After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Hey guys, this is Kenan Thompson. I have a problem with you. Yes, you. None of y'all told me that Auto Trader has millions of new and used cars that I can shop from home. I thought we were friends.

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Auto Trader. Odysseys I'm Listening is our commitment to more mental health conversations. Dr. Christine Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention talks about the daily change of emotions and mental wellness. Yeah, mental health and emotions are extremely dynamic, meaning they change. That's the most remarkable thing to start to see crisis moments become less and less intense or less frequent. Talk saves lives.

For more mental health conversations, visit I'm listening.org. Oh, happy Friday. If you're a basketball lover, this is a dream weekend for you because not only did we already see the stage set in both New York City and Las Vegas for what should be an incredible trimming of the field, a thinning of the ranks, if you will, down to our final four. And that's what happens by Sunday night.

By the time we reconvene with you after the weekend, only four will remain. If New York City and Las Vegas were any indication the games that we had last night, you don't want to miss anything the rest of the way. And we still have a 15 seed that will be dancing later on this evening in Princeton.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Such a great mix of teams that survived the four games on Thursday evening. And we'll get back to what was the only overtime affair but so tight. It was a dynamic duel that was worthy of both heart palpitations and the hashtag March Madness. If you notice, if you use the hashtag on Twitter, the little bracket sign or little bracket symbol comes up, it's pretty cool.

And so I've been using it as much as possible. But this was a game that was worthy of the March Madness hashtag. So we're going to hear from both Jerome Tang who takes over Kansas State this year after I think it was 20 plus years as an assistant elsewhere, including Baylor. And then Tom Izzo whose Spartans fall short of the Elite Eight after an emotional season full of adversity, of course. And they were trailing 96-93 in the final seconds. They had a shot to tie the game.

But Marquise Noel, he ran the show on both ends of the court at MSG. So we'll get back to that game coming up. The late game, for those of you who are waking up early on either the Eastern Seaboard, the Eastern Time Zone, or in our Central Time Zone, you might have missed Gonzaga and UCLA.

It did not go into overtime, but it was an epic game. And this is even by March Madness standards. We also have a first timer in the Elite Eight in the Owls. Don't know, Jay. Stop playing owl sounds. Jay keeps playing owl sounds and there's owls I've never heard of. If I didn't know these were owls because he told me this was an owl soundtrack, I would have no idea these were owls. They sound like chirping birds. One of them sounded like an animal of a different sort. I feel like I do a better owl than you do over there. Also, Jay's equipment is not working.

So right now he's like making really nasty faces at the equipment. Okay, that sounds like a normal owl. No, that sounds like something.

That sounds like something off of Endor, the planet of Endor in Star Wars. Stop it. That does not sound like an owl. That is a barn owl.

No, it's not. Eurasian barn owl. That sounds more like some type of a cat in the wild. That sounds like a child. That's a little coyote-ish.

Oh, stop it. Can't we just have a normal owl? Can you just give me a normal owl?

I want to see. That's beautiful. It's a pretty standard owl. Do you have any owls in your neighborhood? Actually, I heard one outside my house about maybe a month ago. I didn't know they were out in the winter.

Oh yeah, they don't have any issues with the seasons. In fact, you are sometimes more apt to hear them in the wintertime just because it's a little quieter out there, right? So every now and then I don't hear them all the time, but I would say two or three times a quarter I'll hear an owl and because we have some really just outrageously tall trees about three blocks from me and they perch up in the highest trees and you can hear the hooting. All right, that's a monkey. Stop it.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to the Florida Atlantic owls for giving me a reason to use the owl emoji. I'll just say I had not used the owl emoji on my social media in any way shape or form before yesterday, but they are still dancing. Have you not seen the owl emoji? It's super cute. I'll read you the owl cares on Twitter A-LOL radio.

Also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. So a picture of Penny and a howl, a howl emoji. Jay, I just said a howl emoji. It was a combination of hoot and owl, a howl emoji. A howler owl.

No, that's a monkey, a howler monkey. Also, if you've missed any part of the show, if you've missed any part of the show, if you've missed any part of the show, don't go back and listen again because your host could not speak tonight. It's one of those shows where the brain and the mouth are not in sync and I have no excuse for myself other than I'm trying my hardest and talking is still hard sometimes.

