Your 2023 Final Four Viewing Guide

For the first time ever, the Final 4 of the NCAA Tournament will not feature a #1, #2 or #3 seed. In addition, this will be the first time since 1970 that three of the Four Teams playing in the Final 4 this weekend, will be there for the first time in program history. Each one of the four teams had a very unique journey to get here. While the TV ratings for this event will not be as high as last season’s All Blueblood Final 4, there is still plenty of intrigue and reason to watch. Here is how each team got here, and why you should be very intrigued by the culmination of the College Basketball season in Houston, this weekend.  

UConn will enter Houston, as the clear-cut favorite to cut down the nets and win the National Championship. The Huskies have dominated their competition in this NCAA Tournament, winning their four previous tournament games, by an average victory margin of 22.5 points. The only time that UConn has relatively struggled in this tournament, was the first half of their opening round game against Iona, in which they went into the locker room after halftime, trailing by one point. Since then, UConn has barely played a minute of really competitive basketball in this tournament, and has blown their competition away.  

While UConn will be attempting to cement themselves as a legitimate blueblood with their fifth National Title since 1999, it is important for us to remember where this Huskies program was when Dan Hurley first took the job following the 2018 season. Hurley was fresh off back to back NCAA Tournament appearances at Rhode Island, and even found a way to win games in the big dance and advance to the Round of 32, in both seasons. The UConn program however, was in a really tough spot following the final years of the Kevin Ollie era.  

UConn was in the American Athletic Conference, playing their Conference Tournament games in Texas, against teams that some of the kids they were recruiting have never heard of. In Hurley’s first two seasons in the AAC, the Huskies went a combined 35-29, without an NCAA Tournament berth. 

Then everything changed for the UConn program in the Summer of 2020, when it was announced that they would be returning to their true home of the Big east Conference. This would allow Hurley to sell recruits on playing in the biggest games at Madison Square Garden, against some of UConn’s old rivals from their original Big East days. Since that decision, UConn has made each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, and are very close to winning yet another National Title. 

There isn’t a player in this tournament that has played better than UConn Big Man Adama Sanogo. Sanogo averaged 20 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 65.4 percent from the field in West Region play and is playing the best basketball of his three-year college career. In addition, after having some inconsistencies at Point Guard play throughout the season, Andre Jackson has emerged as an offensive catalyst allowing his teammates to find the best quality shots and Tristan Newton has been rock solid, playing very under control since the start of the tournament.  

Another thing that makes this Final 4 super unique is the fact, this is the first time since the NCAA started seeding teams in 1979, there isn’t a single McDonald’s All American that will be taking the floor in Houston this weekend. One of the highest ranked recruits will be UConn’s Jordan Hawkins, who has emerged as a potential lottery pick in the NBA Draft. While UConn did blow out Gonzaga in the second half of Saturday’s Elite 8 game, everything changed in the final seconds of the first half.  

Andre Jackson gathered a loose ball and hit Hawkins for a timely three at the buzzer to give the Huskies a seven-point halftime lead and they never looked back. Having at least one future pro is a common theme in teams that have major success in this event, and Hawkins is exactly that with his clutch and red-hot shooting ability.  

While crazy things can happen like we’ve seen throughout this tournament, it feels like it is going to take a monster effort to beat this UConn team.  

Following the 2019-2020 College Basketball season getting postponed early due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, there was a significant rule change that many people thought would be the death of mid-major basketball. One-time transfers became available to play immediately at their new school. This only accelerated the trend of some of the best mid-major players in the country transferring up a level, leaving mid-major programs in a really hard spot. NIL also made it very difficult for the smaller schools to compete financially for these players, and a lot of programs were left for dead. 

Then came Dusty May and the Florida Atlantic Owls, who finished 11-7 in Conference USA last season, and was picked to finish in 5th place, in the preseason media poll. Despite a disappointing finish and missing out on the NCAA Tournament, Florida Atlantic returned each of their top five leading scorers from last season’s team. The Owls also took advantage of the transfer portal, in a way that not many of their counterparts have been able to do. Adding a handful of transfers that were playing at the Power 6, but needed to move down a level in order to find the right fit. Former Top 100 Recruit in Jalen Gaffney from UConn, Vlad Goldin from Texas Tech and Bryan Greenlee from Minnesota, all have significant roles on this FAU team, and were found through the portal.  

In today’s new era of College Basketball and NIL, it is very rare to see a team stick together for multiple years, especially at the mid major level. That is what makes this FAU team so unique, the fact that they had enough trust and faith in their coaching staff to run it back. The Owls entered the NCAA Tournament, with a 31-3 record and were labeled as the clear cut best mid-major in the country. Part of what makes this Owls team so good, is the fact that they improved to 11-1 in games decided by five points or less this season, following their Elite 8 victory over Kansas State.  

That included a victory for the ages, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament over Memphis. The Owls really struggled shooting the three-ball for the majority of the night, but found a way to keep the game close in the end, which is where they’re the most comfortable. The same thing occurred in each of the Owls games at Madison Square Garden this weekend. This was also the first tournament victory in program history for the Owls, and just under two weeks later, they’re two wins away from a National Title.  

