Beal’s 21 lifts Fla. to 68-58 win over Marquette

PHOENIX (AP)—Exactly as his coach asked him to, Bradley Beal is bringing out his `A’ game. His latest bit of wizardry moved Florida a win away from the Final Four and set up Billy Donovan with a perfectly scripted matchup against his old coach and boss, Rick Pitino.

Beal, the freshman with NBA written all over him, scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting Thursday night to help the Gators to a 68-58 victory over Marquette.

Next up for No. 7 Florida (26-10) is a West Regional final Saturday against Louisville and Pitino, who taught ol’ Billy The Kid a lot of what he knows.

“Obviously, I’ve said that outside of my parents, he’s the most influential person in my life,” Donovan said.

The most influential person on Donovan’s team? On this night, it was Beal. He also had six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots, including one on Jae Crowder while the third-seeded Golden Eagles (27-8) were desperately trying to claw back after trailing by 14.

Crowder, a senior and the Big East player of the year, never found his touch. After sitting for eight minutes in the first half with foul trouble, he finished with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting while another Marquette senior, Darius Johnson-Odom, also went 5 for 15 in a struggle to reach 14 points.

“We struggled being in rhythm most of the game,” coach Buzz Williams said. “Jae has always played more than 12 minutes in a half, but it’s dangerous for him to pick up his third, so he sat a lot the half. When you’re playing against a team as good as Florida and you’re playing without your key guys, it’s hard for that rhythm to get established.”

Erving Walker had 11 for the Gators, including a 3-pointer that came after Patric Young scrapped for an offensive rebound with 2:05 left. It snapped a 6-0 Marquette run that pulled the third-seeded Golden Eagles to within six.

But the biggest difference maker was Beal, a high school national player of the year whom Donovan has been pushing to be more assertive, especially after the Gators lost four of five heading into the tournament.

“He doesn’t want to step on toes; he’s very aware of his place on the team,” Donovan said, in explaining Beal’s slow acceptance of a leading role. “You can’t do anything but love him because of the way he handles himself.”

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South Fla works over Cal 65-54 in NCAA tourney

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) Ugly, ugly, ugly. Just the way South Florida likes it.

The Bulls introduced the NCAA tournament to the Big East's nastiest defense Wednesday night, putting more than just a chill into a California team that had never seen anything like it. The Bulls allowed only 13 points in the first half and brushed their way to a 65-54 victory.

South Florida (21-13) will play No. 5 seed Temple in Nashville on Friday, a matchup of teams known for gritty defense. Few have been better than this one for the first 20 minutes on the NCAA stage.

The Bulls swarmed `em, bumped em' and swatted their shots away - those that weren't air balls, that is.

California (24-10) didn't score over the last 8:55 of the first half, missing 10 shots and turning it over twice while South Florida pulled ahead 36-13.

Guard Jorge Gutierrez, the Pac-12 player of the year, was held to 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

It wasn't all defense that got it done for South Florida. Freshman point guard Anthony Collins, a thin-built player with a youthful face that reminds coach Stan Heath of a 12-year-old kid, played like a star in his first NCAA tournament game, scoring 12 points. Victor Rudd had 15 points

The Golden Bears won't soon forget the way they got worked over. They must have felt as if there were six Bulls on the floor at times playing defense.

No, only five. The refs counted.

The Bulls set a Big East record by giving up only 56.9 points per game this season. Their problem: They score about as many points as they give up. South Florida didn't have a player average in double figures for the season.

Realizing he didn't have many scoring options, Heath instituted the defense-first, defense-last philosophy that got them to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years and, now, their first win. The Bulls came in 0-2 in the tournament.

Other teams exult when one of their players hits a big basket. The Bulls cheer from the bench as the other team passes the ball around helplessly and hopelessly.

They were cheering their defense from the opening tip.

The first time down the court, Gutierrez forced a running shot that was too hard, a taste of the misery ahead. California missed its first five shots and eight of its first nine, helping South Florida pull ahead 15-3.

Collins made a driving layup, a floater, a 15-foot pull-up jumper and a layup off his steal during the opening run, getting South Florida's unpredictable offense moving.

The Golden Bears readily acknowledged that they hadn't played anything quite like the Bulls' defense. With four players averaging in double figures, their best chance was to spread the ball around and be patient.

They ran out of patience real fast, prompting coach Mike Montgomery to call a timeout to get his team settled down. Instead, things quickly got worse.

A lot worse.

Gutierrez hit a fade-away 15-foot jumper with 8:56 left in the first half. The Golden Bears wouldn't score again before halftime, with South Florida pulling off a 14-0 run. It ended with a telling moment: California guard Justin Cobbs dribbling toward the basket and failing to even attempt a shot before the buzzer sounded.

