Much to my surprise..... Last night Arizona's big man Derrick Williams showed why he is going to go pro at the end of this season. In a dominating performance. He did basically everything for them im the first half it seemed scoring 25 of his 32 points and then in the second half it was a team effort to put the Blue Devils away in humiliating fashion. The second half was when Arizona turned it on. torching Duke for 55 points in the second half. Second chances, uncontested dunks, as well as raining threes, I don't know a team that could have stopped Zona lastnight in the second half. They seemed to play with a sense of urgerncy that the Blue Devils just lacked, the run everyone thought would come never did. The second half rebounding margin was 25-9 in favor of the Wildcats. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said "They were just phenomonal." Shooting 54% from the field and 60% from three, while Duke shot 46% from the field. Kyrie Irving was hot all night pouring in 28 points, Singler had 18 points and 8 rebounds fellow senior Nolan Smith struggled going 3-14 with only 8 points, not the way Singler or Smith wanted to put the cap on two marvelous careers. Smith seemed to be out of rhythm with Irving on the floor running the point for Duke. Some might say Irving played too much being only his third game back from his injury, nevertheless the Arizona Wildcats are advancing to the Elite Eight to take on Uconn as they beat San Diego St last night. The Cats look to earn a Final Four bid for the first time since 2001 when they played in the National Championship game against none other than Duke.
The Butler Bulldogs are once again in the Elite Eight. Youthful coach Brad Stevens has his team playing their best ball in the month of March. In an interview earlier this week he was asked about what he thinks of his team being named the 'underdog' Stevens simply said "They can call us what they want, cinderella, underdogs, whatever but we'll embrase it." It seems to me Butler isn't a very respected basketball team by the other teams they play against or the media. In fact, I, didn't really think they could really go as far as they have and they have certainly caught my attention and gained my respect. They are one of the most solid ball clubs and Brad Stevens is one heck of a coach. They have won 12 straight after their victory over Wisconsin. They have went on the 12 game streak based purely on defense. Shutting down the Badgers forcing them to shoot 30% from the field, they are solid in every aspect of their defense, and they run plays on the offensive end that play to everyone of their players strengths to get the job done. Led by Matt Howard with 20 points and 12 boards as well as Sheldon Mack who added 13 points last night the Bulldogs look to make it to their second straight Final Four with a win against Florida tomorrow night.
It was the Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb show thursday night as the Huskies sent home the #2 seed San Diego State. Walker lit the nets on fire going off for 36 while Lamb put in 24 of his own. Lamb struggled through the middle part of the season but starting in the Big East tournament and now in the NCAA's the freshman has really come on strong. Kemba Walker has put his team on his back this past month and he shows no sign of stopping. Steve Fisher's Aztecs had a remarkable year this season only losing three games and winning their first NCAA tournament game in school history. San Diego State hung around the whole game just didn't have the answer for Lamb and Walker.
As I anticipated the Florida bigs pulled through. Alex Tyus had 19 points and 17 rebounds lastnight and the versatile Chandler Parsons had 16 and 9. Florida's balance last night seemed to me to be the key. The starting five for the Gators went like so: Tyus: 19 points, Parsons: 16 points, Macklin: 9 points, Boynton: 17 points, Walker: 16 points. While the only player for BYU to score in double figures was none other than Jimmer Fredette. He was feeling quite "jim" as I like to say he wasn't at his "jimmest' although he had 32 points last night he couldn't buy a basket in the first half and briefly caught fire in the second before going ice cold again. Walker and Boynton seemed to wear him down and everytime he stepped foot in the lane he was on the ground in the blink of an eye with the bigs playing him aggressive making Jimmer earn his points down low. It seemed we were going to have a rematch of last years first round game which was an overtime thriller, when this one went in to overtime. The Gators were going to have none of that, they stepped on the gas pedal and surged out early in overtime and the game was never within reach for BYU at any point after that. Florida now has to take on Butler to make it back to the Final Four.
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