Other NCAA Tournament Capsules: No. 1 seed Syracuse remembers Vermont
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The surroundings will be familiar to Syracuse, and so will the opponent.
The third-ranked Orange (28-4) were awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and their opener on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y., a 2 1/2-hour drive away, will be against 16th seed Vermont (25-9).
Yes, those Catamounts.
Vermont, champions of the America East Conference, beat Syracuse 60-57 in overtime in the first round of the 2005 NCAA tournament, a stinging loss the Orange have not forgotten. Syracuse had finished the 2004-05 regular season at 24-6 and captured the Big East tournament title before losing to the Catamounts.
"When I saw that name pop up, it fired me up a little bit," said fifth-year senior Andy Rautins, who grew up in Syracuse. "I think everybody around Syracuse took that loss to heart. It’s definitely going to be a payback game."
Kansas, Kentucky and Duke won their conference tournaments and were awarded the top three seeds when the selection committee rolled out its 65-team bracket on Sunday.
The Orange, meanwhile, were ranked No. 1 for a week this season but enter the NCAA tournament having lost two straight. An injury to starting center Arinze Onuaku in the Big East tournament — coupled with losing that quarterfinal game to Georgetown — most likely relegated Syracuse to the West region and behind Duke as the last of the top seeds.
The players were unfazed by the seedings, preferring to focus only on the next game.
"This tournament is filled with a lot of winning teams," said Wes Johnson, Big East player of the year. "There’s no real bad teams. You’ve got to be strong, just play tough. We don’t want to go home. We’ve worked too hard. We want to take it to the last game."
This will be Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s 27th trip to the NCAA tournament and just his second as a top seed.
"We’re proud to be a No. 1 seed," Boeheim said. "This team has worked extremely hard, been consistent all year. Obviously, the tournament is always going to be challenging. It’ll be challenging right off the bat."
Syracuse, which won the regular-season Big East title for only the second time, is a top seed for the first time since 1980. The 1979-80 team finished the regular season at 25-3, lost to Georgetown in the Big East tournament, and then lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Iowa, 88-77, when the tournament had a field of 48.
Vermont, which has won 11 of its last 12 games, will be making its fourth trip to the tournament and first since that shocking upset five years ago.
Boeheim said the Orange most likely will play without Onuaku, a fifth-year senior who suffered a right quadriceps injury against the Hoyas on Thursday. If Onuaku cannot play, Rick Jackson will take over at center and 6-foot-11 freshman Dashonte Riley will be the backup. Kris Joseph, the first player off the bench during the season, will start.
"I would be very skeptical of him (Onuaku) playing this weekend," Boeheim said. "That could change at the end of the week, but that’s my thinking right now."
The 6-9, 260-pound Onuaku said he has been undergoing treatment since the team returned from New York and has not done any running. He said the decision on whether he plays would be made after speaking with team doctors and Boeheim.
"I’m looking at it positive, taking it day by day," said Onuaku, the school’s career leader in field-goal percentage (64.9) who was averaging 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season. "It’s getting better, so I’m hoping for the best."
Although no team has lost its first game in a conference tournament and gone on to win the national title, Syracuse also has never made it as far as the round of 16 after winning the Big East tournament. Its Final Four runs in 1987 and 1996 came after losses in the conference tournament finals.
Kentucky draws tough East bracket in NCAA tourney
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Huddled with his teammates around the television in coach John Calipari's living room, Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins demonstratively expressed his disapproval over the tough road the SEC champions face to reach the Final Four.
"What?" said Cousins, throwing his arms in the air as some of Kentucky's potential opponents in the NCAA tournament's East Regional were announced Sunday.
The Wildcats (32-2) got the No. 1 seed on the strength of their Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships, but opposite them as the No. 2 seed in their region is West Virginia. The Mountaineers won the Big East tournament championship, arguably the nation's most loaded league.
After Ohio State was announced as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, opposite top-seeded Kansas, Calipari told his players: "We wanted Ohio State."
Other than West Virginia in the same bracket, setting up a potential regional final in Syracuse, N.Y., Calipari also expressed surprise in some potential earlier matchups. Assuming Kentucky gets past 16th-seeded East Tennessee State on Thursday, the Wildcats draw a tough second-round game against Wake Forest or Texas, which was at one time ranked No. 1.
"Our little corner of the world is hard," Calipari observed.
Kentucky's players didn't arrive for the beginning of the show Sunday night, when they were officially named as a No. 1 seed along with Kansas, Duke and Syracuse. The SEC championship game against Mississippi State went into overtime, and the flight back from Nashville was late.
Conference player of the year John Wall, a freshman considered a likely top overall pick in the NBA draft, hit a late 3-pointer in that game. He acknowledged it was a surprise to see the tourney path, including a potential second-round matchup with the Longhorns.
"It was kind of shocking to see them that close up in our bracket, but we're not going to complain about it," Wall said. "We can't look that far down the road. We've got to worry about that first game."
The Wildcats' other freshman star in the backcourt, Eric Bledsoe, said the road would be difficult not just because of opponents but also due to the schedule. Kentucky played three grueling days in the SEC tournament and now plays again on Thursday.
"We've just got to try to get our bodies in shape, get proper rest and eat right," Bledsoe said. "Everybody's body gets bruised. We've been playing hard the last few days. We're just going to try to keep it going."