Totally discombobulated.

The Golden Bears shuffled toward the locker room with blanks expressions. Their 13 points matched the seventh-fewest in an opening half since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, according to STATS LLC.

The Bulls pulled ahead 57-25 with 8:49 left. The only question was how low they could keep the sore. California fouled repeatedly in the final minute, giving itself enough chances to hit the 50-point mark.DAYTON, Ohio (AP) Ugly, ugly, ugly. Just the way South Florida likes it.

The Bulls introduced the NCAA tournament to the Big East's nastiest defense Wednesday night, putting more than just a chill into a California team that had never seen anything like it. The Bulls allowed only 13 points in the first half and brushed their way to a 65-54 victory.

South Florida (21-13) will play No. 5 seed Temple in Nashville on Friday, a matchup of teams known for gritty defense. Few have been better than this one for the first 20 minutes on the NCAA stage.

The Bulls swarmed `em, bumped em' and swatted their shots away - those that weren't air balls, that is.

California (24-10) didn't score over the last 8:55 of the first half, missing 10 shots and turning it over twice while South Florida pulled ahead 36-13.

Guard Jorge Gutierrez, the Pac-12 player of the year, was held to 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

It wasn't all defense that got it done for South Florida. Freshman point guard Anthony Collins, a thin-built player with a youthful face that reminds coach Stan Heath of a 12-year-old kid, played like a star in his first NCAA tournament game, scoring 12 points. Victor Rudd had 15 points

The Golden Bears won't soon forget the way they got worked over. They must have felt as if there were six Bulls on the floor at times playing defense.

No, only five. The refs counted.

The Bulls set a Big East record by giving up only 56.9 points per game this season. Their problem: They score about as many points as they give up. South Florida didn't have a player average in double figures for the season.

Realizing he didn't have many scoring options, Heath instituted the defense-first, defense-last philosophy that got them to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years and, now, their first win. The Bulls came in 0-2 in the tournament.

Other teams exult when one of their players hits a big basket. The Bulls cheer from the bench as the other team passes the ball around helplessly and hopelessly.

They were cheering their defense from the opening tip.

The first time down the court, Gutierrez forced a running shot that was too hard, a taste of the misery ahead. California missed its first five shots and eight of its first nine, helping South Florida pull ahead 15-3.

Collins made a driving layup, a floater, a 15-foot pull-up jumper and a layup off his steal during the opening run, getting South Florida's unpredictable offense moving.

The Golden Bears readily acknowledged that they hadn't played anything quite like the Bulls' defense. With four players averaging in double figures, their best chance was to spread the ball around and be patient.

They ran out of patience real fast, prompting coach Mike Montgomery to call a timeout to get his team settled down. Instead, things quickly got worse.

A lot worse.

Gutierrez hit a fade-away 15-foot jumper with 8:56 left in the first half. The Golden Bears wouldn't score again before halftime, with South Florida pulling off a 14-0 run. It ended with a telling moment: California guard Justin Cobbs dribbling toward the basket and failing to even attempt a shot before the buzzer sounded.

Totally discombobulated.

The Golden Bears shuffled toward the locker room with blanks expressions. Their 13 points matched the seventh-fewest in an opening half since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, according to STATS LLC.

The Bulls pulled ahead 57-25 with 8:49 left. The only question was how low they could keep the sore. California fouled repeatedly in the final minute, giving itself enough chances to hit the 50-point mark.

WKU sets NCAA record with 59-58 win over MVSU

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) The team with the losing record pulled off the most fantastic 5-minute finish in NCAA tournament history.

The most surprising thing? Western Kentucky didn't even think it was all that extraordinary.

It was, in every way.

With a president and a prime minister sitting in the front row behind the basket, the Hilltoppers turned up their full-court press and overcame a 16-point deficit in the last 5 minutes on Tuesday night. Their 59-58 victory over Mississippi Valley State christened it as the tournament of comebacks.

Who better to do it than the longest of long shots?

``Wow,'' coach Ray Harper said, his face still flush with March emotion. ``I don't know where to begin.''

With the comeback, of course. There's never been one quite like it.

T.J. Price's three-point play with 33 seconds to go completed the Hilltoppers' unprecedented rally in front of President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, who headed out at the buzzer.

The NCAA called it the biggest deficit overcome in the final 5 minutes of a tournament game. The previous best: Illinois overcame a 15-point deficit in the last 5 minutes to beat Arizona 90-89 in overtime in a regional final in 2005.

Madness indeed.

``It's a crazy feeling,'' said Derrick Gordon, who had 11 points. ``That's the president of the United States coming to watch our game. We wanted to put on a show. Things didn't work our way for the first 35 minutes, but we came away with the W.

