What happened in the NCAA Men's Tournament Sweet 16

LOS ANGELES — Not the first few minutes Arizona and Tommy Lloyd hoped for, at all. The Wildcats are currently failing the patented “point per minute” offense, and trail Clemson 16-6 at the under-12 media timeout. The Wildcats have missed some open ones, but they’ve also taken some… questionable shots (to put it kindly). That’s how you wind up starting 2-for-13 from the floor and 1-for-7 from 3.

Caleb Love, especially, has struggled; the former North Carolina star, playing hours before his former teammates in this same Crypto.com Arena, is scoreless, having missed all five of his (ill-advised) shots. There’s plenty of time, but Clemson has clearly thrown the first punch.

BOSTON — Good evening from TD Garden. My first glimpse of UConn's home-court advantage came via the fan in the Huskies quarter-zip next to me on the Green Line into downtown. There's no doubt there will be more UConn logos in the crowd than San Diego State; we're 83 miles from the campus in Storrs and … 2,992 from SDSU. This, after a quick trip to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the first two rounds, is the benefit of being the No. 1 overall seed.

"We've manifested Brooklyn to Boston since really April, since last year when we won the championship," Huskies coach Dan Hurley said Wednesday. "We've worked incredibly hard over that time period to earn the opportunity to play in front of hopefully a 60 percent UConn type of crowd. Hopefully, Illinois' fans away and Iowa State's fans don't get involved."

Our staff picks for No. 2 Arizona versus No. 6 Clemson:

• John Hollinger: Arizona
• Austin Mock: Arizona
• Joe Rexrode: Arizona
• Sam Vecenie: Arizona

BOSTON — San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher, who began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant with Illinois in 1983 and was an assistant at Michigan during the days of the Fab Five, minces no words on his ability to navigate the many changes that have taken place in college basketball over the years.

“One of the reasons I'm sitting here is I've adapted to every rule change there's been for a lot of years in college basketball because I don't make any of them, but I've found a way to adapt,” he said. “We've found a way to adapt. Obviously back in Michigan the Fab Five generated a lot of income, and they couldn't benefit on any of it. Selling of their jerseys, their likeness. They were truly the first team that probably had the ability to make money on what they did for college basketball. Unfortunately, they couldn't do that. To see where it's at now it's a good thing, but to a degree you know it's not NIL. It's what the NCAA always kind of stood against, boosters playing players. We can walk around NIL, but the game has changed. So you have to adapt to it. You have to try your best to give your guys opportunity to make money playing basketball, but try to do it the right way, where you're not spoiling them, where there's still a hunger to try to achieve something other than that. The greatest goal we have in college is to graduate our players.”

Clemson is on to the Sweet 16 for the second time under 14th-year coach Brad Brownell, whose Tigers last made this round in 2018. Clemson defeated No. 3 seed Baylor 72-64 to advance out of the first weekend. Chase Hunter scored 20 points, while Joseph Girard III (13 points), Ian Schieffelin (11 points) and PJ Hall (11 points) all scored in double figures. Next up is No. 2 seed Arizona.

Seed: 6

Record: 24-11

Games:

No. 11 New Mexico, 77-56

No. 3 Baylor, 72-64

LOS ANGELES — Clemson’s All-ACC big man P.J. Hall has been fine this NCAA Tournament… but fine is probably not going to cut it against Arizona. Hall scored 14 and 11 points in Clemson’s first two postseason wins — against New Mexico and Baylor, respectively — with a whopping six rebounds combined. The big issue — one Hall has sort of been dealing with most of this season — is that he keeps being limited by foul trouble; Hall only played 19 minutes against the Lobos, when he had four fouls, and he fouled out in 20 minutes against the Bears.

Arizona sags center Oumar Ballo in drop coverage, so Hall can be a difference-maker if he gets free on the perimeter — he made 50 3s this season, albeit at a 32.1 percent clip — but the point remains: if Clemson has any chance of pulling the upset, and making the program’s first Elite 8 since 1980, it’ll need Hall at his best… and preferably for more than just a half.

Clemson lost its first and only game in the ACC tournament by 21 points to Boston College. Chase Hunter, the team’s senior point guard and third-leading scorer played 31 minutes and had just two points, shooting 0 of 10 from the field.

“I felt like I let my team down. I let the whole university down, to be honest,” Hunter said of that performance last weekend. “But coming into this tournament, I was fired up.”