Although there were some quibbles with the draw, the team's veteran — junior Patrick Patterson — said this edition of the Wildcats far exceeded his expectations.
Patterson will be playing in his first NCAA tournament game because he was injured two years ago as a freshman and Kentucky went to the NIT last year under Billy Gillispie.
"I thought we'd have a successful team, but I thought we'd probably have a couple bumps in the road," Patterson said. "Earlier in this season, I never would have imagined us at this point we are now."
-- Jeffrey McMurray
ACC champ Duke claims top seed in South Regional
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Duke claimed one tournament title Sunday and immediately turned its attention toward the pursuit of an even more important one.
The Atlantic Coast Conference champion claimed the No. 1 seed in the South Regional when the NCAA announced its tournament pairings. The Blue Devils (29-5) will face the play-in winner, Winthrop or Arkansas-Pine Bluff, in the first round Friday in Jacksonville, Fla.
In making the field for the 26th time in 27 years and for the 15th straight season, the Blue Devils claimed a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2006.
Under coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke has reached 10 Final Fours and won three national titles.
"We’re just excited to keep going. We’ve got a great thing here and we don’t want it to end," senior Brian Zoubek said after the Blue Devils’ 65-61 win over Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament.
"We’re playing so well together and we’re really tough at the end of the game," Zoubek added. "We’re not worried about No. 1 seeds or where we go, just excited to still be playing this time of year."
During the days leading up to Selection Sunday, Krzyzewski refused to campaign for a No. 1 seed, reasoning that it was the one thing that was out of his team’s control. Instead, he let the Blue Devils’ resume — which includes ACC regular-season and tournament titles, an unofficial RPI of 2 and a top-10 strength of schedule — to speak for itself.
It’s the final chance to piece together a deep NCAA run for a senior class that has made incremental progress through the years on college basketball’s biggest stage. Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Zoubek were freshmen on the 2007 team that went one-and-done.
They won their NCAA tournament opener as sophomores before making a second-round exit, and last year, they advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2006.
"I remember freshman year going against (Maryland’s Ekene) Ibekwe and (James) Gist, getting beat up every game," Thomas said. "Now we’re the guys beating up on people. It’s tough to think this day would come for my teammates and the senior class ... after we’ve been through so much."
Duke, which shared the ACC’s regular season title with Maryland, capped the run to its ACC-record 18th tournament crown and second in a row by holding off the No. 7 seed Yellow Jackets.
Now the Blue Devils must face the harsh reality of postseason basketball: one loss, and the season — or in a senior’s case, his career — is over.
"It hit home for the seniors right after this (ACC championship) game," Zoubek said. "We’ve got the NCAA tournament. If we lose, that’s it. That’s extreme motivation."
-- Joedy McCreary
’Nova, Temple earn high NCAA seeds
PHILADELPHIA — Maybe Temple should have entered the NCAA tournament in a slump.
The three-time defending Atlantic 10 tournament champion Owls were surprised with their fifth seed in the East Regional and will play No. 12 seed Cornell (27-4) in the NCAA tournament. Local rival Villanova shook off a miserable slide and earned the No. 2 seed Sunday in the South Regional and will play No. 15 Robert Morris (23-11) in the tournament.
The Owls (29-5) have won 10 straight games, shared the A-10 regular season championship with Xavier and beat Richmond 56-52 earlier Sunday to clinch another conference tourney title.
The Wildcats (24-7) have lost five of seven after a 20-1 start. The Wildcats, who last won a national championship in 1985, are trying to reach the Final Four for the second straight year.
Temple defeated Villanova 75-65 in December.
Villanova opens the tournament Thursday in Providence, R.I. Villanova’s six straight NCAA trips are the second-longest run in team history, trailing only the seven straight appearances from 1980-86. The Wildcats are 48-30 in 30 overall trips.
"We lost to some good teams at the end of the season and I think the committee saw that we’re still a very good basketball team," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I think it’s also a product of maybe some of the success that the previous teams have had, a kind of respect for the program in the tournament."
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw called the Owls’ fifth seed "disappointing."
"Someone said last week that the committee was not at all interested in how you finished," Bradshaw said. "There’s no better examples of that than Temple and Villanova. That might be true."
Temple opens the tournament Friday in Jacksonville, Fla., trying to win an NCAA game for the first time since 2001. The Owls, who have their highest seed since they were No. 2 in 2000, lost first-round games in 2008 and ‘09.
Cornell coach Steve Donahue was an assistant and recruiting coordinator for 10 years under Temple coach Fran Dunphy at Penn.
The Temple-Cornell winner will play the winner of No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 13 Wofford. Cornell won the Ivy League championship.
"I think this was a planned endeavor by the committee," Dunphy said. "They do some things to have this be a matchup. That’s my sense."
The Owls gathered in front of a few hundred fans at the Liacouras Center and were cheered when they entered shortly before the selection show holding the A-10 trophy. Temple’s bracket was announced first, and the crowd booed when Villanova’s No. 2 seed flashed on the screen.
"They got a two seed!" Temple forward Lavoy Allen said when the Wildcats’ bracket was announced.
Dunphy refused to be drawn into a Temple-Villanova debate.
"There’s nothing I can do, I have no control over it, so there’s no need to worry about it," Dunphy said.
The Owls are in the tournament for the 28th time and are 31-27.
Wright made no apologies for the Wildcats’ high seed because of Villanova’s overall record in the toughest conference in the country. Villanova, which went 13-5 in the Big East, is a No. 2 seed for the first time in team history.
"It’s not like we got blown out or we didn’t play well. We just played good teams," Wright said. "When you look at it, we’re as deserving as anybody, but if we would have been a three you couldn’t argue it."
Guard Scottie Reynolds, whose half-court dash for a last-second basket against Pittsburgh in last year’s regional final sent Villanova to the Final Four, was surprised the Wildcats got that coveted No. 2 seed.
"I like to follow things and see where people say we’re going to be. I was thinking a three or a four, and then when I saw a two come up, I was like, ‘All right,"’ Reynolds said. "I think people are emphasizing too much on the end of the season, but we have gotten a lot better, and we’re going to just approach it like that."
This is the second straight Northeast Conference title for Robert Morris, which also was a No. 15 seed in the NCAA tournament last season. The Colonials are the first repeat NEC champion since Rider won back-to-back conference titles in 1993 and 1994.
The winner will advance to a second-round game on Saturday against either No. 7 seed Richmond (26-8) or No. 10 Saint Mary’s (26-5).
Patriot League champion Lehigh, north of Philadelphia in Bethlehem, Pa., faces No. 1 overall seed Kansas (32-2). The Mountain Hawks (22-10) are going to the tournament for the fourth time and earned the automatic bid with a win Friday over Lafayette.
-- Dan Gelston
Pitt to play Oakland in NCAA first round
PITTSBURGH — Last season, Pittsburgh looked down its NCAA tournament bracket following a one-and-done Big East Conference tournament and saw ... Villanova.
This season, Pitt can look down its NCAA tournament bracket following a one-and-done Big East Conference tournament and can see ... Syracuse.
The top two seeded teams in the Big East tournament landed in the West Regional, with the Orange seeded first and Pitt at No. 3. Both teams were rewarded for their strong regular seasons rather than their quarterfinal exits in New York.
There's a lot of work ahead of Pittsburgh (24-8) before it reaches a possible rematch in the regional final with Syracuse — a team it defeated in early January — starting with Friday's game against Oakland (26-8) in Milwaukee.
But the thought of playing Syracuse (28-4) again — something that didn't happen in the Big East tournament — offers the Panthers plenty of motivation as they make their ninth consecutive NCAA tournament.
"You can't ignore it, but we're thinking about Oakland only and that's something we've got to get past," Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon said Sunday, not long after the Panthers gathered around a large-screen TV to watch the NCAA tournament selections.
Getting past the first game is something Pitt does better than most.
The Panthers have advanced to at least the second round in seven of the last eight tournaments — including last season, when Pitt nearly made the Final Four before Villanova's Scottie Reynolds devastated them in the closing seconds of the regional final with a length-of-the-court drive for the winning basket.
While this team lacks the star power that one did, with no DeJuan Blair or Sam Young to get an important basket when needed, these Panthers have more NCAA tournament experience than most teams. Pitt bounced back from its one-game showing in the Big East tournament last season by winning three games in the NCAA tournament, and nearly became the first Pitt team to win four games in the tournament.
If the Panthers get by Oakland, the Summit League champion, they would meet Big Ten tournament runner-up Minnesota (21-13) or Xavier (24-8) on Sunday. Pitt beat Xavier 60-55 in last year's round of 16. Win twice in Milwaukee, as the Panthers did when they were sent there in 2004, they could meet second-seeded Kansas State (26-7) in Salt Lake City on March 25.
"I think this team has a lot of what we had last year and maybe even more, possibly," forward Gilbert Brown said. "I really feel very confident in this team and our abilities. Just finishing near the top of the Big East proves we're capable of doing anything. We've got a favorable draw and we've just got to make the best of it."
Pitt hasn't faced Oakland since 2006-07, when the Panthers won 66-55 in an early season tournament played in Pittsburgh.
This is one of the most unpredictable of the Panthers teams that have advanced to every NCAA tournament since 2002. They have beaten Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova, yet lost to Indiana and barely got by Wofford. They also scored only 15 points in the first half against New Hampshire, and were held to a season-low 45 points in their Big East tournament loss to Notre Dame.
Still, coach Jamie Dixon's team has repeatedly shown the ability to refocus once the NCAA tournament arrives; the Panthers have made five appearances in the round of 16 since 2002, and only Duke and Kansas (six each) have made more.
"The biggest thing is never taking anything too lightly," Brown said. "If we can maintain our focus, and just go out there and execute like we're supposed to, we should be fine in these first couple of games, even though I know they're going to be tough ones."
-- Alan Robinson
Purdue gets No. 4 seed, Butler No. 5, Notre Dame No. 6
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Purdue got the highest seed of the three Indiana teams that got NCAA tournament bids and a chance to play in the Final Four in Indianapolis.
The Boilermakers were also the most disappointed after getting the No. 4 seed, lowered because do-everything forward Robbie Hummel was lost for the season to an injury.
"Our resume says we’re a two or a three," coach Matt Painter said. "You can’t really get upset about reality and the fact that he’s not playing. You would just sending your energy somewhere where it doesn’t need to be."
The Boilermakers (27-5) will play No. 13 seed Siena (27-6) in Spokane, Wash., on Friday.
Horizon League champion Butler (28-4) got the No. 5 seed and will try to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 21 games when it faces No. 11 seed UTEP (26-6) in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday. And Notre Dame (23-11) was ecstatic to be seeded sixth for its game against Old Dominion (26-8) in New Orleans on Thursday.
Painter said he wasn’t going to begrudge the tournament selection committee for its decision.
"I think they did what they felt was best and I think it can serve as motivation to pick themselves up off the canvas," he said of his players.
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, chairman of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, said the injury to Hummel was a factor in Purdue’s seeding. The Boilermakers were ranked No. 3 when he was injured, but went 3-2 after losing him.
"To have integrity in the field we needed to make certain that we placed them in a place where we felt was appropriate without Robbie Hummel," Guerrero said on CBS.
Butler coach Brad Stevens didn’t care about his team’s seeding, which matched the highest in the program’s history.
"I don’t even pay attention to the numbers," he said. "The only thing I saw was UTEP. You can take numbers out of the equation because they’re a heck of a basketball team."
The Miners won 16 straight games before losing 81-73 in the Conference USA championship game to Houston on Saturday. Despite not losing in two months and being ranked, UTEP was one of the tournament "bubble" teams.
Stevens said the Miners will present problems for his Bulldogs.
"They’re unbelievably athletic and they have terrific size," Stevens said.
Notre Dame won six straight games before losing to West Virginia in the Big East tournament semifinal. The team was thrilled with its sixth seed, especially after it looked as if they might be headed back to the NIT when the Irish were 6-8 in the Big East and leading scorer Luke Harangody was out indefinitely with a knee injury.
"We thought it was a heck of a run we finished with, probably even better than we thought, to earn a six seed," coach Mike Brey said. "It’s really powerful how we finished. I’m proud of that. It says a lot about what this group did to put us in that position."
The Irish thought they likely would receive either an eighth or ninth seed.
"To see us get a six, that’s tremendous," Harangody said.
Brey said the Irish will head to New Orleans full of confidence since switching to a slower-paced offense that led to a six-game winning streak.
"I’m glad we play Thursday instead of Friday, we get to get back out on the court, because we feel we’re playing pretty well," he said.
While Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame prepare for tournament games and a chance to play for the championship in their home state, Indiana is on spring break with no place to go.
The Hoosiers (10-21) lost 12 of their last 13 games to finish with a losing record for a second straight season, leaving Indiana coach Tom Crean plenty of time to tweet about his hopes for future NCAA tournament berths.
"From the cornfields to the Capitol we are out and about today. We need to get the guys added that can help us get back to Selection Sunday," Crean posted Sunday on his Twitter account. He was not available for comment Sunday.
One day earlier, Crean posted about being at high school basketball sectional finals, saying: "I wish I could tell you where we are heading but its against NCAA RULES. WE NEED TO ALL TAKE BACK THE STATE THOUGH."
The Hoosiers haven’t been the best team in the state since Kelvin Sampson resigned because of recruiting violations two years ago. That left the Hoosiers with only eight scholarship players and one senior for the 2008-09 season, when they finished with a 6-25 record — the school’s worst winning percentage in nearly a century.
Crean said the Hoosiers are further along in their rebuilding than it appears.
"I can promise you that with the trial and error and the rebuilding situation that we’ve been in sometimes, I’m shocked we’re as far along as we are," he said after the Hoosiers lost in the Big Ten tournament. "I know our record doesn’t indicate that, but this program has endured a lot. A lot. And certainly we’re not — we’re not through the tunnel yet."
-- Tom Coyne
California, Washington only Pac-10 teams in NCAAs
California and Washington were the only Pac-10 teams to get bids in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, capping a decidedly down season for a league that sent six teams to the postseason’s biggest bash each of the last two years.
The league’s automatic berth went to Washington (24-9), which beat California (23-10) in the conference tournament after finishing second in the regular season. The Golden Bears got in on the strength of winning their first regular-season title in 50 years.
Teams like 11-time national champion UCLA and Arizona, which had made 25 straight NCAA tourney appearances, are staying home. Southern California never had a chance, having declared itself ineligible for postseason play as part of self-imposed sanctions for violating NCAA rules involving former star O.J. Mayo.
So Washington will travel to San Jose, Calif., on Thursday for a first-round game against Marquette (22-11), while Cal got sent across the country to Jacksonville, Fla., to play Louisville (20-12) the same day.
The Pac-10 was among the nation’s elite leagues in recent years, but that changed this season when a combination of early departures to the NBA draft, new coaches and a lack of stars weakened its stature.
The league had a team in the final AP Top 25 rankings every season since 1986 until this year. It flopped during the nonconference season, going 2-12 against ranked opponents with several ugly losses.
"Some of the losses that we got early on in the league, everybody just hurt the perception," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "So then when that became the perception, there was no way we could beat anybody in the league and have it help anybody. And if we lost a game in the league, it was only going to hurt the perception."
During the second half of the season, the league fought the suggestion that only one of its teams would get in the NCAAs. The Pac-10 has never drawn fewer than two bids since the tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
"I don’t think it was very fair at all," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "Once a statement is made publicly sometimes, it gains a lot of momentum and begins to snowball."
Of course, the Pac-10 plays its games when much of the rest of the country is already asleep. None of the teams finished the season ranked among the top 20 in the RPI, either.
Like some mid-majors, Pac-10 schools are given little credit for beating each other and their middling performance outside the league didn’t help.
