Top seeds marching toward Final Four
HARTFORD -- As the NCAA tournament heads into the second weekend, there are no surprises that all four of the No. 1 seeds got through the first two rounds.
Duke, Tennessee, North Carolina and UConn won their first-round games by an average of 45.5 points and their second-round games by an average of 14.3 points. While they still are the heavy favorites to meet each other in the Final Four in Cleveland, a couple of surprise teams are hoping the spoiler role they played in the first two rounds will continue this weekend.
Bowling Green, Florida State and Marist are making their first appearance in the Sweet 16. Mississippi, which experienced success under former coach Van Chancellor in the 1980s and early 1990s, is making its first appearance in a regional semifinal since 1992.
"A lot of people that were supposed to be there (in the Sweet 16) aren't going to be there," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "The longer that this goes on and the more you see that, the more you realize it's not as easy as everybody thinks it is. Sometimes it's not as easy as we've made it look."
But UConn has made playing in the NCAA tournament look easy.
The Huskies advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 14th consecutive year after Tuesday's win against Wisconsin-Green Bay. Tennessee is the school with a longer active streak, having advanced to every regional semifinal since the NCAA tournament began in 1982. The only other school with at least a 10-year streak of playing in the Sweet 16 which advanced with a 62-52 victory against Temple in the second round.
The closest the Huskies ever came to suffering an early exit in the NCAA tournament was in 1999. They were the top seed in the Mideast Region but had a close game against eighth-seeded Xavier in the second round. If Tamika Williams had not converted a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining in the game, UConn might not have survived 86-84.
The Huskies got a little bit of a scare in the second round Tuesday, as the Phoenix held a 40-38 lead at halftime. But UConn showed why it is considered national contenders and ripped off a 24-10 run to start the second half.
There are plenty of reasons why the Huskies have avoided the upset bug the past decade and a half. One of the main reasons is because they have better players, and they want to make sure the program remains dominant.
Auriemma said he receives phone calls, e-mails and text messages from former players throughout the season, but the communication becomes more frequent during the NCAA tournament.
"That's who you are playing for because those guys are paying attention from all over the world and they're like stockholders in this corporation," Auriemma said. "When things don't go right, they want to know why, what happened (and) who's going to pay for it. It's amazing the way they still have ownership here and that's kind of the legacy that I try to impress upon our guys.
"In March we have a lot of guys that played here that expect you guys to take it to that level. I think that's part of who we are. It sounds corny, but I think that's one reason why I think we are successful."
Another reason is that Auriemma does not allow his players to look ahead in the NCAA tournament. Especially with Maryland falling to Mississippi 89-78 just before the Huskies played their second-round game, the sentiments were expressed right in front of the players.
"I think that's what happened to the other teams like Ohio State and Maryland," said UConn center Brittany Hunter. "I'm sure they were aware of their seeding and very aware of how good they were. You can't take teams lightly."
That mistake obviously cost several teams over the first weekend of play.
None of the regions has all four of the top seeds playing in the Sweet 16 for the first time since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.
The Dallas Region is the closest one to having four of the favorites advancing to the regional tournament. No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 2 seed Purdue, No. 3 seed Georgia and No. 5 seed George Washington are playing this weekend for the right to advance to the Final Four.
The Dayton Region, which was labeled by many experts as the Region of Death because of its field, has had the most surprises of the four. While top-seeded Tennessee and No. 3 seed Oklahoma advanced, they are the only top-five seeds playing in Ohio this weekend.
Instead, Marist is becoming the story out of the region with its upsets against Ohio State and Middle Tennessee State in the first two rounds. Getting another upset will be tough for the 13th-seeded Red Foxes, who play Tennessee on Sunday.
Florida State might have caught some inspiration from Marist over the weekend. The Seminoles beat two of the more storied programs in Old Dominion and Stanford in the first two rounds on the same court that the Red Foxes had their upsets. No. 10 seed Florida State next plays third-seeded LSU in the Fresno Region semifinal Saturday night.
Bowling Green could continue their run, as the seventh-seeded Falcons take on No. 3 seed Arizona State in the Greensboro Region semifinal. The Sun Devils had to overcome double-digit deficits in both of their first two games to advance. But with top-seeded Duke, the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament, the likely opponent in the regional final, Bowling Green's run probably will end in North Carolina.
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