Keepingitreal

North Carolina Wins Men’s N.C.A.A. Tournament: North Carolina 89, Michigan State 72

North Carolina Wins N.C.A.A Men's Basketball Championship The Tar Heels blasted Michigan State, 89-72, to win the university's fifth national championship. A Michigan State run hallmarked by hope ended in a game where they had none, as U.N.C. jumped out to a 20-point lead in the first 10 The Tar Heels led Michigan State from the early minutes and never looked back, coasting to an 89-72 victory.

Spartans are “close to special,” North Carolina is just nasty

After Michigan State upset UConn in the first of yesterday’s Final Four games, Jim Calhoun said, “We’re pretty good, but they’re close to special.” But are the Spartans special enough now to handle North Carolina? State came out hot like cayenne pepper on UConn, seemingly scoring on every offensive possession for the first five minutes, punching UConn in the mouth first and maintaining that momentum throughout … Kalin Lucas scored 21, Raymar Morgan had 18 points, nine boards and five steals, and Durrell Summers provided the “One Shining Moment” image with his poster dunk on Stanley Robinson. MSU’s defense took A.J. Price out of his game (5-20 FG) and made Hasheem Thabeet a non-factor early, and the offense ran better than anyone expected, showing an athleticism that could help them hang in there against UNC … Now about those Tar Heels. They didn’t quite play their “A” game, yet they still dispatched of Villanova pretty easily. The Big Three of Ty Lawson (22 pts, 7 rebs, 8 asts), Wayne Ellington (20 pts, 5 threes) and Tyler Hansbrough (18 pts, 11 rebs) carried UNC, and the defense was too much for ‘Nova on an off shooting night … You notice how State has already been cast as the ultimate good guys? No only are they underdogs, Tom Izzo has played up the feel-good story of representing Detroit in these tough economic times for the city. Surprisingly, Carolina and its lineage of rich plantation owners doesn’t come off as sympathetic … What was up with ESPN’s Hubert Davis acting like it’s just a “possibility” Thabeet is going pro? Nate Miles will play another game at UConn before Thabeet does … Some of the Dime crew is in Detroit for some Final Four-related business. We’ve been watching the MSU fans drink all weekend like they’re gearing up for battle, and after they beat UConn somebody warned, “The city may be destroyed tonight.” … We were at UNC’s hotel a few hours before tip-off, and some former Tar Heels were getting mobbed by their fans (guys like Eric Montross). And for at least an hour, there was this older man with a huge crowd of people around him. For the longest we couldn’t tell who it was. Bill Guthridge? No. “The Kangaroo Kid” Billy Cunnigham? No. Turns out it was Tyler Hansbrough’s dad. Seriously. People were treating him like a rock star, asking him to autograph Psycho T’s #50 UNC jersey and pose for photos. That’s how nuts the Final Four can get …CONTINUE READING..

FINAL FOUR: Michigan 82 UCONN 73

Michigan State got support from a Final Four record in-state crowd, and now the Spartans are one victory away from their third national championship. Kalin Lucas scored 21 points, as the Spartans pulled away in the second half and held off Connecticut, 82-73, in front of 72,456 fans at Ford Field. Raymar Morgan added 18 points, Korie Lucious scored 11 and Durrell Summers netted 10 for the Spartans (31-6), who will play Monday against the winner of tonight's other semifinal between North Carolina and Villanova. The Spartans are just the 13th team in Final Four history to play within their state borders and the first since Duke took the court in Charlotte in 1994.  

Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Michigan State got support from a Final Four record crowd, and now the Spartans are one victory away from their third national championship. Kalin Lucas scored 21 points, as the Spartans pulled away in the second half before holding off Connecticut, 82-73, in front of 72,456 fans at Ford Field. Raymar Morgan added 18 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Spartans (31-6), who will play Monday against the winner of tonight's other semifinal between North Carolina and Villanova.Korie Lucious scored 11 and Durrell Summers netted 10 for the Spartans, who are just the 13th team in Final Four history to play within their state borders and the first since Duke took the court in Charlotte in 1994. Michigan State's home court, the Breslin Center, is just 91 miles from Ford Field, marking the closest home of any Final Four team since Kansas won the 1988 championship in Kansas City.The Spartans, the second seed from the Midwest Region who took down top overall seed Louisville in the Elite Eight, are appearing in their nation's- best fifth Final Four in the last 11 years. Michigan State is looking to join the school's 1979 and 2000 championship teams.Connecticut (31-5), the No. 1 seed from the West Region, got 17 points from Hasheem Thabeet. Stanley Robinson added 15 points and 13 rebounds, while A.J. Price also scored 15. Jeff Adrien ended with 13 points for UConn, which was in the Final Four for the third time in school history, having won the national title in 1999 and 2004.The Huskies, who trailed by only two at the half, shot 12-of-34 from the field in the final 20 minutes.Robinson sank a pair of foul shots to get UConn within 53-51 with 12:49 left, but the Huskies got no closer, as the Spartans came right back with an 11-3 spurt. Draymond Green had six points during the run, which was capped by a Goran Suton jumper off an inbounds play with 7:05 to go.Summers then continued Michigan State's dominance in emphatic fashion, rising for a dunk on a fast break over Robinson despite a partial block, moving the difference to 66-56.The Huskies continued to struggle as the Spartans hustled to more loose balls, and a turnover by UConn led to a Morgan breakaway jam with under 3 1/2 minutes left for a 71-60 margin.Costly mistakes by Michigan State gave the Huskies life late. Summers dribbled the ball off his foot, and Price hit a layup at the other end with 1:27 left for a 73-67 difference. Thabeet was fouled by Suton away from the ball, and Austrie came in to sink both from the foul line as Thabeet sat after landing hard on his tailbone.Lucas made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 1:18 left, but Robinson's jam had UConn within 74-71 with 69 seconds remaining The hope for the Huskies ran out when they didn't get back on defense, and Summers hit a layup, which turned into a three-point play only nine seconds later.

The Spartans soared to a 9-2 edge, but UConn used an 11-2 spurt later to grab a 21-16 lead. Later, a jumper by Price extended UConn to a 29-25 lead with nearly six minutes left in the half, but the Spartans came back with the next eight points before tempers flared. Morgan started the burst with a layup, and Lucious added a three-pointer and a trio of free throws after being fouled outside the arc. SOURCE: THE SPORTSNETWORK.COM

FINAL FOUR SET: MARCH MADDNESS

MEMPHIS — Oklahoma had the best player. North Carolina had the best team. The anticipated matchup between the nation’s two dominant power forwards, the Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin and the North Carolina senior Tyler Hansbrough, quickly turned into one between Griffin and the Tar Heels’ breadth of talent. From the beginning, it was no contest. North Carolina, seeded No. 1 in the South Regional, overwhelmed second-seeded Oklahoma, 72-60, on Sunday to advance to the Final Four in Detroit. “That’s the way I recruit, that’s the way we try to run our program, that’s what we try to have in every team I’ve ever coached, is more than one guy as the star,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said. “You’ve got to have other guys, you’ve got to have good balance inside, scoring outside.” The Tar Heels got it on Sunday, and the Sooners did not. North Carolina will play Villanova on Saturday in one national semifinal. Connecticut and Michigan State will play in the other. It will be North Carolina’s second consecutive Final Four appearance, and 18th over all, the most of any program. The Tar Heels (32-4) last won the championship in 2005. With the FedEx Forum bathed in the dueling hues of Carolina blue and Oklahoma crimson, the Tar Heels received only 8 points and 6 rebounds from Hansbrough, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s career leading scorer and last season’s national player of the year. Hansbrough took only four shots. His teammates, instead, traded star turns, slashing and shooting the Tar Heels to a quick lead that they never lost. Guard Ty Lawson, unencumbered by a sore big toe on his right foot, led North Carolina with 19 points. Danny Green added 18 points, including 14 in the first half. They were among the five Tar Heels starters from last year’s Final Four team that returned, some eschewing the lure of the N.B.A., to take another try at the national championship. “It’s a challenge guarding those guys,” Oklahoma Coach Jeff Capel said. “They’ve got pros at just about every position.”Capel’s own future N.B.A. player, Griffin, tried to plow the Sooners into the Final Four.With teammates unable to consistently score points — Oklahoma missed its first 13 3-point shots and finished 2 of 19 — Griffin bulled through, around and over double teams for 23 points and 16 rebounds. But he could not keep pace with the superior roster of the Tar Heels. “We were doubling him as soon as he got the ball and made his supporting cast try to make plays,” Green said of Griffin, who is expected to be named this season’s player of the year and declare for the N.B.A. draft. CONTINUE READING..

