Of the seven most recent South Regional games in this NCAA tournament, two were won by seeding favorites. One of those “favorites” was No. 9 Kansas State, which beat UMBC, which was the first No. 16 seed to be playing in the second full round. That begat the first NCAA regional to lose its four top seeds before the Sweet 16, which begat what we have now – the first final of any regional to feature seeds No. 9 and 11.
This is no knock on Loyola-Chicago, which has felled teams seeded No. 6, No. 3 and No. 7. This is nothing against Kansas State, which faced down No. 8 Creighton and No. 5 Kentucky. But let’s be honest: The Ramblers and the purple Wildcats are the sort of teams that rarely grace the Elite Eight. These are teams that, in any other regional any other year, would be gone by now. Yet here they stand, having survived and advanced. By 8:30 p.m. Saturday, one will be the 2018 Final Four’s first qualifier.
This might not be the regional final anybody wanted, but it might be the one college basketball needs. There are no one-and-dones on K-State or Loyola. (Note: Wildcats coach Bruce Weber, who once coached Illinois, pronounces it “LIE-ola.”) There’s no Prospect 1 or Coach 2 from the FBI findings. If these aren’t the usual regional finalists – again, they’re an utter departure from the usual – neither are they teams that make you hold your nose.
Weber took a once-beaten Illinois to the 2005 title game, losing to North Carolina on Marvin Williams’ putback. He was fired seven years later. He hasn’t always been embraced at K-State, the chief complaint being the same as it was in Champaign – he didn’t recruit well enough. But how much did having Deandre Ayton profit Arizona and Sean Miller?
“I try to do it the right way,” Weber said Friday. “When the paper gets delivered or the news comes, my kids don’t have to worry that I’ve done something I shouldn’t.”
A few years ago, Weber ran some gifted players out of the other Manhattan. “We want kids who make K-Staters proud,” he said. “It was a hard decision … but it was not fun to coach. This team is fun to coach.”
This isn’t exactly venturing onto the skinniest of limbs, but neither Kansas State nor Loyola will win the national championship. That’s OK. We’ll recall the 2018 Big Dance less for its ultimate net-snippers than for UMBC and Loyola’s Sister Jean, and also for Ernie Barrett. He was on the K-State team that lost the 1951 NCAA final to Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky. He was in the K-State locker room hugging people when the Big 12 Wildcats stunned the SEC Wildcats.
Said Barry Brown Jr., whose flashing layup was the winning basket Thursday night: “We know that every team now is trying to make history.”
Kansas State already has dismissed one rank outsider, facing down UMBC two days after the Retrievers toppled No. 1 Virginia. It’s hard to imagine a No. 9 seed being the Goliath in any game, but that’s where K-State again finds itself, and this time the Wildcats are up against Sister Jean, who has gotten so famous she holds her own postgame briefings.
The Wildcats are a triumph of grit over skill. The Ramblers are a pretty team to watch. They move the ball and share the ball. They haven’t lost since Jan. 31. They’ve lost twice since New Year’s Day. They have no lottery picks. They have nobody who’s apt to play in the NBA. This a pure college team, something we almost never see so late in the tournament.
In accomplishment if not style, Loyola is reminiscent of Weber’s 2002 Southern Illinois team, a No. 11 seed that upset No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 3 Georgia en route to the Sweet 16. When the Salukis arrived in Syracuse for the regional, reality smacked them in the face.
“We got there and saw the other (teams’) banners – UConn, Maryland and Kentucky,” Weber said. “Our guys said, ‘We don’t belong here.’ ”
In this regional, all the Brand Names have gone home. The South will be won by a very good mid-major or a team that, two weeks ago, seemed a classic example of a nothing-special Power 5 team that makes the Dance only because it’s a Power 5 team. Maybe you’d rather have had Virginia versus Cincinnati, or Tennessee against Arizona, or Kentucky against anybody. Instead you’ve gotten a fat slice of history.
Maybe you won’t enjoy Saturday’s game. Maybe you won’t even watch. It’s your choice. But there’s something about K-State against Loyola with a Final Four on the line that tracks closer to what college basketball should be than to what college basketball has become. Consider this a gift from the bracket gods.
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