NCAA Tournament - Looking ahead at next week's Final Four matchups
Yahoo Sports writer Krysten Peek gives a preview of next week's Final Four matchups between San Diego State vs. FAU and UConn vs. Miami.
Video Transcript
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KRYSTEN PEEK: This has been anything but a chalk year in the NCAA tournament. And the Final Four is that with UConn Miami, Florida Atlantic, and San Diego State all punching a ticket to Houston. This is the first final forever without a number one, two, or three seed. And the stakes couldn't be higher for three out of the four teams making it to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
Let's break down the final matchups and how they got here. First up is San Diego State versus Florida Atlantic. The Aztecs have been one of the toughest defensive teams in the tournament and took down number one overall seed Alabama before defeating Creighton in the Elite Eight. The Aztecs will lean on the ball handling and decision making of senior guard Darrion Trammell and rim protection of 6 foot 10 Nathan Mensah, who recorded five blocks in the win over Alabama.
FAU's road to the Final Four has been met with its own challenges as well. In the Sweet 16 the Owls defeated SEC powerhouse Tennessee by 7 points. And then it was a late game battle against a talented Kansas State team that brought them out of the East Region. Guard John Al Davis and Nick Boyd have been tremendous down the stretch for the Owls and will need to have another big game to advance past the Aztecs.
And the second game is UConn from the Big East, who is looking like the best, most consistent team of the tournament. And Miami out of the ACC in a power conference battle. Miami might have had the hardest road to the Final Four first, taking down number one Houston and then defeating number two Texas to advance out of the Midwest region. The guard play from Isaiah Wong. A near-perfect game from Jordan Miller continues to propel the Hurricanes through the tournament
UConn has won each game convincingly defeating number three [? Gonzaga ?] by 28 points. And the round before that they shut down a hot Arkansas team in the Sweet 16 by 23. Sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins is shooting the ball extremely well, averaging 22 points in the last two games.
The stage is set. It's a number 5 seed versus number 9 and another number 5 seed versus number 4. The unlikely Final Four matchups will be must watch basketball, with UConn now being the favorite heading into the final weekend of college basketball. And for continual coverage on the Final Four and all college hoops news, keep it right here on Yahoo Sports.