Brownlow: Your ACC and North Carolina guide to Sweet 16, Night 1

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Posted March 23, 2023 3:44 p.m. EDT

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan columnist

This is unfamiliar territory for the Triangle — and from our grand hoops state as a whole — that there are no teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament field in the Sweet 16. And it's perhaps even rarer territory that there is just one ACC team that made it and that team is NOT Duke or North Carolina. But rest assured, college basketball fans! There are still plenty of reasons to watch and enjoy the Sweet 16. Here's a guide to Thursday's games so you can wow all your friends with random trivia knowledge and then also say, "Oh, yeah, (fill in name)! I remember him when he played at Virginia Tech!"

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And we'll throw in some GIFs for good measure, shall we?

So let's get to the hoops, because this is still a basketball state, dang it.

THURSDAY

NO. 7 MICHIGAN STATE (21-12) VS. NO. 3 KANSAS STATE (25-9)

Time: 6:30 p.m.
TV: TBS

North Carolina/ACC Connections

Unless you want to extend all the way to Michigan State Tom Izzo's, um, record against Duke and UNC, there really aren't any on the Michigan State side. Well, there is longtime assistant coach Doug Wojick, who's spent time on many a bench as the head man and an assistant, most notably as Matt Doherty's assistant at UNC during his tenure. He also spent some time at East Carolina as an assistant.

But in a way, Michigan State's lone matchup with an ACC team this year certainly gave them a taste of what life in the league was like. Because it was a trip to Notre Dame that ended in a 70-52 beatdown for Michigan State, and an outcome that left plenty very worried about the Spartans' NCAA Tournament chances. How do you like that one Quadrant 3 loss on your schedule? Probably about as much as the rest of the ACC teams trying to make the field did whenever some horrible NET-rated team managed to pull an upset.

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Kansas State did not play an ACC team because they are cowards. (KIDDING.) But look at the Wildcats' non-conference performance: it ranked 310th. Should look familiar to a lot of ACC teams, but what is less familiar is just one loss (at Butler). And a lot of games being played at neutral sites or on the road.

And for Kansas State, the ACC connections lie in the transfers, and the Wildcats' roster is chock full of them. But the ones you'll surely recognize as ACC fans are David N'Guessan (Virginia Tech) and Ismael Massoud (Wake Forest). N'Guessan graduated from Virginia Tech after three years and now averages around 20 minutes a game for the Wildcats, contributing 6.4 points a game. Just don't let him get fouled as he's shooting 48.3% from the foul line.

Massoud has been in Manhattan (the one in Kansas, although they'll be in the slightly larger Manhattan for these games) for longer. He transferred to Kansas State after the 2020-21 season and has taken a slightly diminished role this year, playing 14.9 minutes per game but scoring 5.1 points. And he's shooting a sparkling 95.8% from the foul line, so he CAN be fouled.

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Notables

First-year Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang was an assistant at Baylor from 2003-2022 before being hired by the Wildcats, and he's a finalist for plenty of national Coach of the Year awards because of the roster he was able to assemble largely via transfer. But he had to ask a bunch of guys to buy in and believe in a guy who'd never been a head coach, and his team has reaped the benefits.

The Wildcats are stingy defensively and what they lack in pure shooting they make up for with their ability and willingness to attack the basket and draw fouls. If you're not already on the Markquis Nowell train, hop on board because the 5-foot-8 senior is one of two players since 1990 to have 40 points and 20 assists before the Sweet 16. The other? Ja Morant. He had 27 of those points in the win over Kentucky in Greensboro last weekend. Oh, and it marked the most points by a Wildcat in an NCAA Tournament game since 2012. He is now second in the nation with 7.8 assists per game.

Transfer Nate Awbrey, who doesn't see much playing time for Kansas State, made the decision to walk on and play sparingly for his final year of eligibility ... in spite of the fact that both of his parents are Kansas grads. His cousin Shawn Rhodes also played at Kansas State, nearly hitting the 1,000-point mark during his 1995-99 tenure. And his brother Gabe is a grad assistant at Baylor.

We already brought up Ismael Massoud, but the Madrid native also has an athletic family. His younger brother Sofian is a sophomore quarterback at Hampton University, while his mother played for Houston in college and started her final two seasons in 1997 and 1998.

Senior reserve Abayomi Iyiola's name has multiple meanings (literally). In his native Nigerian, it means "my enemies tried to mock me but God wouldn’t allow it" but in Egyptian, it means "bringer of happiness". I'd go with the first one if I were him.

And then there's the whole matter of Tom Izzo in March. Yes, it's a thing, even as some of us (okay, me) roll their eyes a bit at the notion. It's not because Izzo isn't great, and it's not because his accomplishments aren't worth celebrating. But can you imagine literally any other coach who hadn't won a title since 2000 being called "Mr. March" in a way that was anything other than ironic? It's accurate, anyway. Championships are played in April. Izzo hasn't even played in a title game since North Carolina ruined the Detroit economy back in 2009 with their resounding victory in 2009, and it's the only other final he's played in since winning it all in 2000. He's 3-7 all-time in the Final Four and since 2010, he's been to three Final Fours and won zero games in any of them. Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski combined have more wins over Izzo in the Final Four alone than Izzo does Final Four wins total.

So yes, it's incredibly impressive that he's reached eight Final Fours since 1999. But it's actually more impressive to me that they've reached 15 Sweet 16s in 25 years. Don't let anyone tell you those first two games are easy to win because they are not. It's ridiculous that they've made the Tournament 25 years in a row, too. He's a Hall of Fame coach and worthy of almost all of the accolades. Just don't forget there's a reason those shirts don't say Mr. March and April.

One thing that is cool about this Michigan State team is that Izzo's son is on it. And I love this for him because how else would a 5-foot-8, 150-pound guard make a college roster? Bless his heart; I'll bet that kid gets banged around in practice. But he's an Izzo, so he probably has never met a physical game he didn't enjoy. I also enjoyed that in the media guide, Steven's favorite athlete is Joey Chestnut and his favorite meal is donuts. One reason his father has always gotten the good press he has is that he truly seems like one of us, and his son most assuredly is. Eat those donuts, young king.

All-Name Team

Mady Sissoko, Michigan State
Nae'Qwan Tomlin, Kansas State
Abayomi Iyiola, Kansas State
David N'Guessan, Kansas State
Jaxon Kohler, Michigan State

GIF

Ken Pom has this game as a toss-up with Kansas State favored ever-so-slightly. Buckle up, folks.