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Story lines and side notes from the NCAA Tournament By
The Associated Press
STREAK STOPPED
Top-seeded Kentucky had its 26-game winning streak snapped
when Marquette defeated the Wildcats 83-69 Saturday in the Midwest Regional
final. Kentucky, which finished 16-0 in SEC play and won the conference
tournament, had not given up 80 points since Dec. 30, when it beat Tennessee
State 115-87 to begin the winning streak.
BACK AGAIN
Kansas advanced to the 12th Final Four in school history
with its 78-75 victory over top-seeded Arizona in the West Regional final
Saturday. The win was also the 1,800th in school history, third-most in the
NCAA. The Jayhawks are in the Final Four for the fourth time in Roy
Williams' 15 seasons as coach. Williams has a 417-100 career record, and his
.807 winning percentage is the best among active coaches, but he's never won
a national championship.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE NO. 3
Marquette's Dwyane Wade had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11
assists in the win over Kentucky for the third triple-double in NCAA
tournament history. It was the first since Utah's Andre Miller accomplished
the feat against Arizona in the 1998 West Regional final. Magic Johnson did
it against Penn in 1979 to get Michigan State into the title game.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Jason Gardner led Arizona with 23 points, while Luke Walton
added 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the Wildcats' loss to
Kansas. ... Keith Bogans scored 15 points in 24 minutes despite playing with
a sprained left ankle in Kentucky's loss to Marquette.
LOOKING AHEAD
GAME TO WATCH: Top-seeded Oklahoma against No. 3
Syracuse in the East Regional final Sunday at Albany, N.Y. The Sooners
(27-6), led by guards Hollis Price and Quannas White, will be trying to
advance to the Final Four for the second straight season. The Orangemen
(27-5) are led by freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony, and the game is being
played just 2{ hours from their upstate New York campus.
UPSET SPECIAL: Michigan State over top-seeded Texas
in the South Regional final Sunday at San Antonio. The seventh-seeded
Spartans (22-12) have won eight of their last nine and are trying to advance
to the Final Four for the fourth time in five seasons. Michigan State's
physical play could also force Longhorns point guard T.J. Ford to score from
the outside. Ford is shooting just 29 percent in the tournament.
PLAYER TO WATCH: T.J. Ford, the pint-sized point
guard who is the heart of the Texas Longhorns. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Ford
is an average shooter (only 42 percent during the season) but his pass-first
mentality makes the entire Texas team better.
QUOTABLE
``I wanted to take Marquette to the next level, the same
level as Al McGuire did,'' Dwyane Wade said, referring to the late McGuire,
who coached Marquette to its only national championship, in 1977. Wade
finished with a triple-double _ 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in
Saturday's 83-69 win over Kentucky.
Copyright 2003
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:47:00 AM
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