March Maddness Sweet Sixteen Set

9 Arizona State 32 35 67 13 Syracuse « 41 37 78 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - South Region - Second Round - American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL	Final 1 2 Score Wisconsin 27 22 49 20 Xavier « 25 35 60 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - East Region - Second Round - Taco Bell Arena, Boise, ID
Final 1 2 Score Dayton 23 20 43 14 Kansas « 29 31 60 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - Midwest Region - Second Round - HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN	Final 1 2 Score Oklahoma State 49 27 76 4 Pittsburgh « 49 35 84 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - East Region - Second Round - University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH
Final 1 2 Score U-S-C 37 32 69 8 Michigan State « 40 34 74 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - Midwest Region - Second Round - HHH Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN	Final 1 2 Score 23 Marquette 35 44 79 9 Missouri « 46 37 83 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - West Region - Second Round - Taco Bell Arena, Boise, ID
Final 1 2 Score Siena 35 37 72 1 Louisville « 42 37 79 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - Midwest Region - Second Round - University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH

College Basketball March Maddness

March 21, 2009

Final 1 2 Score (18) U-C-L-A 31 38 69 (11) Villanova « 44 45 89 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - East Region - Second Round - Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA	Final 1 2 Score Maryland 33 37 70 (3) Memphis « 53 36 89 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - West Region - Second Round - Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
Final 1 2 Score Texas A&M 33 33 66 (5) Connecticut « 51 41 92 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - West Region - Second Round - Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA	Final 1 2 Score (17) Purdue « 39 37 76 (15) Washington 28 46 74 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - West Region - Second Round - Rose Garden, Portland, OR
Final 1 2 Score (21) L-S-U 29 41 70 (2) North Carolina « 38 46 84 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - South Region - Second Round - Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC	Final 1 2 Score Michigan 29 34 63 (7) Oklahoma « 30 43 73 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - South Region - Second Round - Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
Final 1 2 Score Texas 29 40 69 (6) Duke « 36 38 74 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - East Region - Second Round - Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC	Final 1 2 Score Western Ky 37 44 81 (10) Gonzaga « 35 48 83 Preview | Lineup | Wrap | Box NCAA Tournament - South Region - Second Round - Rose Garden, Portland, OR

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March Maddness Opening Day

NCAA Men's Basketball Live Event Central

N. Iowa 56 vs. Purdue 61  Final  Butler 71 vs. Louisiana St. 75  Final  Cal St.-Northridge 70 vs. Memphis 81  Final  Texas A&M 79 vs. Brigham Young 66  Final  Mississippi St. 58 vs. Washington 71  Final  Radford 58 vs. North Carolina 101  Final  Maryland 84 vs. California 71  Final  Chattanooga 47 vs. Connecticut 103  Final  New Mexico 68 vs. Notre Dame 70  Final  Rhode Island 72 vs. Penn St. 83  Final  The Citadel 59 vs. Old Dominion 67  Final  Minnesota 62 vs. Texas 76  Final  Michigan 62 vs. Clemson 59  Final  American U. 67 vs. Villanova 80  Final  Akron 64 vs. Gonzaga 77  Final  Binghamton 62 vs. Duke 86  Final  Morgan St. 54 vs. Oklahoma 82  Final  Va. Commonwealth 64 vs. UCLA 65  Final  W. Kentucky 76 vs. Illinois 72  Final

March Maddness Begins 65 Teams Set.

6:40: In the South it is No. 1 North Carolina vs. Radford; No. 8 LSU vs. Butler;No. 5 Illinois vs. Western Kentucky; No. 4 Gonzaga vs. Akron; No. 2 Oklahoma vs. Morgan State; No. 7 Clemson vs. Michigan; No. 3 Syracuse vs. Stephen F. Austin; No. 6 Arizona State vs. Temple. Oklahoma's Blake Griffin vs. Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough? How about that for a matchup? 

6:30: In the East: No 1 Pitt vs. East Tennesee State; No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee; No. 5 Florida State vs. Wisconsin; No. 4 Xavier vs. Portland State; No. 2 Duke vs. Binghamton; No. 7 Texas vs. Minnesota; No. 3 Villanova playing in Philly against American University and No. 6 UCLA vs. VCU. The experts like VCU to be a surprise and Duke and Pittsburgh to meet when the smoke clears.6:00: Louisville Cardinals are No. 1 overall seed. Going to Midwest Region. Pittsburgh going to East as No. 1 seed. North Carolina going to South and Connecticut is going to the west.

