Louisville Defeats Duke

Louisville rallied to beat Duke after their teammate, Demarcus Ware, left the game after a horrific broken leg.

The Cardinals’ head coach Rick Pitino said this after the game:

“We won this for him. We were all choked up with emotion for him. We’ll get him back to normal. We’ve got great doctors, great trainers.”

Louisville’s Russ Smith scored 23 points and Gorgui Dieng had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

Duke played Louisville hard until the injury timeout. Russ Smith led the Cardinals on a 12-6 run to finish the half with a 35-32 lead. Smith started the second half right where he left off. He made all three of his free throws. Peyton Siva then hit a nice jumper to start another run for the Cardinals. That 20-4 run sealed the win for Louisville to move onto the Final Four in Atlanta.

Syracuse Defeats Marquette

Syracuse defeated Marquette to move onto the Final Four in Atlanta. Marquette looked flat through out the game and let Syracuse’s defense dominate them.

Marquette only managed to score 39 points in this game. They only shot 23%. They went long stretched without scoring and they couldn’t get a shot to drop.

There was a star studded crowd at this game. President Barack Obama and Redskin’s quarterback Robert Griffin III were in attendance.

Syracuse heads to Atlanta for the Final Four.

No. 3 Marquette Defeats No. 2 Miami

You can read a recap on my site here.

No. 4 Syracuse Defeats No. 1 Indiana

Syracuse defeated Indiana 61-50 last night to move onto the Elite 8.

Indiana did not look like a number 1 team. They missed layups, threw passes out of bounds and dribbled into defenders. They shot 33.3% from the field and had 19 turnovers.

Syracuse’s sophomore guard led the team with 24 points and five rebounds while Brandon Triche added 14 points.

The Orange move on to play Marquette, their Big East rival on Saturday,

The Sweet 16 gets under way tomorrow. Here is the your schedule for the remaining Big East Teams.

No. 3 Marquette vs No. 2 Miami, March 28, 6:15 pm CST

No. 4 Syracuse vs No. 1 Indiana, March 28, 8:45 pm CST

No. 1 Louisville vs No. 12 Oregon, March 29, 6:15 pm CST

Let’s hope they all fair well tomorrow and Friday.

No. 1 Louisville Defeated No. 8 Oregon

Louisville defeated Oregon, 82-56, to move onto the Sweet 16.

Louisville’s Russ Smith led the team with 27 points. Gorgui Dieng scored 12 points, Montrezl Harrell added 11 points and Peyton Siva had 10 points, five assists and three steals.

Louisville controlled this game  with their largest lead being 26.

No. 4 Syracuse Defeated No. 10 California

Syracuse defeated California, 66-60, to move onto the Sweet 16.

Syracuse led most of the game at times by as many as 12 points. California managed to get within six in the final minutes of the game but it was not close enough.

Syracuse’s C.J. Fair led with 18 points, James Southerland has 14 points, Carter-Williams added 12 points and Baye Moussa Keita 11 points.

No. 3 Marquette Defeated No. 6 Butler

You can read a recap of this game on my site here.

Here is your Big East recap from yesterday’s NCAA Tournament games.

No. 1 Louisville defeated No. 16 North Carolina A&T

The overall no. 1 seed Louisville defeated no. 16 North Carolina A&T, 79-48.

Louisville forced a season high 20 steals, forced 27 turnovers, and had 67 deflections. Russ Smith had 23 points in the game.

There was no question that Louisville was going to win this game. They came out strong and stayed strong the whole game.

No. 8 Pittsburgh Falls to No. 9 Wichita St.

Pittsburgh lost to Wichita St., 73-55.

Steve Adams led Pittsburgh with 13 points and 11 rebounds. As a team, the Panthers shot 35% from the field and were 1 for 17 from 3 point range.

Wichita State Malcolm Armstead with 22 points. Cleanthony Early added 19 for the Shockers.

Wichita State was on fired during the game. They built up a 16 point lead with five minutes to go in the second half and Pitt could not make up the deficit.

No. 4 Syracuse defeats No. 13 Montana

Syracuse defeated Montana, 81-34. This was pretty much one of those no contest games.

Syracuse’s Brandon Triche scored 20 points and C.J. Fair had 13 points.

