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Taylor Says to Florida: 'See Ya'
Later, Gators'
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Sports Writer
No fourth straight Final Four for Michigan State. The team it beat for
the 2000 national title, Florida, is gone, too.
And Bob Knight's recent NCAA tournament trouble followed him to Texas
Tech.
Still, in a respite from bracket-busting, most first-round games went
according to form Friday.
The only true stunner was 12th-seeded Creighton's elimination of Florida
83-82 in double overtime on Terrell Taylor's 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left
in a Midwest Regional opener.
Add in Missouri's victory over Miami, and Tulsa's upset of Marquette —
both Thursday _ and it's the first time three No. 12s won first-round games
in the same NCAA tourney.
``People make names for themselves when they win games like this,''
Creighton center Brody Deren said. ``We have more to prove because we are a
mid-major team, and we chalk this up for all the mid-majors.''
Creighton will face fourth-seeded Illinois, which rolled past San Diego
State 93-64. In other Midwest games, third-seeded Mississippi State beat
McNeese State 70-58, and Texas defeated Boston College 70-57.
Even Michigan State's loss wasn't an upset, since the Spartans had a
mediocre-for-them season and were seeded 10th in the East Regional. They
lost to North Carolina State 69-58.
Southern Illinois, seeded 11th in the East, dealt Knight his fifth
first-round loss in his last seven trips to the NCAAs, beating sixth-seeded
Texas Tech 76-68.
There were some boos when Knight took the floor for the game, and one
Southern Illinois fan held up a sign reading, '``Hey Knight, What's Up?'
Salukis.''
Indiana fired Knight in September 2000 after Knight grabbed the arm of a
student who said, ``What's up, Knight?''
Though he has three national titles, Knight hasn't been to the round of
16 since 1994.
Also in the East, Wisconsin topped St. John's 80-70, Georgia defeated
Murray State 85-68 and top-seeded Maryland beat Siena 85-70.
The higher-seeded team won 10 of Friday's first 12 games, with only
Connecticut, No. 2 in the East, struggling. The Big East champion's lead was
down to four points three times in the second half, but the Huskies
eventually
beat Hampton 78-67 and will play N.C. State on Sunday.
There were no surprises in the West or South.
In the West, No. 1-seeded Cincinnati dominated Boston University 90-52 as
All-American guard Steve Logan outscored the Terriers all by himself in the
first half, No. 2 Oklahoma beat Illinois-Chicago 71-63, No. 7 Xavier
defeated Hawaii 70-58, and No. 8 UCLA topped No. 9 Mississippi 80-58.
In the South, No. 3 Pittsburgh topped Central Connecticut State 71-54,
while No. 6 California got past Pennsylvania 82-75.
Second-round action Saturday: Duke vs. Notre Dame, Alabama vs. Kent
State, and UNC Wilmington vs. Indiana in the South; Arizona vs. Wyoming, and
Missouri vs. Ohio State in the West; Oregon vs. Wake Forest, and Kansas vs.
Stanford in the Midwest; and Kentucky vs. Tulsa in the East.
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 10:46:25 AM
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