Michigan played the villain to the underdog Final Four narrative on Saturday, using a huge second-half effort to beat Loyola-Chicago 69-57 in San Antonio.
Ed Graney
Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
egraney@reviewjournal.com … @edgraney on Twitter. 702-383-4618
The mid-major is becoming less and less of a presence in the 68-team bracket, a shame when you consider the terrific storyline that has been Loyola Chicago this NCAA Tournament.
It’s hard to figure any of the other 15 teams still breathing can match UNR for its unity and resolve, amazing when you consider the Wolf Pack offer a starting lineup of five transfers.
The three winningest college basketball programs in the last five seasons are Villanova, Gonzaga and Wichita State, all of which have made financial commitments to be elite.
The made-for-television saga that was Chris Beard departing for Lubbock, Texas, didn’t do much for the immediate state of UNLV basketball, but it allowed Texas Tech to move swiftly forward among the better programs nationally.
UCLA fell to Arizona 78-67 in overtime, but the team that took the Wildcats to an extra five minutes can absolutely win games when the madness commences next week.
The final horn sounded Thursday and an admirable UNLV effort had been squelched by a better opponent, meaning it was again time to assess another basketball season.
UNLV advanced to meet No. 1 seed UNR by outlasting Air Force 97-90 in overtime of a Mountain West tournament first-round game Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
If you believe recent reports, Gonzaga and Brigham Young could soon depart the West Coast Conference for the Mountain West.
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