"The Pac-10 is always blue-collar, good-play basketball and everybody gets after it," Washington’s Darnell Gant said. "And the Pac-10 is a good conference whether there’s a lot of lottery picks or not."
Romar believed the Huskies had already done enough to ensure a berth, but he knows winning the Pac-10 tourney title didn’t hurt.
"I’ve watched Selection Sunday many years and seen teams with great resumes that are denied on that day," he said. "So thank goodness that these guys made it happen and left no doubt.
-- Beth Harris
California draws No. 8 seed, faces Louisville
BERKELEY, Calif. — California coach Mike Montgomery is confident his team is taking a different approach to the NCAA tournament this season.
The Golden Bears, who open as the eighth seed in the South Region against No. 9 Louisville in Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday, went home in the first round last year after getting bounced by Maryland and learned what Montgomery hopes is a valuable lesson along the way.
California (23-10) seemed assured of a berth in the NCAA tournament after capturing its first conference regular-season title in 50 years.
But after rolling through their first two games in the Pac-10 tournament, the Bears lost to Washington 79-75 in the championship game on Saturday, leading to a few anxious moments.
Pac-10 Player of the Year Jerome Randle awoke to reports the Bears were on the bubble and might not even get an invitation into the big dance.
"Waking up and seeing that we might be a bubble team really got to me," Randle said. "I'm not really understanding that. Then I started thinking about (people) trashing our league. It's a slap in the face. People are downing this league like it's not a competitive league but I know competition."
But California found itself in the top half of the seeds, with a No. 8. Now the Bears are looking to do more than show up.
"I thought a year ago we lost our edge a little bit," Montgomery said. "The accomplishment of getting there probably overshadowed the fact that we were going in there to win. Now the notion of these kids is going to be that we're going in there to compete to win. That's part of the process of building a program."
Randle, Cal's dynamic point guard who became the school's career scoring leader over the weekend, said he's taking it as a personal challenge to get the Bears past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.
"I have to go out and lead my team the best way I can," said Randle, one of four senior starters on the Bears. "If it's scoring, defense, assisting ... whatever the case is, I just have to be the guy to do it all. That's what I'm focused on."
The road won't an easy one for the Bears, literally.
Louisville (20-12) was a contender for a top seed before stumbling midway through the year. The Cardinals managed to go 5-2 down the stretch, however, and picked up a big victory over then-No. 1 Syracuse on March 6 — their second win over the Orange this season — before falling to Cincinnati in the Big East tournament.
In addition, Cal must take a 5-hour flight across three time zones to get to Jacksonville, meaning a rushed week of practice before Wednesday's cross-country trip.
"(That) is not the best scenario however you slice it," Montgomery said. "It's probably a 9-hour process to get there and get situated, so that's going to be a factor."
If Cal manages to get past Louisville, the Bears will likely run into No. 1 seed Duke. The Blue Devils (28-5) play the winner of the play-in game between Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Winthrop.
Facing Duke wouldn't bother Jamal Boykin much. Cal's leading rebounder spent his freshman season with the Blue Devils before transferring to Cal before the 2007 season.
It was Boykin who made it a point to address his teammates in the locker room following the loss to Washington on Saturday and his message was simple: There's still work to be done.
"You have to let those things go," Boykin said. "I was telling our guys, 'This isn't our last game. You only have to mourn and sorrow when it's over, but we have not played our last game.' The NCAA tournament is like a new season."
Gonzaga, Washington traveling in NCAA tournament
SEATTLE — Matt Bouldin's reaction to the NCAA tournament selection committee sending Gonzaga to Buffalo, N.Y., as a No. 8 seed?
"It's far," said the senior guard.
And far from desirable. Despite yet another West Coast Conference regular-season title, a 13-3 nonconference record against a schedule of national powers and an NCAA regional being staged minutes away from campus at Spokane Arena this week, the Bulldogs (26-6) will travel across the country to face ninth-seeded Florida State (22-9) on Friday in the first round of their 12th consecutive NCAA tournament.
It's the price Gonzaga is paying for losing in the finals of the WCC tournament to Saint Mary's. That apparently cost the Bulldogs any chance for a favorable draw — anywhere.
Their potential reward should they get past the Seminoles in Buffalo: Syracuse, the top seed in the West region. The Orange will be playing down the road from home Friday against Vermont.
"I knew the loss to Saint Mary's would hurt us, but I didn't know exactly (how)," Bouldin said.
To further chafe Gonzaga followers, their cross-state rivals are thrilled. Pac-10 tournament champion Washington is an 11th seed in the East region in its second consecutive tournament. The surging Huskies (24-9) will meet sixth-seeded Marquette (22-11) down the coast in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday.
"They going to fly, or drive?" Marquette coach Buzz Williams joked of the Huskies while on the phone Sunday night from Milwaukee.
His city is a five-hour flight away from San Jose.
"I think anytime you play on the West Coast against a team from the Pac-10, you are the underdog," Williams said.
Washington rallied with seven straight wins and 12 victories in their final 14 games, including Saturday's race past California, the Pac-10's regular-season champion. The Huskies had spent January and February wondering how they could possibly make the field of 65, after plummeting to the bottom of the conference standings.
