HOUSTON — In collegiate basketball lingo, a blue blood refers to a program that is elite in status and with multiple championships to show for it.
There are no blue bloods in this year’s version of the Final Four.
Kansas and Kentucky are out. So are Duke and Michigan State. And North Carolina, the alma mater of one famous guy named Micheal Jeffrey Jordan, didn’t even make it to the Big Dance.
But even minus the top teams with their universally recognized uniforms and logos, there’s still plenty of good basketball left. Heck, there’s still so much madness in March and it sure is the greatest collegiate basketball show on Earth.
Traditional powerhouse UConn is the highest-ranked quintet left at No.4 and the Huskies are the prohibitive favorites to prevail over the Miami Hurricanes.
In the other semifinal duel, San Diego State University is the consensus pick over the Florida Atlantic University Owls.
With five titles won since 1999, only the University of Connecticut has an NCAA crown among the remaining contenders.
In fact, Miami, FAU and SDSU have never reached this far in the popular, do-or-die tournament.
This means a Cinderella finish could be in the cards when the smoke clears.
Under the helm of coach Dan Hurley, UConn is powered by 6-foot-5, 195-pound star guard Jordan Hawkins and 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward Adama Sanogo. Hawkins is averaging 16.3 points per game while Sanogo pulls in 17.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a contest.
The Miami Hurricanes of coach head coach Jim Larrananga, who previously took George Mason University to the Final Four in 2006, boasts of a loaded roster that includes Isaiah Wong. Jordan Miller and Nijel pack have a combined average of 45.4 points per.
Tough-as-nails forward Norchard Omier is also a solid contributor with 13.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per.
UConn versus Miami should be a tough, physical encounter. In the end, though, the Huskies will prove to be just a little better.
In the other semifinals, the San Diego State University Aztecs are favored over the FAU Owls.
While San Diego, the alma mater of Kawhi Leonard, is known for its take-no-prisoners approach to defense, the team can score enough points to hold off streaking Florida Atlantic.
Matt Bradley leads the Aztecs with 12.5 points a game but he has a slew of teammates who are averaging just under 9.0 points per, giving their offense some balance.
The FAU Owls, meanwhile, generate much of their offense from Johnnel Davis (13.9 points per game), Alijah Martin (13.1 ppg) and Vladislav Goldin (10.1).
This match-up figures to go down the wire with SDSU finishing ahead.
