MONDAY, MARCH 11,2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 9B
NCAA tournament brackets set
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Duke was seeded No. 1 for the NCAA tournament for a record fifth straight year yesterday, joined atop the regional brackets by top-ranked Kansas, Maryland and Cincinnati.
For the first time, the NCAA selection committee allowed teams — grouped in four-team "pods" — to stay closer to home for the first and second rounds before returning to their assigned regionals.
Maryland (26-4) was seeded first in the East and will play in nearby Washington on Friday against the winner of tomorrow's opening-round game between Alcorn State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Siena of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The other matchup in that pod is eighth-seeded Wisconsin against ninth-seeded St. John's.
The other four teams in that part of the East Regional bracket will play Thursday in St. Louis, Mo., with fourth-seeded Kentucky playing Valparaiso and fifth-seeded Marquette going against Tulsa.
The lower part of the bracket features second-seeded Connecticut against Hampton in Washington on Friday, along with seventh-seeded North Carolina State against Michigan State, which has been in the last three Final Fours.
In Chicago on Friday, third-seeded Georgia
meets Murray State and sixth-seeded Texas Tech plays Southern Illinois.
In the Midwest Regional, Kansas (29-3), which had its 15-game winning streak snapped by Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament championship game yesterday, will play Holy Cross on Thursday in St. Louis. The other game in that pod is eighth-seeded Stanford against Western Kentucky.
ine other half of the upper bracket has fourth-seeded Illinois staying in the area against San Diego State on Friday, while fifth-seeded Florida faces Creighton.
Oregon, the Pac-10 regular-season champion, is seeded second and will play Montana in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday, with seventh-seeded Wake Forest against Pepperdine in the other game.
The other half of the lower part of the bracket is in Dallas on Friday, with third-seeded Mississippi State against McNeese State, and sixth-seeded Texas facing Boston College.
Duke (29-3) will open defense of its national championship as the No.1 team in the South, playing Winthrop on Thursday in Greenville, S.C., while eighth-seeded Notre Dame faces Charlotte.
The other pod in that bracket will be in Sacramento on Thursday, with fourth-seeded Southern California against North Carolina-Wilmington, and fifth-seeded Indiana facing Utah.
Alabama is seeded second in the South and will also play in Greenville, meeting Florida Atlantic, which is making its first tournament appearance. The other game in that pod features seventh-seeded Oklahoma State against Kent State.
Pittsburgh, which lost to Connecticut in the Big East championship game, gets to stay home as the No. 3 seed, playing Central Connecticut State, which has the nation's longest current winning streak, on Friday. The other game features another in-state team, Ivy League champion Pennsylvania, against sixth-seeded California.
The other part of the top half of the bracket will be in Albuquerque, N.M., on Thursday. Fourth-seeded Ohio State, the Big Ten tournament champion, plays Davidson and fifth-seeded Miami faces Missouri.
Cincinnati (30-3), the only team with 30 wins entering the tournament, is No.1 in the West Regional. The Bearcats open against Boston University in Pittsburgh on Friday, with eighth-seeded UCLA facing Mississippi in the other game.
Oklahoma's first game after the upset of Kansas will be as a No. 2 seed in Dallas on Friday against Illinois-Chicago, with seventh-seeded Xavier facing Hawaii in the other game.
The other pod in the lower half features third-seeded Arizona against Cal-Santa Barbara in Albuquerque, along with sixth-seeded Gonzaga facing Wyoming.
Iowa falls to Ohio State, ends run
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Iowa's tournament magic finally ran out.
Boban Savovic scored 27 points to lead No. 21 Ohio State to an 81-64 victory over the Hawkeye yesterday to win its first Big Ten tournament championship.
After winning three games in as many days, two on their final possession, and a record seven straight games in the Big Ten tournament, the Hawkeyes fell one game shy of a second straight title run.
Iowa (19-15) proved too weary to stay with the Buckeyes, who earned their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
Luke Recker, Iowa's hero in the last two wins, finished with 21 points, while Reggie Evans had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Brent Darby added 14 points for the Buckeyes, while Brian Brown had nine.
Ohio State (23-7) shared the Big Ten regular-season title with three other teams but staked its claim to being the conference's top team by becoming the only one of the four to reach the championship game.
Iowa, a preseason favorite in the Big Ten, went just 5-11 in conference play before winning Thursday. Friday and Saturday.
While Iowa had success in the tournament previously, the Buckeyes had little.
Last week, the players shaved their heads to provide a unified front as they attempted to change their postseason history. In the previous four seasons, Ohio State was 1-4 in the conference tournament, but the Buckeyes won three straight to capture this year's title.
Ohio State took advantage of Iowa's fatigue early by getting to most of the loose balls and shooting well.
The Buckeyes broke to a 9-0 lead with Savovic and Brown each hitting 3-pointers.
Iowa appeared a little fresher at the start of the second half and Evans and Pierre Pierce accounted for the first six points, getting the Hawkeyes within 37-65 at the 17:32 mark.
Ohio State, however, rebuilt a 51-43 lead on another 3-pointer by Savovic, the tournament MVP. Iowa countered with five straight points, but the Buckeyes regained control with an 11-4 run to make it 64-54 with 7:09 to go.
They extended the lead to 29-15 before the Hawkeyes rallied with a 9-2 run and closed to 37-29 at halftime.
Then the Buckeyes pulled away as Savovic hit consecutive 3-pointers to make it 74-58 with 4:47 remaining.
The Hawkeyes, who rallied behind Recker for upset victories on Friday and Saturday, couldn't do the same yesterday as they lost in the Big Ten tournament for the first time since 2000.
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