CURTIS HENRY
Sports Editor
Of the 18-million plus brackets that were filled out on ESPN.com for this year’s tournament challenge, a mere 657 of them correctly picked the Final Four. That’s right: a miniscule .0003 percent of brackets had top seeds North Carolina and Gonzaga advancing alongside third seeded Oregon and seventh seeded South Carolina.
No one was surprised by North Carolina advancing this far in the tournament: the Tar Heels are entering their 20th Final Four ever, and have won the National Championship five times. This year’s team returns a large portion of the core that was 4.7 seconds away from an overtime in the national title game after Marcus Paige’s miracle shot to tie the game.
We all know what happened next: not to be outdone by Paige, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins buried a three as time expired to grant Villanova their first championship in over thirty years. Of the four teams to advance this far, it is easy to see that North Carolina was the most expected.
The other top seed, Gonzaga, was less expected to make it this far. This is Gonzaga’s first Final Four, which comes as a shock to some upon realization that this is the 18th consecutive year that Gonzaga has made the tournament under head coach Mark Few. It’s no surprise that few had the belief that Gonzaga would make it this far; in ESPN’s national bracket, Gonzaga was the only 1 seed that a majority of the nation didn’t pick to advance to the Final Four. Rather, a majority had the West region being won by second-seed Arizona. That dream fell apart when the Wildcats lost to Xavier in the Sweet 16.
Joining Gonzaga as first-timers in the Final Four are the South Carolina Gamecocks. Miraculously, the Gamecocks have found their way to their first Final Four. Prior to this season, South Carolina had never made it past the round of 32. The Gamecocks ended that narrative with upset wins over Duke, Baylor and Florida to play into the elusive third weekend of the tournament.
Their saving grace? Sindarius Thornwell, whose 25.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game thus far in the tournament have given the Gamecocks reason to believe they can win it all, despite more than half of the nation (55%) predicting that South Carolina would lose in the first round to Marquette. Far fewer — a meager .3% of ESPN brackets — had the Gamecocks dancing all the way to the Final Four. The .3% of brackets which had South Carolina in the Final Four was equivalent to the .3% of brackets which predicted 16th seeded South Dakota and Texas Southern, despite the fact that a 16 seed has never won a game in the NCAA tournament.
Rounding out the Final Four is a three-seed and fellow feel-good story: the Oregon Ducks. Prior to this season, it had been 78 years since the Ducks had reached the Final Four. Yet, a last-minute comeback against a red-hot Michigan squad and a dominant performance over top seed Kansas in the second weekend have the Ducks moving on to the national semifinal.
Speculation was raised with regard to the team’s ability to get out of the first weekend due to the injury suffered by their star big man, Chris Boucher, during the PAC-12 conference tournament.
That speculation was almost validated in Oregon’s narrow win over Rhode Island in the round of 32. The team’s ability to overcome the loss of Boucher is a testament to the depth that Dana Altman has gathered on this team and the overall continuity of the roster. Six of Oregon’s top eight players (sans Boucher), are upperclassmen. This is, in large part, the same team that boasted a No. 1 seed heading into the 2016 tournament.
With regard to upcoming matchups, it’s easy to envision any of these four teams winning two games this weekend to cut down the nets one last time. South Carolina and Gonzaga will tip off on Saturday at six, with the North Carolina vs. Oregon matchup immediately following.