Posted on 03/23/2002 4:00:55 AM PST by Dales
The diaper dandies of Kansas stepped up big: Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Wayne Simien contributed big-time, tallying 20 of Kansas' 40 points at the half.
Drew Gooden was simply himself -- the All-American -- a double-double, sparking Roy Williams' Jayhawks to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1996.
Yes, a big-time matchup coming up with Kansas vs. Oregon. Will this be the year the Jayhawks return to the Final Four for the first time since 1993?
With three freshmen leading the way, the top-seeded Jayhawks beat the Illini 73-69 Friday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals, reversing the result of the teams' meeting last year in the round of 16.
Kansas (32-3) will play second-seeded Oregon on Sunday for a Final Four berth. Oregon beat Texas 72-70 Friday.
In 2001, the Jayhawks' season ended at this stage, with an 80-64 loss to Illinois, as Williams scored 30 points and the Illini's reserves outmuscled and outscored Kansas' subs 28-0.
This time, Kansas' backups outscored Illinois' 25-14, and Williams only managed 15 points, hounded by Aaron Miles all over the court.
Miles scored 13 points as part of the outstanding trio of first-year Jayhawks. Keith Langford scored 15 points, including two free throws with 2.8 seconds left that sealed the victory, and Wayne Simien added seven points and six rebounds.
"It does not surprise me that their three freshmen played well," Illinois coach Bill Self said. "Their three freshmen would be starting for every other school in America other than Kansas, with the exception of maybe one or two other schools."
Langford picked up the slack for senior Jeff Boschee, who was averaging 13.6 points but scored just six. Miles filled in nicely for junior Kirk Hinrich, who sprained his ankle in the first round and spent of much of the game against Illinois in foul trouble.
"The bench was big-time for us," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "And that's a big part of our team this year. Last year we didn't get that."
Added Big 12 player of the year Drew Gooden, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds: "That's what's so great about this team. We are deep. We have guys who can come off the bench and pick up where other people left off."
Hinrich, averaging 15.2 points, made a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the game -- but was scoreless after that.
"I think maybe I was a little too pumped up," Hinrich said. "I made some silly fouls."
Robert Archibald had 15 points and 10 rebounds for fourth-seeded Illinois (26-9), which pulled to 71-69 with 1:15 left when he made three consecutive huge plays.
His tip-in pulled the Illini to 71-68, then he got the defensive rebound and was fouled at the other end, making one of two free throws. After Boschee missed a 3-pointer, Archibald got the rebound with 42 seconds left.
But Brian Cook fired up an air ball from beyond the arc, and Gooden got the rebound with 22 seconds left. Archibald fouled out, sending Boschee to the line. He missed, and Williams got the rebound for Illinois.
Williams missed a 14-foot jumper from the baseline, Langford picked up the rebound and he was fouled by Sean Harrington.
"I got a good look. I just didn't knock down the shot, unfortunately," Williams said. "That could have changed the game."
After a timeout, Langford sank both free throws.
Why do you think they call him "Keith Freeze"?
"That's the nickname they gave me back in high school. They can't freeze me, because I'm already cold," Langford said. "I got cold water in my veins. Every time I go out on the court, I'm cool and collected."
Over a span of more than 12 minutes bridging halftime, Miles, Langford and Simien accounted for 17 of the Jayhawks' 23 points.
With Hinrich on the bench in foul trouble, Nick Collison -- who was scoreless in the first half -- made three baskets in a 12-5 run that Kansas used to take a 69-59 lead with 5:10 left.
Unlike last year, the Illini weren't able to send wave after wave of players into the fray. Gone from last year's team were bangers Sergio McClain and Marcus Griffin, and this time, Kansas had the more impressive inside game with the 6-foot-10 Gooden and Collison and Simien, both 6-9.
Illinois was outrebounded by the Jayhawks 41-34 -- the sixth straight game it has lost the rebounding battle. And the Illini failed to capitalize on 14 Kansas turnovers, shooting just 38 percent to Kansas' 47 percent.
"When you've got three future NBA players on this team -- Drew, Nick and Kirk -- of course there's going to be some overshadowing going on," Langford said. "But time always passes."