It's just good job, good effort, good job, good effort. So my mom said to me on Thursday afternoon that she'd had one of those days in class where nothing came out right and I said, mom, how many kids in your class? Oh, about 15. Oh, well, when you make a mistake, 15 people hear you. When I make a mistake, way more people than that hear me. It's totally fine. It's totally fine. It really is. No, it's not totally fine.

It's not even remotely fine. Back to the owls, back to the howls, if you will. So we've got howls who have never been to the Elite Eight.

In fact, Florida Atlantic has won its first three tournament games ever in the last week plus and then we've got some blue bloods too. So we've got a lot to accomplish this hour. Like I say, if you miss anything, please don't go back and listen to the podcast.

It's just, it's not worth your time. That's quite the promo, isn't it? It's quite the confident statement right there. Although you do miss then me making fun of Jay and the fact that his teeth are going to fall out before he's 40.

But whatever, I do that on a pretty regular basis. Okay, let's talk about Gonzaga and UCLA taking place in Las Vegas. First time that T-Mobile Arena in Vegas has hosted the Suits 16 games and boy, did they get an awesome crowd there. Bill Murray, by the way, he was on hand because his son is a coach with UConn. So he's going to be a great coach.

His son is a coach with UConn. Now, the Huskies make very quick work of Arkansas. There was a 14-0 run in the first half for the Huskies and from that point on, they were in cruise control and they were in complete control. The way that Arkansas plays, the Razorbacks want their opponents to scuffle. They want their opponents to kind of be put off by the physical tenacious defense. Certainly the power and the explosiveness of Arkansas, but they're not a finesse team.

They want the game to be ugly. They want to take advantage of their defense to create more opportunities on offense. But the problem against UConn is that UConn got into a rhythm early and shot extremely well. 57% from the floor. They were moving the ball around. They were setting up teammates.

So this is an incredible percentage. 22 assists on 31 made baskets and if you watch the flow of how UConn was moving the ball, it was as though they were dictating. Anything they wanted to do, really, they could. And Arkansas was scrambling and really was chasing a lot of the time.

So a lot of energy exerted on defense and they never really found an offensive rhythm themselves. And so Dan Hurley's team is now into the Elite Eight, seeking a fifth national title for UConn. Now, not Dan Hurley. He was brought on to kind of resurrect a program that had fallen into hard times after the retirement of Jim Calhoun. First Elite Eight since 2014. That was the last time the Huskies won a title, but make no mistake, they are a team that has an incredible college basketball track record, both men's and women's.

So according to Dan Hurley, they made a commitment a year ago. You may not remember, they were the five that lost to a 12 a year ago. So they were one of those classic 5-12 upsets. And right after that, Hurley got together the captains on this Husky squad and they made a declaration that that loss would not be wasted. Where we are right now is exactly where we talked about, where we would be when we got together. After we lost the first round game last year, we met in that boardroom and the three of us sat together and we talked about this is where we were going to be. So we're exactly where we thought we would be.

And obviously we're thrilled to play one more to go to Final Four. He really just told us like things are going to change now. And he had told us we're all captains and that we also like hold part of that on our shoulders too.

We're going to take part of that blame when you feel that pain. So we really just, from that moment on, from that day on, we just all held each other to a higher standard and just told each other that, you know what I mean, we're going to push for a national championship. We're going to push for that that type of standard every day in practice and we're going to hold each other to that. Andre Jackson Jr. validating what his coach said.

Yeah, a year ago this was exactly the message. We have a higher standard. There are more expectations and we are going to use this as a springboard to get where we want to go. 7.7 assists for Andre. So yeah, they led by as many as 29 in this game. It was an overwhelming victory for the UConn Huskies who are into the Elite Eight and next we'll take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. They survive UCLA and not just survive, but this is what we've seen from Gonzaga all year long. They don't play well in the first half. We don't see the best of Mark Few's team in the first half and other than Drew Timmy, there wasn't a whole lot working for Gonzaga in the first half against UCLA last night. They're actually trailing by 13 at the break, but here's one side I saw. As I noted it, the thought occurred to me, man, if they're this exhausted already, they're in trouble in the second half.

