Second Round Results for Saturday, March 22, 2008

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

A couple of upsets today probably messed up some people's brakcets. I went 6 for 8 (.750) today and am now 30-10 (.750) for the tournament.

Here are the results. The following six games I predicted correctly.

West Virginia 73 Duke 67: I wonder how many people picked this upset. Well, I DID. The three-point shot was not falling for Duke, as they get upset by the #7 seed West Virginia Mountaineers. West Virginia had almost as many offensive rebounds, (18) as Duke had total rebounds (20). Joe Alexander had a double double with 22 points and 11boards and Ruoff had a big second half ending the game with 16 points.

Xavier 85 Purdue 78: Xavier is able to hold on late, taking out #6 seed Purdue. A solid effort all around for Xavier, led mostly by the play of Drew Lavender, 16 points and 9 assists, and C.J. Anderson, 18 points and 7 boards.

Stanford 82 Marquette 81: Stanford wins the game and advances to the sweet sixteen. B. Lopez scores 31-points tonight and leads his team to victory. It is a tough loss for the Golden Eagles and a great effort by McNeal who finishes the game with 30 points and 6 boards.

Wisconsin 72 Kansas State 55: Wisconsin improved to 31-4 with their decisive 72-55 win over Kansas State and the Badgers are headed into the Sweet 16.

Kansas 75 UNLV 56: Kansas is moving on to the Sweet 16 after a 75-56 win over UNLV. The Running Rebels fought hard in the first half, but simply didn't have enough offensive weapons to hang with Kansas in the second half.

UCLA 51 Texas A&M 49: The Aggies, after dominating for most of the game just didn't have it in them when it mattered most. The Bruins go on to Phoenix to face the winner of two upstart seeds that upset their opponents in the first round, Western Kentucky and San Diego.

The following two games I missed.

Washington State 61 Notre Dame 41: I thought this one would be close. Instead, Wash State absolutely pulverized the Irish who had their lowest-scoring game ever under Mike Brey. Low, Weaver and Cowgill all end up in double digits but the defense led the way. They held the Irish to 24% shooting. After the 20-point win, the Cougars move to the next round.

Michigan State 65 Pittsburgh 54: The Spartans knock off one of the hottest teams in the land and are headed to the Sweet 16 in Houston.. They do it with solid play, free throw shooting down the stretch, and great performances by Nietzel, Lucas and Suton. Limiting the Panthers to 33% shooting didn't hurt either. Solid free throw shooting by the Spartans down the stretch all but put this one away.