AP Photo
Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther
Thursday, March 23, 2023 | 2 a.m.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL
• When: March 23 and 25
• Where: T-Mobile Arena
• Who: UConn vs. Arkansas at 4:15 p.m.; UCLA vs. Gonzaga at 6:45 p.m.; winners play each other two days later, time TBD
• TV: CBS
• Tickets: Sold out but available through axs.com and secondary-ticket sites
The first game will match a preseason national championship favorite against a midseason national championship favorite, and the second will pair two of the two best programs in the Western United States, both of which were considered title threats all year.
The first group of teams ever to play NCAA Tournament games in Las Vegas couldn’t have turned out much better. The West Region has looked like the premier piece of the bracket since Selection Sunday, with the regional champion to be crowned March 25 at T-Mobile Arena after a pair of semifinal games there on March 23.
No. 8 seed Arkansas might look like an intruder alongside No. 2 seed UCLA, No. 3 seed Gonzaga and No. 4 seed Connecticut, but the Razorbacks are no Cinderella. Some sportsbooks had them as co-favorites to win the national championship in the months leading up to the season, with a historically strong recruiting class coming in following back-to-back Elite 8 berths.
It just took Arkansas a while to reach its potential, which it has undoubtedly done, having knocked off West No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas 72-71 in the round of 32.
The Razorbacks’ opponent, Connecticut, won its first 14 games this season to reach No. 1 in the polls. Gonzaga and UCLA were frequently near the top, too, and will now renew their rivalry.
Here’s a closer looker at the four teams, with a headliner (top player to watch) and a showstopper (an attribute that regularly stops opponents dead in their tracks) for each.
No. 8 seed Arkansas
• Headliner: Nick Smith Jr. Smith, the top high school recruit in the nation last year, has actually played poorly so far in the tournament and got benched without scoring a single point in the upset over Kansas. But that makes his remaining college games all the more intriguing, as NBA scouts will be watching closely to see how he responds to adversity. Smith is a projected top-five pick in June’s NBA Draft, and that probably won’t change even if he continues to struggle. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard has shown enough over the past month, lifting the Razorbacks to another level during the regular season after missing most of the year with a knee injury.
• Showstopper: Athleticism. It’s uncommon for the highest-seeded team left in a regional semifinal to have the most talent, but that’s the case here—and it might not be close. Alongside Smith, the Razorbacks have three other players highly likely to contribute in the NBA—guards Anthony Black (who could also be selected in the top five in the upcoming NBA Draft), Jordan Walsh and Ricky Council IV. Walsh was the game-breaker against the Jayhawks, locking up National Player of the Year finalist Jalen Wilson to spur a second-half comeback after the Razorbacks went down by 12 points.
No. 4 seed Connecticut
• Headliner: Adama Sanogo.The 6-foot-9 junior forward from Mali has been one of the best players in the nation all year, averaging 17 points and seven rebounds per game—and he’s taken it to another level in the tournament. Sanogo has scored a total of 52 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in blowout wins over No. 13 seed Iona and No. 5 seed St. Mary’s, while going 21-for-29 from the field. Some might expect the bigger-name opponents ahead to do a better job defending him, but he has excelled regardless of the competition. In November, Sanogo scored 25 points in an easy 82-67 win over NCAA Tournament overall No. 1 seed Alabama at a neutral site.
• Showstopper: Strength. UConn trailed Iona at halftime in the first round of the tournament and led St. Mary’s by just one point, but it outscored the two teams by a combined 89-49 in the second half. The late-game runs are no coincidence. The Huskies take pride in wearing down their opponents. They’re probably the best rebounding team in the country, and it’s not all Sanogo. Their guards also crash the boards, and UConn brings 7-foot-2 freshman Donovan Clingan off the bench. The Huskies’ seven loses on the year show there is a way to beat them; it’s just not through trying to outmuscle them in the paint.
No. 3 seed Gonzaga
• Headliner: Julian Strawther.Three-time All-American Drew Timme, the school’s all-time leading scorer, might be the obvious choice, but this is Las Vegas. And this city belongs to Strawther, Timme’s top sidekick and one of the best prep basketball players in Nevada history out of Liberty High. The junior nearly left for the NBA Draft after last season but returned, alongside seniors Timme, Rasir Bolton and Anton Watson, with the hope that the experienced core could bring home the ultimate prize—Gonzaga’s first-ever national championship. Timme might be the face of the Bulldogs, but Strawther is their most dynamic player, a standout on both ends of the court who averages 15.5 points and six rebounds per game.
• Showstopper: Offense.Gonzaga leads the nation in offensive efficiency, and there’s not a close second (though UConn is the next team behind them in the category among remaining teams). The Bulldogs can excel in any style game; they beat Alabama 100-90 in a de facto track meet earlier the season and out-executed St. Mary’s in a much-slower half-court battle 77-51 in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship. Gonzaga is first in the nation in two-point field goal percentage (58.7%), 10th in three-point percentage (38.4%) and 12th in turnover percentage (14.7%), and enters the Sweet 16 on an 11-game win streak, during which it has averaged 91 points.
No. 2 seed UCLA
• Headliner: Jaime Jaquez. Things got tight in the Bruins’ second-round game against Northwestern, when the Wildcats tied the game at 45 midway through the second half. But Jaquez, a senior swingman, converted on two shots to help settle his teammates down and lead them to a 68-63 victory. He has come through in those type of moments for three straight years, including helping UCLA reach the Final Four as a No. 11 seed in 2021. That tournament is mostly remembered for an instant-classic national semifinal game in which Jaquez’s 19 points weren’t quite enough to top Timme’s 25 points in a 93-90 overtime loss to Gonzaga. The two teams reconvened early the next season in a neutral-site game at T-Mobile Arena, with Jaquez again scoring 19 points but Gonzaga again prevailing. The trilogy comes in the Sweet 16.
• Showstopper: Defense. Some wondered if East Coast lifer coach Mick Cronin’s slow, stingy style would fit with perhaps college basketball’s most glamorous program when he went from Cincinnati to UCLA in 2019. It has. It might not be the prettiest brand of basketball, but UCLA absolutely stifles opponents. The Bruins have gone back and forth between first and second in national defensive efficiency all year (along with fellow Sweet 16 participant Tennessee). UCLA vs. Gonzaga might therefore truly be a matchup of the nation’s best defense against the nation’s best offense. If “defense wins championships,” UCLA could be in line for its 12th national title—and first since 1995.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
