two rounds set the tone before impressive wins over No. 5 Gonzaga and No. 2 Tennessee booked the team’s spot in the semifinals, the program’s first since 1980.
It’s been 44 years of continuous heartbreak for Purdue, who have consistently succumbed to bad luck and shock defeats to fall short of expectations.
Head coach Matt Painter says he has had to learn from past experiences to reach this point.
“I thought we had to be more skilled,” he said. “By doing that, not everybody gets to play as much or even play at all, and that’s difficult because they’ve meant a lot to our program, and they’ve done a lot of really good things.”
This time round, Purdue has arguably the single-most dominant player in the men’s tournament in the form of Zach Edey.
The 7-foot-4-inches Canadian center has been almost unstoppable for opposing defenses, while also providing a stout last line of defense.
Coming off an impressive season last time round, the 21-year-old has really flourished in this year’s March Madness, scoring 30, 23 and 27 points in the opening three games of the tournament.
His best game came when his team needed it most, scoring 40 and recording 16 rebounds as he helped lift Purdue to victory in the Elite Eight over Tennessee.
Edey will have to be at his best though to stop one of the rising stars of the tournament – DJ Burns Jr.
Burns has spearheaded NC State’s extraordinary run, capturing the hearts and minds of many neutrals with his nimble footwork, deft touch and persona.
Like Edey, Burns’ most impressive performance came in the Elite Eight, scoring 29 points as the Wolfpack upset No. 4 Duke and booked their first Final Four since 1983 – the same year they won their second, and last, national championship.
Burns has embodied the never-say-die attitude NC State has continuously displayed in this year’s tournament, beating the No. 6 and No. 2 seed as well as Duke along the way.
“It gets to a point when you are winning games and like the way we are, where you expect to win, and I think our guys now are expecting to win. It’s beautiful to watch,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Our defense has been tremendous down the stretch. It’s been so great.
“It’s a miracle run, but we’re not surprised. We don’t come into this tournament saying, hey, let’s just try to be here. We came (to the regional) to win it, and we did. Now we have to move on to our next stage.”
Now they face a tough task in stopping Edey and Purdue, but if we’ve learned anything from the 2024 March Madness, it is do not write off NC State.
No. 1 UConn vs. No. 4 Alabama
The dominant storyline of this year’s men’s NCAA tournament has been: can anyone stop UConn?
The No. 1 seed Huskies have looked almost unstoppable, winning all their games by large margins – the smallest margin was their 17-point win over No. 9 Northwestern in the second round.
They have trailed 28 seconds this year and have won 10 consecutive tournament games by double-digits, dating back to last season.
UConn booked its spot in the Final Four in impressive fashion too, going on a 30-0 run against Illinois in the Elite Eight to run away to a comfortable victory.
Head coach Dan Hurley puts the success down to having a team that “play every possession like it’s the end of the world.”
“We have winners. We have ‘we’ guys. We have also talked about legacy,” Hurley told reporters.
“These guys right now are leaving a legacy in a place that’s hard to leave a legacy. It’s been a historical season in a tough place to make history. They’re galvanized by that. It’s special.”
And now, UConn is within two victories of becoming only the eighth program to win back-to-back titles, and just the second in more than three decades.
A national title would be UConn’s sixth, which would pass Duke and Indiana and tie North Carolina for third on the all-time list.
Alabama Crimson Tide, making a first appearance at the Final Four stage, stand in UConn’s way.
Alabama has never won a basketball college national championship title – the school is famous for its football team – and so is treading on new ground.
It has been the team’s dynamic offense which has led it to the semifinal stage, with Alabama leading the US in scoring by averaging 90.6 points a game.
Senior Mark Sears is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 24 points in the tournament. The guard now has 25 games this season where he has scored more than 20, breaking a 45-year-old Alabama record.
But during the regular season, the team struggled on defense, which hampered its success. It scored 81 points or more in a game seven times this season and still lost.
So head coach Nate Oats called someone who knew something about college sports, former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban. Saban retired earlier this year after winning a total of seven national championships as head coach at Alabama and LSU.
“I called Coach Saban. What have we got to do?” Oats said. “And he kind of gave me the ‘next’ idea – next, next, next. So guys bought in. We can make this run. Other teams have done it. We have the capability to do it.
“We’ve got to get back to playing great defense – or start playing great defense; I don’t know if ‘back’ is the correct word. But we can have the No. 1 offense in the country; we had it for the majority of the year. Let’s put a top-20 defense together and we can make a Final Four. And I think we did that.”
Alabama is aiming to become the first team since UConn in 1999 to win the title in its first voyage to the Final Four.
