Now there are only four teams left, exactly as the stats predicted. No more than two No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final 4 in 18 of the last 22 years and will now be 19 of the last 23 years. And no team seeded below No. 4 has won the championship for 18 straight years and will do so for 19 straight years this year.
There’s a lot of crying for the North Carolina Tar Heels and Kansas Jayhawks, both No. 1 seeds who were beaten by their No. 2-seeded 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 from two years ago, Butler. This year’s underdog miracle, UNLV, made it to the Sweet 16 but was quickly dispatched by Oregon, 76-72.
Despite all the fuss about Butler this year, last year’s national champion Florida proved just as tough and physical as Butler, winning 65-57. Florida then did a lot of damage to 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 back-to-back national titles. Many fans have other favorites besides Florida, but to be the national champion, that team will have to first defeat defending champion Florida.
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 made 9 of his 17 from the free throw 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 kickers many predicted. Kansas narrowly outscored #4 Southern Illinois 61-58 when Tony Young missed a desperate 3-pointer from midcourt at the buzzer. When it was over, the Jayhawks were probably praying.
No. 2 seed UCLA apparently didn’t miss much of the Jayhawks’ performance against Southern Illinois as they crushed Kansas 68-55 to eliminate the Jayhawks and advance to the Final 4 for a record 17th time.
The Bruins Arron Affalo, absent from 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 entering the tournament.
Before taking on Kansas, UCLA was never far behind in eliminating Pittsburgh 64-55. Ben Howland coached Pittsburgh to some major successes before leaving Pitt for the UCLA job. Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon is Howland’s best friend and Howland’s former assistant coach at Pitt. Someone had to lose, maybe Dixon’s mentor better win.
Given the success Howland has had at UCLA and also Dixon at Pittsburgh, there’s no doubt they’ll meet again in the playoffs at some point in the future.
North Carolina looked like a No. 1 seed as they eliminated No. 5 Southern California 76-64 despite North Carolina trailing by 16 early in the second half. When it counted, Southern California doubled as a cheap deckchair from K-Mart; they mostly looked around a lot as North Carolina scrambled to score.
But North Carolina picked up some bad habits as it watched Southern California retreat. The Tar Heels were up 13 against Georgetown, but completely collapsed late, scoring just one field goal in the last 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 late-game zone defense in the tournament.
With just 31.2 seconds remaining in regulation, Georgetown’s Jonathan Wallace, an unlikely hero, tied the score with a 3-pointer, sending the game into an overtime period that Georgetown dominated, ultimately winning 96-84.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams was apparently playing with a team full of freshmen, and it showed down the stretch.
Georgetown could be called the comeback team, as the Hoyas trailed 13 to Vanderbilt before coming back to win 66-65 and qualify to face North Carolina.
There have been no fewer than 10 double-digit comebacks in the 2007 tournament, but none will be remembered a year from now. By this time next year, we will only remember who won the national championship, most of us may even forget who played.
It’s like always, it’s much easier to remember who won than who lost. Remember, it’s basketball, it’s a game, not the game of life, that will come later as these wonderful athletes move on to the next chapter of their lives.
2007 NCAA Tournament Pairings for Round 6 – The Final 4
Saturday, March 31:
#1 Ohio State (34-3) vs. #2 Georgetown (30-6)
#1 Florida (33-5) vs. #2 UCLA (30-5)
The National Championship Game will be played on Tuesday, April 2
2007 NCAA Tournament Results for Round 3 – The Sweet 16
Midwest Region:
#1 Florida eliminated #5 Butler 65-57
#3 Oregon eliminated #7 UNLV 76-72
West Region:
#1 Kansas eliminated #4 Southern Illinois 61-58
#2 UCLA eliminated #3 Pittsburgh 64-55
Eastern Region:
#1 North Carolina eliminated #5 Southern California 76-64
#2 Georgetown eliminated #6 Vanderbilt 66-65
South Region:
#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 Region:
#1 Florida eliminated #3 Oregon 85-77
West Region:
#1 Kansas was defeated by #2 UCLA 68-55
Eastern Region:
#1 North Carolina was defeated by #2 Georgetown 96-84 (OT)
South Region:
#1 Ohio State eliminated #2 Memphis 92-76
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley