Articles

Two tickets to next weekend's Final Four were punched on Saturday, with both games living up to the thrilling form of Thursday night's contests. In the Southeast final Butler made a bit of history, becoming the first team to make consecutive trips to the Final Four when being seeded three or lower with a 74-71 overtime win over Florida. Shelvin Mack scored a game-high 27 points, Matt Howard added 14 and freshman Khyle Marshall scored 10 off the bench. Also, Butler's three-point defense was a factor in the win as they limited the Gators to 3-for-14 on the afternoon.

The first two tickets to the Final Four will be punched on Saturday, and one can make a good argument that three of the four teams slated to play were not supposed to have reached this point. But what's expected beforehand means nothing when compared to actual achievement, which is why Butler, Arizona and Connecticut all find themselves 40 minutes away from a trip to Houston. Two of the best players in the nation will be on display in the West final in Arizona's Derrick Williams and Connecticut's Kemba Walker.

Of the four games played on Thursday night the matchup between West top-seed Duke and five-seed Arizona was the game people thought could provide a double-digit margin. The defending national champions were a solid favorite going in and they played as such in the first half, taking a 44-38 lead into the locker room thanks to a 16-6 edge in points in the paint and 12-5 in points off turnovers. Kyle Singler and Kyrie Irving scored 14 points apiece to lead the Blue Devils, who were far more balanced than an Arizona team that featured a lot of Derrick Williams and little of much else.

The NCAA Tournament moves on to the regional rounds this weekend, beginning with matchups in the West and Southeast regions on Thursday night. The West has gone mostly according to form with the top three seeds arriving in Anaheim, joined by five-seed and Pac-10 regular season champ Arizona. Each of the four teams has an All-America candidate on its roster but the five national titles the head coaches account for below to two: Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (three) and Connecticut's Jim Calhoun (two). Below is a preview of each of the two games, both of which can be seen on CBS Thursday night.

East Region
Charlotte
12:15 PM (7) Washington vs. (2) North Carolina (CBS)

East Region
Cleveland, OH
2:10 PM (8) George Mason vs. (9) Villanova (TNT)

The true fun that is the NCAA Tournament tips off on Thursday, beginning with Clemson taking on West Virginia in Tampa (no disrespect to the "First Four"). Sixteen games across the nation will captivate the country with thrilling finishes and routine blowouts being the order of the day. Below is the schedule breakdown by region by tip time, with one game from each quadrant being featured.

By the time Thursday's schedule is finished millions of brackets will be ruined, which should come as no surprise given the regular season.

6:40 PM Texas-San Antonio vs. Alabama State (TruTV)

(6) Georgetown vs. (11) USC/VCU

Southwest Region - Chicago

March 18 - 9:50 TNT
 

(7) UCLA vs. (10) Michigan State

Southeast Region - Tampa

March 17 - 9:20 TBS