"Six weeks ago we didn't have a whole lot of people thinking we would be playing against anybody (in the NCAAs)," said coach Lorenzo Romar, who is going to the tournament for the fifth time in his eight seasons leading Washington. "We don't care where we go. We don't care who we play. We're ready."
A few hundred fans were inside a conference room at Husky Stadium for the announcement of the bid Romar's team clinched Saturday with the win over Cal. The Golden Bears (23-10) got the Pac-10's other bid as a No. 8 seed in the South region.
One fan hoping the NCAA would renew a recently discontinued rivalry held a sign behind the seated Huskies that read: "We want the Zags." Groans and a boos filled the room when Gonzaga was announced early as heading to Buffalo.
The Huskies wanted no part of that trip. They are delighted to be going to the Bay Area. Washington had a chance to go across the state to play Friday and possibly Sunday in Spokane, but that would have been a bit too much catering to an 11th seed.
"Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to getting in the NCAA tournament," Romar said.
Then he added with a wry smile of being placed in the Bay Area, "It doesn't hurt us, that's for sure. ... Given the fact we are an 11th seed, we can't complain at all with going to San Jose."
Gonzaga coach Mark Few preached to his players to appreciate the special opportunity of playing in the NCAA tournament — even if, as he predicted to the team after one practice a few days ago, it's in Buffalo.
"I mean, what a blessing just to be invited. North Carolina, UCLA, UConn, Arizona not going to watch the selection show together with their teams (Sunday) shows you how exclusive a group it is that's selected," Few said.
Gonzaga and Florida State have never met. The Seminoles entered the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament as a third seed with a 10-6 league record, then lost on Friday in the quarterfinals to North Carolina State.
Washington has met Marquette twice but not since 1978. The Huskies have lost both previous matchups.
The guard-oriented Golden Eagles have a center who is just 6-foot-6 in Lazar Hayward. He leads them in scoring at 18.1 points. They lost to a bigger Georgetown team 80-57 in the Big East semifinals last week. It was Marquette's first double-digit loss this season.
Georgetown beat Washington on Dec. 12 in Anaheim, Calif. That was part of the Huskies losing seven consecutive games away from home and falling out of the national rankings midway through their uneven season.
But Washington enters the NCAAs having won its last seven games away from Seattle.
-- Greg Bell
Mountain West gets 4 teams in NCAA tournament
LAS VEGAS — The Mountain West Conference got exactly what it wanted Sunday with four NCAA tournament bids and the highest seeding ever for one of its schools.
New Mexico (29-4) is the third seed in the East and will face No. 14-seed Montana in the opening round, with a possible second-round matchup against sixth-seeded Marquette.
Also heading to the Big Dance are San Diego State (25-8), which earned the league’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament, UNLV (25-8) and BYU (29-5).
The four teams are the most the league has ever sent to the NCAA tournament in its 11-year history. Three times the Mountain West has sent three teams, and the highest seed before this year was Utah with a No. 5 seed last year, when it lost to No. 12 Arizona in the opening round.
UNLV and San Diego State sealed their NCAA bids at the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center over the weekend, where the Aztecs edged eighth-ranked New Mexico 72-69, snapping the Lobos’ 15-game winning streak, and UNLV upset No. 14 BYU in two sensational semifinals Friday night.
"This is high-level basketball," Fisher said after the Aztecs beat the Runnin’ Rebels 55-45 in the title game Saturday. "Anybody that watched the New Mexico-San Diego State game, if there were no labels on the jersey, they would say, ‘This is as good as it gets anywhere.’ And it was. I think we displayed that. BYU and Vegas was more of the same.
"This is a really good league that has nine teams in it," Fisher added, "and four of us are going to go to the NCAA tournament. That’s representing your league well."
Now, Fisher suggested, it’s time to really get some respect.
"Now what we need to do is step up and win a few games," he said. "That’s the challenge we will all face."
All four Mountain West teams are playing Thursday, with the Lobos in San Jose, Calif. The 11th-seeded Aztecs will face No. 6-seeded Tennessee in the Midwest Regional at Providence, R.I., while BYU and UNLV will play in Oklahoma City.
The Cougars are the seventh seed in the West and will face Florida. The Runnin’ Rebels are the eighth seed in the Midwest and face Northern Iowa.
New Mexico is hoping to go further than any Mountain West team — Utah in 2005 and UNLV in 2008 both reached the round of 16.
Lobos coach Steve Alford said he was just hoping that they wouldn’t have to play a bigger team early on. With none of his 10 players taller than 6-foot-8, the only team that gave New Mexico matchup problems has been San Diego State, which handed them two of their four losses.
"That’s what’s so amazing about this team: to play 33 games and win 29 with nobody over 6-foot-8 is amazing," Alford said.
Montana has a couple of big players in 7-footer Derek Selvig and 6-11 Brian Qvale but aren’t expected to pose a mismatch for the Lobos. Marquette and Washington also have a couple of bigger players but don’t have a huge advantage over the Lobos.
-- Arnie Stapleton
Alford happy with 3 seed; New Mexico faces Montana
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico coach Steve Alford was confident his team might earn as high as a No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament if the Lobos won the Mountain West Conference tournament. But they lost 72-69 to San Diego State in the semifinals.
It turned out New Mexico didn't fall too far.
The Lobos (29-4), who won the Mountain West's regular-season title, were awarded a No. 3 seed for the NCAA tournament and will face No. 14 Montana (22-9) on Thursday in San Jose, Calif. It's the highest seeding ever for a Mountain West team in the league's 11-year history.
