UConn 2023 Overcomes Kevin Love to Make Final 4

In what should have been our title game based on all-time rankings, #11 UConn 2023 survived #15 UCLA 2008 in an Elite 8 game in our third all-time tournament, 74-68. The Bruins gave the Huskies a much tougher battle than any of their six opponents in the actual 2023 March Madness tournament. Here is our blog on the entire Elite 8 with updated rankings.

For the second game in a row, Kevin Love drew 5 fouls on an all-time great opposing Center (Wes Unseld in All-Time Sweet 16, Adama Sonoga in Elite 8). UCLA drew 23 fouls (while only committing 15 fouls) and hit 20 of 23 free throws, while UConn countered by hitting 7 three-pointers while not allowing a single three-pointer by UCLA for the 74-68 win.

Alex Karaban had two of the key plays of the game, with a 4-ponit play to break a tie and give UConn a 31-27 lead, then later a 3-point play on a bucket and free throw to key 11-0 run that gave UConn the lead for good at 55-45.

UConn next faces the winner of #25 Duke 2015 against #33 Georgetown 1989 in one of two Final Four semifinals in our 3rd Value Add Basketball tournament. Bill Walton's UCLA 1972 team won the first tournament, and Paul Pierce's 1997 Kansas the second.  The win should bump UConn up one spot just ahead of Villanova 2018 for 10th place all time of the all-time great Value Add Basketball Game, which would also make them the top-ranked Big East team in the game.

Pos	#15 UCLA 2008	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season Stats
1-PG	Russell Westbrook	15	0	6	3	4	2	1	0	2	6'3	12.7 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 4.3 Ast
2-SG	Darren Collison	17	0	5	7	7	3	1	1	2	6'1	14.5 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 3.8 Ast
3-SF	Josh Shipp	10	0	2	6	6	5	2	1	3	6'5	12.2 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast
4-PF	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute	4	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	1	6'8	8.8 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.5 Ast
5-C	Kevin Love	12	0	4	4	6	13	1	2	2	6'10	17.5 Pts, 10.6 Reb, 1.9 Ast
1-PG	James Keefe	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8	2.8 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 0.2 Ast
2-SG	Nikola Dragovic	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	2.5 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast
3-SF	Alfred Aboya	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	2	6'9	2.9 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast
5-C	Lorenzo Mata-Real	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	6'9	3.1 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.2 Ast
		0
	Totals	68	0	24	20	23	33	5	5	15
Pos	#11 UConn 2023	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season Stats
1-PG	Tristen Newton	11	1	3	2	2	2	4	0	2	6'5	10.1 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 4.7 Ast
2-SG	Andre Jackson	7	1	2	0	0	2	3	0	4	6'6	6.7 Pts, 6.2 Reb, 4.7 Ast
3-SF	Alex Karaban	9	1	2	2	2	7	0	0	3	6'8	9.3 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 1.7 Ast
4-PF	Jordan Hawkins	9	1	3	0	0	7	0	0	3	6'5	16.2 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 1.3 Ast
5-C	Adama Sanogo	15	0	7	1	2	8	0	2	5	6'9	17.2 Pts, 7.7 Reb, 1.3 Ast
1-PG	Hassan Diarra	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	2	6'2	2.1 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 1.8 Ast
2-SG	Joey Calcaterra	8	2	1	0	0	3	0	1	1	6'3	5.8 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 1.2 Ast
3-SF	Nahiem Alleyne	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	6'4	5.2 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 0.8 Ast
4-PF	Samson Johnson	5	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'10	0.9 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 0.1 Ast
5-C	Donovan Clingan	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	7'2	6.9 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 0.5 Ast
	Totals	74	7	24	5	6	37	7	4	23

Unseld Fouls Out Guarding Love, UCLA 2008 Cruises to Claim Final Elite 8 Spot

The versatile Kevin Love hit a couple of stretch 3-point shots early, then drew fouls on the legendary Wes Unseld to prevent any chances of a second upset by Louisville 1968.