Jaime Jaquez, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, he was already sucking wind in the first half. They still had five, six minutes to go and he's already, I don't want to say he was loafing it because that's not fair, but he's already kind of taken some time to get up the court and he's heaving. I mean, this is first half, you got a long way to go against a really good basketball team. So that was the first sign that I was able to pick out just watching the game thinking, okay, they're down two starters. If they're already this worn out, it could be a long second half.

Not to mention, Gonzaga is a second half team. Smith driving left into the paint, spins right, floats it up with the right hand and scores. Malachi Smith with nine in the second half, 11 in the game. Timmy's got it against Nuba. Timmy looking, spins at the baseline, lays it up, and in! 35 in the ball game for Timmy. 65-61, Gonzaga up four. Smith makes the pass to Timmy, left baseline, dribbles right into the paint, out to Strother, his three, got it!

10 in the game for Julian Strother. 68-62, Gonzaga. And UCLA will take time. The Bruins have gone more than eight minutes without a field goal. They now trail by six.

Timmy up top, Malachi Smith, three, is good! Smith knocked it in! It's a 10-point Gonzaga lead.

Two and a half remaining. 72-62, Gonzaga. From down 13 at the half to up 10 in the late stages of the second half.

But you know what's crazy? As much as you could point to the Gonzaga defense, there were wide open shots for the Bruins that they just missed. Again, they were dog tired.

I actually don't mean that as a pun. They were bulldog tired. Their shots were coming up short. They were glancing off the front of the rim. They weren't getting over the top of the rim, which always speaks to the fact that your legs feel like lead and are really heavy and you're just not getting the same lift. So nearly 13 minutes without a field goal and yet somehow this game is still hanging in the balance in the late stages.

This is Ryan Radke from Las Vegas on the Westwood One NCAA radio network. Tiger Campbell off to David Singleton, dribbles on the right, gets it up top. Hockes pumping the three, drives right. Hockes on his way to the bucket, puts it up, and one! Campbell dribbling right into the paint, gets it to Hockes, puts it up in the right hand, and one! Hockes did it again!

Foul is going to go against Timmy. It's his second and Hockes can make it a three-point game with 45 seconds left. Campbell into the front court, drop it off for Hockes. Hockes drives right down the lane, puts it up off the window, and scores. 29 for Hockes, 75-73 Gonzaga, 33.7 to go. Tiger Campbell driving left, into the paint, gets it to Bailey, left wing three for the lead, is good!

Bailey! 12.2 to go! Time out UCLA! Amare Bailey, the freshman, steps up and knocks down a big time three. UCLA leads by one, 76-75. 12.2 to go. The Bruins have risen from the dead.

Definitely were on life support. They're down 10 and yet within the final 90 seconds they make such a push. A pair of three-point plays for Jaime Hockes. They also get a couple of free throws in there from David Singleton. Drew Timmy misses two free throws and ultimately what happens is they set up a play that if you know your college basketball, you remember the Villanova buzzer beater against North Carolina.

I was there in person in Houston in 2017. They drew up the same exact play that Chris Jenkins used or that benefited Chris Jenkins when he hit the buzzer beater for the national championship. That is the moment that Amare Bailey on the assist from Tiger Campbell gives UCLA the lead with 13 seconds to go. Oh Jay shooting me text messages. I was a couple of minutes behind just because I was I often stop and rewind or stop for you know just because I want to take a note or two and so I'm a little bit behind he sends me this well it was a lot of like characters and there might have been a word in there that I can't repeat on the radio like no don't tell me I haven't gotten there yet I don't know what happened.

As someone who often watches games on DVR I hate that so I apologize. No you didn't give anything away and when I saw the Amare Bailey three that put the Bruins in front I thought okay that's what he's talking about but there was still some time left on the clock. Strother will get it in Salas picks it up clock starts 11 seconds Salas across the timeline pitch it back Strother deep three from the top of the key got it oh he hit it. Strother from the top seven seconds left Campbell on the run into the front court drives the right side stripped away. Strother's got it fouled with 1.1 to go. The Vegas native pulls up from deep and puts Gonzaga in the lead and then gets a steal at the other end.