The Jayhawks led 40-34 at halftime, and 14 of Kansas' last 16 points of the half came from Miles, Langford or Simien.
"They won the game for us," Collison said. "If we had normal freshmen who hadn't been in that situation, we probably would have lost."
Yes, James Thomas was big on the inside for Texas with a strong game and a double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds), but it was Luke Ridnour, alongside his buddy Luke Jackson, who sparkled for Oregon. Together they were18-for-32 and scored 45 of the Ducks' 72 points. The Cool Hand Lukes played a brilliant role in sparking the Pac-10 regular-season champs to the Elite Eight.
Robert Johnson was an unsung hero for the Ducks, nailing 5-of-6 from the field, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Johnson played a solid role in assisting Ernie Kent’s club march on.
But with a spot in the final eight on the line Friday night, the senior guard wanted the ball in his hands.
Jones' layup with 2.8 seconds left lifted the second-seeded Ducks to a 72-70 victory over the Longhorns, who had trailed by as many as 13 points in the Midwest Regional semifinal.
Until the final sequence, Jones had just two points -- 16 below his average. But dribbling the ball just inside halfcourt as time wound down, he waited until there was space in the lane before driving for the winning shot, his second bucket of the game.
Texas freshman guard T.J. Ford's running jumper bounced off the rim at the buzzer as time expired.
"My overall game was terrible," Jones said. "Coming down the stretch I knew that we were going to need a play, and I was happy that I was in a position to try to redeem myself."
The Ducks (26-8), who hadn't won three games in the same NCAA Tournament since capturing the 1939 title, will meet Kansas for a Final Four berth.
Oregon had to weather a series of rallies by the sixth-seeded Longhorns. Still, the Lukes -- as in Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour -- always seemed to have an answer.
Jackson led the Ducks with 25 points, and Ridnour added 20, carrying the team for stretches. They scored nine of Oregon's final 11 points.
"They've been doing that all year long. They've made big play after big play in every single game," Jones said. "They have the confidence to take the big shot and they did a great job of keeping us close."
And then Jones, who missed the only shot he took in the first half, made the Lukes' hard work pay off.
It wasn't the first time Jones pulled off late heroics for the Ducks this season. He made a shot with 13 seconds left to beat UCLA and another with a second left for a win over Southern Cal that clinched Oregon's first share of the Pac-10 conference title in 57 years.
"How many times has he done that?" Oregon center Chris Christoffersen said. "We're used to it."
Texas (22-12) looked like it might get blown out at times in the first half and was down 41-28 at halftime.
But the Longhorns used a 13-0 run -- highlighted by Brian Boddicker's three 3-pointers -- to pull even at 51 with about 12 minutes to play.
That sent the game into a back-and-forth struggle that lasted until the final seconds.
James Thomas led Texas with 15 points, including an inside basket that tied the game at 70 with 23.2 seconds left. He was fouled on the shot but failed to convert the three-point play that would have given Texas its first lead. Boddicker scored 13.
Ford, playing with series of injuries that include an ankle sprain and a tender groin, had eight points, five assists and four turnovers. He was averaging a nation-leading 8.4 assists.
"There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to come back," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "The tough thing is how sudden it ends for you at this time of the year."
Texas opened the game 0-for-6 from the field and committed 12 first-half turnovers.
Texas cut its deficit to 33-28 with about 2 minutes left before the Ducks went on an 8-0 run to end the half. It began with Ridnour's 3-pointer and ended with Jackson's 3-pointer just before the buzzer for that 13-point advantage.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- No jumping around, no excited hugs, no pointing to the stands.
Maryland Terps coach Gary Williams had a tough task against the Kentucky Wildcats' fight for redemption after a season of turmoil. The 'Cats battled and battled but were no match for the balance of the Terps.
Juan Dixon, who in my estimation is the best second guard in America, scored 19 points, followed by Lonny Baxter with 16 points and his buddy Chris Wilcox, on the interior, with 15 points. Byron Mouton, who struggled in the first two games with only eight points, scored 14 to give the Terps a balanced attack. That's four guys in double figures, and orchestra leader Steve Blake directing.
With only 12 turnovers, Maryland did a solid job defensively against Keith Bogans and Tayshaun Prince.
