Can’t stop dancing NCAA’s Final

Something missing here? For the first time since the NCAA basketball tournament began in 1939, there are zero No. 1 seeds remaining in the Final Four.

In fact, none of the projected top guns made it as far as the Elite Eight.

Here’s how the leading lights went dark on the bracket sheet.

• Alabama was rolled by San Diego.

• Houston’s last rodeo was a loss to Miami.

Florida Atlantic Owls

Location: Boca Raton, Fla.

Conference: Conference USA (will move to American Athletic next season)

Record: 35-3

Coach: Dusty May, fifth season

NCAA championships: none (FAU did not compete in basketball until 1988 and wasn’t Division 1 until ’93)

Road to Houston: NCAA wins over Memphis 66-65, Fairleigh-Dickinson 78-70, Tennessee 62-55, Kansas State 79-76.

Players to watch: Johnell Davis (13.9 scoring average); Alijah Martin (13.1); 7-foot-1 Russian Vladislav Goldin (10.3)

Fun Fact: An Owls’ assistant coach is Drew Williamson, a former assistant under Lonnie Blow at Virginia State; Williamson starred as a player at Old Dominion.

San Diego State Aztecs

Location: San Diego (with about 37,000 students and 300,000 alumni)

Record: 31-6

Coach: Brian Dutcher, sixth season

Conference: Western Athletic

NCAA championships: none

Road to Houston: NCAA wins over Charleston 63-57, Furman 75-52, Alabama 71-64 and Creighton 57-56.

Players to watch: Matt Bradley (12.5), Darrion Trammell (9.9), 6-10 Nate Mensah (62 blocked shots, from Ghana).

Fun fact: San Diego is alma mater of Tony Gwynn, best known for baseball. However, Gwynn played basketball, too, for the Aztecs, setting several records for assists and earning All-Conference honors.

Four

• Kansas got oinked by Arkansas Razorbacks.

• Purdue speared by Fairleigh-Dickinson’s hyphen. Furthermore, none of last year’s Final Foursome (bluebloods Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Villanova) are back for an encore.

Meanwhile, the guitarists, organists and drummers continue to make music as the Big Dance shifts stages to Houston. Here’s a look at the last four kicking up their heels in the annual 68-team single elimination hoops gig.

Justices’ court rulings continue JM’s Dennis Parker Jr. named Player of the Year

In what may be an unprecedented achievement, all five of John Marshall High’s starters were named to the Class 2, All-State first team.

JM’s Dennis Parker Jr. was named Player of the Year and Justices’ Ty White was selected Coach of the Year in a vote conducted by the Virginia High School League.

Joining Parker on the first team was senior Jason Rivera, juniors Damon Thompson and Dominique Bailey and freshman Latrell Allmond.

The Justices, who went 28-0 in winning their second straight State title, will head to Atlanta to compete in The Throne National Tournament, a 16-team single elimination event at Morehouse College.

JM’s first game will be March 29 against Douglasville, Ga. The tournament runs through April 2. Parker, who has signed with North Carolina State, led the Justices this season with a 19.9 scoring average. He is followed in the scoring column by Rivera (15.4),Thompson (14.6) Allmond (14.2) and Bailey (9.0).

John Marshall’s girls weren’t left off the honor role, either. Senior Jaedyn Cook, who helped the Lady Justices to a 20-7 record and State semifinals, was named All-State first team. The 6-foot-2 forward will continue to play basketball at East Carolina.

Where: NRG Stadium, Houston Semifinals

Saturday, April 1, 6:09 p.m. - Florida Atlantic vs. San Diego State;

8:49 p.m. - Connecticut vs. Miami

Finals

Monday, April 3, 9 p.m.

TV: CBS (Announcers Jim Nantz, Bill Rafferty, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)

Radio: Westwood One

Connecticut Huskies

Location: Storrs, Conn.

Conference: Big East

Record: 29-8

Coach: Dan Hurley, fifth season

NCAA championships; 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014

Road to Houston: NCAA wins over Iona 87-63, St. Mary’s 70-55, Arkansas 88-65 and Gonzaga 82-54.

Players to watch: 6-9 Adama Sanogo (17.1, from Mali); Jordan Hawkins (16.3), Tristan Newton (171 assists)

Fun Fact: UConn has sent some 38 players to the NBA, including 13 lottery picks. The only retired jersey number is Ray Allen’s No. 34.

Miami Hurricanes

Location: Coral Gables, Fla.

Record: 29-7

Coach: Jim Larranaga, 12th season (guided George Mason to 2006 Final Four)

Road to Houston: NCAA wins over Drake 63-56, Indiana 85-69, Houston 89-75 and Texas 88-81.

Players to watch: Jordan Miller scored 27 points in Region final vs. Texas, hitting all seven field goal tries and all 13 free throws; Norchad Omier, from Nicaragua, averages 13.3 and Isaiah Wong 16.3.