6:21: Top seed UConn will get Chattanooga in the West; BYU vs. Texas A&M; No. 5 Purdue vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa; No. 4 Washington vs. No. 13 Mississippi State; No. 2 Memphis vs. Cal State-Northridge; No. 7 California vs. Maryland; No. 3 Missouri vs. Cornell and Marquette vs. Utah State. Maryland getting in as a No. 10 has to be making some bubble teams nervous.

6:10: The Midwest Region goes first. Big surprise is Arizona getting an at-large bid going up against Utah. Louisville gets play-in winner (Alabama State vs. Morehead State). Ohio State vs. Siena; Wake vs. Cleveland State; Michigan State vs. Robert Morris; Boston College vs. USC; defending champion Kansas vs. North Dakota State and West Virginia plays Dayton.

6:03: UConn and not Memphis as a No. 1. Let the bickering begin.

5:54: Memphis coach John Calipari: "If we are one we are one, if we are a two, we are a two. We just want to play." Amen.

5:43: Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh tells CBS he doesn't often listen to prognosticators but since they have him as a No.1 seed he's happy to go along. Says maybe the early loss in the Big East tournament will help them heal since "they were a little banged up."

5:36: Bill Self, coach of defending champion Kansas, says to Greg Gumbel that he figures his team to be around a third-seed. "We're rested now,we made sure of that," he says about their early exit of the Big 12 tournament.5:30: While you wait, click here for a final look at Tim Gardner's Bubble Tracker.

5:17 p.m. Forty-three minutes to to your team's future. Let the sweat beads form. Click here to vote in our instant poll to tell us who you think will win the national title. North Carolina leads early with 26% of the vote followed by Pittsburgh at 21% and Memphis at 11%.

09 March to Glory: March Madness taking Shape

West Va. stuns No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60  DeJuan Blair spent most of Thursday night sitting on the bench, mired in foul trouble and watching Pittsburgh struggle mightily against overmatched West Virginia.Baylor upsets Kansas in Big 12 quarters Coach Scott Drew says everyone on Baylor can hear when LaceDarius Dunn is open. No. 11 Kansas does, too. Oklahoma St. upends No. 6 Oklahoma 71-70  As James Anderson prepared to shoot what he said were the biggest free throws of his career, teammate Byron Eaton came up to him to try easing the tension. Nova beats Marquette 76-75 at buzzer At first, it seemed the game clock was moving faster than it should have been for Villanova. Then, less than a second was taking forever. NEW YORK (AP) — Rick Pitino still roots for Providence, the team he led to the Final Four more than 22 years ago. He likens the program to his alma mater, and still considers it his first big break in the coaching profession. If the Friars were playing anybody else Thursday, Pitino surely would have cringed. Instead, he watched the Friars nearly match a Big East tournament record with 26 turnovers, and his fifth-ranked Louisville Cardinals eventually find their own offensive rhythm in a sloppy 73-55 quarterfinal victory. ``We do a very good job of moving the ball and defending,'' said Pitino, whose team advanced to play No. 10 Villanova in Friday's semifinals. Meeks' 25 help Kentucky end 4-game skid Jodie Meeks scored 25 points and Patrick Patterson had 15 points and 14 rebounds Thursday to help Kentucky stop a four-game losing streak with a 71-58 victory over Mississippi on Thursday in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.Missouri avoids upset bug at Big 12 DeMarre Carroll scored 19 points and No. 14 Missouri used a pair of second-half spurts to avoid an upset at the Big 12 tournament, beating Texas Tech 81-60 in the quarterfinals Thursday night.

Elimination Day: Many on the bubble face must-win situation

Expect emotions to be running high on the hardwood Thursday. It's elimination day. Many teams on the bubble begin league-tournament play today in must-win situations — or their NCAA dreams will go up in smoke. A sampling of Thursday's menu:

• Miami and Virginia Tech face off in an elimination game in the ACC.

• Also in the ACC, Maryland has to beat N.C. State to get a shot at Wake Forest.

• Florida must beat Arkansas in the SEC to get to a showdown with Auburn.

• UNLV and San Diego State also play an elimination game in the Mountain West.

• Penn State can't afford a loss to Indiana.