``I'm sure he liked what he saw.''

He saw the only squad with a losing record in the 68-team field get out of its own way long enough to do something special. The Hilltoppers (16-18) shot only 30 percent from the field, turned the ball over an incredible 28 times and won.

The Hilltoppers have rallied from double-digit deficits in each of their last three games, including two in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Their latest comeback was the biggest of them all.

``We're used to doing it,'' Gordon said. ``We did it all throughout the Sun Belt tournament. No matter how much we were losing by, we were just going to keep on fighting until the buzzer went off. That's something that teams don't know about us.''

Western Kentucky moves on to play Kentucky - the top seed in the South Regional - on Thursday in Louisville, an all-Bluegrass game for the second round.

MVSU (21-13) caught the president's eye while pulling ahead, but couldn't close it out. Kevin Burwell scored 20 points and locked eyes with the president after swishing a 3-pointer while the Delta Devils built their big lead. Obama smiled back.

``Like I said yesterday, we were just trying to put on a show for him,'' Burwell said. ``In the heat of the moment, I just pointed at him a couple of times. That was it.''

Obama - an avid basketball fan who fills out an NCAA bracket each year - spent a lot of time explaining the nuances of the game to Cameron. Obama has picked Kentucky as one of his Final Four teams.

A smaller school from a corner of the commonwealth became the star of the First Four.

The Hilltoppers were the losers' favorite in the bracket - the first team since Coppin State in 2009 to make it to the tournament with a losing record.

And that didn't even begin to tell their story.

A team featuring seven freshmen lost 11 of its first 16 games. The low point came on Jan. 5, when Louisiana-Lafayette somehow managed to get six players on the floor for the winning shot in overtime. And that wasn't the worst indignity that day. Only 2,137 fans took advantage of a $1 ticket promotion, showing that very few considered the Hilltoppers worth a buck.

The next day, coach Ken McDonald was fired, replaced by Harper, an assistant. The Hilltoppers responded by losing their next three games.

Slowly, they grew form a young, bad team into one that found its stride at tournament time. They won four games in four days for the Sun Belt's automatic berth.

And here they were on Tuesday, making an even bigger comeback in the NCAA tournament before an audience that seemed to add to both teams' jitters at the outset.

There was no avoiding the guest list. During the first timeout, photographers from the White House press corps went on the court to snap photos. The two referees on that side of the court shook the president's hand.

MVSU led most of the way and seemed to have everything in control until Western Kentucky went to a full-court press.

``I thought it was just our guys got rattled, got excited, and got a little bit beside themselves,'' coach Sean Woods said. ``Normally in a situation like that, maybe it's one guy or two. But when it's all five, it was like a snowball effect.''

Burwell had a chance to tie the game with a 3 in the closing seconds. Cor-J Cox had a putback at the buzzer that left the Delta Devils a point short.

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NCAA CBS March Madness Listings and Schedule

Links to all the games, to watch from your computer.


DATE
TIME
(EST.)
GAME NETWORK WEB STREAMING


Monday 02/27/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
Big South Championship
First Round - Game No. 1 - Radford (#10) vs. VMI (#7)
Big South Network

Monday 02/27/12
7:30 PM
(Campus Site)
Big South Championship
First Round - Game No. 2 - Gardner-Webb (#9) vs. High Point (#8)
Big South Network

Wednesday 02/29/12 NOON
Big South Championship
Quarterfinal No. 1 - TEAMS TBD
[Winner of Game No. 1 (Seed #7 / #10) vs. Coastal Carolina (#2)]
Big South Network

Wednesday 02/29/12
2:00 PM
(approx.)
Big South Championship
Quarterfinal No. 2 - Campbell (#3) vs. Winthrop (#6)
Big South Network

Wednesday 02/29/12
2:30 PM
(approx.)
Atlantic Sun Championship
Quarterfinal No. 1 - Jacksonville (#8) vs. Belmont (#1)
ESPN3.com

Wednesday 02/29/12 6:00 PM
Big South Championship
Quarterfinal No. 3 - TEAMS TBD
[Winner of Game No. 1 (Seed #8 / #9) vs. UNC Asheville (#1)]
Big South Network

Tuesday 02/28/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
Horizon League Championship
First Round - Game No. 1 - Loyola Chicago (#10) vs. Detroit (#3)
Horizon League Network

Tuesday 02/28/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
Horizon League Championship
First Round - Game No. 2 - Green Bay (#7) vs. Youngstown State (#6)
Horizon League Network

Tuesday 02/28/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
Horizon League Championship
First Round - Game No. 4 - Wright State (#8) vs. Butler (#5)
Horizon League Network

