When Dana Altman and his Oregon team meet Lon Kruger and Oklahoma in the West Regional final of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, the winner earning a spot in the Final Four, an incredibly strong bond shared will pause for a few hours.
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Demetrius Jackson stripped the ball and scored the go-ahead layup with 14.7 seconds left and Notre Dame advanced to the brink of its first Final Four in 38 years with a 61-56 win over Wisconsin on Friday night in the East Region semifinal of the NCAA Tournament.
Anthony Gill finished with a season-high 23 points, Mike Tobey came off the bench to score 18, and top-seeded Virginia beat Iowa State 84-71 in the Midwest Region semifinals on Friday night.
The Oregon-Oklahoma matchup, an NCAA Tournament West Region final Saturday in Anaheim, California, is a pick’em at all major Las Vegas books. Oregon is the region’s No. 1 seed, and Oklahoma is No. 2.
Review-Journal reporter Adam Hill offers a capsule look at Saturday’s two Final Eight games in the NCAA Tournament, with a prediction for each game.
The NCAA Tournament continues today with the last four games in the Sweet 16. Here’s everything you need to know if you want to watch.
It’s all about matchups at this point, and Kentucky has the edge mostly because of its size. Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson are 7-footers, Karl-Anthony Towns is 6-11 and Trey Lyles is 6-10. Wildcats coach John Calipari, like him or loathe him, has done a great job of putting it all together.
Arizona, in the Sweet 16 for the third straight season, brings a 13-game winning streak into the game. Xavier has won five of its last six games and is in the Sweet 16 for the third time in six seasons under coach Chris Mack.
Kentucky is four wins from a perfect season and is about to take on its toughest defensive test so far against West Virginia. The Mountaineers beat up Maryland in the third round to advance and will put the Wildcats’ depth to the test with their full-court pressure.
Wisconsin is two wins from returning to the Final Four, while North Carolina has reached the Elite Eight six times since 2005.