Here are Syracuse’s Brandon Triche’s thoughts on the game:

”We knew that we were favored a little bit in this game and as far as our talent level. So we wanted to not give a team like that a confidence in thinking that they can win the game. C.J. did a great job for us starting the game off with the first six points or so. He had a mismatch and we tried to go to him early. He kind of jump started us.”

Syracuse led by 23 points at halftime and piled on more in the second half with a 17-2 run to open the half. They blew Montana out of the water in one of the most lopsided NCAA Tournament victories.

No. 3 Marquette defeated No. 14 Davidson

You can read a full recap on my site here.

It’s tournament time! The Big East have 8 teams in the NCAA Tournament and here are the match ups. All times are CST.

Midwest Region

No. 1 Louisville vs No. 16 North Carolina A&T, Thursday 5:50 pm

No. 7 Creighton vs No. 10 Cincinnati, Friday 1:45 pm

West Region

No. 8 Pittsburgh vs No. 9 Wichita St., Thursday 12:40 pm

No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 10 Iowa St., Friday 8:45 pm

South Region

No. 8 North Carolina vs No. 9 Villanova, Friday 6:20 pm

No. 2 Georgetown vs No. 15 FGCU, Friday 5:50 pm

East Region

No. 4 Syracuse vs No. 13 Montana, Thursday 8:57 pm

No. 3 Marquette vs No. 14 Davidson, Thursday 2:10 pm

Stay tuned for more coverage here.

Georgetown 62, Cincinnati 43

Georgetown defeated Cincinnati on Thursday. The Hoyas led for most of the game but gave away a 16-point lead to the Bearcats but rallied with their defense

Otto Porter scored 18 points for Georgetown. Markel Starks had 14 points and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera added 13 points  off the bench.

Cincinnati’s Cashmere Wright scored 14 points.

Syracuse 62, Pittsburgh 59

Syracuse is headed to the Big East Tournament semifinals after defeating Pittsburgh.

The pair of runs that Syracuse went on during the game were definitely the turning point for them. They went on a 10-point run midway through the first half including a pair of three pointers by James Southerland. The Orange had another round later in the first half which was capped off by CJ Fair’s three pointer.

James Southerland scored 20 points for Syracuse. C.J. Fair added 13 points and seven rebounds, Brandon Triche had 12 points. Michael Carter-Williams made 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Tray Woodall added 12 points. Talib Zanna and Robinson scored 10 points apiece.

Louisville 74, Villanova 55

Louisville defeated Villanova to move onto the Big East Tournament semifinals.

The Cardinals controlled this game. The closest the Wildcats came was within three points but then Louisville shut them down.

Louisville’s Russ Smith score 28 points with Luke Hancock adding 12 points and Peyton Siva adding 10.

Villanova’s JayVaughn Pinkston scored 21 points. Mouphtaou Yarou had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Notre Dame 73, Marquette 65

You can read a full recap of this game on my site here.

Semifinals Schedule

Here is your schedule for this evenings games. All times are in EST and can be seen on ESPN.

Georgetown vs Syracuse, 7 pm

Louisville vs Notre Dame, 9:30 pm

No. 7 Florida 68, No. 3 Marquette 58

This was not what the Golden Eagles (27-8) had planned.

Florida (26-10) continued their dominating run through the Big Dance tonight in Phoenix, and while this wasn’t quite the blowout their other games have been, they did more than enough to secure a victory.

Stud freshman Bradley Beal was the best player for the Gators, with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker each added 11 points, while Eric Murphy had 10 rebounds. UF was 13-15 from the line and led by as many as 14 points.

Big East Player of the Year Jae Crowder led Marquette with 15 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and three steals. Junior Cadougan played 15 minutes, but had no points. Little went right for the Golden Eagles, although they did outperform the Gators from behind the arc.

Florida advances to the Elite Eight and will play No. 4 seed Louisville at 4:30 ET on Saturday.

Check out The Gold Rush, Aerys’ home for Marquette basketball, to get Mary’s take on the game. Also, follow @Aerys_NCAA on twitter for live, up-to-date coverage of all the March Madness!

The Sweet 16 is finally here! Here’s are the games we have today.

Syracuse vs. Wisconsin

Wisconsin has had great defense all year. They hold opponents to 59.2 points per game. The Badgers hold opponents to 38.5 percent from the floor and 28.8 percent from 3-point range. They have a bit of a weak offense and the team is limited athletically. Syracuse can definitely give these guys a run for their money.

