Final Four is set after UCONN stuns Duke + MN state boys tourney recap

In this immediate reaction episode, host Steve Hartman breaks down a weekend of absolute disbelief in the final Elite 8 game. After a refreshing spring break Steve returned just in time to witness one of the most stunning collapses in NCAA Tournament history as UConn erased a 19-point deficit to knock off top-seeded Duke.

Inside the Episode:

• The Duke Meltdown: Steve reacts to the closing seconds of the UConn-Duke thriller, specifically the late turnover by freshman Cayden Boozer that led to Braylon Mullins’ game-winning 35-footer. We dive into the "Freshman Ceiling" debate—is Duke too reliant on 18 and 19-year-olds in high-pressure moments compared to the veteran-heavy rosters of Michigan and UConn?.
• The Final Four Field: A look at the "heavyweight" matchup between Michigan and Arizona, which many feel could be the de facto National Championship game. Steve also analyzes the "matchup nightmare" that is Illinois, highlighting their incredible defensive transformation from 80th in the country to 8th since March 1st.
• The Big Ten Statement: With half of the Elite Eight consisting of Big Ten teams and two moving on to the Final Four, we discuss how the conference’s emphasis on size, length, and physicality is paying off.
• MSHSL Boys State Tournament Recap: Steve recaps a wild week at the barn, including:
• 4A: The Chaska Hawks'  winning streak culminates in a title win over Apple Valley.
• 3A: Totino-Grace edging out DeLaSalle in a high-intensity rivalry battle.
• 2A: Minnehaha Academy returning to the top for the first time since 2021.
• 1A: Hills-Beaver Creek completing a historic "double" by adding a basketball championship to their 9-man football state title.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Bag and bag and bag. What is up, everyone? Welcome to the Splash City Basketball Podcast. I am your host, Steve Hartman. It's been a while. Spring break was here. I had to step away with the family, enjoyed a nice trip out to Zion National Park. Got my head right. Came home Friday night late and settled in for a weekend of Elite Eight games. And here I am after Duke falls apart against Yukon. And now I gotta go get my head right again because I cannot believe what just happened in that game. We'll get to that in more Elite Eight Final Four talk. We'll talk a little bit of the state basketball tournament for the boys, uh, recap some of what I saw there. I had to watch from afar a lot of the games online, but I did follow it very closely and uh even took in a game on Saturday in person. But first of all, I want to make sure that if you want to follow the Splash City Basketball podcast, you can do so on Instagram, Blue Sky, Facebook. Um, got a new website up, check that out. There's links to all the recordings, all the podcast episodes, as well as um if you do, or if you are interested in getting some merch, there is some information there as well. Splash City Basketball quarter zips, sweatshirts, hats, things like that. Um so go to splashcitybasketball.com for anything related to that. Let me know what you think. Um still work in progress, of course, but uh we got a piece together. We got we got a website up and running. But yeah, all that and more to get to. Um, and with that, let's get into it. So, first things first, just live reaction. I literally watched the end of this game like an hour and 10 minutes ago, hour and 15 minutes ago. Um can't believe what I saw, to be honest. I'm still kind of in disbelief. Duke, if you didn't see it, Duke's winning most of the game. They're up 15 and a half. They had a lead of 19 at one point, um, kind of controlled the game. You knew UConn was gonna make a run. They're very experienced grouped. Uh Alex Caravan, Terrace Reed, Solo Ball, they got Silas Demery. I mean, they got old dudes, right? Like, and that's I think the theme of what I'm gonna talk about. But like older guys, they're gonna come, they're gonna make a push, and they do, and they get it cut down, they cut it to one. Cam Boozer comes down, tough finish in the paint. Duke's up three. Um UConn comes down, they get free throws, and they miss the first, make the second. So they're down two points. Duke has the ball. All you there's like 20 seconds left, maybe if that. All you gotta do is inbound the ball, get fouled, make two free throws. Even if you make one free throw and they make a miracle shot, it's overtime. Make two, the game's over. Duke gets the ball out of a trap, they're burning some clock, they get it to the middle of the floor, Caden Boozer catches it, throws it, and it's tipped. UConn intercepts it. Braylon Mullens buries about a 35-footer for the win. So you went from worst case scenario, they have to inbound the ball on the other end