It shows. Hunter had one 20-point game during the regular season, back on Feb. 14. Then he put up 21 in the opening-round win over New Mexico and another 20 in the second-round upset of Baylor.

“Toward the end of the season, Chase was arguably the best two-way guard in the ACC,” said fellow senior P.J. Hall after Sunday’s win to send the Tigers to the Sweet 16. “Coming here, he’s playing like arguably the best two-way guard in the country. It’s incredible.”

Hunter’s ascendence was critical to Clemson’s Sweet 16 berth, largely because of Hall’s struggles. The team’s leading scorer and a first-team all-ACC big man was saddled with foul trouble last weekend, playing just 19 minutes in each of the team’s two tournament wins, with just 25 points and six rebounds combined. Clemson’s offense, top-25 according to KenPom’s adjusted efficiency, can keep pace with most teams when it’s clicking, and the defense was solid against Baylor, limiting the Bears to 39 percent from the floor and 25 percent from beyond the arc. But Hall’s production through the past two games won’t be enough against a balanced Arizona side. No matter how good Hunter plays.

Alabama survived a scare from No. 12 seed Grand Canyon, turning a 58-55 deficit into a 72-61 victory over the final six minutes. The Crimson Tide, who lead the country in scoring, showed they could win in a physical rock fight type of game after dropping 109 points in their first round victory against Charleston. Mark Sears led the way for Alabama against Grand Canyon with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Alabama will play top-seeded North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

Seed: 4

Record: 24-11

Games:

No. 13 Charleston, 109-96

No. 12 Grand Canyon, 72-61

San Diego State barely escaped with a four-point win against UAB in the first round. The Aztecs had no such trouble during an 85-57 second-round blowout victory against Yale. Jaedon LeDee tallied 26 points and nine rebounds. San Diego State went on a magical run to the national title game last season before being stopped by UConn. The teams will meet in a Sweet 16 rematch.

Seed: 5

Record: 27-10

Games:

No. 12 UAB, 69-65

No. 13 Yale, 85-57

LOS ANGELES — Greetings from Crypto.com Arena, where the Sweet 16 tips off in the late afternoon with a styles clash between Arizona and Clemson. The Wildcats? Sixteenth nationally in adjusted tempo. The Tigers? Way down at 257th.

What gives?

While Tommy Lloyd's group is a top 10 defensive unit, it doesn't force turnovers at an extremely high rate, and Clemson doesn't commit them at a high rate, either. The Tigers are top 50 in effective field goal percentage and aren't overly reliant on 3s, limiting the chances for long rebounds and run-outs. If Arizona doesn't want to see a mostly set defense all evening, it probably has to ramp up the defensive disruption and secure defensive rebounds. Clemson isn't an elite offensive rebounding group, so that may be the path to getting going.

BOSTON — Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: San Diego State is in the Sweet 16, facing the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will be a heavy underdog against a dominant Connecticut team.

“It’s kind of like deja vu again,” senior forward Micah Parrish said. “We didn’t finish our job last year, and that’s our goal this year.”

Last year, the Aztecs took out No. 1 seed Alabama in this same round, then pulled off late heroics to beat a loaded Creighton team and end Florida Atlantic’s Cinderella run, marching to a national championship game showdown with a buzzsaw named UConn. This time, the No. 1 overall seed Huskies await in the Sweet 16. San Diego State is the latest hurdle between Dan Hurley’s team and the first repeat national championship since Florida did it in 2007.

Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher joked Wednesday that he wishes this game was in Louisville, where his team upset the Crimson Tide a year ago. He’s not sure that experience will help with this one.

“Alabama was a lot younger,” Dutcher said. “UConn is way more experienced, having won a national championship, had these kind of moments already. So in that regard, it’s different. The talent level is really close to the same.”

San Diego State has four of its top six players back from last season: Parrish, Jaedon LeDee, Elite Eight hero Darrion Trammell and national semifinal hero Lamont Butler.

“I’ve got the starting backcourt from last year’s national championship runner-up,” Dutcher said. “I have Lamont and Darrion back, and that’s a good place to start. They've been in these moments. They're not going to be afraid of the spotlight. They're not going to be afraid of their moment. Hopefully, they have that kind of one shining moment that will allow us to get a victory tomorrow.”

The Aztecs (26-10) have won 25-plus games 10 times in the last 16 years. They’ve made four straight NCAA Tournaments — and it would be five if not for the COVID-canceled tournament in which 30-2 San Diego State would’ve been a No. 1 seed. The Aztecs have made consecutive Sweet 16s for the first time in program history.

