NCAA Tournament blog- Big East Domination

Mike T here with the recap of the "early" games today, and there was a Big East flavor to it with Syracuse and Pittsburgh moving on to their respective regionals.

In the South region, the third seeded Orange stifled (6) Arizona St and their star James Harden en route to a 78-67 victory. Jonny Flynn had 11 points and 7 assists for the Cuse, and guard Eric Devendorf led the way with 21. The Orange trademark 2-3 zone held the Sun Devils to 40% shooting (Arizona St came into the game shooting 48% on the year), and held Harden to just 10 points. The Orange will move on to face 2nd seeded Oklahoma in the regional semifinal in Memphis.

In the East however, (1) Pitt had alot of trouble with (8) Oklahoma St, and a LaVance Fields three at the buzzer saved Pitt from being down 3 at halftime. Sam Young led all scorers with 32 points, and DeJuan Blair had another double double. Obi Muonelo led the Cowboys with 19 points, and Okla St shot 43% from downtown for the game. Pitt will move on to Boston to face (4) Xavier in the regional semifinals.

The Big East now has 5 teams in the Sweet 16 (7 if Louisville and Marquette can win later today)

Onto the other games:

- As mentioned above, (4) Xavier overcame a 2 point halftime deficit to defeat (12) Wisconsin 60-49. The Musketeers used a 13-4 2nd half run to put the game away, and they held the Badgers to a paltry 29% shooting for the game. BJ Raymond led Xavier with 15 points, while Marcus Landry had a double double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Badgers. Xavier will move on and face (1) Pitt in the regional semi up in Boston.

- In the Midwest region, (4) Kansas got a triple double from Cole Aldrich and routed (11) Dayton 60-43. Aldrich had 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks for the first triple double in the NCAA tournament since Dwyane Wade had one (in the same building, the Metrodome in Minneapolis) in 2003 against Kentucky. The Jayhawks held Dayton to a horrid 22% shooting clip for the game. Kansas will move on and face either Michigan St or USC in the regional semi in Indianapolis next week.

- Also in the Midwest, (12) Arizona defeated (13) Cleveland St 71-57 to move onto Indianapolis for the regional semis. Nick Wise had 21 for the Wildcats, who have now made the Sweet 16 for the 12th time since 1988. They will face either (1) Louisville or (9) Siena next week.

Thats it for me today, Matt Soldano will be around after the last 3 games with his thoughts and an update on the WCWP Pool standings.

- Mike T