The men's NCAA Sweet 16 storylines to watch

We used to see mid-major powerhouses coming. So how do you explain FAU being picked fifth in the Conference USA preseason poll and then rattling off a 33-3 record when the entire rotation played on last season’s 19-15 team? Maybe continuity is king in the age of transfer.

FAU has never stumbled. Their offense has played a major role in them steamrolling through the schedule. FAU leads the nation in bench points per game, ranks in the top-10 in three-pointers splashed per night, hovering in the top-10 in scoring margin, have a top-20 effective field goal percentage, and won’t get dominated on the offensive boards.

In two tournament games, the Owls logged 108.5 points per 100 possessions and 16 turnovers — and their offensive motherboard was Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year Johnell Davis. Florida Atlantic’s leading scorer nearly averaged a 50/40/90 during the regular season and, in the Round of 32, swatted away a giant-killing Fairleigh Dickinson team by becoming the first player with 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in NCAA Tournament history.

Madison Square Garden is The Apollo for hardwood performers from the Big Apple, and that stage will showcase a pair of New York’s finest. In one corner, there’s Michigan State senior guard Tyson Walker, a former Colonial Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year who transferred to Lansing for his junior campaign. In the other is Kansas State gnat, Markquis Nowell, whose path to little Manhattan featured a detour through the Sun Belt. Nowell created shots for himself like he had access to the Pym particle formula in the first two rounds, but the 5-foot-8 playmaker sets up teammates just as deftly, ranking second nationally in assists per game this season.

Two of the best seniors in college basketball look like they’re throwbacks to the 1970s, right down to the untameable hair tucked inside of headbands and thick ‘staches. Both have played (and lost) in national championship games. Their Sweet 16 showdown will be the last dance for one of them. These two West Coast hoopers have been relatively obscured by college hoops’ West Coast bias, but it’s apropos that these two old-timers settle this one last time on the Sweet 16 stage.

Houston is deep enough and talented enough to advance past Northern Kentucky and Auburn, but they’ll need him as close to full strength as possible to survive Miami and the Xavier-Texas winner. Jamal Shead is a linebacker at point guard, but the junior is playing through what’s only been described as “discomfort.” No team or player is 100 percent healthy this late in the season, but Shead and Sasser are dealing with an irregular level of wear and tear.

For the second straight year, Miami is on the cusp of another Elite Eight. Their leading scorer, Isaiah Wong, sought to renegotiate his deal with LifeWallet after last season to match new teammate Nijel Pack’s. If he takes The U to a Final Four, his overeager agent, Adam Papas, won’t have trouble finding Wong more NIL compensation. That is if he even opts to return to college for his senior year.

Slipping into the tournament as a four-seed, UConn flew relatively under the radar. They still are. Gonzaga and UCLA are sucking up all the air in the West regional, but Dan Hurley’s Huskies are lurking in the background. Take away a bizarre losing streak in January that resulted in them plummeting from the top 5 in the AP Poll, and the Huskies have been one of the best collectives in the country. They’re currently on a 16-game inning streak and the Ken Pom metrics position them as the fourth-best team in the country, thirds in adjusted offensive efficiency, and 14th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

UConn big Adama Sanogo has averaged a point per minute in the tournament. Through the first two games, he’s scored 52 points in 52 minutes. In the process, Sanogo became the first player since Blake Griffin to record more than 50 points, 20 rebounds and shoot 70 percent or better through the first weekend of the tournament. UConn is gunning for its fifth title since 1999 and appears poised to make a run.

Dan Hurley wasn’t as celebrated for his collegiate playing career as his brother Bobby, and his New Jersey high school coaching accomplishments won’t live up to his father engineering St. Anthony’s to 26 state titles, but he’s carved out his own reputation in the college coaching ranks. Dan’s a proven program architect who resurrected programs that were six feet under such as Wagner, Rhode Island, and now the UConn Huskies.

