Elite Eight Games Slip Away from Kansas, Oregon

The Final Four are set in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after a thrilling weekend of Elite Eight games.  Saturday pitted Memphis with Ohio State, and UCLA against Kansas.
 

The Buckeyes and Bruins advanced to the Final Four first, and awaited the winners of the Sunday games, not knowing for whom they should root on to victory.  The “worst” team still alive at that point was #3 Oregon.  No matter who won on Sunday, the Buckeyes and Bruins were looking at a tough match up in the second-to-last round of the tourney. 
 

Memphis was looking like they would have a real shot at the Final Four, but Ohio State separated themselves from the Tigers in the last eight minutes.  Memphis went on two scoring droughts that lasted multiple minutes in the last half, allowing the Buckeyes to win one comfortably, for once.  
 

UCLA and Kansas battled in a very similar way. The Jayhawks kept the game very close in the first half, but Aaron Afflalo and the Bruins ran away in the second, sending the top seeded Kansas team back home after a great season.
 

There still might be time to get some NCAA Tournament tickets to the Final Four next weekend.  Check out StubHub.com if you want to find some great seats to what is sure to be a hard-fought Final Four.

Permalink - Posted in General on March 26, 2007 - Post a comment

Florida, Georgetown Advance to Final Four

Florida beat Oregon and Georgetown beat North Carolina in the Sunday games of the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  The Gators and Hoyas will advance to play UCLA and Ohio State, respectively, in the final Four next weekend. 
 
Florida dropped Oregon in the second half of their game on Saturday.  The Ducks kept things interesting throughout the game, but couldn’t close on the Gators in the second half of play when Florida took an 8 point lead with about 10 minutes remaining.
 

Georgetown overcame a 10 point deficit in the closing minutes of regulation against UNC.  Once in overtime, the Tar Heels went cold, scoring their first field goal with just over seven seconds remaining to play.  The Hoyas and 7’2’’ center Roy Hibbert will face Ohio State and their 7’ center Greg Oden.
 

The games are all set now for a Final Four that features three No. 1 seeds and a No. 2.  If you were part of the selection committee, bravo.  If you like picking underdogs in your office bracket pool, you might as well start complaining about the boringness of a tourney with no Cinderella plotline and predictable, lack-luster games.
 

The Final Four is one of the strongest in the past decade, so if you would like to see it live next weekend, you ought to hurry in getting your NCAA Tournament tickets at StubHub.com before they’re snagged by other hoops fans.       


 

Permalink - Posted in General on March 26, 2007 - Post a comment