Brownlow: Your ACC and North Carolina guide to Sweet 16, Night 2

By Lauren Brownlow, WRALSportsFan columnist

This is unfamiliar territory for the Triangle — and for 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 Friday'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 Pitt!"

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.

NO. 5 SAN DIEGO STATE (29-6) VS. NO. 1 ALABAMA (31-5)

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

North Carolina/ACC Connections

A win for either team would be significant, but this one would be pretty big for Alabama. The one Elite Eight the program has reached before was by former NC State head coach Mark Gottfried in 2004, when they upset No. 1-seed Stanford and defending national champion Syracuse. They'd lose to defending national champion UConn in the title game.

Current head coach Nate Oats was an assistant for former Duke point guard Bobby Hurley when he was at Buffalo, and he'd go on to take over there when Hurley was hired at Arizona State.

Extremely random, but the team that faced Creighton in Greensboro two nights before UNC would in 2012 was Alabama. The Crimson Tide lost the 8-9 game to the Blue Jays by just 1 point. So, UNC fans, if you're going to be mad at anyone about what happened to Kendall Marshall's wrist, be mad at Alabama. One more made basket, a few more free throws and maybe history is different.

San Diego State didn't have a North Carolina or ACC connection that I could find, but Alabama did have a few more. Davin Cosby Jr. averaged 23.6 points per game for Word of God in Raleigh his senior year and scored over 1,000 points during his career there. Reserve Adam Cottrell's mother Laura was a bit of a legend in her own right, part of a well-known basketball family in western North Carolina. Her father was the head coach at Western Carolina for 10 seasons and her brother set a scoring record for Cullowhee High School that still stands. Cottrell herself led Hayesville High School to four consecutive 1A state championships before going on to play at Clemson, where she earned ACC Tournament MVP honors leading the Tigers to a title.

Alabama's Jaden Bradley transferred to IMG in 2020 but only after he led Cannon School in Charlotte to their first state title since 2006. He was named North Carolina's 2020 Gatorade Player of the Year, averaging 23.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists.

In terms of ACC opponents, Alabama's only one was famously the same game that supposedly kept a blue blood out of the Tournament — a quadruple-overtime win over North Carolina. (I don't think it would have been enough personally, but the Tar Heels were the third team out, so.) San Diego State didn't play any ACC teams, but they did beat two South Carolina teams on their way here in Charleston and Furman.

Notables

Remember that other Elite Eight Alabama had? Well, current Tide assistant Antoine Pettway was the catalyst in that run as the team's point guard and remains beloved among Alabama fans.

San Diego State's game notes pointed out that of the 16 remaining teams, the Aztecs have traveled the most miles (4,482.7). It's nearly 100 more than the next-closest team, which is Princeton (3,520.2). Alabama has traveled the fewest miles, which makes sense as the top overall seed (475.6).

San Diego State became one of the nation's more consistent programs under former Michigan head coach Steve Fisher. Since his retirement, his longtime assistant Brian Dutcher has more or less ensured the Aztecs haven't missed a beat. Dutcher has been with Fisher since Michigan and even helped sign the notorious Fab 5 class that lost to UNC in the championship game in 1993. And Fisher's name does live on — his son, Mark, is an assistant to the head coach.

Aztec assistant Chris Acker was on the Chaminade team that ... no, not THAT upset. He was on the team that knocked off Villanova in 2003.

Alabama senior guard Dom Welch wore No. 1 for his previous four seasons of basketball at St. Bonaventure, but after he decided to change his number to No. 10. The Buffalo native did that to pay tribute to the 10 victims from the Tops Supermarket shooting in Buffalo last year.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding multiple Alabama basketball players (including its best player, freshman Brandon Miller) and their association with a murder. You can read more about it here, and neither Alabama nor Nate Oats himself have always handled it well regardless of Miller's playing status. It will be interesting to see how — or if — it's addressed on the broadcast.

If you haven't watched Alabama, get ready to see a LOT of 3-pointers. It's unclear how many will go in — the Tide makes just 34.1% on the season — but they will keep shooting them nonetheless. San Diego State is an elite defensive team, but Alabama is too. The Aztecs will have to get VERY hot offensively to have a chance.

