Tigers’ run illustrates tournament’s nature
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mitch Henderson was raised at the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone, a pocket of flyover country where in the summertime extra hours of daylight stretched evenings into eternities and turned neighborhood streets into post-dinner playgrounds.
Before his father’s career as an electrical contractor relocated the family to Lexington, Ky., Henderson spent the first 12 years of his life in Vincennes, Ind., a riverbank town across the water from Illinois at the western border of the Hoosier state.
“You got light until 9:30, 10 o’clock at night. It’s an incredible way to grow up,” Henderson said. “Small town that loves sports, and all the neighbors, everybody in the neighborhood kind of watched your kid for you. So I was outside all the time playing basketball, Wiffle ball, hide-and-goseek, Ghost in the Graveyard. It’s an amazing way to grow up.”
Henderson is 47 and has lived in New Jersey for nearly two decades, having played four years of basketball for Princeton in the 1990s and now in his 12th year as the Tigers’ coach. But he will always be a Midwesterner at heart, someone who relishes soaking up the last slivers of light.
Princeton is doing just that as the last double-digit seed left standing in the NCAA Tournament and the fourth No. 15 seed ever to reach the men’s Sweet 16. The Tigers’ Cinderella run is illustrative of the Tournament’s inherent allure and adds intrigue to the slate of South Region games taking place in Louisville this weekend.
Princeton plays No. 6 Creighton in the second of two regional semifinal games Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center, following a game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 San Diego State. The winners will face off Sunday in the regional final for a spot in the Final Four.
March Madness lends itself to dichotomous labels and David-and-goliath storylines, the potential for upsets as much a part of the Tournament’s identity as the third month on the calendar.
This year, the South is the only region that has a double-digit seed and lacks multiple top-four seeds. The other three quadrants of the bracket are considerably chalkier, especially in the Midwest, where No. 1 Houston is joined in Kansas City by No. 5 Miami, No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Xavier.
In Louisville, the assembled teams sound like the beginning of a joke: A No. 1 overall seed, two mid-majors and an Ivy League dark horse walk into a bar …
The punch line is to be determined. In a region ripe for disruption, Princeton might be primed to lead the charge. Henderson, though, described simply feeling “thrilled to be here.”
San Diego State, which opened Thursday as a 7.5point betting line underdog to Alabama, is not as keen to embrace that label.
“We’re not a one-hit wonder,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. “We have a program. We have a culture. So I don’t care what game we go into — we don’t consider ourselves an underdog. We just look at the next opponent. We’re not embracing the underdog role. We’re just trying to embrace San Diego State basketball and be the best version of us.”
Alabama dominated in the early rounds of the Tournament, beating Texas A&M Corpus Christi by 21 points and Maryland by 22. The Crimson Tide, though, are wary of complacency after they suffered regular-season losses against Gonzaga, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
Looking at seeding alone, the South’s makeup ostensibly gives Alabama an easier path to the Final Four than the highestseeded teams in the other three regions, though that assertion appears flimsier upon closer examination.
San Diego State is rated by Kenpom.com as the nation’s fifth-best defensive team and held each of its first two NCAA Tournament opponents, Charleston and Furman, under 60 points and to a combined 27.5 percent shooting on 3pointers. The Aztecs beat Furman in the second round by 23 points, the largest margin of victory a Mountain West program has ever had in a men’s NCAA Tournament game.
Creighton advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons after toppling No. 3 Baylor in the second round. So far in the NCAA Tournament, Creighton is shooting 95.1 percent from the freethrow line, better than any other team in the field.the Bluejays’ defense, led by junior center Ryan Kalkbrenner, allows opponents to take just 33 percent of their shots at the rim and grab just 23.5 percent of available offensive rebounds.
And then there’s Princeton, which has developed a reputation as a giant killer during the Tournament with takedowns of No. 2 Arizona (59-55) and No. 7 Missouri (78-63). Princeton has been among the country’s best rebounding teams all season and outrebounded Missouri 44-30 in what also marked the largest win by a No. 15 seed in Tournament history.