No room for the little guys at this year's NCAA tournament
March 29, 2007
ATLANTA (AP) -There won't be any warm and fuzzy scenes like when Jim Valvano sprinted across the court looking for somebody to hug. You won't see any blubbering meltdowns a la Rollie Massimino, either.
And the next George Mason? That dream got squashed two weeks ago.
Nope, this year's Final Four is all about the power conferences. There may as well be a sign: "No Underdogs Allowed."
"What we did last year as a group was pretty amazing," George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. "This year it's what the high-major teams have been able to do, which is survive some incredible scares and advance.
"I just think what makes March Madness so special is its unpredictability."
Not this season. A year after George Mason delighted the country with its improbable run to the Final Four and the mid-majors elevated themselves with eight of the 34 at-large bids, the power has shifted back to, well, the powers.
For the first time since 1993 - and only the second time since the NCAA began seeding the field in 1979 - a 2 is the "highest" seed in the Final Four. Each game Saturday night features a No. 1 vs. a No. 2 - Florida vs. UCLA and Ohio State vs. Georgetown.
Some underdogs, those Bruins and Hoyas. UCLA returns almost the entire team that lost to Florida in the title game last year and was ranked No. 1 for six weeks this season. Georgetown has one of the biggest guys in college basketball and has won 19 of its last 20.
"Last year, everyone was talking about the mid-majors. This year, everyone's excited about four of the top teams in the country - who were in probably everybody's mind at the beginning of the year," Larranaga said.
"It's a battle of Goliaths. There is no David."
That takes some of the fun out of it. Part of the tournament's charm is that there always seems to be some high seed that knocks off a team it should have no business beating - Valparaiso stunning Mississippi on Bryce Drew's shot from just across the half-court line in 1998. Princeton beating defending champ UCLA in 1996.
Valvano's N.C. State was hardly a mid-major, being from the ACC. But the Wolfpack were a sixth-seed in 1983, and they beat two No. 2 seeds and two No. 1s, including Houston and the Phi Slama Jama boys in the championship game.
Villanova wasn't an unknown, either, in 1985, coming out of the Big East. But the Wildcats were a lowly eighth seed when they upset Patrick Ewing and mighty Georgetown.
Last year, the mid-majors ran amok. Besides George Mason, Bradley, Gonzaga and Wichita State all made the round of 16.
"The parity in college basketball is just so close now," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Anybody can beat anybody on a given day. I mean, I really believe that we can beat anybody on a given day. I still believe we can be beaten by anybody on a given day."
That the Final Four wound up this way isn't really a surprise, though. While the regular season was a model of equality - a record-tying 48 schools were ranked at some point - the big schools have dominated the NCAA tournament.
It started with the selection committee, which gave the mid-majors two fewer at-large bids than they had last year. While that made for plenty of howling, it looks now as if the committee got it right.
Sure, teeny Winthrop knocked off Notre Dame. But that was in the first round, and the 11th-seeded Eagles were headed back to Rock Hill, S.C., by the time the first weekend was over. Winthrop wasn't exactly a typical underdog, either, having been ranked the final two weeks of the season.
Only one other double-digit seed won its first-round game, and neither Winthrop nor Virginia Commonwealth were around after the first weekend. It's the first time since 1995 that no double-digit seeds have advanced to at least the third round.
There was such a dearth of underdogs that the Oregon players were asked last weekend if they felt like this year's George Mason.
"We take it personally," Oregon's Bryce Taylor said. "We just use it as extra motivation to prove that we deserve being here."
Mind you, the Ducks were seeded third. Third! There's nothing underdog about that.
Not that there weren't chances for upsets.
Top-seeded Ohio State was two seconds away from losing to ninth-seeded Xavier before Ron Lewis hit a 3-pointer from several feet beyond the arc to force overtime in the second round. The Buckeyes then dominated overtime.
Kansas struggled with Southern Illinois' grind-it-out defense in the regional semifinals and barely prevailed. Granted, the Salukis were a No. 4 seed. But a Missouri Valley team is always going to be an underdog against a Big 12 school - or anyone from the top seven conferences.
