After an exciting second week of action, four heavyweights will set their sights on a national title in Indianapolis this weekend. The weekend featured its fair share of great individual and team performances. The Chronicle recaps the action from the weekend, highlighting the biggest moments in each region:
South Region
Despite being home three of the nation’s top seven offenses, the South was ultimately won by defense as no team during the weekend shot even 50 percent from the floor. With teams struggling to shoot from the perimeter in NRG Stadium in Houston, both Gonzaga and Duke were forced to look for other sources of offense to proceed to the Elite Eight. For the Bulldogs, this meant feeding center Przemek Karnowski—who manhandled UCLA in Gonzaga’s 74-62 victory Friday. The Blue Devils followed in the night-cap by looking to attack in transition and used Justise Winslow’s 21-point, 10-rebound effort to defeat Utah 63-57. Center Jahlil Okafor was deemed as the best player in the region before the tourney, but averaged only 7.5 points per game during the weekend on 7-of-16 shooting.
Best game: Duke advances to the Final Four with a 66-52 victory against Gonzaga
In a matchup between two prolific offenses, it was the Blue Devils' defense and timely shooting by Matt Jones that paved Duke’s path to victory. The sophomore put in 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the Blue Devils to their first Final Four since 2010. For Gonzaga, the loss marked the end of its deepest run in the tournament under head coach Mark Few as well as the careers of standouts Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell, Jr.
Midwest Region
Coming into the second weekend, the big question in the Midwest Region was whether anybody could compete with Kentucky and although the Wildcats eventually prevailed, they certainly had to work for it. After thrashing West Virginia in a 78-39 victory, Kentucky was pushed to the brink by Notre Dame and escaped with a 68-66 win in what was the best game of the tournament thus far. The win moved the Wildcats to 38-0 and moved the team to its fourth Final Four in the last five years. For the Fighting Irish—who defeated Wichita State 81-70 Thursday to reach the Elite Eight—the loss was a painful one, but the team will leave Cleveland knowing they had one of the greatest seasons in school history
Best game: Kentucky staves off Notre Dame in a 68-66 victory
With perfection on the line, Kentucky withstood one of its toughest challenges of the season in a hard-fought victory against the Fighting Irish. Down 66-64 with a little under two minutes remaining, the Wildcats went to star freshman Karl-Anthony Towns, who capitalized on the undersized Notre Dame squad for an easy bucket. After stopping the Fighting Irish on defense, Kentucky pulled ahead on the next possession after Andrew Harrison drove to the basket and hit two clutch free-throws after being fouled. Notre Dame star Jerian Grant’s potential game-winning heave as time expired would end up long and the Wildcats came away victorious once again.
East Region
With the top two seeds of the region eliminated during the first weekend of action, the East region saw Cinderella Michigan State continue its magical run with a trip to the Final Four. The Spartans pulled out hard-fought victories against No. 3 seed Oklahoma and No. 4 seed Louisville to return to the promiseland for the seventh time under head coach Tom Izzo. Michigan State appeared on the verge of elimination Friday as the Sooners controlled the first 30 minutes of the contest. But big plays from junior Denzel Valentine down the stretch helped the Spartans move on to the Elite Eight with a 62-58 victory, where they got a crack at Louisville. Seniors Branden Dawson, Travis Trice and Valentine would lead the way for Michigan State in the Elite Eight and down a feisty Cardinal squad that made a bit of a Cinderella run of its own.
Best game: Spartans rally again to defeat Louisville 76-70 in overtime
Michigan State seemed all but finished Sunday when they fell behind the Cardinals 40-32 at halftime—a margin that seemed insurmountable when considering that Louisville had won 34 consecutive games when leading at halftime. Yet, the comeback kids would pull through once again. The senior Trice led the way back into the game for the Spartans, who survived defeat in regulation when Louisville’s Mangok Mathiang missed a potential game-winning free-throw. In the overtime period, Michigan State would outlast the Cardinals after Dawson tipped in a missed jumper to clinch the game for the Spartans.
West Region
For the second year in a row, the West region came down to matchup between Wisconsin and Arizona. And, for the second year in a row the Badgers prevailed to advance to the Final Four. After surviving upset bids at the hands of North Carolina and Xavier respectively, both Wisconsin and Arizona prepped for a defensive struggle that promised to end in the low 60's. Yet, fans were treated to a shootout Saturday night as the Badgers caught fire from beyond the arc. The victory marked a bitter close to the career of Arizona’s T.J. McConnell, as the guard reached the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season without being able to breakthrough.
Best game: Wisconsin uses hot-shooting in second half to defeat Arizona 85-78
Long gone are the days of slow-paced basketball for Wisconsin in head coach Bo Ryan’s offensive system. The Badgers used Herculean performances by junior Sam Dekker and senior Frank Kaminsky—who scored 27 and 29 points, respectively—to set up a rematch with Kentucky. Wisconsin connected on 10 second-half three-pointers to seal the deal and Dekker in particular was lethal from beyond the arc. With Arizona down just 81-76 and deciding not to foul, the forward hit one of the shots of the tournament when he nailed a triple under duress with the shot clock winding down to send his team to Indianapolis.
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