It’s Final Four time for college men’s and women’s basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament. From the Carolinas, Duke goes against Houston Saturday on the men’s side and for the women, the University of South Carolina’s Gamecocks face Texas on Friday. With more about the tournament’s remaining games, WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn talks with Charlotte Observer veteran sportswriter Langston Wertz, Jr.
Gwendolyn Glenn: So, Langston, it's Final Four time. Let's first talk about Duke. They beat Alabama 86 to 65. What did you think of that game?
Langston Wertz Jr.: Duke’s defense was phenomenal. Alabama made 25 threes in the game before that and Duke just took that away from them with their switching defense. Duke’s the best defensive team in the country. They’re probably the best offensive team in the country. Jon Scheyer should get a lot of credit for putting together a team that doesn't have any of the weaknesses that Duke had a year ago. They look really, really good, and Alabama was a very, very good basketball team and they just took them apart.
Glenn: Yeah, it was predicted that they would not get those threes as you mentioned, the 25 three pointers they shot, which set a record for the NCAA. So it panned out that way.
Wertz: Yes. Coach Nate Oats of Alabama even said that 'everything we tried, they had a counter for and you have to give Coach Scheyer a lot of credit.'
A lot of people doubted it when he was hired to replace Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski. He (Scheyer) struggled a little bit early on, but he built a team that is really ready to make a tournament run. As we've seen, he, you know, combined the big time freshmen they've been getting, but he also went out and used the transfer portal to bring some age and experience in, and that mix his made Duke just about unbeatable in the tournament.
Glenn: Well, what about Cooper Flagg, the freshman star? He did not have the best game. He had 16 points.
Wertz: The thing about Cooper Flagg is that he is more than just a scorer. He distributes the basketball. He's one of the best offensive players in the country and he can handle the basketball. He can shoot the basketball. He's competitive as all get out. I love everything about Cooper Flagg.
Glenn: Well, in the other games, Florida beat Texas Tech 84 to 7 and they're going to play Auburn next. Houston beat Tennessee. Now they're going to play Duke. What do you think that's going to look like?
Wertz: You know Kelvin Sampson, the coach of Houston, is a graduate of UNC Pembroke. You know, he's a North Carolina guy. He knows Duke well. His teams play incredible defense. They're one of the best teams in the country on defense, but Duke is the best team in the country on defense. Houston is not one of the best teams in the country on offense. So, I think for Houston to win, they're going to really have to make this a really scrappy game, really physical. Duke traditionally does not like physicality. If it's officiated tightly and it gets into the 70s, 80s, I don't think Houston has a chance. I would pick Duke 6 times to win this out of 10.
Glenn: They play Saturday close to 9:00 p.m. and the Florida versus Auburn game is at 6:00 on Saturday. Predictions?
Wertz: Those are two of the best teams in the country. I mean, this is a really good Final Four. I thought all along that Florida was probably the second-best team in the country besides Duke. Maybe their 1B to the Duke’s 1A. OK, so I have to stick with that, although you know Auburn has looked really good. I just don't know if Johni Broome, Auburn's top player, national player-of-the-year candidate, is going to be 100%. He had a really nasty fall. He turned his ankle and injured his elbow, but if he's not 100%, I definitely give Florida the edge. And Florida just has so much size and they have a really good backcourt as well. So, I think Florida wins that game.
Glenn: And Langston, this is the first time since 2008 and the second time in NCAA Tournament history that all Final Four teams are #1 seeds, no Cinderella team. What are your thoughts on that?
Wertz: I think it has a direct correlation Gwen with NIL because if I'm a high-major team and I have a need for a shooting guard, I can just go out and get a shooting guard now, NIL, you know and pay him, you know $1 million and take him from the mid-major school that developed them. And I think you're going to see a lot more of that. I don't think we're going to see as many Cinderella stories moving forward because all the best players are going be playing power-five basketball now you know. A mid-major might give you $75,000 but a power-five if you are a top transfer is going give you $2 million and it's just hard to say no.
Glenn: Well, what about UNC-Chapel Hill? There was a lot of talk earlier that they should not have been in the tournament at all and that there was a conflict of interest with the athletic director getting six figures for UNC being in the tournament.
Wertz: They should not have been in it. You know, they were 1-and-12 against top-tier teams this year. I don't think that was a resume to get into the tournament. There are some teams that had better resumes and certainly that when they got in the play-in game, felt probably to a lot of Tar Heel fans like this is why we deserve to be in. But I'm sure it's hard for the tournament committee to look at Bubba Cunningham, who's the AD at Carolina and not include his team. Even if Bubba walks out of the room and they talk about Carolina, they still know that he's a tournament chairman. I would think that the NCAA should probably take that away. They should not have an acting AD as tournament chairman because there's always the appearance of impropriety there or favoritism and I think you need to remove that.
Glenn: Well, let's talk about the women and Dawn Staley's Gamecocks. What do you think about how they're doing and their last win and chances of taking it all the way?
Wertz: Dawn’s team is frustrating this year. They're not the behemoth they've been the last couple of years, but they still are good enough to get it done. It's just they don't take care of the basketball. They're just very loose with the basketball. Too many unforced turnovers, too many empty possessions. Probably the best player to have offensively is MiLaysia Fulwiley, and she's probably the loosest with the basketball. That said, South Carolina just plays so hard on defense and it's just hard to beat them. But they are vulnerable this year and I think, you know, that their road to a championship is going to be very, very tough.
Glenn: And their next game is against Texas, a pretty tough team.
Wertz: Texas has the size. They got some great individual players. They played South Carolina, I think three times and lost twice. So, they'll be wanting a little revenge. I think South Carolina wins that game. UCLA and UConn's going to be a war. Both of those teams beat South Carolina, so there's some revenge for South Carolina in a championship game either way. I think South Carolina would rather play UConn than UCLA. UConn kind of really embarrassed them at home, winning by 20+ points. I think UCLA wins that game, though, and I think it's UCLA versus South Carolina in the national championship game.
Glenn: OK. And those Final Four for the women that's going to be Friday, Carolina will play at 7 p.m. and UCLA and UConn will play at 9:30 p.m. Well, thanks, Langston.
Wertz: Absolutely!
Langston Wertz, Jr. is a veteran sportswriter for the Charlotte Observer.