It isn’t very often that a mid-major team gets hyped up by the people that watch them on a consistent basis, gets under seeded in the tournament and then actually shows the committee that they screwed up. That is exactly what this FAU team did, becoming the first #9 seed to advance to the Final 4 since 2013 Wichita State. The Owls backcourt of Johnell Davis and Alyjah Martin, has shown they have the ability to run and score with the best of them. Plus, Nick Boyd’s elite on the ball defensive ability and shot making, along with Goldin and Giancarlo Rosado’s size, this Owls team is built exactly the way a modern-day basketball team should be. 

If anyone said prior to the season that Florida Atlantic would make the Final 4, everyone would have been shocked and willing to put this team in the same group as VCU and George Mason. However, when you watch this Owl team play, you know they’re not a cinderella. They’re one of the best teams in College Basketball that used this stage to show everyone that.  

NIL has been a major talking point in 2023 College Basketball, and there is no better example of why then the Miami Hurricanes. After making it to the Elite 8 last season, Miami was in the headlines this offseason, for what many people considered the wrong reason. The Hurricanes $800,000 NIL deal offered to Star Transfer Nigel Pack became public, and it almost immediately caused some problems.  

While Pack was a phenomenal player at Kansas State, Isaiah Wong was the Guard already in the Miami locker room that helped bring the Hurricanes to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Wong then threatened to transfer out of the program if he couldn’t get a similar deal, but Miami made it work and here they are. In addition, Miami also added Arkansas-Little Rock Transfer and 2022 Sun Belt Player of the Year, Norchad Omier, who has collected a combined 55 rebounds in Miami’s four NCAA Tournament games.  

While many people thought that NIL and the spending of a well-known booster of CEO of LifeWallet, John Ruiz, might be the thing that tore this program apart, Jim Larranaga has not let it become a distraction or issue in that locker room at all. After bringing George Mason to the Final 4 with a miraculous run in 2006, Coach.L will be the only coach on the sidelines in Houston this weekend that has made a Final 4. The most notable victory of that run was a shocking Elite 8 win over UConn, who had a team full of future pros including Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong and Marcus Williams. 

Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament great, is the fact that Miami looked dead in their opening round game against Drake. The Hurricanes, trailed #12 seeded Drake, 55-47 with 5:10 remaining in the second half and were getting outplayed for the majority of the game. However, Miami was able to end the game on a 16-1 run, holding Drake without a field goal during that span. They also pulled a similar Houdini act against Texas, trailing by 13 points with about 12 minutes to play, and still finding a way to win without making a single three-pointer in the second half.  

While UConn is a machine that is very tough to beat, this Miami team won’t lack confidence, as they have a Final 4 coach and the confidence that has helped them beat some of the best teams in this tournament. While there have been plenty of upsets that might have opened up the door for teams in this tournament Miami does not fall into that category. Miami has had the toughest road of any team to get to Houston, beating #12 Drake, #4 Indiana, #1 Houston and #2 Texas in the Midwest Bracket. One thing for sure, is that they will not be intimidated by the Huskies.  

San Diego State made history this past weekend, securing not only the First Fina 4 berth in program history, but also in the history of the Mountain West Conference. While the conference had not won a tournament game since 2018 prior to the season, this Aztecs program has been one of the most well run and organized in the country. There are very few fan bases and programs that deserve this more than they do. Prior to the Tournament being postponed early in 2020, the Aztecs had a legitimate shot to win a National Title. They started that season with a perfect 28-0 record, and there are still key contributors from that team within the program. 

Head Coach Brian Dutcher has had a long journey to get here, as an Assistant for legendary Michigan and San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher. Dutcher was Fisher’s right-hand man on the bench for over 25 years, and it was unknown if Dutcher would ever be able to get a Head Coaching gig. In 2017, Fisher retired and felt more than comfortable handing over the program he built to Coach Dutcher. That confidence could have come from many positive attributes, but Dutcher’s recruiting ability is something that really sticks out. Once upon a time, Dutcher helped recruit the likes of Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Chris Weber and the rest of the Fab 5 to Michigan, and that has continued all the way up to today.  

This Aztecs team is full of transfers like Matt Bradley, Micah Parrish, Darion Trammell and others who also have a lot of experience at this level. The Aztecs have done a great job taking advantage of the extra “COVID” year and have a handful of fifth year players on this team, including Bradley, Parrish, Nathan Mensah, Aguek Arop, Jaedon Ledee, and Adam Seiko.  

The Aztecs have an elite defense that is the best remaining unit at getting stops in this tournament, and effectively shut down two of the better offenses in this tournament in Alabama and Creighton. San Diego State does a great job of forcing you to play their style of basketball, and it effectively broke each of those two very good offensive opponents in Louisville this past weekend. The Aztecs program has been waiting for this moment, as one of the most consistent and underrated in the sport of College Basketball over the course of the last two decades. 

The thing that makes this Final 4 so great, is although the names are a little obscure, any of the 4 teams heading to Houston this weekend will have a legitimate shot of cutting down the nets. UConn is a prohibitive favorite and they are the only team in Houston that won’t hang a banner if they don’t win two games this weekend. Houston will be a great representation of the new era of College Basketball, with all 4 teams being significantly older and more experienced, despite not being the name brands we know and love. The best part is any of them will have a chance to cut down the nets.