NCAABracket

4C v MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 v v
College basketball
College basketball v v MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 v 5C
Hogs
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Seeding
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NCAA
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Kentucky 78, Arkansas 63
Qualls plays off bench
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas All-SEC guard Michael Qualls found himself watching the start of Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game against Kentucky from the bench.
Jacorey Williams started in Qualls’ place for an apparent disciplinary reason.
“Coach’s decision,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said of Qualls not be- ing in the lineup. “Had a little house- keeping.
“I thought it was a lesson learned [for Qualls].”
Qualls, who entered the game with 11:57 left in the first half, declined to be specific about why he didn’t start.
“It was Coach’s decision and what- ever he decides, it just has to go,” Qualls said. “That’s just how it works. I don’t try to dwell on things. I just take it, try to do my best with it and control what I can control.
“I feel like Jacorey played well. I just wanted to battle with my team when I got out there.”
Qualls played 24 minutes and led the Razorbacks with 18 points.
“I thought he came out and com- peted,” Anderson said. “That’s what he was supposed to do.”
— Bob Holt
points, Frank Kaminsky added 19 and No. 6 Wisconsin outscored Michigan State 11-0 in overtime in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Bronson Koenig scored 18 points, and the Badgers (31-3) rallied from 11 points down in the second half as they secured their bid.
Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine scored 16 points each for Michigan State (23-11).
SUN BELT
GEORGIA STATE 38, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 36
NEW ORLEANS — R.J. Hunter, the coach’s son, made two free throws with 21.6 seconds left and Georgia State survived two last-second, three-point attempts to beat Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament cham- pionship game.
Georgia State (24-9), in its second season in the Sun Belt, will make it third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2001.
Sowing seeds
m Overall seeds for the NCAA men's basketball tournament, as determined by the NCAA Selection Committee:
out.
The next team out was
Colorado State.
Rams Coach Larry Eu-
taschy broke away from his team’s “viewing party” to make a brief statement.
“They are devastated, and they should be, because they are certainly an NCAA Tour- nament team,” Eustachy said.
The bracket includes its usual share of quirks and tear-jerkers.
m UCLA’s first game is against SMU, coached by Larry Brown, the 74-year- old turnaround artist who is taking his third team to the NCAA Tournament. The first team? UCLA, of course.
m Harvard, coached by former Duke star Tommy Amaker, faces his old rival, North Carolina, in the first round.
m Georgia State Coach Ron Hunter watched the bracket unveiling with his left foot in a cast. He tore his Achilles’ tendon while cele- brating his program’s first trip to the tournament since 2001. The 14th-seeded Panthers open against Baylor.
m Also seeded No. 14 is Al- bany, which made the tourna- ment on a three-pointer with 1 second left by Peter Hooley, whose mother died six weeks ago. No. 14 Albany opens against Oklahoma.
m Wichita State is in the same region with Kansas, an in-state program that won’t schedule the Shockers, and Kentucky, which ended Wich- ita State’s undefeated season last year in the second round.
This year, it’s Kentucky that comes in with a ‘0’ in that loss column.
“Everyone is zero-and-ze- ro now,” Calipari said.
“That’s the key to this. It’s a one-game shot. It’s not best- of-5.”
Cats may
struggle to
run table
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kentucky is yet another team to get tantalizing close to matching Indiana’s perfect season in 1976.
The top-ranked Wildcats (34-0) are the fourth team to enter the NCAA Tournament without a loss since the Hoo- siers, under coach Bob Knight, ran the table.
There was Indiana State, led by future Hall of Famer Larry Bird,
getting all the
way to the
1979 champi-
onship game
— where the
Sycamores
lost to Michi-
gan State and
fellow future
Hall of Famer
Magic John-
son. That year Rutgers was also unbeaten entering the tournament and the Scarlet Knights lost to Michigan in the Final Four.
In 1991, UNLV, trying to repeat as national champion, didn’t lose until Duke beat the Runnin’ Rebels in the national semifinals.
Last season, Wichita State had the unbeaten run to the tournament only to lose to Kentucky in the third round.
Kentucky Coach John Calipari showed some empa- thy for the Shockers after the game, a 78-76 victory.
“I feel for their team and I feel for their coach,” Calipari said. “I’m happy we won. I’m happy for our guys. And I’m disappointed, because they had a heck of a run.”
Now, the Wildcats get the chance to chase perfection and in a real twist of fate, Wichita State is in the same regional.
There are some differences from the run Hoosiers made to the title than what faces Kentucky.
First, obviously, is that the field has increased from 32 to 68 and that means it takes six victory for a seeded team to win it all. And there were no seeds in 1976, either. That pro- cess didn’t start until the 1979 tournament.
But what has to be con- sidered the biggest obstacle to a team getting through the NCAA Tournament is the dif- ference in the number of at- large teams in the field.
In 1976, there were 21 auto- matic qualifiers and 11 at-large teams, 34 percent of the field. The at-large teams are usual- ly the better teams from the bigger conferences who didn’t win the league tournament.
This year, there are 32 auto- matic qualifiers and 36 at-large teams, 53 percent of the field.
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Kentucky junior 7-0 center Willie Cauley-Stein, the tour- nament’s Most Valuable Player, led the Wildcats with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Wildcats guard Andrew Harrison scored 15 points and his twin brother, Aaron Harri- son, had 11 points, 6 assists and 2 rebounds.
“All our guys came out and fought and scratched and clawed,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “But at the end, I thought Kentucky’s depth and their size were hard to over- come.”
Sunday’s final margin was two points different than Ken- tucky’s 84-67 victory at Rupp Arena two weeks ago, the re- match was far more compet- itive.
The Razorbacks — who trailed by 31 points at Kentucky with seven minutes left — four times drew within nine points in the second half Sunday on baskets by junior guard Mi- chael Qualls, the last time with 9:47 left.
Qualls didn’t start Sunday for an apparent disciplinary reason — Anderson called it a “coach’s decision” and “a lit- tle housekeeping” — but led the Razorbacks (26-8) with 18 points in 24 minutes off the bench.
“We fought today,” Qualls said. “You talk about a couple more plays going in our favor, this could have been our game.
“The pressure could have set in on Kentucky. But give it to them, they played good.”
One play that didn’t go Ar- kansas’ way was a technical foul called with 8:23 left on Moses Kingsley for hanging on the after his dunk cut Ken- tucky’s lead to 58-47.
Kentucky outscored Arkan- sas 9-1 to push its lead to 67-48
At a glance
NCAA TOURNAMENT All times Central
FIRST ROUND At UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Hampton (16-17) vs. Manhattan (19-13), 5:40 p.m.
Brigham Young (25-9) vs. Mississippi (20-12), 8:10 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
North Florida (23-11) vs. Robert Morris (19- 14), 5:40 p.m.
Boise State (25-8) vs. Dayton (25-8), 8:10 p.m.
EAST REGIONAL SECOND ROUND
THURSDAY’S GAMES
At CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh Villanova (32-2) vs. Lafayette (20-12), 5:50 p.m.
N.C. State (20-13) vs. LSU (22-10), 8:20 p.m. FRIDAY’S GAMES
At Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, N.C. Michigan State (23-11) vs. Georgia (21-11), 11:40 a.m.
Virginia (29-3) vs. Belmont (22-10), 2:10 p.m. At Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio Oklahoma (22-10) vs. Albany (24-8), 6:27 p.m. Providence (22-11) vs. Boise State-Dayton winner, 8:57 p.m.
At KeyArena, Seattle
Northern Iowa (30-3) vs. Wyoming (25-9), 12:40 p.m.
Louisville (24-8) vs. UC Irvine (21-12), 3:10 p.m.
SOUTH REGIONAL SECOND ROUND
THURSDAY’S GAMES
At KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
Iowa State (25-8) vs. Alabama-Birmingham (19-15), 11:40 p.m.
SMU (27-6) vs. UCLA (20-13), 2:10 p.m.
At Moda Center, Portland, Ore.
Utah (24-8) vs. Stephen F. Austin (29-4), 6:27 p.m.
Georgetown (21-10) vs. Eastern Washington (26-8), 8:57 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
At Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, N.C. Duke (29-4) vs. North Florida-Robert Morris winner, 6:10 p.m.
San Diego State (26-8) vs. St. John’s (21-11), 8:40 p.m.
At KeyArena, Seattle
Iowa (21-11) vs. Davidson (24-7), 6:20 p.m. Gonzaga (32-2) vs. North Dakota State (23-9), 8:50 p.m.
MIDWEST REGIONAL SECOND ROUND
THURSDAY’S GAMES
At KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky. Cincinnati (22-10) vs. Purdue (21-12), 6:10 p.m.
Kentucky (34-0) vs. Hampton-Manhattan win- ner, 8:40 p.m.
At CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh
Notre Dame (29-5) vs. Northeastern (23-11), 11:15 a.m.
Butler (22-10) vs. Texas (20-13), 1:45 p.m. FRIDAY’S GAMES
At Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
West Virginia (23-9) vs. Buffalo (23-9), 1:10 p.m.
Maryland (27-6) vs. Valparaiso (28-5), 3:50 p.m.
At CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb. Kansas (26-8) vs. New Mexico State (23-10), 11:15 a.m.
Wichita State (28-4) vs. Indiana (20-13), 1:45 p.m.
WEST REGIONAL SECOND ROUND
THURSDAY’S GAMES
At Jacksonville (Fla.)Veteran’s Memorial Arena
Baylor (24-9) vs. Georgia State (24-9), 12:40 p.m.
Xavier (21-13) vs. BYU-Mississippi winner, 3:10 p.m.
North Carolina (24-11) vs. Harvard (22-7), 6:20 p.m.
Arkansas (26-8) vs. Wofford (28-6), 8:50 p.m. At Moda Center, Portland, Ore.
Arizona (31-3) vs. Texas Southern (22-12), 1:10 p.m.
VCU (26-9) vs. Ohio State (23-10), 3:40 p.m. FRIDAY’S GAMES
At CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb. Oregon (25-9) vs. Oklahoma State (18-13), 5:50 p.m.
Wisconsin (31-3) vs. Coastal Carolina (24-9), 8:20 p.m.
Harris 31 Portis 30 Williams 23 Madden 29 Beard 25 Durham 2 Bell 8 Babb 6 Watkins 12 Qualls 24 Kingsley 10 Team
0-0 0-3 1-2 1-2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-3 0-0
0-0 2-2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0
8
13 of two
“This is what college bas- ketball is all about,” Harris said.
“If you’re not making the NCAA Tournament, you ba- sically haven’t done nothing.
“It’s a great feeling to fi- nally make it, but now we’re trying to go as far as possible and make this a great memo- ry for all of Arkansas as well as for the team.”
The Razorbacks looked to be closing in on an NCAA Tournament bid last season, but a loss at Alabama in the regular-seasons finale and loss to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament dropped them to the NIT.
“This is major for us to make the NCAA Tourna- ment,” Qualls said. “It’s al- most like a relief.
“Last year was more of a heartbreak. We watched the selection show, and our name never showed up.”
The Razorbacks’ name came up Sunday as a No. 5 seed. Wofford, a No. 12 seed, earned an automatic NCAA Tournament bid by beating Furman 67-64 to win the Southern Conference Tourna- ment. The Terriers also won the conference’s regular-sea- son title at 16-2.
“I’ve never heard of them or seen them play before, but we’re going to find out a tremendous amount about them,” Portis said. “Coach is going to hop on that imme- diately.”
Arkansas has played Wof- ford once, beating the Terri- ers 67-45 at Walton Arena in the 2007-2008 season opener.
Wofford, playing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in six years, won
will have a distinct home- court advantage Wednesday night against Boise State. Generally, that’s not allowed during the tournament, but there’s an exception because the committee said the Fly- ers were the last team in the 68-team field, and thus, had to play in the opening-round game.
“It falls within our policies and procedures,” selection committee chairman Scott Barnes said. “It’s obviously a home-court advantage but we didn’t waver from that decision.”
Fans have a few days to fill out their brackets (Sorry, no billion-dollar prize available for a perfect one this year), then the action starts in full on Thursday, when Kentucky headlines the slate against the winner of a play-in game be- tween No. 16 seeds Manhat- tan and Hampton. A ‘1’ has never lost to a ‘16.’
The other No. 1 seeds were Villanova in the East and Duke in the South. Those were pretty easy picks.
And then there was the total no-brainer — placing Kentucky at the very top of the bracket.
The Wildcats defeated Arkansas 78-63 on Sunday to improve to 34-0. If they win six more, they’ll become the first team since then 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers to go unde- feated.
“I think I have the best team and the best players,” said coach John Calipari, try- ing to lead the program to its ninth national title. “Does that mean we’ll win? No, it doesn’t.”
