Oden Sends Vol’s Packing
Last night’s thrilling victory propelled the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Elite Eight, where they will meet the Memphis Tigers. Greg Oden blocked a last-second shot attempt by Ramar Smith of the Tennessee Volunteers to but the game away for the Buckeyes, who won 85-84.
The Buckeyes went down by as much as 19 points in the first half. The Vol’s aggressively attacked the Buckeyes inside and out, hitting plenty of threes and getting Ohio State’s star center Greg Oden in foul trouble early and often.
However, the Buckeyes cane back steadily, taking the lead near the mid point in the second half. The rest of the game was a series of ties and lead changes with both teams trying to deliver knockout punches before regulation.
When Ohio State’s Yet Conley missed his second free throw attempt with less than seven seconds left, Ramar Smith grabbed the rebound and took off for the opposite basket.
As his shot reached its apex, time expired, and Greg Oden slapped it into the crowd. The Buckeyes have survived and advanced another close one last night, but how many more close finishes to they have left in them?
If you would like to see first-hand if the Buckeyes can survive more heart-attack finishes, then you ought to get NCAA Tournament tickets at StubHub.com for their next upcoming game.
Rebels-Ducks in Sweet Sixteen of Tourney
The Oregon Ducks face the UNLV Rebels tonight in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels are the lowest seeded team remaining in the tourney as a No. 7 seed, while the Ducks enter the game as a No. 3 in the Midwest region.
The winner of this game will advance to meet the winner of the Butler-Florida match up, which will play earlier tonight. Both the Ducks and the Rebels do best when they shoot well from outside. Although UNLV has a better defensive presence inside with Joel Anthony, they don’t have consistent scorer in the paint. Expect whichever team gets hot from outside in the second half to win this one.
If neither team can muster some great shooting, then it will be up to the guards, Aaron Brooks for Oregon and Kevin Kruger for UNLV, to drive to the basket and make things happen.
This should make for a fun, high scoring game if both teams decide to trade buckets. Since the game is played in St. Louis the court will probably be fairly neutral, giving both teams a level playing field as far as confidence goes.
If you’d like to see the winner of this game play either Florida or Butler in the Elite Eight next week, then take a look at StubHub.com for some great NCAA Tournament tickets.
Vol’s, Buckeyes Meet (Again) in Sweet Sixteen
The Tennessee Volunteers play the Ohio State Buckeyes tonight in Sweet Sixteen action in the 2007 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Buckeyes are the heavy favorites to win, and carry the advantage of having won a previous match up earlier in the season.
Tennessee lost to the Buckeyes 68-66, in a game they had several chances to win. It was an uncommon game for the Volunteers for several reasons. Most notably, they only scored 66 points. They lead all of college basketball this season, though, averaging just over 99 points per game.
More importantly, however, Vol’s coach Bruce Pearl implemented a press defense which threw a monkey wrench into the Buckeyes system, causing 20 turnovers for a team that has since averaged 10 per game.
Said Pearl, “We played our cards and showed our hand, so I don’t think that first game in Columbus is necessarily going to help us much here.”
Pearl and the Vol’s will have to come up with something else- and in a hurry. They play the Buckeyes tonight for a trip to the Elite Eight. If you’d like to see the winner of the Tennessee-Ohio State game in action in the next round, you might consider looking at StubHub.com for some choice NCAA Tournament tickets.
Tigers Play in Aggie Territory in Sweet Sixteen
Thought the Memphis Tigers come into tonight’s game versus the Texas A&M Aggies as the better seed, they will be at a distinct disadvantage. The South Regional match up in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament will be held in San Antonio, just a half-tank away from the Aggies home court.
That’s the way the tourney crumbles, though. Texas A&M had to play at Rupp Arena versus the Louisville Cardinals last week, and managed to pull off a close victory at a partisan arena.
Even though most of the people who bought NCAA Tournament tickets to this game will be wearing red instead of purple, the Tigers can be comforted by the fact that they come into this match up having won 24 straight, including some tough ones on the road.
The winner of this game will face the winner of the Ohio-State-Tennessee game in the Elite Eight on the 31st. If you would like to see that one, or any other Tournament game, make sure to check out StubHub.com for some great seats.
The (Mighty) Ducks of Oregon
The Oregon Ducks are quietly one of the best college basketball teams in the nation. Unlike Florida and UNC, you probably can’t name any of the starting five on the Ducks roster. Their star player never makes the front page at ESPN.com. In fact, he probably slipped under the radar of most NCAA Tournament analysts. He’s 5 foot 6 inches of pure shooter, and his name is Tajuan Porter.
Porter is one of those classic stories of the Rudy, Rocky and Air Bud ilk. Everybody said he was too small, it would never happen. Nobody recruited him, nobody thought he would ever amount to anything. Nobody, that is, except himself and an odd-duck of a coach from Eugene who saw through his physical inadequacies to his limitless potential.
Said Oregon coach Ernie Kent, “There was this little guy that was just automatic from everywhere on the floor. His coach said a lot of people have been in the gym looking at Malik [Hairston] and everybody saw the same thing you saw. But everybody thought he was too small to play at this level.”
Kent took a chance on Porter while recruiting the other Ducks star Malik Hairston, and it has paid of big time. Porter won the Pac 10 tournament MVP and is averaging over 14 points a game.