Fun Fact: NBA great Rick Barry played at Miami 1962’65 and led NCAA in scoring in ’65, 37.4 points per game. Miami was independent at the time and on probation. Palm trees: It is fitting that Palm Sunday this year falls on April 2. Three of the four finalists (Miami, Florida Atlantic, San Diego) hail from palm tree locations.

Joe Taylor adds Hampton to his HOF honors

The name Joe Taylor is synonymous with Hall of Fame. Taylor will be inducted into the Hampton University Hall of Fame on March 29 in Hampton.

Currently the Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and Community Awareness at Virginia Union, the Washington D.C. native will soon be a member of seven Hall of Fames. They include Western Illinois, Virginia Union, CIAA, MEAC, Black Colleges Association and National Football Foundation Hall of Fames.

NBA legend Willis Reed dies at age 80

He led the Knicks to titles in 1970 and 1973

Willis Reed, who belongs in any conversation about the greatest HBCU basketball players of all time, died Tuesday, March 21, 2023, of heart failure. The Grambling State and New York Knicks legend was 80.

Nicknamed “The Captain,” Mr. Reed was the undersized center and emotional leader on the Knicks’ two NBA championship teams, with a soft shooting touch and a toughness to tussle with the era’s superstar big men on the inside.

He was remembered perhaps more for the manner he led the Knicks than how superbly he played for them.

“Willis Reed was the ultimate team player and consummate leader. My earliest and fondest memories of NBA basketball are of watching Willis, who embodied the winning spirit that defined the New York Knicks’ championship teams in the early 1970s,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.

Mr. Reed, a 6-foot-10 left-hander from Lincoln Parish, La., starred with New York from 1964 to 1974, leading the Knicks to NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.

Wearing No. 19, he was a seven-time All-Star, averaging 19 points and 13 rebounds for his career, often facing the likes of Boston’s Bill Russell and Philadelphia’s Wilt Chamberlain in Eastern Division matchups.

Mr. Reed had a smooth outside shot and was plenty to match up with the NBA finest in the paint.

In 1970 Mr. Reed was the NBA Most Valuable Player, All-Star Game MVP and playoffs Finals MVP.

He may be most remembered for the deciding Game Seven of the 1970 Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, then featuring Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Mr. Reed had missed Game 6 with a torn muscle in his thigh and LA had won 135-113. He was not expected to play in Game 7.

To the surprise and delight of many at Madison Square Garden, Mr. Reed limped onto the floor to start the game and quickly hit two jump shots. The crowd exploded with emotion.

When a hobbling Mr. Reed left the game for good late in the first half, the Knicks led 61-37 and went on to prevail 113-101.

Afterward, on national television, commentator Howard Cosell said this to Mr. Reed: “You exemplify the very best that the human spirit can offer.”

vs. vs. HBCU legends

Taylor posted a 136-49-1 overall record at Hampton between 1992 and 2007. He was 93-24-1 vs. MEAC opponents.

Mr. Reed was selected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1982, to the College Hall of Fame in 2006, to the NBA’s 50th anniversary team in 1997 and to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in 2021. He was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1965. His No. 19 is retired by the Knicks. Following retirement as a player, Mr. Reed served as head coach at Creighton University, as assistant coach at St. John’s and an assistant coach and administrator with several NBA franchises, including the Knicks.

The greatest HBCU players to star in the NBA in addition to Grambling’s Willis Reed Al Attles (North Carolina A&T), Earl Monroe (Winsto-Salem State), Sam Jones (North Carolina Central), Zelmo Beaty (Prairie View), Bob Love (Southern), Charles Oakley and Ben Wallace (Virginia Union), Bob Dandridge (Norfolk State), Dick Barnett and Anthony Mason (Tennessee State), Elmore Smith (Kentucky State). And don’t forget Travis Grant; scored an all-divisions record 4,045 points at Kentucky State, 378 more than Division I leader Pete Maravich. Grant went on to play in ABA and NBA, averaging 14 points for his pro career.

Overall, in stints at Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton and Florida A&M, Taylor was 233-96-4. His teams won four national Black Colleges championships, 14 conference titles and were winners of seven bowl games. He currently is a member of the College Football Playoff committee.

NSU’s associate coach is one to watch

Jasmine Young is building an impressive résumé as an upand-coming women’s basketball coach.

The Richmonder served as the associate head coach this past season for MEAC champion Norfolk State. The Spartans finished 26-7 with a loss to top seed South Carolina in the NCAA tournament.

This was Coach Young’s third season at Norfolk State and second as the associate head coach under Larry Vickers.

Before going to Norfolk, Young served as an assistant coach at Virginia Union under Coach AnnMarie Gilbert. In Coach Young’s final two seasons at VUU, the Panthers were 56-8 and went to the NCAA Division II finals in 2017.

As a player, Coach Young was a brilliant guard at Monacan High School in Chesterfield County and at East Carolina State University. She went on to play professionally in Puerto Rico, Poland and Germany.