All-Name Team

Jahvon Quinerly, Alabama
Charles Bediako, Alabama
Nimari Burnett, Alabama
Aguek Arop, San Diego State

GIF

Could be a fun game .... or could be a bricklaying fest.

NO. 5 MIAMI (27-7) VS. NO. 1 HOUSTON (33-3)

Time: 7:15 p.m.
TV: CBS

North Carolina/ACC Connections

Kotie Kimbie, a Miami assistant, joined Jim Larranaga's staff last April after four years at UNC-Charlotte. Prior to that, he worked at UNC-Asheville under head coach and NC State alum Eddie Biedenbach from 2008-11. He was also a student assistant for UNC alum and then-Coastal Carolina head coach Buzz Peterson. Assistant Bill Courtney worked at Virginia in 2006-07, a team that won the ACC regular season. He'd go on to work at Virginia Tech for a season as well (2009-10) before taking a head coaching job at Cornell.

Larranaga himself was an assistant at Virginia from 1979-86. He was at Davidson before that with the man he'd eventually follow to Virginia, Terry Holland.

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson went to UNC-Pembroke before transferring to Michigan State and is a Laurinburg, N.C. native. The Cougars played one ACC team this season and that was Virginia, which it beat 69-61 in Charlottesville.

Notables

Miami's Norchad Omier, is a Kansas State transfer, is the first person from Nicaragua to attend a Division I school on a basketball scholarship. Miami's Thomas Oosterbroek went to Brentwood School in Cali with alums such as Fred Savage, Adam Levine, Jonah Hill and more.

Jim Larranaga is so old that one of his children played for him back when he was at BOWLING GREEN, a school I'd bet 9 of 10 people don't even know he used to coach at. In a way, this is a coaching matchup between two of the more underrated coaches in the country. Larranaga is the third-active winningest coach in the ACC and 9th nationally. Sampson has just three more wins than Larranaga and ranks 8th. Sampson's NCAA troubles and Larranaga being in Coral Gables are the likely reasons, but it's still an epic coaching matchup.

And it's a familiy affair in Houston. Lauren Sampson, Kelvin Sampson's daughter, is the team's director of external operations. His son Kellen is one of his top assistants and he was an assistant at App State from 2011-14.

You might spot a Terrence Arcenaux on the roster for Houston. If you're of a certain age, it might make you think of one Harold "The Show" Arcenaux, who turned his last name into a verb with what he did to North Carolina in the 1999 NCAA Tournament while at Weber State. Arcenaux had 34 points on 14 of 26 (!!!) shooting in that one and was 5 of 7 from 3. But Terrence does not appear to be related to Harold.

This won't be easy for Miami at all. Houston's offense isn't always great, but its defense is as good as Miami has seen all year. The Cougars hold opponents to 27.4% from 3 (2nd nationally), 42.9% from 2 (3rd) and block 16.8% of their opponents misses (1st nationally). But Miami will be the highest-ranked Ken Pom offense Houston's stingy defense has seen.

Help the ACC, Miami. You're their only hope for postseason money.

All-Name Team

Nijel Pack, Miami
Norchad Omier, Miami
Wooga Poplar, Miami
Favour Aire, Miami
Jarace Walker, Houston
Terrance Arcenaux, Houston
Darius Bowser, Houston

GIF

NO. 15 PRINCETON (23-8) VS. NO. 6 CREIGHTON (23-12)

Time: 9 p.m.
TV: TBS

North Carolina/ACC Connections

North Carolina's own sordid history with Creighton was noted earlier when it came to Alabama, but the injury to Kendall Marshall's wrist after a hard Creighton foul is still looked at by North Carolina fans as a missed opportunity for a special 2012 team.

Creighton assistant Steve Merfeld was an assistant to Larranaga at Bowling Green for 10 years until he left to join another staff in 1996.

Video coordinator Casey Matthews was head manager at UNC-Wilmington, his alma mater. Grad assistant Trey Ziegler used to play at Pitt. Creighton's diversity and inclusion officer Len Gordy was an assistant with Cliff Ellis at Clemson from 1985-92.

On the Princeton side, forward Vernon Collins is from Chocowinity, N.C. and went to Greensboro Day School. His mother played at NC A&T and is a member of their Hall of Fame.

