Month: April 2023

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San Diego State Coach Has Hilariously Honest Admission About Game-Winning Shot vs. FAU

San Diego State is headed to the national championship for the first time in program history after Lamont Butler lifted the Aztecs over FAU with a game-winning jumper at the buzzer.

With just a few seconds left on the game clock, SDSU grabbed a key rebound and opted against using a final timeout. Butler raced down the court and eventually found enough space to take the mid-range jumper, which he buried to give the Aztecs a one-point lead over the Owls with no time left on the clock. 

Though undeniably a thrilling finish, San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher admitted there wasn’t a genius play-call behind the shot. During his postgame interview, he didn’t hesitate to admit that he didn’t use the timeout for the simple reason that he had run out of plays to call.

“I ran out of plays, so I decided not to take a timeout,” Dutcher confessed.

Rather than try to draw something up during a timeout, the Aztecs’ coach trusted his team to get the job done. Butler delivered in a big way, hitting the clutch shot as time expired to seal the game. 

Dutcher helped guide his team to a 14-point comeback but when it came to crunch time, he opted to sit back and hold onto his timeout. That decision paid off as San Diego State will now play for a national championship on Monday night.

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Author: Karl Rasmussen

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Sports World Reacts to Wild San Diego State Buzzer Beater

San Diego State’s Lamont Butler delivered a moment that the college basketball world will never forget on Saturday night in Houston when he drained a jumper at the buzzer to give his Aztecs a 72–71 victory over Florida Atlantic in the men’s Final Four.

After trailing for much of the second half, San Diego State stormed back from as many as 14 points down to give Butler a chance on the final possession. The junior guard delivered, nailing a mid-range shot as time expired to send the crowd into pandemonium and his team into the national championship game.

“The plan was just to get downhill. They cut me off a little bit,” Butler explained after his game-winner. “I looked up and there was two seconds left so I got to a shot that I’m comfortable with and I hit it. I’m happy.”

Needless to say, Butler’s last-second heroics sent the sports world into a frenzy on Saturday night. Charles Barkley was among those who couldn’t believe what he saw take place in the closing seconds at NRG Stadium.

Here’s how the rest of the sports world reacted to the wild finish between San Diego State and FAU:

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Author: Zach Koons

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College Basketball World Reacts to Officiating in FAU-San Diego State Final Four Game

FAU and San Diego State were battling late in their Final Four matchup on Saturday, but despite the close contest, college basketball fans were a bit unsettled by the slew of stoppages during the second half of the Aztecs’ comeback victory.

Down the stretch of the game, there was virtually nothing the officials would let slide. A multitude of foul calls were whistled late in the game, with the notion of letting the kids play seemingly going by the wayside. 

Nearly every possession ended in a foul down late in the second half, though neither side was particularly efficient at the free throw line. 

Needless to say, the college basketball world wasn’t thrilled about the officials’ involvement late in the game. 

While the first half saw plenty of free-flowing action, the officials were vastly more involved in the second half, resulting in some strong reactions from across the college basketball world. 

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Author: Karl Rasmussen

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San Diego State Stuns FAU at Buzzer to Book Spot in NCAA Title Game

San Diego State punched its ticket to the 2023 men’s national championship game after a thrilling 72–71 win over Florida Atlantic at the buzzer in the Final Four. 

The Aztecs junior guard Lamont Butler, hit a baseline jumper as time expired to help San Diego State pull off the miracle.

The No. 9 Owls, playing in the Final Four for the first time in school history, blew a 14-point second-half lead in a game for the ages. FAU, who took a 40–33 advantage into halftime, were outscored 39–31 in the second half.

Teams seeded No. 9 or higher to make the national semifinals are now 0–9 all-time in the history of the tournament in the Final Four.

San Diego State will await the winner of Saturday’s other Final Four matchup between No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Miami.

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Author: Frankie Taddeo

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Iowa and LSU Have Little in Common—Except Greatness

DALLAS — One of the many charms of basketball is that it is a city game and a country game. Games are honed on net-less rims in urban parks and homemade backboards nailed to ancient barns. When the Iowa and LSU women play for the championship of a culturally homogenized and politically divided country Sunday, they will emerge from opposite ends of the sport’s landscape. It will be Midwest against South and East, country against city, mostly white against mostly Black—contrasts that could be combustible in so many places in America but not on a hardwood floor. There, it will just be game against game.

