Cinderella Madness Finals: '07 UNLV vs '08 Davidson

    
March 1st, 2012 by Raphielle Johnson
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WhatIfSports.com and CollegeHoops.net have partnered up to bring you Cinderella Madness 2012. This college basketball simulation tournament features 16 of the most memorable Cinderella stories from the past eight seasons. We invited teams outside the BCS conferences, seeded 7th or lower that advanced to the Sweet 16 or beyond. Teams were seeded 1 through 16 and then games were simulated using WhatIfSports.com's award-winning college basketball simulation engine.

 

 

Finals: 2006-07 UNLV vs 2007-08 Davidson

 

UNLV and Davidson survived the first three rounds of Cinderella Madness to vie for the ultimate prize, the title of Cinderella Madness champion.

Eighth-seeded UNLV's path to the championship game included two wins over lower seeds before upending the fourth-seeded VCU Rams in the Final Four. Four UNLV players averaged double-figure scoring through the first three games, led by Wendell White (17.3 points per game).

Davidson earned its way largely on the play of sophomore sensation Stephen Curry. In wins over Richmond, Saint Mary's and George Mason, he tallied 29, 25 and 25 points in the scoring column. Jason Richards proved to be Curry's most reliable sidekick, averaging 13.7 points and seven assists in the three wins.

UNLV and Davidson were evenly matched opponents through 20 minutes, with Davidson holding a narrow 31-30 lead at the break.

After intermission, the Wildcats began to exert their dominance, leading by as much as 16 points when two free throws by Williams Archambault stretched their advantage to 52-36 with 12:49 to play. UNLV closed the gap to three points with just over five minutes remaining, but never got any closer. The Wildcats pulled out the 76-70 victory and staked their claim to the Cinderella Madness championship.

Curry led all scorers with 26 points and was the easy vote for Most Outstanding Player of the Cinderella Madness tournament.

Player of the game: Stephen Curry (26 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals)

Winning Percentage of 501 Simulations: '08 Davidson 70.7% - '07 UNLV 29.3
 

Game Recap: Davidson 76 - UNLV 70 (Boxscore)

 

 

For how the team's reached the final, check out the Cinderella Madness archive with the complete bracket.

 

 

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