And then there were four.
That’s the message that’s been plastered over everything at the Final Four tournament in Houston at the NRC Center.
2 Works for You Sports Anchors Big Al Jerkens and Cayden McFarland as well as myself, digital producer Natalie, drove around eight hours from Tulsa just to arrive in time for the Associated Press’ Player of the Year announcement.
On the trip down, we took time to chat with everyone on Facebook and discuss where we were going and what Cayden and Al were expecting. Check it out below or here!
There are two from the road trip, here is the second one in case you cannot view it below!
When we arrived, first things first we grabbed out press passes and then quickly made it just in time to find the room that was holding the press conference for the Associated Press.
We walked into the large open conference room, chattering and cameras clicking in the obstructed distances before we could see the lenses actually pointing at the winner, whom we did not expect. Instead of University of Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield,it was Denzel Valentine of Michigan State.
According to AP, Valentine received 34 of 65 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25. Hield was the only other player to receive votes. Hield and Valentine were the only unanimous selections to the AP All-America team.
Taking a quite moment to pick our surprised mouths from the floor, the three of us set off to work covering what happened.
Congrats to Bill Self on winning AP Coach of the Year! #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/040YtiELY5
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 31, 2016
The Associated Press also named the Coach of the Year as Kansas' Bill Self, also the former TU coach, after the press conference Big Al was able to sit down with Self one-on-one and talk about what happened and his recent accolades. Check out the full interview here, or in the player below!
Still reeling from the surprise, we walked into the hallway to discuss. Big Al and Cayden even had a chance to talk with an OU pro about his thoughts on the award and the upcoming game. Check that out below!
After the announcement and a quick peak at the stadium, the three of us drove to Cypress to the Berry Center where the College Slam Dunk & 3 Point Championship event was being held. The University of Tulsa’s guard Shaq Harrison was competing in the slam dunk contest so we decided to cheer on our fellow Tulsan. Check out Harrison’s dunk in the video below and let us know if you agreed with Big Al’s rating of it!
Overall it was an exciting first day and we are ready to see what the rest of the weekend holds!
Lights. Camera. Sooners! #FinalFour https://t.co/kfQuGXd7MS
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 31, 2016