"We're very pleased with a 3 seed and getting to go out west," said Alford, who also took Southwest Missouri State and Iowa to the NCAA tournament. "San Jose is a great spot for us. We've got some California kids.
"No matter what the matchup is, we've got to get to work quickly on Montana. Anytime you get to this point of the year, everybody's good. Every matchup is tough."
New Mexico staged a viewing show Sunday at The Pit, drawing an estimated 5,000 noisy fans who cheered wildly every time the Lobos were shown on two large television screens.
"Great fans. We do have the best fans in the nation," New Mexico's Roman Martinez said. "After our name got called, everyone was so pumped. It was a great, great turnout."
Alford and his assistants quickly turned their attention to Montana.
The Grizzlies are led by a sizzling scoring guard, Anthony Johnson, who had 34 of his career-high 42 points in the second half as Montana beat Weber State 66-65 to win the Big Sky Conference tournament championship. Johnson scored his team's final 21 points.
Montana is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. The Lobos haven't played in the NCAAs since 2005.
Asked what he knows about Montana, Alford replied: "Just the Johnson kid. We know he's extremely talented ... a potent scorer.
"This is a fun night. Coaches get to pull all-nighters. We gather as much tape as we can, just trying to gather a scouting report."
The Lobos aren't too bad themselves.
Darington Hobson was the Mountain West player of the year. New Mexico's versatile standout goes into the NCAA tournament averaging 16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. The Lobos have three others averaging double figures in scoring, led by Martinez at 13.8 points per game.
They've also set school records with 29 wins, 10 road wins, 12 wins away from The Pit, 14 consecutive conference wins, seven conference road wins and seven consecutive road wins. Not bad for a team picked to finish fifth in Mountain West preseason polls.
"It's been a long time coming," Hobson said. "We've worked hard all year for this. A lot of people counted us out before the season started. We made it happen. It feels good to have things break for us this year. We're right where we need to be."
-- Tim Korte
Richmond, ODU in NCAA field; Hokies left out
HARRISONBURG, Va. — Richmond is joining Colonial Athletic Association champion Old Dominion as state schools in the NCAA tournament, while Virginia Tech was left out of the field of 65 announced Sunday.
The disappointed Hokies will be joined by an elated William & Mary team making just its second postseason appearance ever in the NIT field.
The Spiders (26-8), who lost 56-52 to No. 17 Temple in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship on Sunday, will travel to Providence, R.I., as a No. 7 seed to play St. Mary's in the South region on Thursday. St. Mary's (26-5) won the West Coast Conference tournament.
The Spiders figured their run to the conference championship game had solidified their credentials for an at-large berth, but guard David Gonzalvez admitted he worried when Richmond still hadn't appeared and the show got down to unveiling the last few teams.
"We were confident until like 30 minutes into the selection show," Gonzalvez said, laughing. "Then we started wondering. It was like, 'Hey, we weren't even on the bubble.'"
The bid is the eighth trip to the tournament for the Spiders and comes in a season when the small, private school was ranked for the first time in more than 24 years.
Richmond also has quite a history in the tournament, having earned a reputation as a giant killer. The 1991 Spiders were the first team ever to win as a No. 15 seed, beating Syracuse, and Richmond has also won as a No. 14, No. 13, and No. 12 seed in the tournament.
"We've had a great season," Gonzalvez said. "It will be great to see how far we can go."
The Monarchs (26-8) will be a No. 11 seed, also in the South region, and will play Notre Dame (23-11) on Thursday in New Orleans.
"I've been waiting for this moment for four years, since Buffalo when we lost in the first round," said senior Gerald Lee, the MVP of the CAA tournament who was a freshman when the Monarchs made it as an at-large team in 2007. "I want to win a lot of games this time."
It's the third trip to the tournament in six years for ODU, which completed a rare triple this season as the preseason choice to win the CAA, the regular season champion and the tournament champion. The Monarchs beat William & Mary 60-53 in the title game Monday night.
That victory assured them of a spot in the field, but they didn't know where they were going, or when, until almost the very end of the televised show revealing of the field of 65.
"It's so different this time around," coach Blaine Taylor said.
"In '07, we thought we were in, we were hoping we were in and then all of a sudden, you're like the fourth team that appears on the board," he recalled. "This year, you know you are in but, boy, I'll tell you what, they teased us for a while."
It will be the 10th trip to the tournament for the Monarchs.
William & Mary (22-10), with just one banner to show for 106 years of basketball, will get another after this season — and in a pretty storied location. The Tribe will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to play defending national champion North Carolina in the NIT on Tuesday night.
Virginia Tech (23-8) finished 10-6 and tied with Florida State for third in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but lost to 12th-seeded Miami in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. The Hokies also played one of the weakest nonconference schedules among major conference teams.
Five teams from the ACC made the tournament as at-large entries, including Georgia Tech, which finished three games behind the Hokies in the regular season standings at 7-9.
The Hokies received a top seed in the 32-team NIT field announced later Sunday night, and will host a first-round game against Quinnipiac with a possible matchup against Connecticut in the second round. It's the third consecutive season the Hokies have played in the NIT.
Coach Seth Greenberg said the snub stings, but he hopes his team can move past it.
