An inside look at the Final Four matchups - Memphis-UCLA, Kansas-North Carolina
A quick look at Saturday's national semifinal matchups:
MEMPHIS VS. UCLA
MEMPHIS (37-1)
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR: The top-seeded Tigers beat No. 16 Texas-Arlington 87-63; No. 8 Mississippi State 77-74; No. 5 Michigan State 92-74 and No. 2 Texas 85-67.
STARS: Junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts (17.7 points, 4.2 rebounds) was a first-team All-America and freshman guard Derrick Rose (14.6 points, 4.7 assists), a third-team pick, lived up to the billing as the best point guard among a very talented group of first-year players.
COACH: John Calipari took Massachusetts to the Final Four in 1996, then left for a brief stint with the New Jersey Nets in the NBA. This is his eighth season at Memphis. The Tigers are 218-64 in that span, including 11-4 in the NCAA tournament.
KEY POINT: Reserve guard Andre Allen (3.3 points, 2.1 assists) has been suspended for the Final Four for violating team rules. The Tigers have taken an us-against-the-world mentality over what they perceive as a slight in being given a chance to win the national championship. Entering the tournament free throw shooting was the biggest question about the team, but the Tigers are 93-for-138 (67.4 percent) in the four NCAA games, well above their 60.7 mark for the season.
UCLA (35-3)
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR: The top-seeded Bruins beat No. 16 Mississippi Valley State 70-29; No. 9 Texas A&M 53-49; No. 12 Western Kentucky 88-78 and No. 3 Xavier 76-57.
STARS: Center Kevin Love (17.6 points, 10.7 rebounds) is just one of six freshmen to be selected first-team All-America since 1983, and his tough inside play has become the face of UCLA basketball. Junior guard Darren Collison (14.8 points, 3.8 assists), a tremendous free throw shooter who has made 83 of his 92 foul shots, was a third-team All-America.
COACH: Ben Howland has taken the Bruins to the Final Four three straight years. His 97 wins over that span, including a school-record 35 this season, is the best run in UCLA history.
KEY POINT: The Bruins have five players making their third Final Four appearance, the only ones with any experience among the four teams. It's still about defense for UCLA, the only team still playing that allows less than 60 points per game.
KANSAS VS. NORTH CAROLINA
KANSAS (35-3)
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR: The top-seeded Jayhawks beat No. 16 Portland State 85-61; No. 8 UNLV 75-56; No. 12 Villanova 72-57; and No. 10 Davidson 59-57.
STARS: Kansas is one of the few teams without a real star as shown by a balanced offense that has seven players averaging between 13.1 and 7.3 points. Brandon Rush, who was expected to be in the NBA this season until knee surgery forced him to return to school, is the top scorer with the 13.1 average.
COACH: Bill Self had been 0-4 in regional final appearances -- two with Kansas -- until this season. Regardless of this weekend's outcome he was able to shed that hated tag of best coach never to reach the Final Four.
KEY POINT: The Jayhawks make it work with balance and depth at both end of the court. Because there is no real star on whom to concentrate, Kansas is often able to ride the hot hand inside or on the perimeter.
NORTH CAROLINA (36-2)
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR: The top-seeded Tar Heels beat No. 16 Mount St. Mary's, Md. 113-74; No. 9 Arkansas 108-77; No. 4 Washington State 68-47; and No. 3 Louisville 83-73.
STARS: Tyler Hansbrough was a unanimous first-team All-America after averaging 22.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, shooting 54 percent from the field and 81 percent from the line, all while leading the world in hustle plays. Sophomore point guard Ty Lawson missed seven games -- including both losses -- with an ankle injury, but he appears to be back to full speed.
COACH: Roy Williams is the only coach in the field with a national championship (2005) and he tied for fourth on the all-time list with six Final Four appearances, the same figure as the other three coaches here combined.
KEY POINT: The Tar Heels were the most dominant of the four top seeds, finally being tested by Louisville in the regional final. That was a big win for North Carolina because it erased the memory of last year's devastating overtime loss to Georgetown at the same point in the tournament.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Winona St. beats Bentley 86-75 to advance to DII final
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. -- John Smith had 22 points and Winona State earned a place in the NCAA Division II championship game for the third straight year, using a second-half surge for an 86-75 victory over previously unbeaten Bentley on Thursday night.
It was the second straight year the Minnesota school ended Bentley's unbeaten season in the round of eight. Winona State will play Augusta State, a 56-50 semifinal winner over Alaska Anchorage, in Saturday's championship game.
Winona State (37-1), which won the 2006 D-II title and lost to Barton in the 2007 championship game, will take a 31-game winning streak into the final.
Bentley (34-1), which had been the last remaining unbeaten Division II team, was bidding to become the first Division II men's national champion from New England since Massachusetts-Lowell in 1988.
Jonte Flowers scored 20 points for the Warriors, Quincy Henderson had 17 and David Johnson 16.
Nate Fritsch led the Falcons with 18 points. Lew Finnegan had 17 and Tom Dowling 15.
Bentley led by as many as nine in the first half, and 36-30 at the break.