Getting NCAA Tournament Tickets at StubHub.com isn’t the same risk as signing a 5’6’’ basketball player, but it might just pay off with the same great return. If Porter and the Ducks can get past UNLV, then they you can get tickets to see them in the Elite Eight.
Who to take, G-Town of V-bilt?
In Friday night’s Sweet Sixteen game of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the No. 2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas will play the #6 Vanderbilt Commodores in the East Rutherford region. You may or may not have picked this match up in your bracket, as the Commodores weren’t favorites to get this far, but do they have a chance of making it to the Elite Eight?
Perhaps the one factor that will most affect Vandy’s success is if they can shoot well from outside. As John Madden might say if her were writing this, “if Vanderbilt doesn’t score as many points as Georgetown, they will almost certainly lose.”
The Commodores rely on their shooters, mainly swingmen Derrick Byars, Shaun Foster, and guard Dan Cage. If they can get hot, then expect to see Vanderbilt moving on. However, if the shots aren’t dropping early, you might be looking at a Georgetown blowout.
Don’t bet on the game, of course. That’s illegal. You can, however, make a safe investment in some NCAA Tournament tickets by visiting StubHub.com. I have a feeling Vandy is going to make this an interesting game for any fan lucky enough to get tickets.
The Best of the Remaining Tournament Teams
After the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament have finished, the field of 16 must be debated. Who is the top team remaining? It is a tough choice, given the fact that so far there have been very few upsets, and all four of the No. 1 seeds made it to Sweetness, as did three of the four No. 2 seeds. Pretty good job by the selection committee, right?
Many people are starting to become Kansas Jayhawks believers, and I’m one of them. If you saw the games last week, then you remember that the Jayhawks haven’t just been winning they’ve been demolishing and demoralizing their tourney opponents.
Of course the Jayhawks had one of the easiest schedules of any team still dancing. The UNLV Rebels didn’t.
Las Vegas is suddenly looking a bit scarier after getting a bunch of attention for their win over No. 2 seeded Wisconsin. Will they be able to pull off another against Oregon on Friday? The Ducks look a little less vulnerable than the Badgers did, and they don’t get nearly the attention they deserve. Come to think of it, Oregon sounds a bit like UNLV did before the second round.
So pick your favorites and then head out to the arena to watch the games live. StubHub.com has tons of great NCAA Tournament tickets for anybody who’s anxious for more excitement from the tourney this year.
USC, UNC to play in Sweet Sixteen
The USC Trojans defeated the No. 4 ranked Texas Longhorns in the second round on Sunday to make it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans are slated to face the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are coming off a score-doesn’t-tell-the-whole-story 81-67 win over Michigan State.
The Heels struggled to separate themselves from the Michigan State Spartans, who were within two points with about five minutes left in the game. Tyler Hansbrough, UNC’s star big man, shed his protective mask halfway through the second half, en route to 33 total points for the game.
When USC and UNC meet for their Round of 16 match up, a lot of pre game time will be spent focusing on whether or not Hansbrough will wear his mask, which he has been advised to wear ever since he was elbowed in the face a few weeks ago. As for me, I think he won’t wear it.
Now, if every sports analysis in the country could give their opinion on the matter until Friday night that would be just great great.
You can still get some great seats to see the action in Winston-Salem, but you’ll have to get to StubHub.com quickly to check out everything that remains in the NCAA Tournament Tickets section.
Sweet Sixteen not quite as Sweet this Tourney
The rounds with the catchy names have started, and Cinderella, sadly, will not be attending. There were several upsets in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but no team seeded worse than a No. 7 actually made it to the Sweet Sixteen.
Virginia Commonwealth beat Duke in the first round, and then took Pitt into overtime, but couldn’t nail down a spot in Cinderella history. The worst seeded team right now is UNLV, who, by most calculations got a bad seed to begin with.
By RPI rankings, UNLV, Butler, USC, and Vanderbilt are the least likely teams to make it to the Elite Eight, but nobody would be too shocked. Seven of the top eight seeds are still dancing, with the notable exception of Wisconsin.
So who do you root for if you’re a classic underdog fan? I’ll be pulling for Butler. You can get NCAA Tournament tickets to their game on Friday if you hurry up and get to StubHub.com. They face the defending national champions and No. 1 seeded Florida Gators, who just put up 186 points in the first two rounds, and have that look in their eyes. Butler might have the toughest task in the round of sixteen, and unlike pretty much any of the other teams still left, you can actually refer to the Bulldogs as a “mid-major.”
No. 9s on Cloud 9 in NCAA Tourney
Both of the 9 seeds beat the 8 seeds yesterday in the afternoon games of the first day of NCAA Tournament action. With the exception of the Duke loss, these were the only two other upsets so far in the tourney.
Michigan State took advantage of Marquette’s lack-luster start and ran with the victory in Winston-Salem, NC. The Spartans led the whole way, not once dropping below a double digit lead throughout the entire second half.
Not long later the score Lexington, KY came in. The number 9 Xavier Musketeers had a more difficult time defeating the No. 8 BYU Cougars. Xavier and BYU traded leads, free throws, and potentially game-deciding baskets in the final minutes of play. The Musketeers escaped the first round after Drew Lavender hit the go-ahead free throw to put his team up 78-75 in the final 15 seconds.
The Musketeers will be lucky enough to face top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in the second round. If you’d like to see this game or any of the other March Madness action, check out StubHub.com for some great NCAA Tournament tickets.
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