Caitlin Clark, Cinderella NC State make it a great eight in crescendo of NCAA Final Fours | Opinion
It was so truly great to meet you, DJ Burns Jr. Please don’t go!
Love,
America
Our infatuation with Caitlin Clark, the biggest thing in Iowa since corn, has grown through the years to the point she has undeniably and justifiably been the face of March-into-April Madness in 2024.
Then Sunday night happened, and we met the heartbeat of The Last Cinderella Standing in the big kid from No. 11 seed North Carolina State who we delighted to watch inflict third-degree Burns on No. 4 Duke.
There always is something soul-nourishing to see Duke fans sad, but this was extra special coming from a long-downtrodden Atlantic Coast Conference rival and seeing the upset instigated by D.J. Burns Jr., the 6-9, 275-pound (at least) senior who was buried in anonymity for three seasons at Winthrop before transferring and leading NC State to its first ACC crown since 1987.
And now: the Final Four — N,C, State’s first since ‘83.
Burns is gigantic, a refrigerator with limbs, but with unexpected speed, deft moves and, best of all, an engaging, palpable joy on the court that is as big as his frame.
He arrived like the gift you don’t expect.
With the Wolfpack’s 76-64 ouster of Duke pretty much in hand with 1:47 left and time called, a much smaller reserve teammate of Burns rose to chest-bump him and nearly got knocked into the fourth row by Burns’ adrenaline.
The sudden star of the night posed and smiled during the timeout as fans took photos.
He would bop in rhythm to songs played inside the arena, and why not? Burns happens to be a multi-instrumentalist who plays the piano, standup bass, saxophone and tuba.
Who knew! The things you don’t know about a man until he comes out of nowhere to become a star on a national stage, takes Cinderella by the hand and leads her, past midnight, toward the big dance.
NBA star Nikola Jokic was so enchanted watching Burns late Sunday that he was late for a postgame news conference. Excused tardiness, I’d call it.
The delightful emergence of Burns, who scored 29 points Sunday, enlivens a newly minted men’s Final Four that is legit and excellent: Big East vs. SEC and BIg Ten vs. ACC.
And the women’s Final Four is just as interesting and great. If not more so.
Its a fine time to be a college hoops fan or a sports fan at large as we await the women’s Final Four this coming Friday in Cleveland and the men’s FF a day later just outside Phoenix in Glendale.
Chances are by now that your alma mater or chosen team is out.
Chances are by now that you are drowning in the office pool as the ashes of your bracket smolder.
There is still great cause to revel in anticipation.
First, the men’s surviving quartet:
Dan Hurley’s No. 1 seed UConn men swatted No. 3 Illinois from the season 77-52 and seems close to unbeatable — the reigning national champion and favored to repeat. Only seven times has that happened, and not since the Florida Gators in 2006-07. UConn has led by at least 30 points in every tournament game so far. Unstoppable?
The mighty Huskies will face the football school that apparently can dribble , too: No. 4 Alabama by ousting No. 6 Clemson reaches its first ever Final Four — a long shot eventuality from a team that didn’t get past the quarterfinals in its SEC tourney.
On the other side of the bracket No. 1 Purdue continues living up to its seed in eliminating No. 2 Tennessee behind Zach Edey’s 40 points. Purdue is in its first Final Four wince 1980 but is nobody’s interloper or underdog.
The Boilermakers — kids, it was an occupation before it was a whiskey ‘n beer drink — will now face lovable underdog N.C. State, and Burns vs. Edey should be a scrumptious battle of the bigs.
On to the women’s last four:
Caitlin’s 41 points and 12 rebounds lifted No. 1-seed Iowa past reigning national champion LSU and coach Kim Mulkey, decisively avenging last year’s title-game loss.
Iowa will now face No. 3 UConn, which advanced by beating USC in what was a seed- but not betting-upset. Iowa is a very slight favorite (but infatuation with Caitlin swaying the money?).
In the other bracket No. 1 South Carolina meets No. 3 North Carolina State in a Tobacco Road duel. The Gamecocks are a heavy favorite and won national titles in 2017 and ‘22.
North Carolina State and UConn have both teams in the Final Four. The same school has won both national titles the same year only twice, in 2004 and ‘14. It was UConn both times. Three-peat?
It was Iowa-LSU that riveted Elite Eight attention and made it the most-watched game in women’s college basketball history with 12.3 million viewers.
It was America’s darling Caitlin vs. the dastardly LSU coach Mulkey in about as fine-tuned a Good vs. Evil setup as you will find in sports. I mean that not broadly or with any implication beyond the two women mentioned. Clark is our national sweetheart (at least by media nomination) and the Girl Next Door (albeit in an all-white neighborhood). Mulkey, whose courtside outfits are louder than the crowd, is America’s most unlikable coach by general acclimation and with some cause, as underlined by that controversial and thoroughly reported Washington Post piece.
No matter the result, we’d either get to keep cheering for Clark or rooting against Mulkey. That’s a win-win, America!
This story was originally published April 1, 2024 at 11:40 AM.