• Northwestern absolutely needs to beat Minnesota, while the Gophers can't afford a loss or the seed line drops significantly (think Texas A&M).

• Also in the Big Ten, Michigan can't afford to lose to Iowa.

And the list goes on …

As for Wednesday, Oklahoma State sealed up a bid while Texas A&M lost a big lead … and several lines on the seed list with their devastating loss to Texas Tech.

Providence did what it needed to with a win over DePaul, but that win does nothing to impress so the Friars will look to upset Louisville to leap up into the field of 65.

Check back Friday for another update after what should be an exciting day of action.

Last four in:  Arizona, Penn State, New Mexico, South Carolina

First four out:  Florida, San Diego State, Maryland, Creighton

Selection committee gets to work on building NCAA bracket

A dozen NCAA men's basketball tournament berths were nailed down by the end of Tuesday, and 19 more are to be settled by conference tournaments in the next five days. That's the easy part.Wednesday, the 10-person committee that puts the Division I tournament together gathers in Indianapolis' downtown Westin Hotel and begins the exhaustive process of filling out and seeding the 65-team field. First ballots are due by 4:30 ET Wednesday.The clock is ticking toward 6 p.m. Sunday, when the bracket — who's in, who's not, who'll play whom — is unveiled on national TV. For every given, there's a question mark. North Carolina and Pittsburgh appear assured of No. 1 seeds, and the Big East Conference should land another in Connecticut or regular-season champion Louisville. Can the powerhouse league score a precedent-setting three? Oklahoma and Memphis lead the No. 1 options. Also to be determined:Will the deep Big Ten wind up with more tournament entries, as many as eight, than the more celebrated Big East and Atlantic Coast? Will the Southeastern settle for as few as three berths, its fewest since 1990? Kentucky, which hasn't missed the field since 1991, is a longshot unless the Wildcats turn heads in the SEC tournament. Arizona, whose 24 consecutive appearances represent the longest active streak, also is iffy going into the Pacific 10 tournament. What of 2008 Elite Eight qualifier Davidson and national scoring leader Stephan Curry, who fell in the Southern Conference tournament semifinals and have questionable credentials for one of the 34 at-large bids handed out by the NCAA committee? Same for Saint Mary's, which got point guard Patty Mills back from a broken hand but hardly showed tournament chops in an 83-58 loss to Gonzaga in Monday night's West Coast final. The Gaels (25-6) have added another, probably inconsequential game to their schedule vs. Eastern Washington. "Get that done on Friday," center Omar Samhan said, "and say some prayers on Saturday night. We're a good team. And God, I'd love to be in the tournament again. But I wouldn't have to go in front of them (the selection committee) at all if we took care of business." SOURCE:USATODAY

DePaul and St. John’s Prove They Belong

After much debate and many mixed feelings, the Big East invited all 16 of its teams to Madison Square Garden for its conference tournament this year. And by the end of the first two games of the expanded affair, two teams that would not have qualified for the tournament under last year’s format had advanced to its second day with upset victories. First 16th-place DePaul, 0-18 in the conference’s regular season, defeated ninth-seeded Cincinnati in the Tuesday’s opener. As an encore, 13th-seeded St. John’s followed by bruising its way to its second win against Georgetown in a week, 64-59.In previous years since the Big East ballooned in size, only the top 12 came to New York for the tournament. St. John’s did not make the tournament four of the last six seasons, including last season, and had not won a conference tournament game since 2003 — also against Georgetown. This year, the top four seeds received byes through the first two rounds and will not play until Thursday’s semifinals. “If you’re in the league, everybody should be in the tournament,” St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts said. A physical, tight game between St. John’s and Georgetown, two old-school Big East rivals, energized the Garden crowd that gradually grew throughout the afternoon that featured games involving teams from the league’s bottom half of the standings.The Hoyas were bigger and stronger than the Red Storm, but St. John’s did not shy away from contact. DaJuan Summers, Georgetown’s leading scorer this season, picked up three fouls in nine minutes in the first half, and Greg Monroe, the second-leading scorer, fouled out late. In all, officials whistled the teams for 46 fouls as they shot 56 free throws. Still, Georgetown Coach John Thompson III noted after the game that the officials “let us play” and “weren’t going to call too much going to the rims.” On one play in the second half, the official Mike Kitts was knocked out of the game when D.J. Kennedy knocked heads with Kitts after being fouled on a fast break. Kitts was motionless on the floor for a few minutes before walking off the court under his own power with a towel over his face.The Red Storm pressed and trapped and played physical defense all around, keeping the Hoyas from establishing their offense in the lane. SOURCE:NYT.COM