After winning 16 of their past 17 games (only suffering one upset in the ACC semifinals, when the Terps fell to North Carolina State), Maryland marches on to face the UConn Huskies for a spot in the Final Four.
Maryland's players simply shook hands with the team they beat and walked off the court, one step closer to a second straight Final Four.
"They're a veteran team. Sometimes I wish they had more emotion," Terrapins coach Gary Williams said. "We are not surprised when we win. We go in thinking we're good enough to win and when we do, we move on to the next game."
Despite a quiet second half from All-American Juan Dixon, top-seeded Maryland just moved right along Friday night, beating Kentucky 78-68 in the East Regional semifinals.
Maryland (29-4) will play second-seeded Connecticut in Sunday's regional final.
The teams met in Washington on Dec. 3, with the Terrapins winning 77-65. The stakes are a lot higher this time, with Maryland looking to get to the Final Four for the second time in school history. Connecticut, which beat Southern Illinois 71-59 Friday, has also been to the Final Four just once, when the Huskies won it all in 1999.
The Huskies are "one of those teams that always gets better," Williams said. "It's two different teams now, but we're a better team also."
Dixon, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, had only four points over the final 14 minutes of the Terrapins' win over Kentucky. He didn't have to score, though.
Unlike in the Terrapins' first two wins in the tournament -- when the senior guard poured in 29 points each time -- Dixon didn't dominate the scoring column Friday.
"Today I didn't have to score 29. I only needed to score 19 and make some defensive plays," said Dixon, who was 6-for-15 from the field and had seven rebounds and four assists.
"Hopefully we can keep this up."
Maryland's 16th victory in 17 games ended the up-and-down season of fifth-seeded Kentucky (22-10), which got only 17 points from senior star Tayshaun Prince -- 24 fewer than he scored in a second-round victory over Tulsa.
"Prince is going to get his looks. We just wanted to make sure he didn't get a lot of open looks," Williams said. "Byron Mouton did a good job on him, and we tried to help off the screen and convince him he wasn't open."
Prince, who was 19-for-35 from the field in the first two tournament games, was 6-for-16 against the Terrapins.
"I had plenty of opportunities and didn't get it down," he said. "They did a pretty good job of playing defense. Others double-teamed me more. They were straight up until I had the opportunity to shoot."
Both Maryland and Kentucky played solid defense, and neither came within seven points of its season scoring average.
Drew Nicholas' 3-pointer with 9:54 left gave Maryland the lead for good at 56-53, but the Wildcats wouldn't let the Terrapins pull away.
Marquis Estill made two free throws with 5:05 to play to get Kentucky within 66-63, but Chris Wilcox and Lonny Baxter each made two for Maryland to make it 70-63.
The Wildcats' Chuck Hayes scored with 1:53 left to make it a five-point game. Dixon had four free throws, and Mouton added two more to give Maryland its late cushion.
Baxter had 16 points for Maryland, while Wilcox had 15 and Mouton 14.
Keith Bogans scored 15 for Kentucky, and Estill had 12.
Maryland is in the regional finals for the fourth time, the others coming in 1973, '75, and last year, when it lost to eventual champion Duke in the national semifinals.
"I was impressed with their composure down the stretch and making their free throws," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "It's a sign of a poised, mature, veteran team."
Kentucky fought through a season of distractions that included players transferring and being suspended, injuries and the usual high expectations of one of the nation's most high-profile programs. The Wildcats went to a regional final every year from 1995-99 -- winning NCAA championships in 1996 and '98 -- but have not been back since.
"We didn't take advantage of opportunities," Smith said. "We turned it over two or three times on fast breaks and then you see our guys start to doubt themselves."
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun won't talk about upsets, about mid-major conferences springing surprises on the big guys in the NCAA Tournament
The Connecticut Huskies won their twelfth in a row in a battle where they were in control against Southern Illinois. The Huskies shut down the Salukis' perimeter game, contained them and forced them to shoot 1-for-14 from the trifecta -- that certainly played a big role in their victory.
Tony Robertson, who has played well in the NCAA Tournament, tallied 10 points. But it was backup "Gentle" Ben Gordon, off the bench with 12 points, who sparked the Huskies. Caron Butler, one of the most brilliant sophs in America, was the star of stars, scoring 19 points to lead the Huskies to the Elite Eight.