At times, Iowa born-and-raised Caitlin Clark will be guarded by a professional rapper. LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson has a record deal with Roc Nation, and she says that some coaches were wary of recruiting her because they thought she would choose rap over hoop. She is the daughter of another rapper, Camouflage, who was shot to death outside his studio in Savannah, Georgia, the city where Flau’jae grew up. But when Johnson was asked about Clark, a product of Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, she dropped the opposite of a diss track.

“If I’m guarding Caitlin Clark, I’m gonna play my best defense ever and throw a prayer up at the same time,” Johnson said Saturday. “Watching her play last night in person was different.”

Clark’s masterful 41-point performance downed undefeated South Carolina in the semifinal.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

In an era where everybody seems to know everybody from AAU ball, Iowa and LSU have almost no overlap. Hawkeyes Kate Martin and McKenna Warnock said they don’t know any of the Tigers personally. They played against LSU’s Angel Reese and Kateri Poole in the Big Ten—Reese transferred from Maryland and Poole from Ohio State. But that underscores another big difference in how the teams were constructed.

As LSU coach Kim Mulkey reminded reporters and herself Friday night, her team has “Nine new pieces … nine new pieces.” Mulkey left Baylor for LSU two years ago, took her Hall of Fame credentials with her, and used the transfer portal and recruiting to assemble an almost instant contender. Every one of her starters is new: Johnson, and four transfers.

Iowa has one transfer, Molly Davis, who arrived from Central Michigan last year and has played a total of 13 minutes in Iowa’s last four games. The Hakweyes have had the same starting lineup for three straight years. Clark and Kate Martin are about to make their 100th start together. This could be an advantage for Iowa—“Whatever we’ve got to do, we know each other super well,” Martin said—but even if it is not a difference in the game, it is certainly a difference in the teams.

Mulkey is an ostentatious dresser and no-fear talker, a coach who could probably win anywhere but belongs in America’s red states. She won three national titles at Baylor and left to win one in her home state of Louisiana. Her current starting five includes a rapper, a star nicknamed Bayou Barbie (Reese), and another who goes by Lex Luthor (Alexis Morris). Mulkey didn’t try to build a team that reminds people sports are supposed to be fun. It just worked out that way.

If you enjoy college basketball more as a free-market enterprise, with players freely seeking the best opportunities for themselves and schools giving chances to players who have made mistakes, then LSU is the team for you. Morris is on her fourth school and her second opportunity from Mulkey, who brought Morris to Baylor, kicked her off the team after two arrests, then brought her to LSU three years later.

Reese (left) and Morris (center) are both transfers who had an instant impact with the Tigers.

Matthew Hinton/AP

Mulkey says Morris should write a book. Iowa could write a children’s book. The opening sentence, courtesy of Coach Lisa Bluder: “We always want to lead the Big Ten in high fives.” Before this year, Bluder never made the Final Four in more than two decades at Iowa, but she also never left for a place where making the Final Four would be easier. She attended high school in Iowa, played college ball at Northern Iowa, and has spent her entire adult life coaching in the state.

Even Hawkeyes who aren’t technically from Iowa are of Iowa. Warnock grew up in Wisconsin, but her mom, Karri, grew up in the Mississippi River town of Muscatine, Iowa, playing six-on-six basketball, the Tall Corn State’s old, unique version of the girls’ game. In six-on-six, players stay on one side of the halfcourt line and play offense or defense, but nobody plays both. Bluder’s Hawkeyes, like Mulkey’s Tigers, play both. Warnock says “I’ve always wanted to play for coach Bluder.”

The playing styles are different, too. Iowa is more consistent, but LSU at its collective best is more explosive. Clark is the game’s premier offensive guard, but Reese is its most dogged offensive rebounder. She averages 6.5 offensive rebounds per game. “Offensive,” Bluder said Saturday. “Offensive!” It is a preposterous number.

Iowa cannot keep Reese off the boards. LSU cannot keep Clark from scoring. Nobody could keep these two teams from getting here. Iowa and LSU have nothing in common except what matters most: great players who listen to excellent coaching and can’t think of any better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than playing Dr. Naismith’s game. It will be the best of basketball—and the best of basketball.

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Author: Michael Rosenberg