Wild weekend brings trio of teams back into the field of 65

The NCAA bubble is a tricky place.Sometimes in the midst of all the resume analysis, pundit chit-chatter —who, me?— and over-the-shoulder glances, all a team really needs to do is win.It's really that easy. And after yet another wild weekend on the college hardwood, several teams have made the climb back into the field by doing just that one thing: winning. GAME ON! LIVE: Bubble talk from the USA TODAY newsroom BRACKET RACKET: Weekend analysis of the NCAA bubble • Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators kept their heads above water with a victory over reeling Kentucky. The win propelled the Gators back into the RPI top 50 and kept them from falling to 8-8 in league play. Up next is a must-win for the Gators against Arkansas in the first round of the SEC tournament. • South Carolina got a top-50 win back on the resume when Florida made its jump and so the Gamecocks' win over Georgia did enough to regain a spot. Their 10-6 SEC mark against the Eastern Division schedule helps as well. • Arizona's offense hit high gear in a win over Stanford, emerging with a much-needed victory to stop the bleeding from a four-game slide. And thanks to losses from those above them, the Wildcats claw back into the picture for an at-large spot. Is their matchup with Arizona State in the Pac-10 tournament a must-win? It's close. Those that stumbled over the weekend to fall out of the field are Maryland (loss at Virginia), Rhode Island (home loss to UMass) and Creighton (Missouri Valley semifinal loss to Illinois State). Maryland and Rhode Island can work their way back in but will need some magic in their respective conference tournaments. For Creighton, the 24-point loss in the MVC semifinals was a major blow — one they likely can't recover from for an at-large bid.

Last four in:  Penn State, UNLV, Florida, South Carolina

First four out:  San Diego State, New Mexico, Maryland, Miami (Fla.)

Chalmers Sends Kansas to Championship Overtime Victory Over Memphis

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Kansas 75, Memphis 68, OT So patient for 20 years, Kansas had no problem working an extra five minutes to bring a long-awaited championship back to the heartland. Mario Chalmers hit a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to push the game into overtime, and the Jayhawks grinded it out from there for a 75-68 victory Monday night over Memphis in one of the best title games in recent memory. It was the first title for Kansas since 1988, when Danny Manning, now an assistant coach for the Jayhawks, led them to an upset of Oklahoma. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Final Four shocker

SAN ANTONIO (AP)—What Roy Williams needed was a comeback for the ages. What he got was a disappointing dose of payback—a chance to see what it feels like when Kansas breaks his heart.The Jayhawks left their old coach in the dust Saturday night, getting 25 points and seven rebounds from Brandon Rush to stave off a ferocious comeback by North Carolina for an 84-66 victory in the national semifinals. Trailing 40-12 late in the first half, Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and the Tar Heels made a valiant rally, getting to within five points with nine minutes left, but ran out of steam in their effort to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever. “I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life,” said Tar Heel guard Marcus Ginyard. Now, the Jayhawks will play Memphis, an earlier 78-63 winner over UCLA, in Monday’s title game. Kansas moved within a win of its first national championship since 1988, the year before Williams began his storied 15-year tenure in Lawrence—one that ended when he jilted Kansas for his alma mater. Hansbrough had 17 points and nine rebounds for North Carolina (36-3)—a typically gutsy effort—but his next move will be to decide whether to come back for his senior season. Kansas has more pressing things to deal with. “We know we’ve got another step to take Monday night,” Sherron Collins said. “It’s going to be a great matchup. They play fast, we play fast.” Collins had two assists, a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws during the decisive stretch that saw the Jayhawks (36-3) pad that five-point lead back to 15 and send the Tar Heels into true desperation mode. Williams stood stoically as the clock ticked down, arms folded, nothing much left he could do. Tears usually come pretty quickly after the final buzzer of the season for him, and this season ended one game short of where many thought it might. “We’ve had a good year, but I don’t think anybody’s goal here was to be one of the top four teams in the country,” Hansbrough said. “It’s to be the top team. I’m frustrated with that.” Williams got outcoached in this one, especially at the beginning, finding no solution for Kansas’ somewhat surprising strategy of dumping the ball inside to Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Cole Aldrich. Despite the impressive comeback, the final stats painted a picture of Kansas domination. The Jayhawks shot 53 percent from the floor and held the nation’s second-leading offense to 35 percent. They had nine more rebounds, 10 more assists, six more blocks. All that may have helped prove Williams’ theory, as he tried to deflect all the talk of himself this week: That the game would be decided by the players. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Tar Heels Play Cougars’ Game and Still Romp