"Last year there were quite a few mid-major programs that had the perfect ingredients for pulling off some big upsets," Larranaga said. "This year, some of those teams also got very, very close to doing it and, for one reason or another, fell slightly short.
"It's always been difficult (for underdogs). It'll continue to be difficult," he added. "But it's what makes the tournament so good and unpredictable. In any given year, somebody can get hot at the right time and do some amazing things."
Just not this year.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2006-2007, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Ohio State rides Oden past Memphis to Final Four
SAN ANTONIO -- Ohio State coach Thad Matta looked down the bench and locked eyes with Greg Oden.
The big man, sitting out with three fouls, nodded.
"Let's go," Matta told him, adding his usual advice in such situations: "Play real hard and don't foul anybody."
Oden followed orders perfectly, dominating like only a 7-footer can over the decisive stretch in the second half to carry the top-seeded Buckeyes past Memphis 92-76 and into the Final Four.
Oden's numbers in Saturday's South Regional championship weren't huge: 17 points, nine rebounds.
His presence was.
While Oden was on the bench with his third foul, Ohio State (34-3) went from five points up to five points down. Then the fabulous freshman went back in and everything changed again.
Controlling the paint on offense and defense, he triggered a 20-8 surge that put the Buckeyes back in charge. The second-seeded Tigers (33-4) tried hanging in by fouling, but Ohio State foiled that plan by making 20 straight free throws. The Buckeyes' 21st straight win takes them to Atlanta next weekend for a national semifinal matchup with the winner of Sunday's North Carolina-Georgetown game.
In only 30 college games, Oden has taken over plenty of them. None, however, was as impressive as this one, mainly because it was so important.
"This would probably be No. 1 on the impact meter," Matta said. "I thought his rebounding, his challenging shots, finishing at the other end was tremendous."
Muttered Memphis coach John Calipari: "He's huge, he's huge."
In only 24 minutes, Oden made 7-of-8 shots and was 3-of-6 from the line with a block that came on the first defensive stand after he returned with three fouls. Two of his dunks were so powerful it looked like he was doing chin-ups on the rim.
Yet his larger-than-life presence was best exhibited on a crucial sequence midway through the second half.
Oden was wide open under the basket when caught a pass that arrived at the same time as Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts. The defender threw both arms around Oden's waist and shoved him for an intentional foul. Oden still made the shot, then one of two free throws, tying the game at 60. Ohio State got to keep the ball and went ahead 62-60. The Buckeyes never trailed again.
"I really hope it was an intentional foul because it was a difference-maker," Calipari said. "It really changed the game."
Said Buckeyes senior Ron Lewis: "It put fuel on the fire."
The Buckeyes last made the Final Four in 1999, when a team led by Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn lost to eventual national champion Connecticut. That trip later was expunged from the records because of NCAA violations, making their last official appearance in 1968.
Mike Conley Jr. -- the son of a former Olympic star and Oden's high school teammate -- set the pace for the Buckeyes with hard-charging drives. He scored 19 points and led Ohio State to its second-highest scoring game of the season. He also was named the top player in the region.
Lewis continued his steady tournament play with 22 points and six rebounds. Jamar Butler added 12 points. The Buckeyes made 51 percent of their shots, and were 35-of-41 from the foul line, never giving Memphis a chance to get back in the game down the stretch.
As this game turned into a rout, Ohio State fans, who'd anguished through big comebacks and crucial last-second shots the last two games, were breathing easily. Many were already wondering how much longer they'll get to savor Oden in scarlet and white.
Those at the Alamodome made their thoughts on the subject clear by chanting "One more year!" during the postgame, net-cutting ceremony. They later hollered, "Two more games," which could bring the Buckeyes their second basketball title and first since the 1960 club that featured John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas and a backup named Bob Knight.
Memphis fell a game shy of the Final Four for a second straight season. The Conference USA champs were riding a 25-game winning streak and plenty confident they could handle the Big Ten champs.
