Now there are only four teams left, exactly as the statistics predicted. No more than two No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final 4 in 18 of the last 22 years and now it will be 19 of the last 23 years. And no team seeded below No. 4 has won the championship for 18 consecutive years and this year will make it 19 consecutive years.
There is much weeping for the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Kansas Jayhawks, both No. 1 seeds who were beaten by their No. 2 Seed opponents over the weekend.
The Final 4 will be No. 1 Florida against No. 2 UCLA, and No. 1 Ohio State against No. 2 Georgetown.
Forget last year's miracle team-George Mason-and the Cinderella team of two years ago-Butler. This year's almost underdog miracle-UNLV-made it to the Sweet 16 but was promptly dispatched by Oregon, 76-72.
Despite all of the hoopla about Butler this year, last year's national champion Florida proved just as tough and physical as Butler, winning 65-57. Florida then put some major hurt on Oregon 85-77 to advance to the Final 4 once again.
No. 1 Seed Florida is trying to become the first team since Duke in 1992 to win consecutive national titles. A lot of fans have other favorites besides Florida, but to be the national champion that team will have to upset the defending champion Florida first.
Oregon's Tajuan Porter, the 5-foot-6 freshman guard no other big school wanted, was sizzling against UNLV, getting nothing but net while setting an NCAA regional record with eight 3-pointers among his 33 points. Unfortunately, Oregon's normal hot shooting hand was cold against Florida when it came time to finish.
No. 1 Ohio State had all it could handle against Tennessee. Freshman sensation Greg Oden was in foul trouble and the Buckeyes were down 20 points when senior Ron Lewis and Mike Conley brought Ohio State back to life down the stretch to win 85-84.
Lewis scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half and Conley scored 9 of his 17 from the foul line, including the winner with 6.5 seconds left.
Ohio State dodged the bullet against Tennessee and then crushed Memphis 92-76 to advance to the Final 4.
The No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks were not the fanny kickers many predicted. Kansas barely got by #4 Southern Illinois 61-58 when Tony Young missed a desperation 3-pointer from halfcourt at the buzzer. When it was over the Jayhawks were probably saying their prayers.
Apparently No. 2 Seed UCLA did not miss much of the Jayhawks performance against Southern Illinois as they crushed Kansas 68-55 to eliminate the Jayhawks and move on to the Final 4 for a record 17th time.
The Bruins Arron Affalo, absent in some big games for UCLA as the season ended, resurfaced with 15 of his 24 points in the second half and looked like the Pac 10 Player of the Year that he was coming into the tournament.
Before taking care of Kansas, UCLA never trailed in eliminating Pittsburgh 64-55. Ben Howland coached Pittsburgh to some major successes before leaving Pitt for the UCLA job. Pittsburgh's head coach Jamie Dixon is Howland's best friend and Howland's former assistant coach at Pitt. Someone had to lose, perhaps it is better that Dixon's mentor won.
Given the success Howland has had at UCLA and also Dixon at Pittsburgh there is no question that they will meet again in the playoffs at some point in the future.
North Carolina looked like a No. 1 Seed in eliminating No. 5 Southern California 76-64 even though North Carolina was down by 16 early in the second half. When it counted, Southern California folded like cheap K-Mart deck chair; they mostly did a lot of looking around while North Carolina went on a scoring spree.
But North Carolina picked up some bad habits while watching Southern California fold. The Tar Heels were up by 13 against Georgetown but completely collapsed at the end, making only one field goal in the final 9:54 of regulation and the first 4:52 of overtime.
During that stretch North Carolina missed 21 of 22 shots from the field as the Hoyas shut them down with their zone defense, arguably the best zone defense at game's end in the tournament.
With only 31.2 seconds left in regulation Georgetown's Jonathan Wallace, an unlikely hero, tied the score with a three-pointer, sending the game into an overtime period that Georgetown dominated, finally winning 96-84.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams was apparently playing with a team full of underclassmen, and it showed down the stretch.
You could call Georgetown the comeback team as the Hoyas were down 13 to Vanderbilt before coming back to win 66-65 and qualify to face North Carolina.
There have been no less than 10 double-digit comebacks in the 2007 tournament, but none will be remembered a year from now. At this time next year, we will only remember who won the national championship, most of us may even space out on who they played.
It is as it always is, it is much easier to remember who won rather than who lost. Remember, it is basketball, it is a game, not the game of life, that will come later when these marvelous athletes move on to the next chapter of their life.
2007 NCAA Tournament Pairings for the Round 6 - The Final 4
Saturday, March 31:
#1 Ohio State (34-3) against #2 Georgetown (30-6)
#1 Florida (33-5) against #2 UCLA (30-5)
The National Championship Game will be Played Tuesday, April 2
2007 NCAA Tournament Results for Round 3 - The Sweet 16
Midwest Regional:
#1 Florida eliminated #5 Butler 65-57
#3 Oregon eliminated #7 UNLV 76-72
West Regional:
#1 Kansas eliminated #4 Southern Illinois 61-58
#2 UCLA eliminated #3 Pittsburgh 64-55
East Regional:
#1 North Carolina eliminated #5 Southern California 76-64
#2 Georgetown eliminated #6 Vanderbilt 66-65
South Regional:
#1 Ohio State eliminated #5 Tennessee 85-84
#2 Memphis eliminated #3 Texas A&M 65-64
2007 NCAA Tournament Results for Round 4 - The Elite 8
Midwest Regional:
#1 Florida eliminated #3 Oregon 85-77
West Regional:
#1 Kansas was upset by #2 UCLA 68-55
East Regional:
#1 North Carolina was upset by #2 Georgetown 96-84 (OT)
#1 Ohio State eliminated #2 Memphis 92-76
No comments:
Post a Comment