Remember when any ol’ team could come from nowhere and make the Final Four?
That was so 2016.
Though Florida and Wisconsin closed out the Sweet 16 with some long-awaited thrills Friday night, the favorites and a few others among this year’s Elite Eight are playing more like powerhouses who want to drain all the drama from March Madness.
North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas – programs that have combined for 11 Final Four appearances since 2000 – are showing, once again, that they can play some of their best basketball in March. In the regional semifinals, they were double-digit winners against 3 and 4 seeds that were expected to keep things interesting.
“If they play like they did the second half, they can’t” be stopped, said Purdue coach Matt Painter, after the Boilermakers were outscored 51-26 over the final 20 minutes of a 98-66 loss to the Jayhawks on Thursday.