Wisconsin players to watch: Jordan Taylor- 14.7 ppg, 4 apg, 3.8 rpg; Ryan Evans- 11.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.7 apg; Jared Berggren- 10.3 ppg, 5 rpg, 35.6% 3s.

Syracuse have been doing well without their center, Fab Melo, who was suspended for the remainder of the season. The Orange average 9.4 steals per game. They have been playing a smaller offense with Melo out and it seems to be working for them. Syracuse gets out rebounded and has had trouble on defense with Melo out.

Syracuse players to watch: Kris Joseph- 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.3 spg; Dion Waiters- 12.7 ppg, 2.5 apg, 1.9 sp; Scoop Jardine- 8.6 ppg, 4.9 apg, 1.4 spg.

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Marquette vs. Florida You can see a full preview on my site, The Gold Rush.

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Michigan St. vs Louisville

Michigan St. shoots 48.2 percent from the field. They are a very good rebounding team and out rebound opponents. The Spartans hardly allow opponents to get an offensive rebound and rebound 37 percent of their own missed shots.

Michigan St. players to watch: Draymond Green- 16.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 3.8 apg; Derrick Nix- 8.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 55.9% FG; Keith Appling- 11.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.2 spg.

Louisville plays a very tough defense. The Cardinals hold opponents to 61.1 points, 37.9 percent from the floor and 30.2 from the 3-point line. They do struggle with scoring, shooting 2.5 percent from the floor, 31.3 from 3-point range and 68.7 from the foul line.  Louisville turns the ball over 14.4 times per game.

Louisville players to watch: Peyton Siva- 9.2 ppg, 5.5 apg, 1.8 spg; Gorgui Dieng- 9.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 3.1 bpg; Russ Smith- 11.4 ppg, 2.3 spg, 1.9 apg.

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Cincinnati vs. Ohio State

Ohio State averages 74.8 points per game and shoots 48.2 percent from 3-point range. The Buckeyes are a great rebounding team as well. There is no depth to their team so foul trouble could be a concern.

Ohio State players to watch: Jared Sullinger- 17.4 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 53% FG; Deshaun Thomas- 15.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 53.2% FG; Aaron Craft- 8.8 ppg, 4.7 apg, 2.4 spg.

Cincinnati is a great defensive team especially from the perimeter. The Bearcats hold opponents to just 31.9 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line. They are limited offensively though. They shoot just 42 percent from the field, 33.9 from behind the 3-point arc and 64.4 from the foul line.

Cincinnati players to watch: Sean Kilpatrick- 14.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.2 apg; Yancy Gates- 12.4 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 47.6% FG; Jaquon Parker- 9.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.1 apg.

Read a complete preview in The Poisonous Nuthouse.

Welcome to the Sweet Sixteen, SEC fans! There are only two Southeastern Conference teams remaining in the Big Dance - Florida and Kentucky. The top-seeded Wildcats will take on No. 4 seed Indiana tomorrow, but the No. 7 seed Gators will play No. 3-seeded Marquette tonight. Here’s what (and who) to watch for in this game.

No. 3 Marquette (26-8) vs. No. 7 Florida (25-10)

The Gators stumbled at the end of the regular season, but have found success in the Tourney. They routed Virginia and Norfolk State en route to the Sweet Sixteen, and will look to bring that energy and confidence into this game. They rely a lot on shots from three-point range, so if they’re on, that will be their go-to plan. If they struggle behind the arc, they may be in trouble. Marquette is a tough, aggressive team and they have Jae Crowder, the Big East Player of the Year. They feel they belong in the Big Dance and won’t go down without a fight.

The game tips off at 10:17 ET with coverage on TBS.

What to watch for: Both teams are pretty even in terms of points scored and allowed. The Gators average just over 76 points a game and give up 66. The Golden Eagles score just under 76 points eper game and give up about 66. It’ll be a hard fought battle between two teams who need to be watching for each other to make a mistake. It could come down to free throws and fouls, so UF and MU need to be on their toes.

Who to watch for: Marquette – Jae Crowder (17.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg, .504 FG%), Darius Johnson-Odom (18.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, .451 FG%); Florida – Bradley Beal (14. 6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, .434 FG%), Patric Young (10.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, .618 FG%)

For more on this game, check out Mary’s preview on The Gold Rush, Aerys’ home for Marquette basketball. Also, follow @Aerys_NCAA on twitter for live, up-to-date coverage of all the March Madness!