The Final Four Report

Robert Stephens, Featured Writer

And now they are a quartet.

March 30, 2012- The 2012 NCAA Basketball Championships have turned out to be a dream of match ups which should delight the networks and advertisers which produce the national champion of college basketball.

The first match up will feature the top seed Kentucky Wildcats versus the Cardinals of Louisville in a blue grass rivalry which will feature two of the most successful coaches in the United States in John Calipari of Kentucky and Rick Pitino of Louisville. Both schools located in the blue grass state
of Kentucky were so hated that for years they never played.

In the other match up Big Ten power Ohio State will face Kansas perennial Big 12 power. Ohio State in recent years has been to the Final Four .

So how did they get to New Orleans?

In the East Region at Boston on March 22nd, Ohio State beat the Cincinnati Bearcats from the Big East 81-66 in their semi final match up. Deshaun
Thomas led the Buckeyes with 26 points. Jared Sullinger chipped in with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Cashmere Wright scored 18 points for Cincinnati and Sean Kilpatrick chipped in with 15 points.

The Bearcats finished their season with a record of 26-11.

March 24th, Ohio State the number two seed team in the East defeated the top seed Big East Tournament Champion Syracuse 77-70 to reach the Final Four Saturday night. Syracuse edged Wisconsin 64-63 to reach the East Final. CJ Fair led the Cuse with 17 points. Syracuse finished their season with a record of 34-3. Wisconsin ended their season at 26-10.

Marquis Teague runs UK's show (UK).

The Buckeyes controlled the boards out rebounding the Cuse 37-22. Ohio State out shot Syracuse 42 to 25 from the free line connecting on 31 of their 42 attempts.

Ohio State this year spent five weeks as the number two in the college basketball polls.

In the South Region in Atlanta on March 23rd, the Wildcats of Kentucky defeated Indiana from the Big Ten 102-90, becoming the only team in the tournament to hit the century mark.

In the Final Kentucky beat Baylor 82-70 to advance to the Final Four. Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis led Kentucky with 18 points each. Davis added 11 rebounds and 6 blocked shots in his afternoon's work. Deron Lamb chipped in with 14 points while Terrance Jones added 12.

Baylor head Scott Drew in his post game news conference expressed his thoughts on the Wildcats. “This team is better than what I thought.” We haven’t played a better team than them all year.”

Quincy Acy led Baylor with 22 points ad 8 rebounds. They finished their season with a record of 30-8.

March 22nd was the West Region final four shaped up as Florida, Marquette, Louisville, and Michigan State. That’s two schools from the Big East, and one each from the Big Ten and SEC. Go figure!

Louisville defeated Big Ten Michigan State 57-44 as the Cardinals behind shot blocker Gogui Dieng stifled the Spartans offense with 7 blocks and 9 rebounds.

This game featured the teacher Rick Pitino of Louisville and one of his prized pupils Coach Billy Donovan of Florida. The teacher has never lost to his prize pupil in seven match ups.

Chane Behanan led the Cardinals in scoring with 15 points and 9 rebounds while Russ Smith chipped in with 11 points.

The Cardinals came from behind to defeat the Florida Gators 72-68 to advance to the Final Four. Florida led most of the game until the Cardinals used a 22-7 run in the second to overtake the SEC school.

Thomas Robinson, A.P. First Team All American and D.C. native. (KU)

Russ Smith led Louisville with 19 points and 5 rebounds. Chane Behanan assisted with 17 points and 7 rebounds as the Cardinals improved to 30-9 on the season.

Bradley Beal and Erik Murphy led the Gators with 14 points each as they ended their season with a record of 26-11.

In the Midwest Region the Kansas Jayhawks edged the Wolfpack of North Carolina State 60-57 in a hard fought contest with both teams going back and forth in their semifinal match up.

Thomas Robinson led the Big 12 school with 18 points and 15 rebounds over their ACC opponent. Elijah Johnson chipped in with 11 points while center Jeff Withey recorded 10 blocks, 8 points, and 5 rebounds.

CJ Leslie led State with 18 points as they finished their season at 24-13.

Kansas defeated top seed North Carolina 80-67 playing without their All ACC point guard Kendall Marshall. The Tarheels offensive flow suffered with the loss of Marshall especially on the defensive end.

Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 5 assist while Thomas Robinson finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Center Jeff Withey has been playing well in the tournament, he finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds as Kansas improved to 31-6 on the season.
“I don’t know if I ever enjoyed coaching a team more than this one.” said Kansas head coach Bill Self.

James McAdoo led Carolina with 15 points. Harrison Barnes finished with 13 points and 4 rebounds. UNC finished their season with a record of 31-6.

The pick here is Kentucky over Louisville and Kansas over Ohio State. The final pick are the Kentucky Wildcats as the 2012
NCAA Champions.

The list of players to follow:

Game One Saturday Night 6:09 CBS TV

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS BIG EAST 30-9
#14 Kyle Kuric 6’4 G-F SR. 12.7pts.
#2 Russ Smith 6’ G SO. 11.6
#5 Chris Smith 6’2 G SR. 9.7 3.6 rebs.
#24 Chane Behanan 6’6 F FR. 9.5 7.4 rebs.
#3 Peyton Siva 6’ G JR. 9.1 5.6 asst.
#10 Gorgui Dieng 6’11 C SO. 9.2 rebs. 3.2blk.

KENTUCKY WILDCATS SEC 36-2
#23 Anthony Davis 6’10 C FR. 14.3pts. 10.1rebs.
#20 Deron Lamb 6’4 G SO. 13.6
#3 Terrance Jones 6’9 F SO. 12.6 7.2 rebs.
#14 Micheal Gilchrist 6’9 F FR. 12.0 7.6 rebs.
#1 Darius Miller 6’8 G SR. 10.
#25 Marquis Teague 6’2 G FR. 10.

Game two Saturday Night 8:49 CBS TV

KANSAS JAYHAWKS BIG 12 31-6
#0 Thomas Robinson 6’10 F JR. 17.7pts. 11.8rebs.
#10 Tyshawn Taylor 6’2 G SR. 16.7 4.7asst.
#15 Elijah Johnson 6’4 G JR. 10. 3.6 asst.
#5 Jeff Withey 7’ C JR. 9.2 6.2rebs.
#24 Travis Releford 6”6 G JR. 8.5
#2 Conner Teanan 6’6 G SR. 5.7

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES BIG TEN 31-6
#0 Jared Sullinger 6’8 F S0. 17.6pts. 9.1rebs.
#1 Deshaun Thomas 6’7 F SO. 16.1 5.4 rebs.
#44 William Buford 6’6 G SR. 14.4 4.9
#4 Aaron Craft 6’2 G SO. 8.8 4.7asst.
#32 Lenzelle Smith 6’4 G SO. 6.7 4.6rebs.