Princeton's Caden Pierce's older brother Justin was a UNC transfer from William and Mary and played for the Tar Heels during their ill-fated 2019-20 season.

Notables

Longtime NBA vet Mike Miller's brother Ryan is an assistant coach at Creighton. Princeton assistant Mitch Henderson is someone hardcore (and older) March Madness fans might remember him for this moment:

The Pierce brothers also have a third addition who has outshone them all: Alec Pierce, who's a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts. Princeton's Jack Scott's dad Joe is the head coach at Air Force and his mom Leah is second at Princeton all-time in assists.

NC State's side of the bracket basically exploded in the best possible way, but the team that vanquished the Wolfpack in Creighton is still going. And the Blue Jays have to feel pretty good about the chance to get to the program's first Elite Eight since 1941. Princeton does have an Elite Eight in its history, but it was also the year the program reached its only Final Four in 1965.

All-Name Team

Francisco Farabello, Creighton
Zander Yates, Creighton
Tosan Evbuomwan, Princeton
Konrad Kiszka, Princeton
Zach Martini, Princeton

GIF

I don't like the upset potential of a team that shoots less than 34% from 3 and is incredibly inexperienced, but somehow Princeton found a way to win two games in this event, so what do I know?

NO. 3 XAVIER (27-9) VS. NO. 2 TEXAS (28-8)

Time: 9:45 p.m.
TV: CBS

North Carolina/ACC Connections

It's still weird watching an Arizona team go home from the NCAA Tournament and not see Sean Miller aggressively sweating through his shirt on the sideline, but Miller's new team is still around in Xavier. And the Miller brothers are plenty well-known around these parts as Archie played and coached at NC State as an assistant (nearly more) while Sean worked as an assistant at NC State as well. Miller has also been an assistant at Pitt in the past.

Miller's son, Cam, is on on his staff at Xavier although Miller's bio lists the spelling of Cam's hometown, Cary, wrong (spelling it 'Carey'). Ryan Reynolds, special assistant to the head coach, worked for Dino Gaudio at Wake Forest in 2008-09 season.

Boston College fans will definitely remember Ryan Anderson, who played there for a year before transferring to Arizona to finish his career, where he played for Miller. Anderson is now on his staff at Xavier.

On the Texas side, star guard Marcus Carr began his basketball career at Pitt before moving again to Minnesota and finally Texas. At Pitt, Carr led the team in assists (4.0 per game) and steals and averaged 10 points.

Texas didn't play any ACC teams in the non-conference, but Xavier did. Xavier started this season 4-3 before winning 11 in a row, and the second of those three losses came to Duke in Portland. Jeremy Roach led the way with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting and dishes out five assists to one turnover.

Notables

Texas' Rowan Brumbaugh has a mother named Galaxy Craze, just casually dropped into his bio with no context added. Well, turns out she is an actress and a novelist and ... well, here's what I found.

Elijah Tucker's mom LaShonda Stephens Tucker was on multiple national title winning teams at Tennessee, including the 39-0 team in 1998.

This will be the third time Xavier and Texas have met in the Regional Semifinal. Texas won the first matchup in 1990 but Xavier beat the Longhorns in 2004, giving the Musketeers their first Elite Eight appearance in program history.

Xavier has never made a Final Four. Texas has, but it's been awhile. But it's been awhile since Texas even got to the Sweet 16 (2008 was the last time before now), which is kind of crazy when you think about what Texas basketball has been. Their only FInal Four was 2003 and Texas is 38-39 in the NCAA Tournament. So while Xavier has been a consistent presence over the years in the Sweet 16, getting further would be a big next step. And while Texas has clearly invested resources over the years in getting better at basketball, it has to figure out a way to get over the NCAA Tournament hump.

Xavier's leading scorer Souley Boum is a trasnfer from UTEP, where he was coached by current Texas head coach Rodney Terry. That should make things a lot more interesting.

All-Name Team

Souley Boum, Xavier
Zach Freemantle, Xavier
KyKy Tandy, Xavier
Sir'Jabari Rice, Texas
Dylan Disu, Texas
Cole Bott, Texas

GIF

Two programs hungry for postseason success with a lot of good and tough wins under their belts?