AP News, March 18th, 2007
After a rather pedestrian first round of games, the NCAA tournament got serious with a drama-filled Saturday in which every game was close, and bitterly contested. And by the end of today, the field of 65 will have been whittled down to 16. Top-seeded Kansas and Florida are among the teams in action.
The other top seeds, North Carolina and Ohio State, advanced to the third round on Saturday, but like all the other victors, they didn't have it easy.
The Tar Heels struggled past Michigan State 81-67, and the Buckeyes got a big break with a missed Xavier free throw, then a big 3 to force overtime before winning 78-71.
In the first round, games were decided by an average of 16.1 points, but March Madness arrived in earnest on Saturday, as the average margin was 6.0 points.
The first of Sunday's games is Virginia-Tennessee (12:10 p.m. EDT) in the South Regional. The fifth-seeded Vols are coming off a startling 121-point performance against Long Beach State in the first round, but fourth-seeded Virginia isn't in awe.
"They got 121 because there wasn't any resistance at all," said Cavaliers guard Sean Singletary. "(Sunday) is going to be a different story. There's going to be resistance."
Following that game in the South will be seventh-seeded Nevada against second-seeded Memphis at 2:15 p.m.
In the East Regional, it's fifth-seeded Southern California against fourth-seeded Texas and superstar Kevin Durant at about 5:20 p.m.
In the Midwest, 11th-seeded Winthrop, which knocked off Notre Dame in the first round, plays third-seeded Oregon at 2:50 p.m. The Ducks stormed through the Pac-10 tournament but barely beat Miami of Ohio in the NCAA opener. Also in the Midwest, seventh-seeded UNLV plays second-seeded Wisconsin at 2:36 p.m., and top-seeded Florida plays Purdue at about 4:45 p.m.
In the West, fifth-seeded Virginia Tech plays fourth-seeded Southern Illinois at about 2:40 p.m., followed by top-seeded Kansas against Kentucky shortly after 5 p.m.
The West Regional semifinals will be in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday. The South semis are in San Antonio on Thursday; the Midwest semis are in St. Louis on Friday, and the East semis are in East Rutherford, N.J., on Friday.
The Final Four meet in Atlanta on March 31, with the national championship game April 2.
