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Kansas Jayhawks beat Davidson Wildcats 59-57 to win the Midwest Regional in the 2007-2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

 

Kansas Jayhawks (35-3) moved on to play overall No. 1 seed North Carolina—and former coach Roy Williams—on Saturday, and UCLA and Memphis will round out the party at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

 

Davidson Wildcats Stephen Curry, the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, had made the tournament his own little party, scoring at will with his silky-smooth shot and carrying Davidson to one improbable victory after another. Davidson Wildcats Stephen Curry looked as if he might do it again, drilling a 3-pointer from NBA range to cut Kansas’ lead to 59-57 with 54 seconds left.

After Kansas’ Sherron Collins missed with 21 seconds left, the 10th-seeded Wildcats got one last chance and of course they gave the ball to Davidson Wildcats Stephen Curry. “It hurts a lot to get this far, be so close to get to the Final Four,” Curry said. I’m definitely proud of what we’ve accomplished and what we’re about and what we’ve just proven all year,” Davidson Wildcats Stephen Curry added. “… But it’s going to hurt. This game’s going to hurt a lot for the next however long.”

Davidson Wildcats Stephen Curry, who became only the fourth player to hit the 30-point mark in his first four NCAA tournament games, finished with 25 on 9-of-25 shooting and was picked Most Outstanding Player of the Midwest Regional. His roommate, Bryant Barr, was the only other Davidson player in double figures, scoring all 11 of his points in the second half.

The loss snapped Davidson’s 25-game winning streak, longest in the nation. “We expected to win,” McKillop said. “We didn’t come here content or satisfied. We expected to win. This has been a 12-month mission. It came down to one final play. That’s the beauty of this game that we play.”

Meanwhile, the top-seeded Memphis Tigers breezed past Texas Longhorns 85-67 to reach Final Four since 1985.

Memphis Tigers Derrick Rose led his team with 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds. “Everybody back home happy for me and our fans back in Memphis are happy, so we’re just living it up; I’m just living the dream right now” Memphis Tigers Derrick Rose.

Memphis Tigers Derrick Rose won the South Regional MVP award; Memphis Tigers tied the NCAA Division I record for wins in a season, with their only loss coming to a team ranked No. 2 at the time. They’ve been first, second or third in the poll all season. And to all the people who keep saying they’d be the first No. 1 seed to lose, leading scorer Chris Douglas-Roberts can say, “See you in San Antonio.”

“I’m not sure if we’ll get the respect we deserve, but if we don’t, it doesn’t matter,” Douglas-Robert said. “It’s four teams left now.”

Memphis Tigers will play UCLA and its freshman phenom, Kevin Love. The Tigers and Bruins have a nice little history, having met in a regional final two years ago and in the 1973 title game.

Memphis Tigers has only been back to the Final Four once, with Keith Lee leading the way in 1985. But that trip was vacated according to the NCAA record book because of rules violations. Ditto for the only other time John Calipari coached a team to the Final Four, UMass in 1996.

This March, Memphis Tigers has treated the NCAA field like it a continuation of Conference USA play. This 18-point finish was the second-closest final margin.

“We just try to go out there and prove everyone wrong,” said bruising big man Joey Dorsey, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

For more NCAA Basketball betting odds go to Bodog Sportsbook.

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 4:28 pm and is filed under College Basketball Picks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.