But you’re dragged down to the next tier by your overall history, namely the fact that you had zero NCAA tournament appearances between 1947-48 and 1992-93 and you last won the national title in 1941, when the tournament had eight teams and one of the games was decided by a 26-20 final score. The Bruins went 9-for-23 from 3-point range, which is fine, but clean looks were rare.
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No. 2 Kentucky, No. 4 Florida and No. 7 SC have survived until this point which means the SEC has more teams in the Elite 8 than any other conference.
Except for a KeVaughn Allen three-point play, which cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 70-68 with 53.7 seconds left, the Gators didn’t do anything to really help themselves those last three minutes. Lots of hero-ball, long jumpers coming up empty.
Commissioner Mike Slive set out to make it a priority a couple of years ago and new commissioner Greg Sankey has continued that quest. But with Kentucky also still alive, the SEC had three of the final eight teams and is guaranteed of a berth in the Final Four, possibly two.
FSU gets another crack at SC on Monday.
It may be worth checking in with Kentucky head coach John Calipari to sum up the feelings of those around MSG on Saturday afternoon. The Gamecocks clinched the school’s first trip to the Final Four, where they will face West Region victor Gonzaga.
The win sends the Gamecocks to the Final Four for the first time in school history.
SC will meet the victor of the Wisconsin-Florida game on Sunday with a trip to the Final Four at stake.
Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which just couldn’t get any offense going.
Seventh-seeded SC scored 65 second-half points in an upset win over the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils last Sunday to advance to its first Sweet 16 (current Tournament format) with an 88-81 victory.
“I mean right now they’re just showing them how strong our conference is”, Fox said.
“Frank knew we was special”.
But the future can wait.
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? Their paths to this regional final couldn’t have been any more different.
North Carolina’s victory over Kentucky, however, was considerably more dramatic, as the video below demonstrates. Yet they leave their third Sweet 16 under coach Steve Alford short of the Elite Eight.
“To be a coach, Frank and I have gone through the same things”, she said this week. They embrace it. Only 17 teams fouled more often than SC this season (45.3 percent FTA/FGA rate), and just one of those teams made the NCAA tournament. The Patriots’ 2006 Final Four game against Florida drew 14.492 million viewers, a 7.4 percent drop from the comparable Final Four game the year before (Illinois-Louisville).
All White has to do is win the rubber match with Martin. Another loss, three days later, prompted a two-hour team meeting that triggered a nine-game winning streak, including the rematch with the Gamecocks. As of Sunday evening, North Carolina is considered a 4.5-point favorite over Oregon. The Wildcats did it in Las Vegas in December. Sophomore forward Chris Silva tallied a career high 17 points, and notched his fourth double-double of the season also grabbing a team high 10 rebounds. Now they hope that what happened in Vegas will repeat itself in Memphis.
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Florida’s magical season ended as SC overcame a seven-point halftime deficit behind 26 points from NCAA East regional MVP Thornwell, leading the Gamecocks to a 77-70 victory and advancing the program to their first Final Four.