Tigers big man Joey Dorsey said Friday he was Goliath and Oden was "the little man." Score another one for David, as Oden held Dorsey to four rebounds and zero points, his first scoreless outing of the season. Dorsey also drew four fouls in 19 minutes.
"My coaches told me about it and I was just like 'Dang, he just called me out," Oden said. "I didn't try to think about it. I just wanted to go out there and play my game and not let his comments get to my head. In the Big Ten, you have fans say it all the time."
Conley said Dorsey's comments "affected us as a team more than it affected Greg."
"When somebody talks about Greg, they're talking about all of us," Conley said.
The Tigers hung in early by shooting 7-of-10 on 3-pointers in the first half, a surprising start considering they began last year's regional finals loss to UCLA 0-for-14 from behind the arc.
But they couldn't keep it up. Memphis made only three more on 12 tries after halftime and were further slowed by its star player, Douglas-Roberts, getting into foul trouble.
Jeremy Hunt led the Tigers with 26 points, 17 in the first half. Douglas-Roberts scored 14, Willie Kemp had 12 and Antonio Anderson got 10 points and a suture over his right eyebrow after catching an elbow from teammate Robert Dozier in the first half.
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NCAA basketball tournament plays to relatively small DFW crowds
Friday, March 16, 2007
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., March 15)
By Ed Bark
CBS' first day and night of the NCAA basketball tournament dribbled into view Thursday, playing to relatively small crowds in D-FW.
The highest-rated attraction, Indiana vs. Gonzaga, averaged 133,280 homes in prime-time and late night. That made for an overall third place finish opposite combos of ABC's new October Road and Belo8's 10 p.m. news, and NBC's premiere of Raines followed by the Peacock's local newscast.
The daytime games, featuring Texas teams, battled various talk shows, soap operas, game shows and court shows. Texas Tech's loss to Boston College averaged 42,840 homes to place third overall in competition with ABC's All My Children and Belo8's midday newscast, and a batch of court shows on TXA21.
Texas A&M's victory over Pennsylvania lured 45,220 homes, also placing third. The game couldn't even beat Fox4's The Montel Williams Show in total homes.
Both Tech and A&M fared better with advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds. The Red Raiders narrowly won the time slot with those viewers while the Aggies had a solid No. 2 finish. It's not as though 18-to-49-year-olds watched in droves, though. Tech corralled 30,000 of 'em, and A&M had 36,000.
At 7 p.m. a new episode of ABC's Ugly Betty topped the time period in both homes and with 18-to-49-year-olds. Fox's hot new game show, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, ran second in homes and third with 18-to-49-year-olds, where it also finished behind The CW's Smallville.
Nationally, though, 5th Grader placed a solid first in both Nielsen measurements. Fox says it also was the network's most-watched show in the Thursday leadoff spot since a Nov. 12, 1998 edition of World's Wildest Police Videos.
Later in prime-time, here's how Thursday's three series premieres fared in the D-FW Nielsens:
NBC's Andy Barker, P.I. (8:30 p.m. -- 4th in homes and tied for fourth with Fox's Family Guy among 18-to-49-year-olds. ABC's October Road (9 p.m.) -- 1st in homes and with 18-to-49-year-olds following a big lead-in push from Grey's Anatomy. NBC's Raines (9 p.m.) -- 2nd in both measurements. On the local newscast front, Belo8 had a 10 p.m. win in homes but NBC5 placed a comfortable first with 25-to-54-yar-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Interestingly, the Peacock won with younger anchors Brian Curtis and Meredith Land subbing for Mike Snyder and Jane McGarry.
Fox4 took first at 6 a.m. and tied for the top spot with Belo8 in the 25-54 demo.
Belo8 won in both audience measurements at 6 p.m., and also in homes at 5 p.m. NBC5 took the earlier hour with 25-to-54-year-olds.
Over on Uncle Barky's site, Ed says HBO's TV Junkie has some Texas ties.