The Wildcats are even-money picks in Las Ve-
1. Kentucky 2. Villanova 3. Duke
4. Wisconsin 5. Virginia
6. Arizona
7. Gonzaga
8. Kansas
9. Iowa State
10. Baylor
11. Oklahoma
12. Notre Dame 13. North Carolina 14. Maryland
15. Louisville
16. Georgetown 17. Utah
18. Arkansas
19. West Virginia 20. Northern Iowa 21. SMU
22. Providence
23. Butler
24. Xavier
25. Michigan State 26. Wichita State 27. Iowa
28. VCU
29. Cincinnati
30. Oregon
31. NC State
32. San Diego State 33. St. John's
34. Oklahoma State 35. LSU
36. Purdue
37. Indiana
38. Davidson
39. Ohio State
40. Georgia
41. Texas
42. UCLA
43. Ole Miss
44. BYU
45. Boise State
46. Dayton
47. Wyoming
48. Buffalo
49. Wofford
50. Stephen F. Austin 51. Valpariaso
52. Harvard
53. Eastern Washington 54. UC Irvine
55. Georgia State
56. Northeastern
57. UAB
58. Albany
59. New Mexico State 60. Belmont
61. Texas Southern
62. North Dakota State 63. Lafayette
64. Coastal Carolina
65. North Florida
66. Robert Morris
67. Manhattan
68. Hampton
ARKANSAS
Bobby Portis was held to a season-low
M
FG-FGA
3-7 3-7 1-2 1-8 4-8 1-2 0-2 0-0 0-1
8-12 3-5
3-FGA FT-FTA
0-1 2-3 1-1 6-10
O-D-T PF
1-2-3 4 1-1-2 3 1-2-3 3 0-4-4 4 2-1-3 2 0-0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0-0-0 0 0-0-0 2 2-0-2 1 2-1-3 3 4-1-5
ATO B S
0 1 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
PTS
2 4 9 3 0 0 0
6
rebounds.
Michael Qualls 18 played off the
wholehogsports.com
55-54 at North Carolina State this season and lost at Duke, 84-55, at West Virginia 77-44 and at Stanford 74-59.
“We’ll be tested big-time,” Anderson said. “Wofford’s a very good basketball team.
“Every team in this tourna- ment is very good, so we’ve got our work cut out for us, and it’s a quick turnaround as we play on Thursday.”
The Arkansas-Wofford winner will play the North Carolina-Harvard winner on Saturday. Tipoff for the North Carolina-Wofford matchup is set for 6:20 on Thursday.
Wisconsin is the West Re- gional’s No. 1 seed with Ari- zona No. 2 and Baylor No. 3.
“It’s amazing how all the prognosticators had us going to Jacksonville,” Anderson said.
“I guess somebody’s got some inside information.”
Anderson said he was pleased by the No. 5 seed for the Razorbacks, who are ranked No. 21 in The Associ- ated Press poll and finished second in the SEC behind Kentucky with a 13-5 record. Arkansas was ranked 18th in the Selection Committee’s 1-68 final seeding list.
“I think it’s a statement about what this team accom- plished in conference play,” Anderson said of the seeding. “You look at the resume, as people put it, and I thought it was pretty impressive.
“But when you get to this tournament, everybody’s re- cord is 0-0.”
Totals 200 24-54 4-13 11-17 13-12-25 22
Field-goal percentage 44.4. Three-point percentage 30.8. Free-throw percentage 64.7. Dead-ball rebounds 3.
KENTUCKY
bench for the second time this season. His last time off the bench was Feb. 3 against South Carolina.
Sunday's attendance was a
record for SEC Tournament games played in Nashville, Tenn.
Towns 19 Cauley-Stein 30 Lyles 29 Harrison, Aa. 31 Harrison, An. 18
3-5 0-0 2-2 5-6 0-0 5-6 2-4 0-0 5-5
4 2 1 3 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
2 0 0 6 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
M FG-FGA 3-FGA FT-FTA O-D-T PF
ATOBSPTS
4-10 3-5 0-0 5-9 3-3 2-4 7 2-3 0-0 0-0 17 1-4 1-3 0-0 34 2-5 0-1 4-4 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 15 1-3 0-0 3-6
Arkansas ..................................25 38 — Kentucky ..................................41 37 — TECHNICAL FOUL Arkansas (Kingsley) OFFICIALS Greene, Shows, Adams ATTENDANCE 20,315
3-1-4 3-7-10 3-4-7 0-2-2 0-0-0 1-2-3 0-0-0 0-1-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1 2-3-5 21-27 13-20-33
3 2 3 2 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
8 15 9 11 15 4 3 8 0 0 0 5
Lee
Booker
Ulis
Floreal
Hawkins
Willis
Johnson
Team
Totals
Field-goal percentage 51.0. Three-point percentage 58.3. Free-throw percentage 77.8. Dead-ball rebounds 5
gas to win it all, and at least one coach, Bill Self of Kansas, thinks that might be a bargain.