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Washington State hoped for a slow, plodding, defensive game against North Carolina in its N.C.A.A. tournament East Region semifinal. The Cougars got what they wanted. Their plan was to limit Tar Heels power forward Tyler Hansbrough, a national player of the year candidate. Done.But for all their efforts, the Cougars were hammered anyway, 68-47, Thursday night at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.That is how daunting top-seeded North Carolina is right now. Hansbrough, held to 2 points in the first half, finished with a game-high 18 as the Tar Heels set a university record with their 35th victory of the season. Danny Green came off the bench to score 15, including 12 in the first half, which ended with North Carolina leading, 35-21. Aron Baynes and Derrick Low had 14 points to lead the fourth-seeded Cougars.“They played really good defense,” Green said. “They slowed the ball down. I think we started getting going a little bit, getting out and pressuring them defensively, got some stops running them. I think we started to get in a little rhythm and get some easy baskets for ourselves.” North Carolina (35-2), which has won 14 games in a row, will play Saturday against third-seeded Louisville. Saturday’s winner will advance to the Final Four next weekend in San Antonio. Still, this was not the game North Carolina wanted to play. After scoring more than 100 points in their first two tournament games, the Tar Heels faced a Washington State team that had allowed an average of 40.5 points in its two tournament victories. “Defensively, we played them really good, although we missed some shots as well,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said, adding, “We were struggling putting the ball in the basket, but I felt we were O.K.” But it was not easy for the Tar Heels. Washington State slowed their offense and Hansbrough in the first half. Yet North Carolina still took a 14-point lead at the intermission, relying on the rest of its potent lineup to carry the scoring load. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Xavier Has Torn Its Midmajor Tag to Shreds

PHOENIX — All season long, Xavier Coach Sean Miller and the university bristled at the notion of their basketball program being described as a midmajor. Midmajor, a term reserved for colleges outside the six power conferences, hints at smaller budgets, fewer television appearances and inferior players.But in their run to the Round of 8 in the N.C.A.A. tournament, the Musketeers have made a case more convincing than any coach’s plea.The third-seeded Musketeers jumped out to an 18-point first- half lead over West Virginia on Thursday night, lost a 2-point lead in the last 14.5 seconds of regulation, trailed by 6 points in overtime but finally outlasted the seventh-seeded Mountaineers, 79-75, in the West Region semifinals.The backup forward B. J. Raymond hit two 3-point shots in the final 1 minute 22 seconds to seal the victory. All 8 of his points were scored in overtime.The Musketeers have a chance to reach the Final Four for the first time in their history, but to get there they will have to defeat No. 1 U.C.L.A. on Saturday.“We found a way to win in a fantastic game,” Miller said. “We’re very thankful to be moving on and excited as well.” SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Louisville’s Hot Shooting Cools Tennessee

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Now that Bruce Pearl has turned Tennessee into an elite program in three seasons, the Volunteers are eager to take the next step. “It’s basically about making history now,” forward Duke Crews told reporters in Knoxville earlier this week, repeating a theme for the team this year. But as Louisville proved Thursday night, Tennessee still has some history to overcome before the Vols can contend for a national title. As for the Cardinals, they are hoping to repeat a bit of their own recent history.With a 79-60 victory in the N.C.A.A. tournament East Region semifinal at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Louisville advanced to the Round of 8 on Saturday. The third-seeded Cardinals (27-8) will play No. 1 North Carolina in the East Region final, the winner advancing to the Final Four next weekend in San Antonio. Louisville last went that far in 2005, the year North Carolina won the national title. Earl Clark came off he bench to produce a double-double for Louisville with 17 points and 12 rebounds, one of five players to score in double figures as the Cardinals held off a second-half rally. The second-seeded Vols, trailing by 7 at the half, opened with a 6-0 run in the second half to pull within 37-36. But Louisville used a 12-2 run to re-establish control and take a 49-36 lead with about 13 minutes 30 seconds left in the game.Tennessee kept within range, but never made it a tight game again. Chris Lofton had 15 points and JaJuan Smith added 12 points to lead the Vols (31-5). SOURCE OF THIS STORY