Copyright @ 2007 Pegasus News, Inc.
Maynor lifts Va. Commonwealth late to secure NCAA bid
March 5, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
RICHMOND, Va. -- George Mason was two minutes from another trip to the NCAA Tournament when Eric Maynor and Virginia Commonwealth stole it away.
Maynor made two big steals in a row and scored nine straight points down the stretch, sending the top-seeded Rams to the NCAAs with a 65-59 victory in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Game Monday night.
With one wild rally, VCU did what those big-conference powerhouses couldn't last year -- knock off George Mason in March.
The underdog Patriots made a captivating run in the NCAA tourney last season from at-large entry to the Final Four, beating traditional powers Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut before losing to eventual national champion Florida in the semifinals.
"What Mason did last year was special," first-year Rams coach Anthony Grant said. "I don't think anybody on our team right now is trying to duplicate or be what George Mason was. I think we're content being VCU and who we are, and we're going to make our own way."
After losing several key players from last year's team, George Mason made another improbable push this postseason -- winning three games in three days as the No. 6 seed in the CAA tourney. But the ride finally ended when the Patriots squandered a five-point lead in the last two minutes against VCU.
With an 18-15 record, George Mason has virtually no chance of receiving another at-large bid to the field of 65 when the NCAA brackets are announced Sunday.
"For about 36 minutes, we were in control of the game," George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. "Then Eric Maynor stepped up and made huge defensive plays and converted those into layups. He proved tonight that he's a big-time player."
Maynor stripped Dre Smith, scored on a layup and was fouled with 1:55 left. He finished the three-point play to cut George Mason's lead to two. Maynor stole the ball again on the next possession and made a layup to tie it with 1:46 to go, then followed a miss by the Patriots by driving and making a leaner over Darryl Monroe with 46.5 seconds remaining.
After the Rams' Wil Fameni swatted away a shot by Folarin Campbell, Maynor rebounded a missed 3-pointer and was intentionally fouled with 19.1 seconds left. He made both free throws, giving the Rams a 61-57 lead.
"All throughout the year, different guys stepped up on different nights," Maynor said. "Tonight was my night."
The Rams (27-6) earned their first berth in the NCAA Tournament since they won the CAA title in 2004, also with a victory against the Patriots. They did it this time under the 40-year-old Grant, an assistant with Florida last season.
"These guys went out there tonight and they refused to be denied," Grant said. "The way they had to persevere, I think, speaks volumes about who they are as people."
In addition to the Rams' berth, the CAA hopes Old Dominion and Drexel will receive strong consideration for at-large spots in the NCAAs.
The Rams played from behind much of the game, several times rallying to pull even before the Patriots pulled away again. The last time came on a 5-0 run that gave George Mason a 57-52 lead with 2:22 left, and this time VCU didn't stop at getting even.
Maynor scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half and added seven rebounds and four assists. He was selected the tournament MVP.
Fameni added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Calvin Roland scored a season-high 12 for VCU.
The Patriots got 12 points from Smith and 10 each from Gabe Norwood and Will Thomas, but George Mason was outscored 13-2 in the final 2:22.
Perhaps fatigue became a factor. George Mason, which beat third-seeded Hofstra and No. 2 Old Dominion, was the first team in CAA Tournament history to play four games in four nights.
The Patriots could still go to the NIT, and Larranaga is hoping for that chance.
"This team played this weekend like we wanted to play all season," he said.
Roland's free throw and basket pulled the Rams even at 52, but the Patriots responded as they had all game, getting a three-point play from Thomas and two free throws from Campbell after his steal and length-of-the-court drive.
Then Maynor took over.
The Rams used an 8-2 run to take a 49-47 lead with 5:22 left. Roland started it with a dunk, Fameni scored inside, Maynor scored on a drive and Jesse Pellot-Rosa scored on a putback. But once again, the Patriots answered. Norwood swished a line-drive 3-pointer from the right wing, and Thomas' basket inside gave Mason a 52-49 edge.
