Big Dance: Blue Bloods Bumped As Seminoles and K-State Advance
Published on 22-Mar-2018 by Alan Adamsson
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Leave it to freshman Cody Kispert to show his fellow Zags how to attack Florida State's really-bigs inside.
Dude didn't do anything to revolutionize the game, either. He just went Old School.
As in using the rim to shield himself from the Seminoles' rim protectors by executing a crossunder layup.
Unfortunately for Gonzaga, that was Kispert's only bucket of the game and it's clear none of his teammates took note.
Florida State's high risers blocked a total of nine shots in their 75-60 takedown of the Zags to make the NCAA tourney's Elite Eight for the third time in their history.
Dunno if they're consistent enough to be Final Four material yet. That'll depend on whether their raw athleticism is firing on all cylinders, kinda like it was against Gonzaga:
Yes, it sucked for the Zags to be without suddenly-injured Frenchman Killian Tillie and his volleyball chops, but this is a team game, and every club's got an entire regular season to prepare its spares for stuff like that.
'Nole coach Leonard Hamilton does it. Dude ran out ten players who garnered double-figure minutes of PT in this one, and all can either play or be useful in getting in the way when duty calls..
Kansas State, on the other hand, served as the proverbial terrier on a postman's butt.
Kentucky couldn't shake them and ran outta ideas trying.
As a result, the Big XII's Wildcats are still in the hunt with their 61-58 victory that marks the first time they've beaten Big Blue in ten tries.
Long-range bombing was their surprising secret weapon:
K-State was swept in all six Big XII games against Kansas, Texas Tech, and West Virginia. It's why they finished fourth but still got the call by the Selection Committee.
Those clashes no doubt hardened coach Bruce Weber's squad for tourney intensity, and even with leading scorer Dean Wade missing, they found a way.
Honesty hour.
— Jackson Schneider (@JBane87) March 23, 2018
I used to hate Bruce Weber. I thought he was awful.
But tonight, he validated himself as a good basketball coach. He has taken a K-State team to the elite 8 with the best player hurt and won tonight with a 5 guard scrap lineup in the final minutes.
Ironically, Weber has won Coach of the Year honors in all three conferences where he's run a program, and yet he's always gotta prove himself every damn game.
No, that's the life of a coach.
Even one who's on his way to the Elite Eight.