Saturday, March 26, 2005

Tournament Journal: Sweet 16 Roundup

Catching up on the last 2 days of action

Albuquerque Regional

West Virginia 65, Texas Tech 60

It's sad to see the Red Raiders go, but I can't say I'm all that surprised. As expected, the key player was the Mountaineers' Kevin Pittsnogle. He had 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead West Virginia.

More on where the Red Raiders go from here Monday

Louisville 93, Washington 70

Not only did the Cardinals defeat a #1 seed, they took a nuclear bomb to them. How did this Cardinals team merit a #4 seed when teams like ?

More analysis:
Sports and Bremertonians

(Regional) Final Thoughts

It's tough to prepare for that 1-3-1 zone that West Virginia uses, but if anyone has the coaching acumen and talent to beat it. It's Louisville.

Chicago Regional

Illinois 77, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 63

It was a great run for the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers, but at some point superior talent beats a great system and that's what happened. Now hopefully Illini fans will shut up about Bruce Pearl's Iowa days.

More Analysis:
Illini Wonk

Arizona 79, Oklahoma State 78

Joey Graham finally has a good game for the Cowboys, but unfortunately Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye were better. The Big XII is now officially done for the tournament

(Regional) Final Thoughts

Have to go with Illinois here. They are playing at home with a better backcourt and momentum. They destroyed their last opponent, Arizona just got by theirs.

Austin Regional

Michigan State 78, Duke 68

Duke was 5-1 against Michigan State all time going into this game, 4-0 against Tom Izzo, and beat the Spartans earlier this year. Duke had 6 All-Americans. Duke has Coach K. Duke gets all the calls. So who wins? Michigan State

Take that, Billy Packer.

Kentucky 62, Utah 52

Advice to Utah: If you want to get over the hump with Kentucky, make your free throws. You went 14-28 from the line. If you had gone 24-28 you would have sent it to OT.

(Regional) Final Thoughts

Kentucky, because they play all of their players, are largely anonymous, but they are all very good. I would expect them to have no trouble with Michigan State

Syracuse Regional

Wisconsin 65, N.C. State 56

NC State has had a great run since Julius Hodge got punched in the yarbles, but it is unfortunately at an end now. Wisconsin made the second half adjustments and won the game.

North Carolina 67, Villanova 66

Another great run dies in the Sweet 16, but this time a bad travelling call ruins a great game.

(Regional) Final Thoughts

Wisconsin is a slow-down zone-oriented team that North Carolina may have trouble preparing for on one day, and in March, it's easier to slow down a fast team than speed up a slow one.

Live blog later today at 2:30

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