Bill Murray has been spending an extraordinary amount of time in the stands watching UConn during this tournament and the camera operators have been eager to remind us of that over and over again. His son Luke is in his first season as an assistant coach on the Huskies’ staff. The further UConn advances, the more play that family bloodline will receive over the air.

Alabama’s offense is the fifth-highest scoring unit in the country, drains an average of 10 triples a night, and features a slew of certified bucket-getters. San Diego State has a reputation dating back to the Steve Fisher era as one of the nation’s toughest defensive teams. For the eighth time in 10 seasons, the Aztecs are a top-25 defense in terms of points allowed. San Diego State’s primary objective will be slowing down Brandon Miller, but he brings beaucoup reinforcements in Mark Sears, Noah Clowney, and point guard Jahvon Quinerly.

Princeton is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1967, two years after Bill Bradley led the Tigers to the Final Four in 1965. That’s eight years before Princeton’s current head coach, Mitch Henderson, was even born. After a brief interlude by Fairleigh Dickinson, Princeton has established itself as 2023’s Saint Peter’s. There’s something in that New Jersey water. It feels weird calling Princeton a Cinderella, considering its $36 billion endowment, but here we are. There’s got to be a better term for this riches-to-more-riches story. Let’s maybe reel back the Cinderella reference and dub them the tournament’s Snow Whites, as a nod to their history as a dormant basketball royalty reawakened by Prince(ton) Charming, Mitch Henderson.

On the court, Ivy League Player of the Year, Tosan Evbuomwan has been the catalyst. The 6-foot-8, 219-pound point forward hailing from Newcastle, England, is the closest thing to a Cinderella story. Evbuomwan was a late bloomer whose father sent highlight tapes to Ivy League schools hoping one would take a chance. Princeton did and Evbuomwan is paying Princeton back for doing so by registering 15 points, 6.2 boards, and dishing nearly five assists a night this season.

There are quite a few coaches who bring players along with them to their next coaching job, but Xavier vs. Texas is a rare NCAA Tournament showdown between two Souley Boum has been sensational for the Musketeers. Prior to this season, the 6-foot-3 point guard arrived at Xavier via UTEP. Texas interim coach Terry was the head coach who recruited him there. Their paths cross again when Xavier and Texas clash in the Midwest regional semifinal. Terry is coaching for an opportunity to retain the Longhorns job while Boum looks to play spoiler against his former coach. Boum departed UTEP as a graduate transfer, but this matchup is the perfect representation of the hired gun era in college basketball.

Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard resembles a Mini-Me clone of his brother, former Zags great Andrew Nembhard, who is five inches taller, but Ryan possesses a microwaveable hot hand. The 6-foot-tall little brother has been lighting nets on fire from deep. In Creighton’s win over Baylor, Nembhard exploded for 30 points, shot 4-of-6 from distance, and hit all 10 of his free throw attempts. What Nembhard lacks in size on the defensive end, 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner’s presence compensates for. Like UConn, Creighton is underseeded due to a mid-season losing streak. The Bluejays lost three games while Kalkbrenner was injured and fell from their top-10 perch. How integral is Kalbrenner to Creighton? The Creighton center averaged 15.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks when healthy and clinched the Big East Defensive Player of the Year honor.

It’s been a difficult first quarter of 2023 for the draft stock of Arkansas’ freshmen. The Razorbacks’ trio of highly touted 5-star freshmen were a disappointment heading into the NCAA Tournament. Nick Smith Jr. was benched in Arkansas’ first-round win and has been one of the most inefficient volume scorers in the entire country. Anthony Black has retained his top-10 status due to his raw athleticism, but he’s too inconsistent to be counted on as a scoring weapon and Jordan Walsh will almost certainly be returning next season to improve his standing by becoming a starter. Right now, Wichita State transfer Ricky Council IV is the Razorbacks’ first option and their fastest draft riser. He’s always been a streaky shooter, but the sub-30 percent shooting percentage he’s accumulated his last six games is worrying and the Razorbacks are going to need him to start lighting it up if he’s going to be their impetus for a Final Four run.