The Sweet Sixteen concluded moments ago with the Duke Blue Devils polishing off a victory after a severely rough start against Purdue. Their saving grace was the fact that Purdue played just as poorly for twenty-five minutes of the game. Jon Scheyer took a half, but returned to form, and all but put away the Boilermakers in the closing minutes. Another Cinderella story was ruined by perennial tournament warriors Michigan State. Tom Izzo rallied his troops in the absence of their star and made due, beating the Panthers from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In the two earlier games Tennessee rallied late to topple Evan Turner and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Great defense and a determined inside presence from Wayne Chism inspired the Volunteers to a victory. In the most one-sided affair in the Sweet Sixteen, Baylor dropped St. Mary's and sent the Gaels packing with a twenty-three point victory.
Tomorrow marks the start of the Elite Eight and will grant the first two spots in this year's Final Four. The games start when Butler tips off against Kansas State at 4:30 EST. The Bulldogs will be looking to send themselves home to Indianapolis with a chance to win the national championship. There are two big road blocks standing in their way by the names of Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. Matt Howard has to stay out of foul trouble, while their defense tries to maintain the two stars for the Wildcats.
Kentucky tips after the conclusion of the first game. They'll be taking on the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Bob Huggins' team proved in their hard fought victory over the Huskies, that they are capable of winning big games without their starting point guard. They battled through turnovers and played great defense to send them into this match up with Kentucky. If the Wildcats can't stay out of a scoring slump against this great defensive team in West Virginia, Butler, Ebanks and Jones will make them pay. On the other side of the coin, if the Mountaineers turn the ball over as much as they did against Washington, they can expect the likes of Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe and Patterson to capitalize in transition. This is going to be a very interesting game to watch.
Sunday afternoon concludes the quarter-final round the four victors from tonight's games collide. The first game, which tips at 2:20 EST, is between Tennessee and Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans. We will get to see if the Spartans can continue to rally without Kalin Lucas. They're going to have to worry about maintaining Wayne Chism and Brian Williams down low. They will also have to defend the perimeter well to stop emerging star J.P. Prince. Lucious kept control of the ball well in their win over Northern Iowa and will have to continue to do so to give his Spartans a chance to win.
The final spot in the semi-finals will be granted to either Duke or Baylor. This will be a battle of stars. Will Jon Scheyer be able to keep that second half form from the Purdue game? Will Ekpe Udoh catch his stride against a foul prone front line in Duke? Will LaceDarius Dunn finally slow down? If Duke can continue to keep their whole team involved while playing the defense they've been showing throughout the tournament, they'll have a good shot at beating the Bears. If Baylor can frustrate Scheyer and attack Duke's front line with Udoh, they'll be able to get plenty of chances from the charity stripe. Look for a very close game.
The destination for these eight teams will be Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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