of the court and make a half-court shot with your defense set, or you're in the game, you win the game and it's over. You're up four with like two seconds left. I don't know what Caden Boozer was thinking. He's a freshman, but that's the difference. Two years in a row, Duke has blown large leads late in games against experienced teams and experienced coaches. And I said it earlier in the year about Shire. My worry was this like inability to close games. And I think, I think that is because they don't have experience and their star, their stars aren't experienced. Look at these other teams in the final four. Illinois, they're older. Kylan Boswell, Keaton Walker's a freshman, but they're not solely reliant on him. Even their uh quote unquote European freshmen um are not young. They're not 18, 19 years old. They're counting on Avisic, they're counting on Stoyakovich, they're counting Stoyakovic has been great, by the way. Um, Kylan Boswell, um, guys like that, like Michigan, Lindeborg, Cadot, um, Mara, Mares Johnson, these are old men, 22 years old. Duke, last two years relying on 18 and 19-year-old guys to make decisions and plays in the most critical moments. And whether that's Shire's fault or not, like obviously they were great. They beat Michigan head to head. They were the overall number one seed. They should have won this game. But something has to change at Duke, uh, whether it's philosophy, whether it's players, uh, uh, who you're bringing in, if you if you want to win these these games, the games against tough-minded teams with older guys, you have to have either a better sense of that or you need to know your team better or something. But that lasts, you know, as as much as that play costs, you know, Shire didn't want to call to call out one play, but that play wins you the game. You either win or lose based on that play. There's a lot of other plays. We all know that things lead up to it. You can look at any one of those plays when they UConn made their comeback. But that play is the play. If you make it, you win. If you don't, you lose. And so when you have guys making these decisions and plays at the end of games that aren't used to that level, and I know that you know the narrative with the boozers has been they've won everywhere. They win AAU championships, state championships. You know, when they were younger, they were winning championships. Uh team USA under 17 championships, all this. That's that's all we've heard about. And honestly, I totally buy into that. Like Cam Boozer is unbelievable. Um, even in this game, you know, I thought he was fantastic. He's just a load. And you're thinking, you know, he's out guarding point guards and he's guarding caravan and taking advantages of his size and strength, and you know, he had a charge turnover. And I noted that to my son, and I said, watch, he's not gonna make that same mistake again. He didn't, he's phenomenal, but they just get too reliant on these young guys to make and they are making mistakes in these critical moments. Um, you know, UConn played a great second half. Um, I just still can't believe that, you know, it's the same way when I watch NBA games and I'm thinking, how is a person who's played professional basketball for 10 years make that play? Like that's just a play you wouldn't expect a 12th grader and a junior, a sophomore to make in high school, and they do it regularly. And this was one of those for Duke. I mean, it's just I know Shire's getting a ton of heat right now, and and I I don't know. You know, and some on one hand you say, like, man, number one team in the country, great season, putting together can every year they're they're loaded, but you know, you got to break through. Like Brad Underwood couldn't break through, Matt Painter couldn't break through. So maybe it's just takes time, right? Maybe he just needs to be there more. Maybe he's a young coach, maybe he just needs this experience. Um, but man, when it comes down to like just little things like that, and last year it was, you know, relying on Cooper Flag every time, isolating him. Um, Cam Boozer's a different player. Cam Boozer, you isolate, he can post up, and he seems to usually make the right decision or be able to make a shot down low with his strength and physicality, which Flag didn't have. Um, but man, I I still I I just cannot believe they lost that game. Up to with the ball, like 10 seconds to go, man. Just hold on to it. Just shoot a free throw. Who cares? Like, why why? Why did you need it? It's just again, okay. He's a Caden Boozer's a freshman, and he played great. When Caleb Foster went out, he played phenomenal. Um, so I just I guess I'm just still like like Shire said in the postgame, there are no words. I don't know what to say. Like this is but it's two years in a