But Winona State opened the second half with an 18-11 burst. Flowers' basket gave the Warriors a 48-47 lead with 13:50 left.
Bentley ran off the next seven points, but Winona State answered with nine straight and took the lead for good. Johnson's twisting basket and foul shot gave the Warriors a 59-54 lead, their biggest since scoring the game's first five points.
Bentley guard Tom Dowling's layup with 1:37 remaining cut Winona State's lead to six at 75-69, but Henderson hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:17 left, expanding the Warriors' lead to seven at 78-71.
With 24 seconds left and Bentley trailing 84-74, Falcons coach Jay Lawson took out starters Fristch and Yusuf Abdul-Ali, giving his seniors a final curtain call. Abdul-Ali had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Winona State's only loss was an 83-82 overtime defeat to St. Thomas (Minn.) on Nov. 24.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Gonzaga gets Davidson in its 10th straight NCAA tournament appearance
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Make it an even 10 straight NCAA tournaments for Gonzaga -- though the selection committee sure isn't rewarding the Bulldogs for consistency and longevity.
The 24th-ranked Zags have to fly across the country to play an opening round game against Davidson, owners of the nation's longest winning streak at 22 straight, on Friday morning in its home state of North Carolina.
Coach Mark Few doesn't care. The Zags built themselves into a national power by playing anyone, anywhere. They've already played 10 teams that made the NCAA tournament, including road trips to Connecticut, Saint Joseph's and Memphis.
"To make it for 10 straight years is probably the greatest thing we have been able to do here," said Few, an assistant the first year and head coach the past nine.
Seventh-seeded Gonzaga (25-7) is tied with Texas and Wisconsin for the sixth-longest streak of NCAA appearances, but has never gotten beyond the final eight, where the Bulldogs were eliminated in 1999 after capturing the nation's attention.
"We just want to come out and represent ourselves and the program, come out and play hard, leave some guys stunned on the East Coast about how hard we play," guard Jeremy Pargo said.
The Gonzaga-Davidson winner will likely get second-seeded Georgetown, which plays Maryland-Baltimore County in the Midwest Region. Kansas is the region's top seed.
Davidson relies on guards Jason Richards and Stephen Curry, who averages 25.1 points and hit 139 3-pointers to tie for first in the nation.
"You got to slow a guy like that down," said Pargo, who will likely be assigned the task.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Kent State moves into MAC semis with 77-57 win over Toledo
CLEVELAND -- Mike Scott scored 23 points and top-seeded Kent State padded an already impressive NCAA tournament resume with a 77-57 win over Toledo in the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The Golden Flashes came in with 25 regular-season wins, a MAC title and an RPI in the top 30, but they were not guaranteed a spot in the 65-team NCAA field. The mid-major MAC hasn't had two teams make it since 1999 when both Kent State and Miami of Ohio received bids.
But a decisive win over the Rockets should help the Golden Flashes' cause regardless of what they do in Friday's semifinals against Miami of Ohio.
Rashad Woods scored 11 points and Al Fisher, the MAC's player of the year, added 10 for Kent State, which opened a 16-point lead in the opening minutes of the second half and coasted. The Golden Flashes shot 57 percent from the field.
Jerrah Young scored 17 points and Tyron Kent 14 for Toledo.
Akron, an 81-60 winner over Central Michigan, will meet Western Michigan in Friday's other semifinal. The Chippewas advanced with a 70-61 win over Eastern Michigan.
The Rockets trailed by nine in the first half and were on the verge of getting run out of Quicken Loans Arena before clawing back within 30-29 on Kent's three-point play.
Kent State, though, quickly regrouped as Chris Singletary muscled inside for two buckets as the Golden Flashes reeled off nine consecutive points to open a 39-29 halftime lead.
Scott and Haminn Quaintance scored in the first minute of the second half, and Kent State eventually pushed its lead to 22.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Shaun Green scores 20 in Utah's 82-61 win over Colorado St.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Shaun Green scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Utah snapped a four-game losing streak by handing Colorado State its 16th straight loss, 82-61 on Tuesday night.
The Utes (16-12, 7-8 Mountain West) dominated from the start, shooting 58 percent and badly outrebounding the Rams (6-23, 0-15). Colorado State had only one starter -- 6-foot-6 forward Andre McFarland -- taller than 6-4 because of injuries to 7-foot centers Stuart Creason and Ronnie Aguilar.
Utah capitalized on the height advantage with had 39 rebounds to Colorado State's 22 and ended a four-game losing streak.
In the absence of an inside game, the Rams shot a season-high 32 three-pointers. They made 12 of them, but shot 38.6 percent overall and allowed Utah to open the game on an 18-6 run.
The Utes led by as many as 23 points.
Luke Nevill scored 19 points for the Utes, while Johnnie Bryant added 14 and Kim Tillie scored 13.
McFarland led the Rams with 15 points.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Foster's 32 points lead No. 18 Vanderbilt's 72-69 upset of top-ranked Vols
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Volunteers found out being No. 1 can be tougher than beating No. 1.
Shan Foster scored 32 points and No. 18 Vanderbilt knocked off Tennessee 72-69 on Tuesday night -- a day after the Vols moved into the top spot in the rankings for the first time in school history.
