Four more elites

Good morning! Two teams are gonna be really happy tonight. But first, let’s get to Friday’s news.

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1. East Region: Top two seeds move on in nail-biters

Just 20 days ago, Duke point guard Caleb Foster had surgery on his right foot. He had been moving around on a scooter and didn’t even play 5-on-5 before yesterday, per Jon Scheyer.

But despite all that, Foster suited up Friday night for the top-seed Blue Devils, and he was huge in the thrilling 80-75 East Regional semifinal win over St. John’s, scoring 11 points in 18 minutes and settling down Duke’s offense in the second half when they needed his veteran leadership most.

“He had no business playing today,” Scheyer said. “That’s one of the most special performances I’ve ever seen.”

St. John’s stayed in the game in the first half by knocking down 9-of-18 triples, including three from Ruben Prey. The big man was also instrumental in a 13-0 second half run by St. John’s, drilling his fourth triple in as many attempts to give the Johnnies a 53-44 lead.

The Blue Devils (35-2) had their backs against the wall, but then Duke went to a zone and the game flipped. St. John’s managed just 9-of-24 (37.5%) shooting. Cam Boozer and Isaiah Evans abused St. John’s with their two-man game, scoring 15 straight points over 5:30 to take back the lead. And that was all she wrote.

“We just could not stop bully drives,” Rick Pitino said. “We just could not stop them, which is a credit to them.”

Pitino added postgame this was the most unique group he’s ever coached, and Zuby Ejiofor was so emotional reflecting on his time at St. John’s he had to leave the press conference early. It’ll be a season to remember for the Johnnies (30-7), even with it ending in the Sweet 16.

The nightcap was another phenomenal game, but it was the winning pedigree of Dan Hurley, Alex Karaban and the UConn program that managed to pull out a 67-63 win over Michigan State.

UConn (32-5) jumped out to an early 25-6 lead, but the Spartans made it an eight-point game by halftime. Michigan State then took its first lead since 4-3 after a Jaxon Kohler and-1 with 10:06 to play, but that wound up being the Spartans’ biggest lead of the game.

The Huskies regained control with a 12-4 run, and even though a Jeremy Fears triple made it sweaty late, Tarris Reed and Karaban hit all their late free throws to seal the deal.

Reed had 20 points and five rebounds, followed by Karaban’s 17 points and seven boards to pave the way for UConn, and with the win, Karaban now has 16 career NCAA Tournament victories.

“He’s establishing himself as the biggest winner and most decorated player in UConn history,” Hurley said. “And that’s hard to do at a place like ours.”

2. Michigan, Tennessee bruise way to Elite Eight

If there was a theme to the winners of the Midwest Region’s Sweet 16 games, it was interior dominance.

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