"It's going to hurt today, no doubt about it," he said after the NIT field was revealed. "But we have a chance to play. We have a chance to go to New York and cut down the nets.
"That's going to be the vision we are going to sell to our team. We are playing against a team that won 23 games and is used to winning, so we have to get ready to play."
-- Hank Kurz Jr.
West Virginia draws Morgan State in NCAA opener
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Bob Huggins has led West Virginia to its highest seeding in the NCAA tournament.
Yet Huggins and the Mountaineers say their No. 2 seed in the East Region isn’t quite high enough.
Fresh off its first Big East championship, West Virginia (27-6) will play Morgan State (27-9) out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in a first-round game on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y.
"I thought statistically we were a 1," Huggins said Sunday. "The disappointing thing is that when they stand up there and say, ‘Let’s look at the full body of work,’ and if you look at the full body of work, we were probably a 1."
West Virginia made its case for a No. 1 seed behind the heroics of senior forward DaSean Butler’s Big East tournament.
Butler’s 3-pointer as time expired gave the Mountaineers a 54-51 victory over Cincinnati and his runner in the lane with 4.2 second left was the difference in West Virginia’s 60-58 win over Georgetown in the title game.
"We deserve a 1-seed," Butler said. "We’ve done a lot to get a 1-seed and we didn’t get it and it kind of sucks. Personally, I’m going to keep that in the back of my mind."
Kansas earned the No. 1 overall seed followed by Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse.
The Orange lost to Georgetown in their quarterfinal game, 91-84, but still garnered the No. 1 nod over the Mountaineers.
West Virginia joins Ohio State, Kansas State and Villanova as No. 2 seeds.
Butler admitted his team has been playing with a chip on its shoulder all season long and not receiving a No. 1 seed is just more motivation.
"I personally feel that we are just as good as any 1-seed up there but they didn’t pick it that way and now it’s up to us to go out there and handle our business," he said.
The Mountaineers have gone to the NCAA tournament in every season since Huggins arrived at his alma mater three years ago.
Huggins earned his 18th NCAA tournament berth in 28 seasons as a head coach, but has won no national championships and has made only one Final Four appearance, in 1992.
West Virginia’s highest previous seeding was No. 5 in 1982. Each of Huggins’ two previous West Virginia teams in the tournament was seeded sixth. The 2008 team lost to Xavier in overtime in the regional semifinals and last year’s squad had a first-round loss to Dayton.
The closest the Mountaineers have come to a title was in 1959 when a Jerry West-led team fell to California in the championship game.
West Virginia also has had a recent history of deep runs in the NCAA tournament.
The 1998 team ousted Huggins’ Cincinnati squad on a last-second shot in the second round, then lost to Utah in the third round. The 2005 team under John Beilein blew a 13-point halftime lead and fell to Louisville in overtime in the regional finals. The following year the Mountaineers lost to Texas on a last-second 3-pointer in the regional semifinals.
Menzies thrilled to have New Mexico State in NCAAs
Things are moving fast these days for New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies, who never went to bed after his team won the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Who needs sleep when you’re on this kind of a roll?
New Mexico State is headed back to the NCAA tournament after beating Utah State to win the WAC tournament late Saturday. The Aggies (22-11) were awarded a No. 12 seed for the NCAA tournament and will meet No. 5 Michigan State (24-8) on Friday a Midwest Regional in Spokane, Wash.
It’s the first meeting between the Aggies and the Spartans. It’s also the 18th NCAA tournament appearance for New Mexico State, which famously became known as the Amazing Aggies during the school’s run to the 1970 Final Four under former coach Lou Henson.
-- Tim Korte
Vols seeded 6th in Midwest, playing San Diego St.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Volunteers beat two of the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament this season. It hasn't helped them.
For the third consecutive year, the Volunteers were less than thrilled with their seed.
The NCAA tournament seeded Tennessee sixth in the Midwest Region on Sunday even though the Vols were ranked 15th this week and had an RPI of 14. Tennessee (25-8), which received its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament bid, will play No. 11 seed San Diego State (25-8) on Thursday in Providence, R.I.
Vols coach Bruce Pearl was mostly diplomatic in response to the surprising bracket announcement — Tennessee expected a No. 4 or No. 5 seed — but his players were clearly disappointed.
"We weren't in the neighborhood where we thought we'd be," Pearl said. "I guess they think we're one of the Top 24 teams in the country and not the Top 16 or 20."
Tennessee's players were more vocal with their displeasure.
"I've been here three years and this has happened every single year," junior center Brian Williams said. "A 5 would have been a little off, but I could see that. But a 6? Man, that's crazy."
Senior point guard Bobby Maze thought beating No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Kentucky and winning 25 games against a tough schedule should have carried more weight with the NCAA tournament selection committee.
"This is just ammunition and fuel, as far as I'm concerned," Maze said. "We're even more fired up now. I'm about to go get in some extra shots in the gym right now because of this."
San Diego State finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference regular season standings but secured the league's automatic NCAA bid on Saturday by beating UNLV 55-45 in the conference tournament championship game. The Aztecs were one of four MWC teams invited to the tournament, joining No. 8 New Mexico, No. 14 Brigham Young and UNLV.
Tennessee finished third in the Southeastern Conference regular season standings and lost to Kentucky on Saturday in the tournament semifinal.
If Tennessee advances, the Vols likely would meet No. 3 seed Georgetown on Saturday.
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