Strother walking staring into the crowd. What a shot by Strother who has had a tough night with his heels and the March Madness logo drills a three and with 1.1 to go he can ice it Gonzaga leads 78-76. The play was a little dribble handoff action see if we can you know get defense on their heels a bit and initially when coach drew it he kind of drew you know just search it a little bit maybe go downhill and I kind of just asked him like can I shoot it like if if no one steps up on me like do you want me to shoot it and he was like absolutely so then I shot it. You want to hear a super cool parallel between these two frenetic finishes so we have Gonzaga who is not only up 10 in the second half but sees that entirely disappear then actually falls behind UCLA and it's a Vegas native in Las Vegas who hits the big three on one end and then gets the steal on the other end to make sure that UCLA doesn't have a quality opportunity to flip the script right that's what happens in Vegas with a hometown guy in New York it's a Harlem native for Michigan or for Kansas State excuse me against Michigan State that has the defense on one end with his team up by three he slaps the ball away he has a steal to convert a layup at the other end so in both these cases with the games hanging in the balance and seconds left on the clock you've got local basketball players who are getting the chance to play in their hometowns likely family and friends around but they're the ones that come up with not just the big offensive moment but the big defensive moment how cool is that amazing that sports will give us these storylines these moments obviously the theme for March Madness is one shining moment but there's far more than one so yes Julian Strother and I was talking about Marquise Noel of Kansas State rising to the occasion we'll hear from Mark Few his team is now a step away from the final four but we'll have to go through UConn to get there and then Drew Timmy 36 points and a huge part of the rally there in the second half plus we'll get back to that K-State Michigan State reaction as well by the way if you missed my conversation with Arash Markazi he joined us from Vegas earlier on the show so he was live with us in the second hour you have to find it so you can go on my twitter and you can find his twitter we just teased him joining the show he's got videos from the corner of the court so his perspective on press row was on the corner of the court for Gonzaga and UCLA and he takes videos of these shots going down and just the noise the cacophony of sound that comes down in T-Mobile arena is really incredible so you can check out that conversation on our podcast and I would encourage you to find his social so you can see those first-hand videos thanks for joining us happy Friday morning to you it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Hockjes will throw it in Nuba makes the catch off the Campbell puts it up in the buzzer no and Gonzaga wins the Gonzaga Bulldogs are elite again Gonzaga comes back from 13 down they beat UCLA 79 76 and the Gonzaga Bulldogs on to the elite this is After Hours with Amy Lawrence congratulations to Mark Few but thank you to the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the UCLA Bruins for what was an epic battle in Las Vegas it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio Timmy comma Drew ends up with 36 points and early on he was really the only thing keeping the Zags afloat we just got hit in the mouth and we just had to battle and fight and uh you know uh in the first half I just just the ball happened to be bouncing friendly to me so I felt like I was hot so I just wanted to keep shooting and then in the second half everyone like Malachi really stepped up Julian stepped up Tom was playing huge defense like we just rallied and uh I think that's just kind of the story of this year you know the first 20 as much as we might not like it to be is probably not our best 20 but we somehow some way we dig deep and we find a way to just come together and rally and keep fighting and I think that's the beauty of this team is we may be down but we're not out we got knocked back much like we did in the TCU game I think that this time it was just because of their will and toughness we were not guarding well or for whatever reason our ball screen coverage is defense slipped back to where it was in November and it has not been like that the last six weeks six or seven weeks so I just challenged them on that and I said we got 20 minutes that's plenty of time we're not gonna there's no 10-point play I'm gonna draw up but we just possession by possession we got to play better defense and we just had some really uncharacteristic kind of bonehead turnovers in the first half too air dribbles and I think we lost like three bouncing it and traveling and doing all kinds of stuff so challenged them on that regard to start taking care of the ball and and uh and you know you've been with us all year I mean this is such a resilient crew man they just find a way to win it's probably not as aesthetically pleasing as some of the other teams we've had up there but I mean man is it effective Mark Few and before that Drew Timmy for whatever reason this is Gonzaga's MO I mean this sometimes happens with teams even successful teams where the second half is the surge and they because they're a team with so much experience it felt like a floodlight all that experience in the second half that's what it felt like to me what I tweeted they can in fact flip on the switch of that floodlight even against a team as good as UCLA and they can find a groove you hear Drew Timmy mention Malachi Smith our guy of course we had him after the selection show last week and he had a dozen points in the second half and his story is awesome not that different than those that you'll hear around college basketball now because of the transfer portal but last year he was the star player on Chattanooga's squad that went to the NCAA tournament they were a mid-major of course they'd won the southern conference tournament actually on a buzzer beater but this was his choice he wanted to play for a major school a blue blood that had a chance to win a title and so he comes off the bench and he struggled in the first half but in the second half played some really solid defense and had a dozen points and also part of them turning it around going into every game feeling like we got something to prove and um just going out there with the mentality like you know we got nothing to lose let's go out swinging and um just have a chip on our shoulder and just you know just just play for each other and that's what I would say. I would love to give you the UCLA perspective but Mick Cronin was not in the mood to answer questions and so he he was asked a bunch of things and he just came up with kind of some salty short in some cases cryptic answers he was annoyed because for whatever reason it took over a half hour for UCLA to be introduced at the postgame press conference not exactly sure what happened but about the second half scoring drought where they go 12 plus minutes without a field goal. A lot of open shots didn't go down there's no hindsight wide open shots um and multiple times we got fouled no call Dave and Tiger didn't make a basket in the second half whoops they had good they had good looks and Jaime got murdered on about four laps. I'd say we ran some really good sets um to go at uh what we thought was you know we could take advantage of and we got some really good looks and we just weren't able to um knock them in so I would say that our drought was just due to us getting good shots and not making them. Yeah it's not like Gonzaga's defense all of a sudden was so unbelievable that UCLA couldn't get off a shot no they just weren't hitting shots and so then Gonzaga was able to get a ton of extra rebounds and they ended up doubling up UCLA on the boards 50 to 26.

