#1 Duke vs. #4 LSU
The Tigers kept J.J. Redick bottled up for most of the first half, allowing the All-American only three points. He has always had trouble with long, athletic defenders, and LSU has a plethora of guys to run at him. Despite the fact that Glen Davis missed most of the first half due to two quick fouls, LSU went into halftime with a 33-27 lead.
The second half was pretty ugly, with neither team really able to build much of a lead. Redick continued his poor shooting, finishing with 11 points on 3 for 18 shooting. LSU did a terrific job of bothering him all game long. But the game came down to two key plays. With over two minutes to play and Duke up one, Josh McRoberts made a beautiful fake handoff to break free, but blew the easy layup. The other key play occurred with less than a minute in the game. There was a loose ball on LSU’s end and one of the officials called a phantom foul on Greg Paulus. For those that think that Duke gets all the calls, they really got jobbed on this one. Down the stretch, LSU made their free throws and, on the ones they missed, Duke uncharacteristically failed to box out, leading to a 62-54 victory. Duke is the first #1 seed to be bounced out of the tournament.
#1 Memphis vs. #13 Bradley
After a strong start by Memphis, Bradley rallied later in the first half to tie the game at 29-29. But a late run gave the Tigers a 35-30 lead at halftime. Memphis just had too much athleticism in the second half, flushing dunk after dunk, putting the would-be Cinderellas away, 80-64.
#2 Texas vs. #6 West Virginia
LaMarcus Aldridge – remember that name. The Longhorn (and future lottery pick) went 8-8 in the first half, killing the Mountaineer defense with his turnaround jumper. West Virginia stayed in the game via the three-pointer, but still trailed at halftime, 39-27.
But the Mountaineers are all heart, and they came out on fire in the second half, going on a 8-0 run to cut the lead to four. The game was back and forth for the remainder of the game. With 13 seconds to go and Texas leading, 71-68, Kevin Pittsnogle broke free at the top of the key for a three pointer to tie it at 71. Texas inbounded the ball with six seconds remaining and hurried it up court. The ball ended up in Kenton Paulino’s hands and he hoisted a desperation 23 footer at the buzzer that found nothing but the bottom of the net. Texas wins, 74-71, but I question how much heart the Longhorns really have.
#2 UCLA vs. #3 Gonzaga
UCLA looked lost in the first half, both offensively and defensively. The Bruins are extremely challenged on offense and looked especially so against the Bulldogs. Gonzaga, on the other hand, had no problems scoring against a normally stout UCLA defense en route to a 13-point lead at halftime.
Gonzaga kept control for most of the second half. With the Bulldogs leading, 71-62 with just 3:13 remaining, things were looking grim for the Bruins. But UCLA showed a lot of grit scoring the next eight points to cut the lead to one with ten seconds to go. During the run, Adam Morrison missed three consecutive shots that would have, in hindsight, sealed the game for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs had the ball with ten seconds to go when the Bruins stole it from J.P. Batista and scored the go ahead layup. Gonzaga tried to push the ball up court, but ended up turning the ball over again, giving UCLA the most improbable of victories.
Summary
It’s a shame to see Duke lose, though I’m sure all the haters are happy. Love ’em or hate ’em, the tournament is always more exciting when the Blue Devils are still alive and kicking. The late games were two of the best games of the tournament with Texas getting a win at the buzzer and UCLA making a furious comeback to shock Gonzaga.
On Saturday, we’ll have Texas/LSU at 4:40 (ET) and UCLA/Memphis at 7:05 (ET), with Final Four births on the line.
So who will rise to the challenge? Only time will tell.
