Wildcats out of the bag
BOSTON — The nation's best conference already has placed one team in the NCAA Final Four. Which one will be determined when Villanova plays Pittsburgh Saturday in the East regional final.
"It shows how great the Big East Conference is," Villanova forward Dwayne Anderson said Thursday after the Wildcats trounced Duke 77-54 to earn the right to play Pitt for a spot in the Final Four. "It's just another Big East game. At this point in the season, it says a lot about the Big East."
Villanova (29-7) beat No. 1 seed Pitt (31-4) 67-57 in their regular-season meeting at Philadelphia on Jan. 28. The Panthers were ranked third at the time, and they spent three weeks as the No. 1 team in the country this season.
"When coach handed us the brackets, he only gave us the four teams in our area. We looked up and knew Pittsburgh was in that area," Dante Cunningham said. "That's something we kind of looked forward to."
Rankings and seeds have meant little to the Wildcats, who have erased more chalk from the NCAA tournament than anyone else: They're 14-12 as a lower seed since 1979, including their 1985 run to the national championship as a No. 8 seed — the lowest ever to win it all.
"Hopefully that will be some magical power that helps us beat Pitt," Wildcats guard Scottie Reynolds said. "It just shows what kind of program and tradition we have here."
The third-seeded Wildcats beat No. 2 seed Duke for the first time since 1958, getting 14 points and 11 rebounds from Cunningham. Reynolds scored 16 and Reggie Redding had 11 points and nine rebounds as Villanova won the rebounding battle 49-34 and set a school record with its 29th win.
Villanova was playing on the tournament's second weekend for the fourth time in five years, though Jay Wright's Wildcats have yet to reach the Final Four. But the fans could sense another chance, chanting "We want Pitt!" when Corey Stokes hit a 3-pointer with 2:27 left to give Villanova a 71-50 lead — its biggest of the game.
"We were never in a flow," said guard Kyle Singler, who led Duke with 15 points. "From the start, it was a snowball effect. When something got bad, it just got worse."
Duke (30-7), which spent a week at No. 1 in the nation earlier this season, failed to reach the round of eight for the fifth consecutive year. Jon Scheyer scored 13 for the second-seeded Blue Devils, but he and Gerald Henderson combined to make just four of 32 attempts as Duke shot a season-low 26.7 percent from the floor.
UConn 72, Purdue 60
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Hasheem Thabeet scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds, and Connecticut overcame a sluggish first half to defeat Purdue in the NCAA West Regional semifinals.
One day after an Internet report alleged UConn committed NCAA recruiting violations, the top-seeded Huskies (30-4) reached the regional finals for the fourth time since 2002.
UConn jumped out to an early 11-point lead, then went cold and let the fifth-seeded Boilermakers (27-10) pull within 30-25 at halftime before Thabeet took over.
Robbie Hummel had 17 points for Purdue, but only two in the second half. The Boilermakers ended their longest NCAA run since 2000, when they lost to Wisconsin in the West Regional final.
Missouri 102, Memphis 91
GLENDALE, Ariz. — A career night by J.T. Tiller put Missouri one win away from its first trip to the Final Four. Memphis' 27-game winning streak, meanwhile, is history.
Tiller scored a career-high 23 points — 15 more than his season average — and Missouri held off Memphis' frantic rally the win in the semifinals of the West Regional.
Third-seeded Missouri led by 24 points four minutes into the second half, then saw Memphis close within six with 2:14 to play. Mizzou put it away from the foul line.
Missouri (31-6) advanced to play top-seeded Connecticut for the West title Saturday.