It was a landslide really but all of that and still UCLA had the lead in the final seconds before uh the big triple by Julian Strother the Vegas native. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio so again it'll be UConn and Gonzaga we're talking about some elite college basketball schools for the Las Vegas regional so the championship uh in that is that the I guess that's the west region I forgot my bracket so I was so mad I get all the way to work and I know there's brackets online but I have been filling out a bracket meticulously with all of the winners and I end up leaving the bracket on my dining room table which is decidedly unhelpful in case you are wondering uh and so yeah so I kind of ticked about that just because I have it all organized and it just goes against it goes against my anal retentive personality that I have it all organized that I left it on that dining room table so anyway Jay you're just looking at me like this never happens to you because no I don't understand all right feel naked out there without that without the bracket without the bracket without your bracket all right let's see coming up we will hear from both Jerome Tang and Tom Izzo with Michigan State run is over but Marquis Noel with an incredible game a career game for him not to mention it's on the Madison Square Garden stage where uh you know he's so familiar I mean this is for New York kids this absolutely is the goal and is the mecca and then Florida Atlantic the owls by the way we received a tweet that indicates that we're driving at least one dog nuts uh with our with our owls hooting hey stop it Lenard's dog is going crazy right now Lenard says no more owl sounds please I'm in a truck with my dog and it's freaking him out he's going window to window looking for the owl you know Penny can't hear so she wouldn't be doing that but oh we're sorry sorry sorry we're sorry right not sorry not sorry not sorry not so never mind you know what I was saying we're not sorry not sorry right but we're not sorry not sorry not sorry not sorry yeah see see I had it right it just comes out rather awkwardly but that's really the theme of the show everything I say is coming out rather awkwardly I mean to be fair I earlier called them the howls they should revoke my talking license it's after hours with Amy Lawrence don't give the boss any bright ideas not that he listens you are listening to the after hours podcast Walker jumps it out to Houser goes right wing to Hall eight seconds out to Walker Walker tries to force one up it's stripped by Noel who gets the basketball first Noel drives in lays it up and it goes in at the buzzer and Kansas state has advanced to the elite eight Noel who has been the shining star tonight stripped Walker came up with the basketball laid it in right before the buzzer 98 93 Kansas state defeats Michigan state in a game for the ages this is after hours with Amy Lawrence it definitely was that Gary Cohen taking a break from baseball calling the games on the Westwood one NCAA radio network Marquis Noel the star of the show he was running the show an NCAA tournament record for a single game with 19 assists to go along with 20 points when he had that late layup and five steals the fifth of which came just seconds before that final layup to seal the victory against Michigan state it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio was an opportunity for the Harlem native who stands all of five eight apparently he got a tweet from Spud Webb it's a shorter NBA player who of course had great success and also drew a lot of attention for his dunks um and so that's kind of cool when you can attract the attention of someone who has such notoriety despite his height and so yes for Marquis Noel he shined the brightest on the biggest stage this is probably my career high and assist you know ever I had a couple games of 14 a couple games of 17 back in high school but you know this one was special in front of my hometown in front of you know the city you know that loves me um I came and put into worries you know how blessed and grateful I am it's a huge accomplishment I mean this thing is hard right it's hard to do and so man when when it happens you just have to really embrace it and enjoy it and um and and not like take a moment you know we gotta take a moment and just really soak this thing in before we move on to the next thing now next thing is really huge whoever we have to play and you know but um we've kind of just taken everything one and all every