row, and I said it earlier this year, their other losses this year were double digit leads in the second half. And I had a buddy shouts to Tyler, he said he turned the game off early because Duke was smoking them. And I said, Nah, not in these games, not against these teams, not at this level. You can't turn that off. And um, man, just a just a killer way to lose for Duke. Um, other games, Michigan, Arizona look awesome. That might be the championship game in a semifinal, uh perfectly mixed teams, right? Like I thought Tennessee and early on gave Michigan what teams need to do against Michigan. Like they matched their size and physicality, but they just got worn down. Michigan is kind of used to playing that way, and Arizona is used to playing that way. Um, Michigan's, I would say, like, in my opinion, maybe has the edge a little bit. But man, I can't wait for the Jaden Bradley, Elliott Cadell matchup, uh, Burries against uh Burnett and McKinney. Um, Jaxel Leninberg at the Leninborg at the three is a tough matchup for Arizona, I think. That might be a little bit of the difference. Um, you know, in games like this, sometimes it's role players like Will Cheddar, shout out Stewartville, Minnesota. Is he gonna help? Is he gonna knock down a couple of threes late for Michigan to help? Um, because you know, Krivass and Mara, kind of a wash, Morez Johnson, um, you cole Pete, like there's another freshman versus senior type of game. Like, does that gonna impact it? And then um, you know, Arizona brings Awaka off the bench, and he's just a dude. Um, so that that's gonna be an awesome game. Um, looking forward to that. I'll do more preview. I'll probably do a preview show on Wednesday about these games. Uh, but this is just like immediate reaction here. Um, Illinois, I want to talk about them a little bit. Um, everyone, you know, number one offense all year in the country. Like they everybody knew they could score. It was whether they could defend and whether they could um use their length and their size to make it difficult for opponents to score. And they really didn't do that much this year. I think when Boswell was out, they had a hard time controlling the ball, which forced them into rotations and they weren't as um quick at times. Um, and so now you have Boswell and Waggler and Stoyakovich. You kind of have three guys there on the perimeter, and um they went from 80th in the regular season in defensive efficiency, and they are eighth since March 1st. So that's been the biggest change for Illinois. Um, they have size, they have strength. Again, older guys, Humrick House, Boswell, Stoyakovich, Ivisic. Um, a lot of these guys have been around. And even Merkovich, right? Like the when you're a European and you're 19 or 20, you've probably played against men for four years at that point. So Illinois, Yukon should be a really good game. I've always rooted for Brad Underwood. I really like him as a coach. Um, so that should be a fun, fun Final Four game as well. Um, Illinois' first Final Four since 05. Uh, that was the Luther Head, D Brown, uh, Darren, Darren Williams group. That was awesome. Um, so fun, fun things for the Illinois. We got two teams in the Big Ten in the final four. We had four in the Elite Eight. So you, you know, basically half of this uh has been Big Ten teams. Big Ten is showing up, they're showing out. They got some, they got some dudes in the Big Ten this year for sure. It's experience, it's size. Um, so as you think about building rosters in college basketball right now, man, it's it's all about size and length and toughness and physicality. These are the teams that are winning in college basketball right now. Um, so so far, I mean, that Yukon shot, I will say that's your March Madness moment, right? That's the one that's gonna be shown. That's like the Jalen Sugg shot against UCLA in the Final Four. Um, it's the one that's gonna be shown on TV for all the promotions of March Madness for years to come. Um, phenomenal stuff. You know, that Duke Yukon uh postseason NCAA tournament rivalry, I guess you'll call it, has been going on for a long time. Uh older older guys might remember, older fans, listeners might remember, but uh Christian Leitner beat UConn on a buzzer beater in 1990 uh to go to the Final Four, I believe. Uh bank shot on the left wing, I believe it was. And um, yeah, they've just been going at it since. Their CBS showed a graphic today that said the last three times these two hooked up in the NCAA tournament, the winner went on to win the national title. So I don't know if that sways you anyway to go Yukon here to pull some upsets, but it's good to see not just one seeds. Um, Florida went down, obviously, to Iowa, and um, you know, Illinois gets that gets the bit out of that region. And then um Duke obviously