For the Salukis, who made a superb effort getting to the Sweet 16, Rolan Roberts was a monster on the interior with 24 points and 11 rebounds (11-of-15 from the field), but he didn't get enough help. Bruce Weber's club fought hard, scrapped and clawed, but the Huskies were too much.
This is a happy, joyous time in the Big East. They're jumping for joy in Storrs, Conn.!
"There are mild surprises, yes, but I don't think there are upsets," he said. "We don't use the word 'upset.' We talk about being the best we can be and taking advantage of our opportunities."
So when the second-seeded Huskies had an opportunity against No. 11-seeded Southern Illinois in the East Regional on Friday night, Calhoun made sure they didn't miss out on it.
UConn simply would not yield to the Salukis, who had knocked off No. 6 Texas Tech and No. 3 Georgia in the first two rounds. Instead, the Huskies ended Southern Illinois' magical march, winning the regional semifinal 71-59.
It was a simple matter, Calhoun said.
"We don't have better players," he explained. "We just have more of them."
Caron Butler scored 19 points, and Emeka Okafor provided big plays at both ends. Then there was Ben Gordon with 12 points and five assists, Tony Robertson with 10 points and some all-around court savvy. It was just too much for the Salukis to overcome.
Led by Rolan Roberts, who scored 24 points, Southern Illinois thought they might sneak up on UConn much the way Kent State did on Big East team Pittsburgh in the South regional the night before.
"They were a little better than we were," SIU coach Bruce Weber said. "Before the game, I said we had to play well and shoot well. We didn't shoot well."
Calhoun figured that if UConn could take away 3-pointers, Southern Illinois might struggle. And he was right. The Huskies concentrated on perimeter defense and held the Salukis to 1-for-14 from beyond the 3-point arc.
"We decided they would not beat us with great passing and 3-point baskets," he said.
And they did not.
UConn (27-6) displayed the grit that won the Big East tournament, keeping its poise and holding on.
"We couldn't sleep on this team," Butler said. "Being a lower seed, they were a dangerous team to look out for."
UConn moved into Sunday's East Regional championship game against top-seeded Maryland, which defeated Kentucky 78-68 Friday night. The winner advances to the Final Four.
UConn is back in the final eight for the first time since 1999, when it won its only NCAA championship. The Huskies didn't even make the tournament last year, and they were knocked out in the second round by Tennessee in 2000.
Both the 6-foot-9 Okafor and Robertson were vital for Connecticut. Robertson's ballhandling kept UConn in control, and Okafor's size eventually broke SIU's spirit.
At one juncture, Okafor, who set a school record with 136 blocks, batted away a shot by Jermaine Dearman. Then he followed up by converting two opportunities under the basket with resounding dunks.
After a shaky start, he also held Roberts scoreless for the last 17 minutes.
"I fed off his determination," Okafor said. "I said to myself, 'He's not going to score anymore"'
Soon, UConn's lead was back to double digits.
Southern Illinois (28-8) gave it a good try, cutting UConn's lead to 61-55, but the Huskies' depth wore the Salukis down.
Dearman finished with 17 points, but Kent Williams, SIU's leading scorer, was held to seven.
Roberts carried the Salukis in the early going, scoring their first four baskets and seven of their first nine. But he missed his easiest chance on an alley-oop pass when he mistimed his leap to the basket.
Except for Roberts, who finished the first half with 16 points, Southern Illinois was erratic from the field. There were three air balls, two on the same sequence and a flurry of missed opportunities.
Weber had said his team could not afford that against UConn, and the Huskies took advantage of the errors.
Connecticut built its 40-28 halftime lead from the 3-point line. They hit 5-of-9, while Southern Illinois was 0-for-6 in the half.
Except for Roberts' 8-for-10, the Salukis made just five of 21 field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes. They also missed five of seven free throws, mistakes they could not afford against the Huskies.
The final mistake was made by Weber, when he drew a technical foul with 1:32 remaining and SIU running out of chances.
Check out how the FR bracket pool is going by clicking here.
As for my bracket, I didn't get into the FR pool, but in my office pool if Oklahoma wins at least one more game and Oregon doesn't run the table, I think I have it wrapped up.
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