NCAA Tournament and Bracket

[BearKatz]

This is a great game. Both teams tough as nails.

It helps when you can make FTs...

[sedz]

And Texas Tech is a good free throw shooting team. The misses just came at the wrong time.

[bearcatbret]

Dang, the Big 12 loss. Worse yet, the SEC won.

[bearcatbret]

Tomorrow, I will be wearing green in support of Sparty. Here is an article about the coaches. Auburn's Bruce Pearl not buying Michigan State as underdog - ESPN

[bearcatbret]

The scary thing with the current matchups is that the SEC could possibly have all four teams in the final 4. Teams left: SEC - 4, B1G 10 - 1, ACC - 1, Big 12 - 2. I do not see anyone beating Duke though, but maybe Bama and that is who they will play.

Duke blew out 'Bama. So, I am cheering that MSU and Houston win tomorrow to make it a four conference Final Four.

[bearcatbret]

Houston has held Tenn to just 6 points through the first 10 minutes.

Update: Tenn with a whole 15 points at halftime.

[longtimefan]

Tennessee really turned up intensity in 2nd half, beating Houston to loose balls. Lead down to 14.

[GoBearcats31]

Matt Norlander: “Tennessee's loss today means the Vols are tied with Xavier as the most successful teams in NCAA Tournament history to never make a Final Four.”

Most successful seems subjective. Zero Final Fours though is not.

[bearcatbret]

Tenn scored a respectable 35 points in the second half to end up with 50.

[longtimefan]

Very impressive by Houston.They took Tennessee’s best punch in the second half, and didn’t flinch.

[swilsonsp4]

I heard Kelvin Sampson's postgame comments on XM College Sports Radio, and he made some interesting comments. When the interviewer asked how the Cougars have fared so well away from home, Sampson said, "Knuckleheads don't win on the road. Good kids win on the road. We have good kids. They take to coaching."

In response to another question, this time regarding the consistent strength of the defense, he said that, when they are practicing their defensive principles in their shell, they never run their offense against it. They know what their opponents will run and practice that. For instance, the Cougars don't use pin-downs, but teams they play do. So, they drill on that.

[longtimefan]

Guys can get the show cause, get nailed by the FBI and see their assistants go to jail, and still get to coach in the final four.

[swilsonsp4]

Guys can get the show cause, get nailed by the FBI and see their assistants go to jail, and still get to coach in the final four.

While Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson had previous show cause penalties, who has coached in a Final 4 after involvement with the FBI or had an assistant who was jailed?

[longtimefan]

Pearl, now. The assistants took the blame, as usual.

[longtimefan]

If Arizona’s two high percentage FT shooters had made the front end instead of missing twice, we’d have two Big 12 teams in the final four. If only one had made it AZ probably would still have won.