going down today to to Yukon. So um not a ton of Cinderellas, you know, we've talked about that a little bit, but um, I think this has been a great tournament. It's certainly more enjoyable, more exciting than last year. There's been great games, a lot of close games um from start to finish. That going back to the first game. TCU against Ohio State came down to the wire, a two-point game, and and it's been a pretty good tournament so far. And I think these final four teams are legit. I've said all year there were 12 teams I could totally see making the final four. Michigan, Arizona, and Duke felt like the three that were kind of above. And then there was a group of you know, Purdue and UConn and Houston and um, you know, Texas Tech until Toppin got hurt. And you um, you know, Illinois was in kind of in that group. Sometimes you felt really good about Illinois, and then sometimes they'd give up 90 points three games in a row, and you're like, I don't know. And uh so, but here we are. So you got probably two best teams playing, Michigan and Arizona, and you got UConn who's got the pedigree, they got the experience, they got the coach, and you got Illinois, who's a matchup nightmare. So it should be a great uh Final Four. Hoping to um lock in somebody for Wednesday to come on with me and we'll talk uh a little bit about the Final Four preview and hopefully get some Wolves talk as well. Um, they've been injured lately, so it's kind of been tough tough to really get too into the results. Um, they've showed showed up, played some good games, got blown out against the Pistons. So we'll see uh if they get Edwards and Jaden McDaniels back this week. Iowa Desumu also missed the Pistons game. So um sorry. Tangent there. Um now I want to swing over quickly to uh just recap the Minnesota State boys' basketball tournament that just wrapped up yesterday. Um, some another like really exciting tournament from start to finish. You kind of had uh upsets in the 1A and 4A field, and then the chalk in the two and three A fields for the most part. So um let's start with 4A. Chaska on you know, riding them, I think it was a 25-game winning streak they ended the season with. Um junior Tyler Forrest was awesome all season, but especially in the tournament. Um, but you know, in that championship game against Apple Valley, freshman Jed Keenan hit some big threes, had a nice um spin, one leg fadeaway he hit. Um Kaelin Jokum also was awesome, guarded um Kamari Young for Apple Valley in that game a lot, made eight free throws at the end of the game to seal it. You know, sometimes you see those uh an underclassmen maybe in that moment and uh miss a front end, and that gives life to the other team. But man, Chaska just able to control the end of that game, make the free throws, even with Trey Parker for Apple Valley going absolutely bonkers. Like shot making was you know outstanding, man. I that was so fun to see him just get to his spot, hit and step back threes. Guys were in his face, and he was just on one. The problem for Apple Valley is they had him and Kamari Young for so many games in a row where they were just too tough, those two. And in this game, uh Chaska was able to control Young and limit his, I think he was two for 10 or 2 for 12, something like that from the field. And so it was just Trey Parker, and it just wasn't enough for Apple Valley. Apple Valley, the seven seed, Chaska, the five seed in the championship game at 4-A. That's pretty rare. I can't remember the last time we had uh two upset, uh two lower seed teams in the championship game. So kudos to the Hawks. Uh, what a season for them. Um, and then 3A. 3A. We had Totino Grace and DeL. One and two. Totino Grace wins by two. Outstanding game, back and forth, um, some crazy talent, and notably a lot of underclassmen in this game. Um, same with Richfield, who lost to DeL by three in the semifinal. Those three teams are loaded with juniors and sophomores, so look out for them again next year. Um, but yeah, what a game. Uh, just back and forth. Big, you know, you could kind of feel there's a lot of uh rivalry, a little jawn going on, a couple technicals there, but uh a little intensity, maybe not controlled the best way, but again, um just crazy, crazy, um, crazy game, crazy talent on both teams. Um, the defense from Totino at the end, you know, didn't allow D to get a shot off. So D gets the ball in, but they got four or five seconds to get the ball up the court. They don't even get it past half court. I mean, on ball defense uh was phenomenal for for the for the Eagles. So shout out to them for that win as well. Uh really exciting games there. In two-way, mini haha, the three seed, they uh come back, win the second half by 14 to defeat Goodhue. Um, Mini Haha, first title since 2021 when they had Chet Holmgren. But remember the name Kellen Trout. 