“I guess people forget when San Diego State wasn’t in the tournament, how long ago that was, and when San Diego State couldn’t get past the first round,” Parrish said. “That just shows what we did for the program. That’s so good for the program to have an expectation to be here.”

Now that they’re back, LeDee said it could’ve been Connecticut, Kentucky or the “Boy or Girl Scouts” waiting for them. Winning one more game to keep the dream alive is all that matters. It’s how the Aztecs reached the only Final Four in program history last season. But the Huskies did deny them the school’s first national title.

“They took us down last year,” Butler said, “so we definitely want some revenge.”

Thursday is deja vu in another way, too. In addition to last year's loss to UConn, the Aztecs' season ended against the Huskies in 2011 — when Kawhi Leonard led a team that won a program-record 34 games to the Sweet 16 before it lost to a Kemba Walker-led team that won a national title.

"We had them in Anaheim with Kemba Walker and a chance to beat them close to our home," said Dutcher, who was an assistant on Steve Fisher's staff in 2011. "We played them in L.A. obviously in Anaheim, and they beat us. They beat the Kawhi Leonard team. So we're in their backyard now, and hopefully we'll have an opportunity to beat them close to their home."

Facing the second-highest remaining seed, it might be tough for Arizona not to look past sixth-seeded Clemson and onward to an Elite Eight matchup with either North Carolina or Alabama. But Arizona needs to stay the course and remain locked in gear. That starts with Boswell. Can the 18-year-old deliver consistent play and guide these loaded Wildcats from the point guard spot? When Boswell is at his best, Arizona is arguably the best team in the country not named Connecticut. When he’s not, Tommy Lloyd’s team can look awfully vulnerable. Few players in the country have as dramatic win-loss splits as Boswell. The sophomore, who reclassified as a high school recruit to enroll early at Arizona a year ago, averages 11.3 points (44.1 percent on 3s, 46.7 percent on 2s) with 4.0 assists in the teams’ 27 wins. He averages 4.7 points (15.2 percent on 3s, 26.6 percent on 2s) in eight losses.

Men’s college basketball has its own version of “The Tess Effect” in the form of Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas.

The CBS basketball announcing team is currently on a two-year NCAA Tournament heater that includes No. 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson’s historic upset over top-seeded Purdue in last year’s first round and an incredible stretch in Pittsburgh this past weekend in the first and second rounds, featuring No. 14 seed Oakland’s upset of No. 3 Kentucky on Thursday and then two overtime games on Saturday night — NC State defeating Oakland in overtime and Creighton holding off Oregon in double overtime.

“First of all, it’s just luck,” Catalon said Sunday morning. “You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time, and we have been in some great places. In the 2015 tournament, we had a 14-seed beat a 3(-seed) when Georgia State beat Baylor. Last year with FDU was historic. This year we have had an unbelievable ride. The best part about it for me is we have now done so many games together that we have fun with it and we embrace it. We kind of like it when it gets a little crazy because we know each other so well.”

“I think a big reason why these games stand out is because of the calls that Andrew has in these situations,” Lappas said. “In the 2015 game, Ron Hunter was the coach at Georgia State and his son RJ Hunter made a 3 (in the final seconds). The coach had a torn Achilles tendon and he was on a scooter and he fell off the scooter. I see Andrew’s call of Ron Hunter falling off his scooter every now and then.

“… I’m not a TV guy. I’m a basketball coach. And Andrew told me very early on, ‘Lap, just one thing. Don’t step on my call.’ I learned way back when, hey, at this moment here, it’s up to him to do his thing.”

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DALLAS – I noted earlier in the day how loose the beginning of Duke’s Thursday practice looked. The same can be said for the Blue Devils’ Sweet 16 opponent.

The top-seed Houston Cougars, the last team to practice Thursday at American Airlines Center, were vocal and active as they hit the court. Even Houston coach Kelvin Sampson got in on the upper-body stretching at half court as things got underway. My guess is the coaching staff was pretty happy to see all that energy, considering Houston’s last game was a draining overtime thriller against Texas A&M over the weekend in which four of five starters fouled out and the Cougars coughed up a 10-point lead late in regulation before prevailing.

Days removed from that win, even with Duke looming, Sampson had a ton of praise for the Aggies and coach Buzz Williams.

“A&M, much like Duke right now, they were playing their best basketball at the end of the year,” Sampson said. “... A&M was playing well, and Buzz is a hell of a coach, and they took it to us.

"They were tremendous."