Games 596-597: Elite 8 begins to take shape

NCAA Tournament regional semifinals

597 - (4) Stanford women vs. (1) Louisville
March 23 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY
ESPN

ACC player of the year Asia Durr had 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five of Louisville's 17 assists, while Myisha Hines-Allen scored 17 points and passed the 2,000-point plateau for her career in an 86-59 win.

I've liked the Cardinals to reach the national title game and nothing changed after Friday's performance. They're well-balanced (two others were in double figures and six total players scored at least eight points), are a good defensive team (opponents are averaging just 57 points in three tournament games) and have Durr, a future WNBA star who is capable of taking over any game.

596 - (5) Clemson vs. (1) Kansas
March 23 at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, NE
CBS

Well, Bill Raftery out-dribble drove himself in this one.

18:07 left in the first half: "a little dribble drive blow by!"



Other games watched:

(6) Oregon State women vs. (2) Baylor - Huge upset for OSU, which snapped Baylor's 30-game winning streak.
(5) West Virginia vs. (1) Villanova
(11) Syracuse vs. (2) Duke
(3) UCLA women vs. (2) Texas

Games 420-421: Holiday tournament week begins

421 - VCU vs. Marquette
November 20 at Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, HI
[Maui Invitational quarterfinals]
ESPN2

A couple gems from the excellent Jay Bilas:

"your eyes make lay ups"
"he's played a really nice floor game"

420 - Clemson vs. Temple
November 19 at TD Arena in Charleston, SC
[Charleston Classic championship]
ESPN2

Game 355 - (12) Clemson vs. (5) Duke

ACC second round
March 8 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY
ESPN

This was the first time I've seen Duke play this season and my goodness is it fun to watch Jayson Tatum.

He's 6-8, but is perfectly capable of driving and either scoring in a variety of ways at the rim or distributing like a guard, and the freshman had a 20-point, four-assist day in a 79-72 win for the Blue Devils.

Luke Kennard shook off a tough first half (three points, 1-of-9 shooting) to score 17 on 8-of-11 shooting in the second (Frank Jackson also played very well & scored 20 points).

Tatum and Kennard are the kind of duo that when both playing well can carry a team to a league championship. I'm not saying Duke is going to win this league championship, but they might if Kennard/Tatum keep playing like they did in Wednesday's second half.

Game 234 - Maine women at Clemson

December 2 at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC
ACC Network

This game was tied at halftime and Maine led 38-35 at about the six-minute mark of the third quarter, but the host Tigers used a 22-5 run to pull away in a 69-61 victory.

Clemson, which got 21 points from new Scoochie Smith All Star Nelly Perry and 20 from Danielle Edwards (each played went 3-for-5 from three-point range), is 8-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 team began 11-0.

The Black Bears must have one of the most diverse rosters in the country as nine players were born in six different countries outside the United States, including three from Spain and a pair from Croatia.