day in every aspect of the day and um so I'm really thankful for the opportunity that's Jerome Tang of Kansas State who has made a great impression on the program even in this first year uh there were a lot of guys who contributed so I don't want to make it seem like it was only uh Marquis Noel ish Massoud hit a monster three with 15 seconds to go that gave Kansas State that three-point lead so the steal then by Noel comes after the three-point lead the very next possession but it was Massoud who hit four huge triples off the bench and had 15 points and also was playing at home at MSG this is my first time playing in the garden and you know it's surreal I first want to just say you know happy Ramadan to all the Muslims out there that are fasting and I wish for nothing but blessings the rest of the month and you know um it's really just a credit to God credit to my teammates I mean they got the belief in me to find me and get me shots and all I had to do was knock it down it's just it's surreal I don't think it hit me yet but you know it's uh just praise to God praise to my teammates praise to my coaching staff I'm just blessed the thrill of victory for Kansas State but the agony of defeat for Michigan State and honestly if you look at the final score you would never expect that the Spartans were involved I know it went into overtime but their defense was not what you generally see from a Michigan State team and so yeah they scored a lot of points too but in this particular case the Wildcats were able to get a lot done at offense and the number of easy buckets so that stood out to me not just the alley-oop in the late stages but the number of times that Noel was able to set up his teammates for layups that was stark against Michigan State they shot 55 percent but I think they had including the layup at the end I think they had about six laps after off of turnovers they shot 45 from the three and we thought they made every shot we shot 52 they shot 68 from the line we shot 82 we out rebounded them by seven you know we did enough things too that we played pretty damn good and should be proud of that whenever you lose you're never proud of anything and when you have some mistakes that were kind of effort related not getting back and things that's gonna it's gonna be hard to watch the film but I've I was as proud I was as proud of this team as many teams I've had that have gone far and lost because the way this team the way they grew the last couple of weeks it was fun to see happen. And it's worth thinking about Tom Izzo and a few weeks ago and how he stood in front of a memorial service and how he attended funerals after the shooting on campus there in East Lansing and that he assumed that role as the voice and the face a face with tears streaming down his cheeks and a face and a voice that's so recognizable that he understood that for Michigan State basketball for Michigan State as a campus to move forward he would have to be front and center and so it weighs on him and certainly is a a season unlike what many of them expected. He's one of the great leaders and one of the great ambassadors in college basketball he's easy to root for he's more than just a coach he's also a father figure to a lot of these guys but really invests and cares about them and you could tell just by the number of alum that were there uh right behind the bench for Michigan State and and how many of them continue to be connected to Tom Izzo and the program. AJ Hoggard with a career high 25 points and he's a big reason why they even got to push Kansas State into OT. When you come to Michigan State you're supposed to do things like this um I'm just just so happy I could deal with this group of guys um it's definitely hope around the corner but uh just right now just things to even think about the future. Definitely does and yet how often do we hear those stories of hey we were smacked in the face we were devastated we were disappointed we're gonna use that we're gonna use that as a springboard as as motivation for next season we just told you about the UConn story knocked out in the first round last year and now here they are in the Elite Eight. So the opponent for Kansas State the unlikely Florida Atlantic Owls don't do it Jay the Owls had only made two NCAA tournaments in their 30 years as a member of Division One and this is just the first time they've ever been able to win games and now here they are three in a row and they're one step away from the Final Four that's pretty incredible.