The Patriots scored six straight points early in the second half to open a 37-30 lead, their biggest to that point. But the Rams answered immediately, and Pellot-Rosa's rebound of his own missed jumper and layup tied it at 37 to thunderous cheers.
"We're not finished yet," Pellot-Rosa said.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2006-2007, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
No. 9 Georgetown falls to Syracuse, ends 11-game w
Feb. 26, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It took Syracuse less than four minutes to build a strong case for postseason consideration.
Senior Demetris Nichols and Andy Rautins each hit a pair 3-pointers to key a 14-0 second-half spurt that took just 3:42, and Syracuse beat No. 9 Georgetown 72-58 Monday night.
It was the fifth straight victory and sixth in seven games for Syracuse (21-8, 10-5 Big East), and it sent many in the raucous Carrier Dome crowd of 26,287 rushing onto the court in jubilation.
It also was only the Orange's second triumph in six games against ranked teams, but this one halted an 11-game winning streak by the Big East's first-place team, and that spoke volumes.
"Two weeks ago, we didn't deserve to be in (the NCAA Tournament)," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said after his 747th career victory, 13th all-time in Division I and one more than Phog Allen. "I'm proud of my kids. This game was the culmination. We knew five games ago we had to win and play well. The seniors deserve a lot of credit. This was our best game."
Georgetown (22-6, 12-3 Big East) had won 11 straight conference games for the first time in school history and had defeated Pittsburgh 61-53 Saturday to avenge a road loss to the Panthers in January and take possession of first place in the Big East.
But the Hoyas fizzled against Syracuse's 2-3 zone. They committed 19 turnovers that Syracuse converted into 25 points, and scored just six points off the Orange's 13 turnovers.
Jeff Green, Georgetown's leading scorer, finished with nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, the first time he failed to crack double figures in 10 games. And 7-foot-3 center Roy Hibbert, who has had little success against Syracuse, continued that trend with just six points and two rebounds in 20 minutes. Starters Jessie Sapp, Jon Wallace and DaJuan Summers scored a combined 25 points on 4-for-29 shooting, with 15 coming from the free-throw line.
"We just weren't converting on offense, and that was a big key," said Green, who had 10 rebounds. "We let them go on their runs and we didn't go on ours."
Georgetown, first in the Big East and fifth nationally in scoring defense at 56.1 points per game, got a taste of its own medicine. The Hoyas shot 29.8 percent for the game, just 20 percent in the decisive second half against the Syracuse zone.
"We picked the wrong night to have maybe our worst day of the year," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "They just beat us."
Nichols, the Big East's leading scorer, was 2-for-8 shooting in the first half, then found his range midway through the second and finished with 22 points in his final home game. Eric Devendorf had 11 points and a career-high 11 assists, Rautins had 13 points, and Paul Harris had 11.
The key spurt began after Patrick Ewing's three-point play and two free throws by Sapp put Georgetown up 44-43 with 11:58 left.
Rautins, coming off a career-high 19 points against Providence on Saturday, started it with a 3 from the right wing with 9:08 to go. Nichols then drained a 3 from the right corner after his own steal, and Rautins hit again from left wing to give Syracuse a 56-46 lead with 7:31 left.
Nichols added a dagger when he hit a 3 as the shot-clock buzzer sounded for a 59-46 lead at 6:15, and center Darryl Watkins hit a hook over Hibbert to complete the run at 5:26.
"We knew we were capable of beating them," said Nichols, who finished 6-for-16 from the floor. "We came out with a lot of drive and hunger. Andy started hitting 3s, I started hitting 3s, and that decided the game."
Since going scoreless in 26 minutes at Connecticut on Feb. 5, Rautins has averaged 15 points over the past five games, going 21-for-36 on 3-pointers (56 percent). That has made the Orange a much more dangerous team, and it showed on this night. Syracuse hit eight of its final 13 3-pointers.
"Everybody's starting to play their role," Devendorf said. "Andy and Demetris are shooting the ball, I'm trying to create for others. We're just playing well together as a team."
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