“I shouldn’t be talking about Vegas, but my point is, I think they’re a pretty heavy favorite,” said Self, whose Jay- hawks are seeded No.2 in the Midwest.
Other No. 2 seeds are Gon- zaga in the South and Virginia in the East.
Barnes said Arizona and Virginia were the other teams in the mix for the top seed. He defended placing Duke there, saying the Blue Devils’ road victories over Virginia, North Carolina and Louisville car- ried more weight than their lack of a conference title.
“Those strong, very elite wins, wins on the road — and let’s not forget the eye test with Duke — all were con- siderations,” he said.
Barnes called placing UC- LA in the bracket “one of the tougher decisions we had to make.”
But he defended putting the Bruins (20-13) in with an
RPI of 48, which is 18 spots lower than Colorado State and 14 below Temple.
“We felt they were gaining steam,” Barnes said.
“They did have a good strength-of-schedule, they were playing better against tough competition. An ex- ample is the last game against Arizona (a 70-64 loss in the Pac-12 title game). I think the ‘eye test’ was also a plus in putting them in the field.”
The Big Ten and Big 12 led the way with seven teams each in the bracket.
Other teams that just missed were Old Dominion and Richmond, which lost out to teams like Ole Miss and Texas that have stronger schedules baked into the cake because they play in major conferences.
As is custom, Barnes was short on specifics, though he said Wyoming’s surprise victory in the Mountain West Conference stole away an at- large bid that would’ve gone to Temple — the last team
5123463
NWA Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson talks with Michael Qualls as they head to the locker room after Sunday’s 78-63 loss to Kentucky Wildcats in the SEC Tournament championship game at Bridgestone Arena in Nash- ville. Qualls scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Razorbacks.
63 78
200 25-49 7-12
17 16 13 6 4 78
SEC All-Tournament team
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky (MVP)
Michael Qualls, Arkansas
Aaron Harrison, Kentucky Andrew Harrison, Kentucky KT Harrell, Auburn
at the 6:22 mark and put the game away.
“I saw some other stuff that took place that wasn’t called, but for that one there, I thought it was a little quick,” Anderson said of the technical. “I thought it was a great play to get the dunk.
“But that’s just me. I’m a little biased because he’s my player.”
The technical foul appeared to shift the momentum back to Kentucky.
“That’s just how it goes,”
Qualls said. “We can’t control the officiating crew. It just hap- pens that way sometimes.”
Arkansas sophomore Bob- by Portis, the SEC Player of the Year, said playing a more com- petitively against Kentucky the second time around didn’t take any sting out of the loss.
“At the end of the day, our team still lost,” said Portis, who had 13 points. “The margin doesn’t really matter.”
Kentucky won its 28th SEC Tournament championship, but the Wildcats didn’t bother to cut down the nets.
“Those aren’t the nets we want to cut down,” said Cau- ley-Stein, referring to winning the national title. “It’s part of the process for us winning, but we’re looking for something bigger.”
Arkansas reached the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2008, when the Razorbacks lost to Georgia. The Razor- backs’ only SEC Tournament title in six appearances was in 2000.
“Second in the conference tournament isn’t too bad,” Qualls said. “Of course, it’s not what we wanted, but we can’t dwell on it.
“It hurts for a little while, but then we’ve got to get ready for the NCAA Tournament and just try to run with it.”
ATLANTIC 10
VCU 71, DAYTON 65
NEW YORK — Treveon Graham scored 20 points and Doug Brooks made a huge steal in the final minute to help VCU beat Dayton (25-8) and win its first Atlantic 10 tournament championship.
Fifth-seeded VCU (26-9) had lost the last two A-10 finals — in their first two seasons in the conference — but strung together four victories in as many days to earn an automatic bid.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC
NO. 20 SMU 62, UCONN 54
HARTFORD, Conn. — Markus Kennedy scored 15 points, and No. 20 SMU held off UConn to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament title.
The defending national champion Hus- kies fell a game short of winning four times in four days and earning a trip back to the NCAA Tournament.
Yanick Moreira and Nic Moore added 11 points each for the Mustangs (27-6), who also won the league’s regular-season title.
Rodney Purvis scored 29 points for UConn (20-14).
BIG TEN
NO. 6 WISCONSIN 80, MICHIGAN ST. 69, OT
CHICAGO — Nigel Hayes scored 25
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