Weatherspoon head fake goes around his man kicks it out to Martin he'll try the three it's good! Elijah Martin with a tray he's got nine and FAU leads by seven 48-41 with 720 to go and Rick Barnes needs a timeout here's Boyd out near center court guarded by Meshack comes to his left all the way to the bucket lays it up on the left-handed in Nick Boyd now with 10 and FAU back up by 10 that's when he gets by him kicks it out to James he'll try a three it's good big shot Josiah Jordan James his first points in the second half to get Tennessee within five. If you didn't know this about the Tennessee Volunteers under Rick Barnes they are the top rated there's a particular rating that measures the various defensive statistics and defensive elements they are the top rated defensive team in the NCAA and early on they were successful in keeping Florida Atlantic's offense from finding any type of a rhythm and groove but after a couple of threes so back-to-back threes it opened up the court and opened up the offense for the Owls and in a second half surge where they took the lead and then were able to protect it they were dealing then from a position of strength Michael Forrest had eight points in that run. We got a group of guys that no matter no matter what night it is somebody's gonna step up and make the big plays so everybody stays together through the ups and downs so that's that's really what separates us all the work that we everybody puts in all the hours and hard work that everyone puts into it it can be anybody's night so we just everybody just stays together all the time. It sounds just right man we where we're supposed to be uh we're gonna keep moving keep working we're gonna stay humble and hungry I mean y'all can't count us out no more man we we're here to stay and uh we're gonna keep fighting no matter who we line up against who we play I got a group of brothers that play together and I feel like there's nobody in the country that loves each other like we do and works like us so we're gonna keep making statements. Meanwhile for Tennessee they shoot abysmally from downtown so only six of 23 from beyond the arc and there was this aspect of settling give Florida Atlantic credit because once they grabbed the momentum they were able to use that energy on both ends of the court but Tennessee maybe they knocked down a couple of these threes and this looks different it's just that felt like they were settling for shots they go six of 23 from downtown and didn't force the issue and and I wanted them to try something different it just got so stale there in the second half. When they started scoring our offense wasn't very good and we gave up too many drives and then along with that offensive rebounds where we let them get downhill and a couple situations where those those we did a better job in the second half staying down on shot fakes early in the first half that's why we were getting into so much rotation because we were leaving our feet went under a few ball screens but I thought offensively and we didn't we needed to continue to put pressure on them at the rim whether it was throwing it inside or whether it was driving the ball and we didn't do enough of that. First of all they definitely made shots they made the shots they had to make like coach said they got big offensive rebounds they ran a couple actions that they're really good basketball actions they knock them down and I think the biggest thing was offensive rerun for them. Yeah a dozen offensive rebounds for Florida Atlantic we're not talking about a team that has a size or bulk advantage nah that's the issue with a lot of mid majors is they don't match up well against power five teams why because they don't have the same size they don't have the same length they don't have the same reach but in this case it was about heart it was about effort and rebounding is an art form sometimes it's just about who gets position regardless of how big the guy is that you're attempting to box out so congratulations to the owls of Florida Atlantic only their first three NCAA tournament wins so they're all right in a row and now they will get to take on Kansas State for a spot in the final four that's pretty sweet. Speaking of Sweet 16, four more games coming up from Kansas City and Louisville later on today and this includes the two top seeds that are still remaining Alabama and Houston and so those are your first two games the top seeds facing five seeds in both cases we've also got Princeton coming up a little bit later on the south region that's in Louisville and if you missed my conversation with Zach Martini a junior Tiger they're calm they're confident they are poised and they really do believe that they can beat any team in the nation they perverted against Arizona they had no trouble with Missouri now they take on a Creighton team that is also shooting the ball extremely well so yeah a lot of fun stuff coming up this weekend the women's Sweet 16 gets underway later on today and so they're kind of straddled but plenty of basketball if you're into the NIT or the WNIT that's also taking place if you if you missed it we did hit a little bit of football and baseball earlier uh but I love it it's it's a very few a select few days per year when football takes a back seat but it's one of those times in March Madness we did actually put together a video so this is kind of based on the question we threw out earlier in the week we did our latest YouTube video as the next episode in our stairway to seven series and we walked up the steps most compelling post seasons in sports where does March Madness fall in and why isn't the NBA on any of our seven steps so anyway you can check that out on our YouTube channel After Hours with Amy Lawrence I mean if you're looking for some weekend entertainment I jump out of an airplane in a video on our YouTube channel and I survive here I am here I am uh also you can find the latest penny pic because I can't stop taking taking pictures of my dog either on Facebook or on Twitter enjoy your weekend we'll talk Sunday night it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Boom!