Blue Devils, Cowboys, Yellow Jackets survive close calls

This weekend's regionals gave college basketball fans some of the best Elite Eight games in recent memory. With three games that went down to the final minute, including one overtime game and one with a game-winning shot with less than ten seconds to go, college basketball took all the opening highlights on Sportscenter.

The UConn Huskies benefited greatly from the Stanford Cardinal's early exit in the Phoenix Region. Without meeting the No. 1 seed or the No. 3 North Carolina State Wolfpack, the Huskies had a cakewalk to the Final Four.

They faced the Alabama Crimson Tide in their regional final, but the game soon turned into a joke. Even with Emeka Okafor being smacked in the neck and getting a stinger down his right arm, UConn still won, 87-71. This score doesn't even reflect the lopsidedness of the game, which was basically over before it started.

In Okafor's absence, Ben Gordon exploded for 36 points in the final and was named the regional MVP. Gordon scored over 50 points in the two games in Phoenix, and was helped by the sharp shooting of Rashad Anderson on the wing. The Crimson Tide were completely outmanned and outmatched.

In the East Rutherford Regional Final, the St. Joe's Hawks ended their dream season in an utterly disappointing manner. John Lucas, the Oklahoma St. Cowboys' point guard, hit a clutch three-pointer with 6.9 seconds to go to put his team up by two.

This game came down to the fact that the St. Joe's guards just didn't shoot well enough to compensate for their size deficiency and lack of rebounding up front. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West had good games, but wingman Pat Carroll, despite hitting a late three, shot poorly throughout the contest.

St. Louis' Regional Final produced one of the best games all season with a ticket to the Final Four in San Antonio on the line. The Kansas Jayhawks took the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to overtime after trailing for the whole second half, in a game that Tech's leading scorer, B.J. Elder, sat out all but two minutes of with a sprained ankle.

Tech's sophomore point guard Jarret Jack was forced to step up and assume more of an offensive role and he did it with ease. Jack was outstanding, carrying the Jackets for most of the second half and scoring eight of his team's 13 points in overtime against the Jayhawks.

Tech center Luke Schenscher also came up big in the regional final, dominating Kansas, which had no answer for the six foot 11 Aussie. Schenscher ended the game with 15 points on five of five shooting and was a menace on the defensive end with one block and an increased level of intimidation on the interior.

One of the biggest surprises from the Atlanta Regional was the play of the Xavier Musketeers. Going into the A-10 Tournament, the Musketeers were a bubble team on the brink of entry to the tournament. And when they blew out the then-undefeated and No.1 Hawks, most people saw it as a sign that St. Joe's wasn't that good.

But Xavier turned out to be the surprise of the tournament. Coach Thad Matta's team played brilliantly the first 36 minutes of the game, but couldn't hang on after a couple of huge plays by Duke's Luol Deng.

Xavier's guards, Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato, played well in the first half, but both were shut down completely in the second half by Duke's man defense. Still, with 12 minutes to go, things did not look so good for the Blue Devils. Anthony Myles was single-handedly killing Duke with 16 points and ten rebounds (five of them offensive). But then Myles was called for his fifth foul on the inside and instantly Xavier's one option that was working fouled out of the game.

The Musketeers continued to hang around for ten more minutes, but eventually Duke just made more shots down the stretch than the underdog, winning 66-63.

If the Elite 8 games are any indication of things to come, we are in for a great Final Four.

Look in Friday's paper for a Final Four preview