The Vols (25-3, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) beat then-No. 1 Memphis on Saturday night 66-62 on the western edge of Tennessee for their ninth straight victory to earn that spot themselves, then had to travel back to the middle part of the state to defend their top ranking for the first time.
Vanderbilt (24-4, 9-4) has hosted the No. 1 team nine times in its 56 years at Memorial Gym, and the Commodores improved to 6-3 overall in those games with victories in the past four, including then-No. 1 Florida last year. The Commodores also now have won all 18 home games this season and 31 of their last 32.
Jermaine Beal added 17 points and Alex Gordon 11 as Vanderbilt won its seventh straight. The Dores moved into a tie with Kentucky for second in the SEC East, a mere game behind the Vols with three games to play.
Chris Lofton led Tennessee with 25 points. Tyler Smith, playing with the flu, had 11 points and a career-high 17 rebounds.
The Commodores celebrated by high-fiving classmates as they walked and skipped between the student section and the campus officers keeping them off the court.
These rivals separated by less than 200 miles hadn't played in Nashville with both ranked since 1968. Vandy won that game also.
This time, the Commodores had a sellout crowd making it even louder than what the Vols faced from a bigger group in Memphis' FedExForum. In Memorial, sound just rolls off the cinder block walls and back onto the floor, and one sign summed up the Vols' fate: "Enjoy Second Place Next Week."
The combination of the travel and quick turnaround left the Vols exhausted, and it showed in the first half as they hit only eight of 34 shots, too often shooting away from beyond the 3-point line where they hit only 5-of-17. They finished 20-of-61.
Wayne Chism, who had 18 points and 18 rebounds when Tennessee beat Vandy in Knoxville 80-60 last month, had four points and four rebounds.
Vanderbilt led 31-28 at the break after nearly blowing a 14-point lead in the opening half. The teams swapped the lead four times with three ties before Alan Metcalfe's 3-pointer broke a 43-all tie with 14:20 left, and Vandy never trailed again.
Tennessee stayed close enough to keep sending Vandy to the free throw line and pulled within 72-69 on Chism's dunk with 7.5 seconds.
But Ross Neltner got the ball past the Vols' pressing defense, Foster threw it upcourt to Keegan Bell. The Vols fouled him with 1.8 seconds left, and he missed both attempts. But a late throw at the basket went deep into the seats after the buzzer.
Vanderbilt nearly ran Tennessee out of the gym in the opening minutes by scoring 10 of the first 13 points and jumping out 23-9 on A.J. Ogilvy's dunk with 10:36 left in the first half. Then they went cold, finishing by hitting only two of their final 12 shots. They went nearly seven minutes between field goals before Foster hit his fourth 3 with 3:57 to go.
Tennessee answered with a 14-3 spurt, and Lofton missed a chance to tie it going into the half with an off-target 3 over two defenders just before the buzzer.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Patterson, Crawford lead Wildcats past Bulldogs, 61-55
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Joe Crawford scored 23 points and Patrick Patterson added 20 points and nine rebounds as Kentucky held off Georgia 61-55 on Tuesday.
Ramel Bradley had eight points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats (14-10, 8-3 Southeastern Conference), who swept the season series from the Bulldogs (12-12, 3-8) to keep a firm grip on second-place in the SEC's Eastern Division.
Terrance Woodbury led Georgia with 15 points and Sundiata Gaines had 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but the Bulldogs shot just 32 percent from the floor and made just one field goal over the game's final six minutes.
Kentucky led by as many as 16, but the Bulldogs managed to hang around and got within three at 55-52 on a 3-pointer by Gaines with 6:22 to play. But Georgia couldn't quite make it all the way back. Six straight possessions the Bulldogs had the ball with a chance to cut the lead to one or tie.
It never happened. Bradley ended a four-minute drought for the Wildcats with a putback off a Patterson miss to push the lead to 57-52, and Kentucky's aggressive defense kept the Bulldogs from getting any closer.
Georgia center Dave Bliss, who knocked Bradley out of the game with a hard foul during Kentucky's win at Georgia on Feb. 2, was booed lustily by the crowd each time he touched the ball. Bradley said before the game that he was over the incident, claiming it was just something that happens during the course of a game.
Bradley's patience was tested again late, when he took an elbow from Billy Humphrey in the game's final minutes. Bradley went sprawling to the floor after the foul but popped back up and collected himself as Rupp Arena roared.
Kentucky's second half didn't seem like it would be necessary during a dizzying opening eight minutes.
Crawford wasted little time heating up, knocking down three 3-pointers in the game's first three minutes as Kentucky roared to a 20-4 lead and seemed ready to do to the Bulldogs what Vanderbilt did to the Wildcats in a 41-point rout last week.
Crawford, however, cooled off while Georgia steadied itself behind a steady dose of Woodbury. The Bulldogs eventually cut the gap to 33-30 before two free throws by Patterson and a layup by Bradley pushed the Wildcats to a 37-30 lead at the break.
Kentucky played without guard Jodie Meeks, who continues to struggle with a strained hip flexor.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
|