Wednesday 02/29/12 7:00 PM
Ohio Valley Conference Championship
First Round - Game No. 1 - Southeast Missouri (#5) vs.
Eastern Kentucky (#8)
OVCSports.tv

Wednesday 02/29/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
The Patriot League Championship
Quarterfinal No. 1 - Buckell (#1) at Navy (#8)
Patriot League All*Access

Wednesday 02/29/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
The Patriot League Championship
Quarterfinal No. 2 - Holy Cross (#4) at Lafayette (#5)
Patriot League All*Access

Wednesday 02/29/12
7:00 PM
(Campus Site)
The Patriot League Championship
Quarterfinal No. 3 - Lehigh (#2) at Colgate (#7)
Patriot League All*Access

Wednesday 02/29/12
7:30 PM
(Campus Site)
The Patriot League Championship
Quarterfinal No. 4 - American (#3) at Army (#6)
Patriot League All*Access

Wednesday 02/29/12
8:00 PM
(approx.)
Big South Championship
Quarterfinal No. 4 - Charleston Southern (#4) vs. Liberty (#5)
Big South Network

Tuesday 02/28/12
8:00 PM
(Campus Site)
Horizon League Championship
First Round - Game No. 3 - Illinois-Chicago (#9) vs. Milwaukee (#4)
Horizon League Network

Wednesday 02/29/12
8:30 PM
(approx.)
Atlantic Sun Championship
Quarterfinal No. 2 - Lipscomb (#7) vs. Mercer (#2)
ESPN3.com

Wednesday 02/29/12
9:00 PM
(approx.)
Ohio Valley Conference Championship
First Round - Game No. 2 - Austin Peay (#6) vs. Jacksonville State (#7)
OVCSports.tv

Wednesday 02/29/12 9:00 PM
West Coast Conference Championship
Opening Game - Portland (#8) vs. Santa Clara (#9)
WCC All*Access

Syracuse’s Melo ruled ineligible

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — Syracuse will have to chase a national championship without starting center Fab Melo, who has been declared ineligible for the NCAA tournament.

The university announced Tuesday that the 7-foot Brazilian, who did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh for the second and third-round games, won’t take part in the tournament due to an eligibility issue. The school did not elaborate.

Melo missed three games earlier this season — including one of the top-seeded Orange’s two losses — because of an academic issue.

NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said Syracuse, not the NCAA, declared Melo ineligible.

Coach Jim Boeheim said the Orange will be”ready to play.”

As he left the bus in front of the team hotel Tuesday, Boeheim at first said he had nothing to say. He then told The Associated Press that “all we can do is be ready to play with the guys we have.”

“That’s all we can do,” he said. “There are injuries, things happen during a season. We’ll be ready to play and we’ll go play.”

Boeheim has not decided who will start in place of Melo, the Big East Defensive Player of Year, on Thursday when Syracuse (31-2) opens the tournament against No. 16 seed North Carolina-Asheville.

Melo’s presence on the back line of the Orange’s 2-3 zone might not be a factor in that game but it could be if Syracuse advances to play to face the winner of the Kansas State-Southern Mississippi game or possible future opponents in the East Regional such as Ohio State, with sophomore center Jared Sullinger, Florida State or Wisconsin.

Sophomore Baye Keita or freshman Rakeem Christmas should get the start. The Orange are one of the deepest teams in the tournament with seven players, including Melo, averaging between 13.8 and 6.6 points per game.

Melo averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds and had 88 blocks this season for Syracuse, which was ranked No. 1 for six weeks this season and finished No. 2 behind Kentucky in the final poll.

The Orange opened the season with 20 consecutive wins before losing 67-58 at Notre Dame without Melo. Syracuse then won 11 in a row before losing 71-68 to Cincinnati last Friday in the Big East tournament semifinals.

The news is the latest development in a tumultuous season for Syracuse.

Last week, school officials said the university had more than a year ago self-reported possible violations of its internal drug policy by former members of the team and that the NCAA was investigating. None of the current members of the team was involved.

In a report, Yahoo Sports said a three-month investigation it conducted showed that the Syracuse men’s basketball program failed to adhere to the drug policy while playing ineligible players over the past decade.

The report, which citied anonymous sources, said at least 10 players since 2001 had tested positive for a banned recreational substance or substances. The report did not identify who tested positive. Syracuse won its lone national championship in 2003.

And the season began with the dismissal of associate head coach Bernie Fine after two former ballboys accused him of sexually molesting them in the 1980s. While charges have yet to be filed against Fine, he was fired in late November. Boeheim and the university are also facing a defamation suit filed by the ballboys — Bobby Davis and stepbrother Mike Lang.

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