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Surprise! More than One Cinderella at
the Dance
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Sports Writer
Marquette, Gonzaga, Southern Cal
eliminated as lowly teams spring upsets
Sure didn't take long for low-seeded teams to
pick up right where they left off last year in the NCAA tournament.
And surprise! Gonzaga was among the teams
learning how it feels to be on the losing end of an upset.
Five schools with double-digit seedings
advanced to the second round Thursday: North Carolina Wilmington is seeded
13th, Tulsa and Missouri are both No. 12, Wyoming is No. 11 and Kent State
No. 10.
In 2001, 13 of the tournament's 32 first-round
games were won by underdogs, the most opening victories by teams seeded
ninth or worse since the event expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
The upset total was nearly higher Thursday, but
Kansas (seeded first in the Midwest), Alabama (No. 2 in the South), Arizona
(No. 3 in the West) and Ohio State (No. 4 in the West) narrowly avoided
being bounced.
Duke, the top seed in the South Regional,
showed how to make quick work of an opponent, racing past Winthrop 84-37 and
matching the fifth-largest winning margin in tournament history.
In the West Regional in Albuquerque, N.M., Josh
Davis scored 11 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, including one that he
slammed in with 1:07 left to punctuate Wyoming's 73-66 victory over
sixth-seeded Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs are accustomed to being on the
other end of such shockers. Gonzaga fell just a game short of the Final Four
as a No. 10 seed in 1999, reached the regional semifinals from the same slot
in 2000, and again made the round of 16 as a 12th seed last year.
The Bulldogs were one of just three teams
along with Michigan State and Duke, the last two national champions to
make the round of 16 each of the past three seasons.
Also in the West, Missouri scored the first 12
points and knocked off No. 5-seeded Miami 93-80. The Tigers will try to
register another shocker against Ohio State, which barely got by Davidson
69-64.
Jason Gardner scored 28 points and Arizona
overcame a 3-point barrage by Mark Hull and UC Santa Barbara 86-81.
In the South Regional in Sacramento, Calif.,
UNC Wilmington knocked off fourth-seeded Southern California 93-89 in
overtime for its first NCAA tournament victory.
Also in the South, Kent State started the
streak of surprises by topping No. 7 Oklahoma State 69-61 in the
tournament's very first game. Kent State now plays Alabama, which was tied
with 15th-seeded Florida Atlantic with about 7 minutes left but won 86-78.
Notre Dame defeated Charlotte 82-63 to set up a second-round game against
Duke.
In the East Regional in St. Louis, Greg
Harrington's runner in the lane with 14.6 seconds left pushed Tulsa past No.
5 Marquette 71-69 in the tightest early game.
Tulsa now takes a crack at pulling off another
surprise and it would come against its former coach. The Golden Hurricane
next face fourth-seeded Kentucky, which beat Valparaiso 83-68. Kentucky
coach Tubby Smith guided Tulsa to the round of 16 in 1994 and '95.
And in Midwest Regional action in St. Louis,
Kansas barely avoided becoming the first top seed to make a first-round
exit, holding off 16th-seeded Holy Cross 70-59. Kansas trailed at halftime
for only the fifth time all year and
was behind by five in the second half before recovering. The Jayhawks will
take on Stanford, which easily handled Western Kentucky 84-68.
Also in the Midwest, No. 2-seeded Oregon beat
Montana 81-62, fifth-seeded Indiana routed Utah 75-56, and seventh-seeded
Wake Forest defeated Pepperdine 83-79.
Copyright 2001
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net contributed to this
report.
02/23/2007 10:46:23 AM
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