East Regional notebook: Duke, Cal advance
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Kyle Singler and the Duke Blue Devils had no problem with Arkansas-Pine Bluff. (Icon SMI)
By Ken Cross, Lindyssports.com
Game notes from the East Regional.
South Region - (1) Duke 73, (16) Arkansas - Pine Bluff 44
Devil's Den: Friday's first round romp of Arkansas-Pine Bluff by Duke shows why the tournament needs to expand to 96 teams with the top 32 having byes. Scenario: If Duke is the No. 1 seed in a given region, then the Blue Devils would play the winner of a 9-24 matchup. All of a sudden, Duke would have a competitive first round game... Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, and Kyle Singler average 53.5 ppg, which is 68.6% of Duke's points. The trio combined for 45 of the Devils' 73 points or 61.1% in the 73-44 win.
The Roar: UAPB won 12 out of it's last 14 games and became the first member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference to win an NCAA opening round game with the 61-44 victory over Winthrop in Tuesday night's play-in game... Lions coach George Ivory played for the legendary Lafayette Stribling at Mississippi Valley State from 1984-1988...The Golden Lions' Terrance Calvin and Savalance Townsend were their only two double figures scorers for the season as they averaged 10.3 and 10.0, respectively. Friday night, no Golden Lion hit double figures as Tavaris Washington led with nine points.
(8) Cal 77, (9) Louisville 62 -
Bear Claws: The Bears were never threatened after their opening 22-4 run as they were 11-of-15 to start the game... Cal's senior class has been so successful that seniors scored 77% of the points this season and they have also accounted for 56.6% of the Bears' rebounds. Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle were first team All-Pac 10 while Jamal Boykin and Theo Robertson were second teamers... Mike Montgomery is 2-0 vs. Duke as the coach of the Stanford Cardinal... Now, California is finally healthy and could be peaking at the right time. Robertson missed six games with a sore foot, Jorge Gutierrez, who always plays within himself, had knee issues early in the season, Randle ahs had a sore knee all season, but has not missed a game, and Max Zhang, who at 7-3 is the tallest player in Cal history, missed the Bears' last three regular season games with a collapsed lung.
Cardinal's Nest: Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith were a combined 5-of-17 from the floor Friday night. It has been common knowledge that when Louisville shoots the basketball well, they win. Ask Syracuse. Sosa had four and Smith was yet to scratch at halftime. both players ended their four year careers with an NCAA Tournament in each season... A shot clock issue delayed Friday night's final game by 20 minutes. The 'Ville though was not buying into that contributing to the Cards' slow start... Sosa's three-pointer in the second half gave him 200 for his career. he is the fifth player in Cardinals' history to post 200 treys... Rakeem Buckles was 10-of-11 from the floor with 20 points to lead the Cardinals. His 90.9% is the best by any Big East player this season.
Game notes from the East Regional.
South Region - (1) Duke 73, (16) Arkansas - Pine Bluff 44
Devil's Den: Friday's first round romp of Arkansas-Pine Bluff by Duke shows why the tournament needs to expand to 96 teams with the top 32 having byes. Scenario: If Duke is the No. 1 seed in a given region, then the Blue Devils would play the winner of a 9-24 matchup. All of a sudden, Duke would have a competitive first round game... Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, and Kyle Singler average 53.5 ppg, which is 68.6% of Duke's points. The trio combined for 45 of the Devils' 73 points or 61.1% in the 73-44 win.
The Roar: UAPB won 12 out of it's last 14 games and became the first member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference to win an NCAA opening round game with the 61-44 victory over Winthrop in Tuesday night's play-in game... Lions coach George Ivory played for the legendary Lafayette Stribling at Mississippi Valley State from 1984-1988...The Golden Lions' Terrance Calvin and Savalance Townsend were their only two double figures scorers for the season as they averaged 10.3 and 10.0, respectively. Friday night, no Golden Lion hit double figures as Tavaris Washington led with nine points.
(8) Cal 77, (9) Louisville 62 -
Bear Claws: The Bears were never threatened after their opening 22-4 run as they were 11-of-15 to start the game... Cal's senior class has been so successful that seniors scored 77% of the points this season and they have also accounted for 56.6% of the Bears' rebounds. Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle were first team All-Pac 10 while Jamal Boykin and Theo Robertson were second teamers... Mike Montgomery is 2-0 vs. Duke as the coach of the Stanford Cardinal... Now, California is finally healthy and could be peaking at the right time. Robertson missed six games with a sore foot, Jorge Gutierrez, who always plays within himself, had knee issues early in the season, Randle ahs had a sore knee all season, but has not missed a game, and Max Zhang, who at 7-3 is the tallest player in Cal history, missed the Bears' last three regular season games with a collapsed lung.
Cardinal's Nest: Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith were a combined 5-of-17 from the floor Friday night. It has been common knowledge that when Louisville shoots the basketball well, they win. Ask Syracuse. Sosa had four and Smith was yet to scratch at halftime. both players ended their four year careers with an NCAA Tournament in each season... A shot clock issue delayed Friday night's final game by 20 minutes. The 'Ville though was not buying into that contributing to the Cards' slow start... Sosa's three-pointer in the second half gave him 200 for his career. he is the fifth player in Cardinals' history to post 200 treys... Rakeem Buckles was 10-of-11 from the floor with 20 points to lead the Cardinals. His 90.9% is the best by any Big East player this season.
