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 563-565: Wednesday tripleheader

565 - (6) UC Riverside women vs. (3) UC Irvine
Big West quarterfinals
March 7 at Titan Gym in Fullerton, CA
espn3.com

It had been almost a year since we watched Michelle Curry try her best to get Riverside into the Big West semis. Curry's 22 points weren't enough that day, but Wednesday, she dropped a career-high 40 in the Highlanders' 86-74 win.

Curry was 11-of-23 from the field and hit 18 of her 21 free throw attempts (there were a silly 59 fouls called, the teams went a combined 53-of-74 from the stripe and six (!) players fouled out of a regulation game). The senior Curry is averaging 30 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in two tournament games.

Riverside, just 9-21 during the regular season, is two wins from the tournament & will play top seed UC Davis in Friday's semifinals.

564 - (9) Florida A&M vs. (1) Hampton
MEAC quarterfinals
March 7 at Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA
espn3.com

It got much tighter than I thought it would towards the end as A&M cut an 18-point deficit to one with 36 seconds left, but the top seed hung on, 75-71.

Jermaine Marrow was outstanding for Hampton (18-14), just missing a triple-double - he had 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Marrow is top-50 nationally in both scoring and assists and though he really struggled with his shot (4-of-18) he did everything else to help the Pirates reach the semifinals. Hampton is looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons.

Malique Trent Scott led Hampton with 22 points on an efficient 8-of-13 from the field.

Desmond Williams, A&M's leading scorer, poured in a game-high 27 points, 24 of which came in the second half.

563 - (9) Louisville vs. (8) Florida State
ACC second round
March 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY
ESPN

Excellent shooting afternoon for Louisville, which made 62% of its threes & 51% of its shots overall in an 82-74 win.

The Florida State bench (40 points) out-scored the starters (34), which is never a good thing.

It would be some story if Louisville, under interim coach David Padgett and with all the controversy surrounding the program this season, made a run in the ACC Tournament as a No. 9 seed. The Cardinals have top seed and projected No. 1 overall in the NCAAs, Virginia next in Thursday's quarterfinals.

Games 531: Louisville women at Connecticut

February 12 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT
ESPN2

I've been covering college basketball games at this site for three years, and there just isn't anything new to say about Connecticut (25-0).

Katie Lou Samuelson scored 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, the Huskies had 22 assists on 29 made baskets and a 69-58 victory wasn't even close to indicative of how the game actually went. That's 76 consecutive home victories for the nation's No. 1 team.

The Connecticut offense came in leading the country in scoring at 91.1 points and they fell well below that, but the defense came in fifth nationally in scoring defense (53.8) and they held the visitors to 28% shooting in the first half in building a 42-22 halftime lead. Louisville's Asia Durr scored 20 points, which was actually right at her average (top-35 nationally), but it was a struggle all night for the junior guard.

She started 0-for-5 from the field (and the Cardinals trailed 24-6 after one period) and didn't collect her first points until the 5:46 mark of the second quarter. By that time, Connecticut had built a double-digit lead they wouldn't relinquish. Durr took 29 shots to get her 20 points. Meanwhile, no other Louisville player scored more than 13.

Gabby Williams is such a terrific player and a joy to watch.

She had another phenomenal night Monday, finishing with 12 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

Game 506 - Louisville at Virginia

January 31 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA
ACC Network

Time to mute the broadcasters and listen to music all game!

(Virginia shot 56% from three-point range and won 74-64 to move to 21-1 overall and 10-0 in ACC play).

Here's a nice collection of songs for something we like to call Singles Night:


Fight Test - Flaming Lips
Step - Vampire Weekend
Wild Child - Lou Reed
You Keep Me Hanging On - Supremes
Uncle John's Band - Grateful Dead
Venus as a Boy - Bjork
Yer So Bad - Tom Petty
Genghis Khan - Mike Snow
In An Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
Gumboots - Paul Simon
Paper Planes - MIA
Cherish- Madonna
First Light - Bela Fleck
I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen) - The Staves
Without You - David Bowie
Angel from Montgomery - Bonnie Raitt
Humpty Dumpty - Chick Corea Acoustic Band
Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin
Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
These Days - Jackson Browne
Feel Flows - Beach Boys
A New Wave - Sleater-Kinney

Games 383-384: Sweet 16's next

NCAA Tournament second round

384 - (12) Quinnipiac women at (4) Miami
March 20 at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL
ESPN

383 - (5) Tennessee women at (4) Louisville
March 20 at KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY
ESPN

We watched some history in both games as Louisville started the night with a 75-64 win to advance to its fourth Sweet 16 in the last five seasons.

It's incredible to even be writing these words, but this was Tennessee's first-ever loss in 29 second-round games. Hard to win when you shoot 33% from the field, 27% from three-point range and your best player, Diamond DeShields, is a non-factor. DeShields finished with 15 points, but sat for a good portion of the second quarter with two fouls, missed nine of her 12 field goal attempts and just never got going.

Tennessee stayed close thanks to a great night from Jaime Nared (28 points, 11 rebounds).

Louisville's stand out sophomore, Asia Durr, wasn't at her best for much of the game - 23 points, though on just 8-of-22 shooting (1-of-8 from three) - but that didn't matter nearly as much as it might have because Mariya Moore picked up the slack.

The junior was a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range and had 19 points. It was a 47-46 Tennessee lead after three quarters before Moore took over at the start of the fourth. Moore scored the first eight points of the final period and her three at the 7:22 mark put her team up 54-47. The Volunteers got as close as 55-51, then Durr followed with consecutive jumpers to make it an eight-point game with just over five minutes to go.

In the nightcap, Quinnipiac got an absurd evening off the bench from Morgan Manz (22 points, 6-of-8! from three-point range) & continued its remarkable run, winning 85-78. I think the most impressed I was with Quinnipiac tonight was when they just kept the lead, though slim at times, throughout the stretch where top players Adily Martucci and Jen Fay sat each with four fouls.

The Bobcats' bench out-scored Miami's 41-8.

And, the Bobcats accomplished the following things Monday:

- Reached the school's first Sweet 16. This follows the first-ever NCAA win - a 68-65 triumph over Big East champion Marquette - in Saturday's opening round.

- Defeated a ranked team for the first time. Miami was No. 16 in the Associated Press final regular season poll.

- Defeated their first Atlantic Coast Conference team.

The Bobcats face top seed South Carolina in Stockton, CA this weekend with a spot in the Elite 8 on the line.

This is just great for womens basketball - a second team from Connecticut is also two wins from the Final Four.

Game 303 - Louisville at Syracuse

February 13 at Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY
ESPN

Syracuse erased a seven-point deficit over the final 4 1/2 minutes of the second half to force overtime, and led by two a minute into the extra session. But the Cardinals followed with a 10-0 run and led for good.

For some reason, Louisville decided to foul a three-point shooter, up five with 13 seconds to go, and Andrew White made all three to get the Orangemen to within 74-72. Then Jaylen Johnson helped out some more at the other end, missing a pair of free throws.

Syracuse's last chance came on a White three that turned into an offensive rebound by Tyler Roberson and ANOTHER FOUL by Louisville with less than three seconds on the clock. Roberson missed both and Ryan McMahon sealed a 76-72 win with two charity shots.

White's air ball was the last of 26 misses in 34 attempts from behind the arc for the hosts (Louisville came into the night third nationally in three-pont defense). That led to Sad Jim Boeheim:

Game 255 - Georgia Tech women at Louisville

January 18 at KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY
ACC Network


Other games watched:

Oklahoma men at West Virginia
Southern Illinois men at Drake