Taking a WAB look at the players in today’s Elite Eight matchups, their performance in the last game relative to their usual, and how they compare with others at the same school over the past eleven-ish seasons.
(10) Miami vs (1) Kansas – 1:20 PM CDT on TBS
Current Canes in Bold. Green dots are Game Score Per 40 Minutes in the Canes’ win over Iowa St in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday. Jordan Miller and Kameron McGusty were outstanding against the Cyclones. Miami’s a very top-heavy team; we suspect at least three of the top four will need to over-perform AND Sam Waardenburg is going to have to pull down 10 boards OR make four three-pointers for the Hurricanes to blow past Auntie Em and Kansas. Rumor has it Pat O’Brien has a very large wager on Miami for reasons unknown.Current hocks in Bold. Red dot represents Game Score Per 40 Minutes performance for the Hawkes in their Sweet Sixteen win over Providence on Friday. Impressive in their un-impressiveness, most of the Jayhawks were average or below and yet had little trouble dispatching the Friars. Your KenPom Game MVP for that one? It was the red-hot Remy Martin, for the third straight game. Wondering aloud who the last, and how many ever, have reeled off three straight as such in the NCAA tournament. And we’d have to assume he’s the first ever to do it (a) not starting, and (b) never having gained a KenPom Game MVP during the season. Is today vs Miami the game Martin regresses to the mean? What is his mean? A quick check says that his Arizona St level was right around that of David McCormack. How many questions can one caption hold? (We see you down there, Charlie Moore, below the Frankamp Line.)
(15) Saint Peter’s vs (8) North Carolina – 4:05 PM CDT on TBS
Current Cocks in Bold. Light blue dots are Game Score Per 40 Minutes in the Peacocks’ win over Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday. Saint Peter’s remains the deepest team left in the field, playing 10 against the Boilermakers and #17 overall in the country per KenPom in Bench Minutes. This distributed production allowed the Peacocks to weather an off-game from leader KC Ndefo — fouling out in just 18 minutes — and a return to mortal shooting stats from Mustache Microwave Doug Edert — just 1 of 6 from the field.Current Heels in Bold. Dark blue dots denote Game Score Per 40 Minutes performance in the Heels’ OT win in the Sweet Sixteen over UCLA on Friday. As predicted, Brady Manek DID come back to Earth. Caleb Love, however, came back to Earth only long enough to rocket to the moon. The Saint Louisan bombed his way to 30 points and 4 assists against just one turnover to gain KenPom Game MVP honors. Armando Bacot and Brady Manek present an unusual combination of big guys — a huge contrast to that of Purdue’s twin towers Zach Edey and Travion Williams. The Heels duo are a Mr Inside of Bacot (9 three point attempts in 3 seasons) and Mr Outside of Manek (leading the Tar Heels in three-point makes with 88 and percent at 39.1%).
