Sunday, March 26, 2017
Jbwsaijo jumps to 1st but it’s Dboyz17 who is guaranteed money
ROSEMEAD, CA (smt)- The Carolinas are in. The battle of the SEC saw rivals #7E-South Carolina (the other USC) and #4E-Florida play for more than 14 minutes with neither side taking more than a 3-point lead (from 44-41 Florida to 65-63 South Carolina). But Maik Kotsar ended that with a jump shot to give the Gamecocks a four-point lead with 1:57 left. The last minute saw Florida still down by four but they had their chances as South Carolina missed four free throws but the only thing the Gators could come up with were two painful turnovers in losing 77-70. South Carolina joins #1W-Gonzaga in making their first Final Four and one of these teams will make their first Final as they will face off in the early game Saturday.
The battle of the blue bloods, part 2 (after #2S-Kentucky beat #3S-UCLA two days ago) proved to live up to its billing in the first part and the last ten minutes. #1S-North Carolina and Kentucky battled early with the Tar Heels holding on to a 34-30 lead with 4:30 left. But then the game turned out to be a slog to watch, one of the poorest performances for the tournament, as the middle 20 minutes (4:30 1st half to 9:30 2nd half) saw both teams grind out to a partly 19 points each (15 of those 38 points on free throws). Kentucky missed all six three-point attempts and made just 7 of 27 shots overall while committing two turnovers. UNC turned the ball over eight times and was just 2 of 8 from three-point range and made just 5 of 17 shots. Imagine taking just 17 shots in 20 minutes? Ugly.
But luckily for us, the teams turned it up sprinting to a 24-22 (Wildcat advantage) finish in the last 9:30. Kentucky got on track outscoring UNC 17-6 to take a 64-59 lead with under 5 minutes left. But then UNC went on a 12-0 run to take a 71-64 lead with 53 seconds left. After missing 8 straight three-pointers, the Wildcats hit 3 threes in the final minute (two in 8 seconds aided by an inbound 5-second violation and the last aided by UNC missing the front end of a 1-and-1), with Malik Monk somehow shooting over two defenders to tie the game at 73 with 8 seconds left. But instead of a timeout, Continue reading