UCLA's lead cut to 65-59 as Collison fouls out

PHOENIX -- Sloppy play by UCLA and some hot shooting by Western Kentucky guard Tyrone Brazelton and what had been a rout was turning into a close game tonight in a West Regional semifinal at the U.S. Airways Center. Brazelton made four consecutive free throws and a pair of NBA-distance three-points in a span of a little more than two minutes and the Hilltoppers had trimmed what had been a 21-point halftime deficit to six, 65-59, with a little more than five minutes to play.Only the play of James Keefe kept the Bruins in the lead. The sophomore forward from Santa Margarita had the crowd at US. Airways Center cheering his every move -- and there were many of them -- and chanting his name as he spurred the Bruins. In Keefe, whose career-high before tonight was eight points, has 14 points and a career-best 10 rebounds. But the Bruins were forced to play the last 5:39 without point guard Darren Collison, who fouled out. UCLA led Western Kentucky, 41-20, at halftime but the Hilltoppers climbed back into contention fueled by Bruins turnovers. Early on, the game looked to be a rout as a three-point baseline jumper by the Hilltoppers Tyrone Brazelton forged a 13-13 tie barely eight minutes into the game, but it was all Bruins after that. UCLA scored the next 10 points and then seven more unanswered points after two free throws by Western Kentucky's C.J. Anderson. Meantime, Western Kentucky missed its next 12 shots and committed four turnovers before Jeremy Evans scored on a layup with four minutes left in the half. But by then UCLA led, 30-17. Western Kentucky shot six of 32 in the half compared to 16 of 31 by UCLA, which got scoring contributions from six players. The game started with Kevin Love and Darren Collison scoring the Bruins first six points. They combined to score 40 of the Bruins' 51 points in a second-round victory over Texas A&M last Saturday, but they soon had help. Josh Shipp and Russell Westbrook -- both coming off horrible shooting performances in last week's regional at Anaheim -- each had eight. James Keefe had seven off the bench. Brazelton had six points to pace Western Kentucky (29-6), which has lost only one game by more than six points this season. Courtney Lee, the Hilltoppers' 20-points-a-game scorer, was held to five on two of 13 shooting. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Kansas State Has the Better Supporting Cast

OMAHA — Tired but gratified, Kansas State forward Bill Walker was on the bench when the horn sounded to end Kansas State’s 80-67 first-round upset of Southern California. That placed Walker near the end of the postgame handshake line. When he reached the Trojans’ standout freshman, O. J. Mayo, his childhood buddy from Huntington, W.Va., they hugged briefly and Walker rubbed the top of Mayo’s head. Mayo’s season, and perhaps his college career, ended Thursday night, but Walker’s magic time in the N.C.A.A. Midwest Region may be just beginning. “Any win feels good, but this one is kind of special,” Walker said. “I know I was going against a guy who didn’t want to lose to me tonight. So that added something to it.” In a game that matched Mayo and Kansas State’s Michael Beasley — two of the best freshmen in the country — the 6-foot-6 Walker made the biggest difference. A foul-plagued Beasley outscored Mayo, 23-20, and added 11 rebounds. But Walker scored 22 points, 12 in the game’s first 10-plus minutes, to spur the 11th-seeded Wildcats past the sixth-seeded Trojans.“He was our spark tonight,” Beasley said of Walker. “He was hot. We got him the ball, he finished, he did what he had to do.” Kansas State (21-11) faces Wisconsin or Cal State Fullerton on Saturday afternoon in the second round. The Trojans ended their season at 21-12.“We probably messed up half the brackets in the world,” Kansas State guard Clent Stewart said. The Mayo-Beasley matchup attracted a sellout crowd of more than 17,000, including Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley, who was on a college scouting trip. Riley, whose lottery-bound team could be in position to draft Mayo or Beasley if either leaves college this year, watched from the second row behind the scorer’s table.Beasley committed two early fouls and played only 11 minutes in the first half, not scoring his first points until midway through the period. But Walker’s play made that irrelevant. He sank a 3-pointer for Kansas State’s first basket, and had 7 of his team’s first 10 points. With 9 minutes 51 seconds left in the half, Kansas State led, 21-12, and Walker had as many points as the entire U.S.C. team. SOURCE OF THIS STORY