Critics miss mark by trashing Final Four field
HOUSTON — Whether it’s Otis Redding’s gruff, gravelly interpretation or the Queen of Soul’s sultry spelling in her take on his original, the quest for respect encapsulates the 2023 Final Four.
The four teams that will be in Houston this week vying for the national championship all believe they have earned respect but haven’t received their propers.
These veritable Rodney Dangerfields have a point.
As Rodney would have said, if the last four teams standing had played hideand-seek before the season, no one would have looked for them.
Welcome to the unofficial “Nobody thought we would be here except us” Final Four.
NCAA marketing rejected my slogan because it is too long to put on the thousands of banners around town. They’re sticking with the trademark logo, but this Final Four will be unlike any other.
San Diego State is the only Final Four team that was in the Associated Press preseason ranking, and the Aztecs were only No. 19.
By the end of the regionals, all of the star players and all of the big-time teams we chronicled through the year were done. They will be at home watching this weekend.
For the first time in
history, there is not a No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3 seed playing in the national semifinals. Fourth-seeded Uconn, which won the West Region, is the highest seed still alive, joining fifth seeds Miami and San Diego State and No. 9 Florida Atlantic.
Connecticut, which has won each of its NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points, is a heavy favorite to cut down the nets Monday night.
But I’m telling you they’re getting no respect.
“At the start of the season, they didn’t have us in the top 25,” Uconn guard Andrew Jackson Jr. said. “We’ve got a lot to prove. We still have a chip on our shoulder.”
There are so many chips on shoulders of these teams that it might be difficult for players to dribble around all the rocks on the court when the semifinals tip off Saturday at NRG Stadium.
Two of the teams remaining — San Diego
State and Florida Atlantic — had never been to an Elite Eight before, let alone a Final Four.
FAU, which plays in a 2,900-seat gym, had not even won an NCAA
Tournament game before this year. The Owls, who were picked to finish fifth in Conference USA, are the ultimate Cinderellas.
But don’t tell them that.
“They can say whatever they want, say we’re a Cinderella team, say we don’t belong, but we’ve constantly proven people wrong all season,” FAU junior guard Bryan Greenlee said.
Did you hear the one about the Final Four coach who gets no respect? The team psychiatrist told him he was nuts. The coach demanded a second opinion, and the psychiatrist said, “OK, you’re ugly, too.”
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is ugliness.
“You know, they’re going to label us whatever, but we’re some pit bulls and Rottweilers,” FAU’S Alijah Martin said. “Just label … just call us beast boys, you know, because we’re going to come out and show you how it’s done.”
These Owls play fast and beautiful, and even after they rolled through the regular season with a 31-3 record, not many thought they would make it to Houston.
FAU has the best record among the teams at the Final Four. But it is still looking for R-E-S-PE-C-T.
After his team toppled Kansas State to earn the trip to Houston, coach Dusty May said, “I expect prognosticators to pick us fifth in the Final Four.”
Fifth among four teams? That’s a good one.
Despite the Los Angeles Times newsletter headline — Surprise! San Diego State is in the Final Four — the Aztecs, who knocked off No. 1 overall seed Alabama in the Sweet 16, believe they belong.
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher, who has been there 24 years, said he has had other teams capable of making it this deep in the tournament. SDSU was 30-2 and primed to earn a No. 1 seed in 2020 when the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve got players up here that we do a great job of evaluating their character. … They play hard, they have a chip on their shoulder, and that’s what our program is about,” Dutcher said.
Can we get some dip with these chips?
Jim Larrañaga’s Miami squad had the toughest road to the Final Four, having to beat fourthseed Indiana, top-seeded Houston and secondseeded Texas.
Miami was the cochampion of the ACC but garnered just a No. 5 seed in the Tournament.
Of course, Larrañaga said the ACC doesn’t get enough — you guessed it — respect.
“I think there’s been a lot of disrespect for the league that it doesn’t deserve,” Larrañaga said. “So you look at a team — let’s use Houston as an example. They’re the fourth-best rebounding team in the country. We’re probably like the 400th-best rebounding team in the country, yet we battled them even.
“Well, our guys are good too.”
These guys — the Hurricanes, the Owls, the Huskies, the Aztecs — are all good. That’s why they’re in the Final Four.
They played the best at the right time and survived a wild Tournament to still be playing for a national championship.
You’ve gotta respect that.
Sock it to me.