6'8 Jr. had 24 points, nine rebounds, um, and just was was tough to handle. Uh, Goodhue also, I mean, Goodhue has has some dudes too, man. They were the number one seed. They were one of the best teams all season. And um, Alex Luce, sophomore, man, there's another name to remember. Like the the amount of underclassmen in this state tournament that were impact, best player on the court or best player on their team is just astounding to me a little bit. Like, it's it's wild. So uh mini haha, the Redhawks win that one. And then uh in Class A, Hills Beaver Creek, they won the Nyman State Football Championship. Now they win the Class A basketball champion, Patriots. Shout out to them. Awesome season. Uh Henning loses in the semifinals to Hills Beaver Creek by four in a great game. Um, and then Hills Beaver Creek kind of just runs away with the um with the championship game over Janesville, Waldorf, Pemberton. They JWP just couldn't couldn't get any shots to fall. That first half was a struggle all the way through. Um Hills Beaver Creek was the five seed. Uh JWP was the two seed. But yeah, HBC was just on one. They run, they were playing some really good basketball. Um, so they get the they get the win in the Class A championship all the way around. Just fun stuff, man. I went to the third place game in the foray on Saturday, took my son and a friend of his and um could watch the championship games on TV, so we didn't need to be in person for those. And so we watched Maplegrove and uh Tartan, number one Tartan, who had been undefeated until they lost to Chaska in the semifinals. Um, awesome game, goes to overtime, huge swings in this game. Tartan was up, I think, 16 at one point in the first half or early second. Maple Grove comes back, they take a 10-point lead late in the second with like four or five minutes to go. Tartan comes back and ties it up, and then in overtime, it was the Duke King show, and uh Tartan pulls away. So they get third place. Maplegrove gets fourth. Um, both teams awesome again. Uh Tartan, Kevin Wilson Jr. was phenomenal in the first half, and then he got in a little bit of foul trouble, and that kind of allowed Maple Grove to get going again. Maple Grove went to the 1-3-1 zone with Babu K on out top on that zone, and that just gave Tartan a lot of trouble. They couldn't get that diagonal pass. Um, and when they finally figured that out, that's when they got back in the game after being down 10. So just the resilience, you know. I one of the things I've been talking to my son and some of his teammates about is just how basketball's a 36-minute game in high school, it's a 40-minute game in college, and you have to play that whole time. And there are runs. It is a game of runs, and you hope your runs are bigger and longer than their runs because every team's gonna have one. It's very rare you're gonna go a whole game and you're just gonna be on it and you're gonna be crisp. That's why you see teams get a lead and they get a little lackadaisical. The other team makes their run. And, you know, as you see, like you can get down by 16, you can get butt down by 19, like UConn did today, and come back and win games. It's not over until it's zeros on the scoreboard. So so much, uh, so much fun to watch these uh high school, these college games. It's been a great market. Mattis, we got Final Four to come. Wolves currently in fifth place in the Western Conference. So there'll be Wolves playoff games to come. So more basketball to come, more basketball to talk about. We're gonna have more on Wednesday's show. And uh we'll talk a little bit of Wolves. We'll talk a little bit Final Four preview, and and maybe uh if I get uh my buddy Matt on, we can talk a little bit about um offseason stuff as well. Um, spring season, the AAU stuff starting to ramp up a little bit. We're seeing that uh with our squad. We got some tournaments coming up in April, so um, you know, the basketball grind doesn't necessarily stop. You just take a little break here and there to get your head right, go visit a national park. But um it's been super fun. So thanks for listening. Uh again, if you can follow on Instagram, Blue Sky, Facebook, and then subscribe on YouTube as well as Apple, Spotify, Amazon, wherever you get your podcasts. Happy to be back here talking hoops with you. And I hope you've enjoyed this brief, brief reaction show to the results of the weekend, including the Yukon stunning Duke to make it to the Final Four. Illinois, Yukon, Michigan, Arizona, Saturday, Final Four. Um, we got Chaska, Totino Grace, Mini Haha Academy, and Hills Beaver Creek, Minnesota Boys State Basketball Champions. I'm Steve Hartman, and this has been the Splash City Basketball Podcast. Bag and Bag and Bag again.