Kansas St

"The Butler Way demands commitment, denies selfishness, accepts reality yet seeks improvement everyday while putting the team above self." (courtesy of butlersports.com)

The above sentence is one of the major reasons why the Butler Bulldogs, winners of 24 straight games, are now headed home to Indianapolis not just because they have to but also to play in next weekend's Final Four. Matt Howard ran into foul trouble early but it didn't matter as Brad Stevens' team used defense and rebounding to knock off two-seed Kansas State 63-56 in Salt Lake City.

#2 Kansas State Wildcats

Team Preview

So much for Butler's win over Syracuse being the story of the night.

Kansas State and Xavier essentially went shot for shot in the latter stages of regulation and the first overtime, with the backcourt tandems of Jacob Pullen/Denis Clemente and Jordan Crawford/Terrell Holloway being the main characters. But in the second overtime Pullen and company had a few more shots left in the tank, surviving by the final score of 101-96 to advance to the Elite 8.

#2 Kansas St Wildcats

Team Preview

After a rather routine Friday the hope was that Saturday would provide even more surprises. But few people had in mind what the Northern Iowa Panthers did in Oklahoma City when it came to the shocker of the day. The Missouri Valley champions got off to a quick start early and did not let up until the game was decided, knocking off the top overall seed 69-67 to move on to the Sweet 16 next week in St. Louis. Ali Farokhmanesh led the way with 16 points, knocking down what has to be the shot of the Tournament thus far to give Northern Iowa a 66-62 lead with 34 seconds remaining.

While injuries in recent seasons have dropped a team a seed line few have hovered over a region like the right quadriceps injury to Syracuse center Arinze Onuaku. The Orange were rightfully rewarded for their overall body of work, giving them a one seed. However, how much were the penalized for the fifth-year senior’s injury? Thought by many to be a lock along with Kansas and Kentucky, Syracuse was actually slipped in behind Duke and all the way out to Salt Lake City.

Duke

Kansas

Kansas St

Kentucky

Ohio St

Syracuse

Villanova

West Virginia

3 Seed (Baylor, Georgetown, New Mexico, Pittsburgh)

4 Seed or Below

Kansas State Wildcats

Big 12 Conference (26-7, 11-5)

 

Baylor

Kansas

Kansas St

Missouri

Oklahoma St

Texas

Texas A&M

Other (Colorado, Iowa St, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas Tech)