South Regional Stacked With Ncaa Tradition
History? UCLA has won 11 national championships, Kentucky has won six. Tradition? Try coaches named Wooden and Rupp.
This NCAA South Regional men’s semifinal today in St. Petersburg, Fla., seems worthy of the Final Four.
And then there’s Duke and Syracuse.
All four teams in the South field - Kentucky, UCLA, Duke and Syracuse - have played for the NCAA title within the last three years.
Kentucky (39) and UCLA (34) have appeared in the tournament more times than any other team and have combined for the most NCAA championships: UCLA (11) and Kentucky (6).
UCLA (24), Kentucky (15) and Duke (11) have totaled 50 victories in Final Four games and have won four of the last seven national championships.
Stanford’s not surprised
Before two of the NCAA Tournament’s longest shots take the court, the Midwest Regional has a game between two teams that truly belong on the stage.
No. 2 seed Purdue takes on No. 3 Stanford tonight. The winner presumably skates to the Final Four after drawing either Rhode Island, the eighth seed, or Valparaiso, the 13th seed.
But Kansas, Mississippi and Florida State thought they would skate past Rhode Island and Valparaiso.
Stanford players and coaches, for instance, remain cautious despite early-season victories over Valpo and Rhode Island.
“No way,” Stanford forward Peter Sauer said. “We might haven beaten them both, but they both were close games.
“Those teams have as much a right to the Final Four as we do.”
Big East comes up big
Four Southeastern Conference teams still playing in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament is not unusual. Happens all the time.
Nor is it surprising that the Atlantic Coast Conference still has three teams.
But look who else has three in the round of 16 which begins Saturday - the Big East. Yes, the league commonly maligned as Connecticut and the dinky dozen has more teams left than the Big Ten (2), more than the Big 12 (1) and more than the Pac-10 (1).
Four Big East teams made the NCAA Tournament. Miami was eliminated in the first round, but Connecticut, Rutgers and Notre Dame are still going - Connecticut in the East, Rutgers in the Mideast and Notre Dame in the Midwest.
No distractions
Magazine covers, a documentary and constant media attention could distract a lot of teams. Not the No. 1 Tennessee women.
The Vols (35-0) have been as busy off the court as they have been on this season in their quest for a record third straight NCAA championship.
It hasn’t hurt so far as they have a 40-game winning streak going into Saturday’s Mideast Regional semifinal against fifth-seeded Rutgers in Nashville, Tenn.
They agree it’s because they know how to focus during games.
“We all know we’re here to play basketball,” guard Kellie Jolly said. “Anything else is on the side, it’s been fun. But it’s all business when we step on the court.”
xxxx NCAA WOMEN Saturday’s games East semifinals ODU (29-2) vs. N.C. St. (23-6) Arizona (23-6) vs. UConn (33-2) Midwest semifinals N. Dame (22-9) vs. Purdue (22-9) La Tech (28-3) vs. Alabama (24-9) Mideast semifinals N. Carolina (26-6) vs. Illinois (20-9) Tennessee (35-0) vs. Rutgers (22-9) West semifinals Kansas (23-8) vs. Arkansas (20-10) Florida (23-8) vs. Duke (23-7)