Gig Em Gazette
Fansided

South Carolina a Cinderella and a Breakdown of Each Final Four Team

By Matthew Bartlett

Mar 31, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin on the phone at center court during practice for the 2017 Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 31, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin on the phone at center court during practice for the 2017 Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 7
Next
March Madness, Final Four
Mar 25, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dana Altman is doused by confetti by his players as they celebrate with the trophy after the game against the Kansas Jayhawks in the finals of the Midwest Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Oregon defeated Kansas 74-60. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

3 Seed – Oregon Ducks

When you’re putting together the ingredients for a deep NCAA Tournament run you usually skip season-ending injuries to your best player. However, that’s exactly what the Ducks had to overcome to make it this far.

During the Pac-12 tournament, senior forward Chris Boucher tore his ACL and was lost for the season. It would have been understandable to stumble down the stretch, but the Ducks simply kicked it into another gear. To reach the final four they knocked off 14 Seed Iona 93-77, 11 Seed Rhode Island 75-72, 7 Seed Michigan 69-68, and 1-Seed Kansas 74-60.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t very impressive with Oregon out of the gate. It took Saturday’s absolutely demolition of a red-hot Kansas team to catch my attention. The Jayhawks’ average margin of victory in the tournament entering their Elite 8 game was 30.0 points. Oregon shut them down, holding them to 60 points. For the season the ducks allow less than 66 points per game while scoring nearly 79 points per game. This is a complete basketball team.

They’ll face off against the last year’s runner-up North Carolina. It won’t be easy, but if they can manhandle a well-coached Bill Self team they might be peaking at the right time. The beauty of the NCAA Tournament is that anyone can win it. All it takes is six (or seven) complete basketball games. The ducks are more than half way there.