Going up against four future NBA players in Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Kevin Love, Louisville was already trailing 59-48, so could not afford to sit the legendary Wes Unseld with his four fouls. At that point Love drove and drew the foul while hitting the bucket to send Unseld to the bench with his 5th foul. Love completed the 3-point play to make it 62-48,and with point guard Butch Beard the only future NBA player for Louisville the rest of the game - UCLA dominated the rest of the way for an 80-58 win.

The only bad news is that their next opponent in this Value Add Basketball Game Elite 8 is the No. 1 seed in this tournament, the 2023 National Champs from Connecticut. The bracket and scores appear below the box score of this game.
 

Pos	Louisville 1968	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season Stats
1-PG	Butch Beard	8	0	2	4	4	4	2	1	3	6'3	16.0 Pts, 4.9 Reb
2-SG	Fred Holden	5	1	1	0	0	2	2	0	2	6'3	10.7 Pts, 2.5 Reb
3-SF	Marv Selvy	8	0	4	0	0	6	1	0	1	6'4	7.2 Pts, 3.7 Reb
4-PF	Jerry King	13	1	5	0	0	1	0	2	3	6'5	14.2 Pts, 5.7 Reb
5-C	Wes Unseld	6	0	2	2	2	3	1	2	5	6'7	23.0 Pts, 18.3 Reb
1-PG	Ellis Bryant	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'0	1.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SG	Denny Deeken	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3	5.3 Pts, 1.7 Reb
3-SF	Ed Linonis	4	0	2	0	2	4	0	0	1	6'6	2.8 Pts, 3.3 Reb
4-PF	Bob Gorius	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6	2.2 Pts, 2.1 Reb
5-C	Mike Grosso	8	0	3	2	2	11	0	1	1	6'9	5.8 Pts, 7.0 Reb
	Totals	58	2	22	8	10	34	6	6	19
Pos	UCLA 2008	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season Stats
1-PG	Russell Westbrook	18	2	4	4	4	2	0	3	3	6'3	12.7 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 4.3 Ast
2-SG	Darren Collison	13	1	5	0	2	3	2	0	1	6'1	14.5 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 3.8 Ast
3-SF	Josh Shipp	7	1	2	0	0	7	2	0	1	6'5	12.2 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast
4-PF	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute	8	0	3	2	4	9	0	0	1	6'8	8.8 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.5 Ast
5-C	Kevin Love	24	3	5	5	6	14	0	2	3	6'10	17.5 Pts, 10.6 Reb, 1.9 Ast
1-PG	James Keefe	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8	2.8 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 0.2 Ast
2-SG	Nikola Dragovic	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	2.5 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast
3-SF	Alfred Aboya	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'9	2.9 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast
4-PF	Lorenzo Mata-Real	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	2	1	6'9	3.1 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.2 Ast
	Totals	80	7	24	11	16	42	4	7	13

All-Time Great Player Tournament Returns: Westbrook vs. Durant or Tiny Archibald

After weeks of being swamped at work, we finally plan to resume our tournament of the remaining Value Add Basketball Game teams who featured one of the greatest 75 players of all time.

Russell Westbrook's UCLA team (2008) has the bye and waits to see if he will face his long-time Oklahoma City Thunder Teammate Kevin Durant and his 2007 Texas Longhorns. If Westbrook's hand heals in time they could face each other in the NBA Western playoffs this year.  Durant is still at his career average of more than 27 points a game after all these years, while Westbrook is on the downside of his career at 11 points a game almost a decade after being the NBA's MVP as Durant's teammate.

And let's not forget, Westbrook also has Kevin Love as a teammate on that great UCLA team.

However, for that Thunder teammate match, Durant's Longhorns will need to first upset Tiny Archibald and UTEP's squad. How good was Tiny? Three years after this college season he finished third in MVP voting despite leading the NBA with both 34 points a game and 11 assists a game to actually finish with more MVP votes than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but finished behind him and Dave Cowens in MVP voting.

Note - UTEP originally had a math error with Defense at 0.90 and Rating at +3, but it is corrected to 0.96 and-3