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The University of Louisville men’s basketball team (31-6) fell just short of their quest to reach the Final Four after falling to Michigan State 64-52 in the Midwest Regional Finals Sunday. The loss marks the second consecutive season in which the Cards stumbled in the Elite Eight.

“Michigan State deserves all the credit,” Rick Pitino, Louisville head said. “They played great basketball, got every tough rebound down the stretch. We had a very difficult time playing against their man. We wanted to go inside to out, but they’re very experienced at the five spot and did some good things.”

During the teams 13 game winning streak, the Cards were averaging just less than 80 points per game and shot over 51 percent from the field collectively. The Spartans held the Cards to just one point above their season low points total and held them to just 38 percent shooting from the field.

Though MSU led by just three at intermission 30-27, they were able to control the boards in the second half and shot 50 percent from behind the three point line for the game.

Michigan State’s Goran Suton scored 17 of his team high 19 in the first half and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his four assists.

Entering the game, many believed the Cards fast paced pressing style would cause problems for the Michigan State (30-6), but the Spartans controlled the tempo throughout the majority of the game and turned the ball over just 12 times. They also outscored U of L 7-0 in fast break points.

“Well in our press, they were able to space us out,” Andre McGee, guard said. “They had great guard play. A couple of times they beat us in transition after we made shots.”

Junior Forward Earl Clark scored a team high 19 points and five rebounds in his last game as a Cardinal. Clark will forgo his senior season and declare for the NBA draft.

Joining Clark in their final games in Cardinal uniforms, seniors McGee and Terrence Williams went 1-8 from the field and combined for just five points total (all from Williams). McGee missed his only shot attempt for the game and finished with two rebounds and one assists.

Williams added six boards and four assists, but was unable to continue the offensive tear he’d been on throughout the Cards run in the NCAA tournament. Williams was averaging just over 17 points and 10 rebounds in his three games prior.

“Sometimes you learn things from a loss,” Williams said after the game. “For myself, my career is over and it didn’t happen. Sounless you win the whole championship you are not going to be satisfied. If we were to make it to the championship and lose, we’d still be upset.”

Sophomore guard Preston Knowles was the only other player on Louisville to score in double figures. Knowles came off the bench to score all of his 11 points in the first half, but did not attempt a shot in the second.

Looks like Georgetown junior DaJuan Summers has had a change of heart regarding his plans for next year.

A little over a month ago Summers declared his intentions to come back for his senior year, but today coach John Thompson III announced that the forward was making himself eligible for the NBA draft. According to the statement released on GUHoyas.com, Summers is in the process of hiring an agent, which means he will not be able to remove his name from the draft and return to school.

The junior out of Baltimore was the Hoyas’ leading scorer last season, averaging 13.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Summers was placed on the preseason Wooden Award watchlist, and saw his draft stock quickly rise as the Hoyas’ season got off to a strong start. But as the Hoyas’ faltered Summers became the subject of criticism for his poor shot selection and declining offensive efficiency.

With the departure of Summers, Georgetown is left without any returning seniors on next year’s squad. Hoya fans must now wait to see if the team’s other highly regarded prospect, freshman center Greg Monroe, will follow Summers into the draft.

OKLAHOMA CIY – After an 80-52 upset last week over No. 2 Auburn, C. Vivian Stringer and the Scarlet Knights were unable to pull off another upset tonight against. Rutgers was boiled over by Purdue 67-61 in Oklahoma City, eliminated the team in the Sweet 16.

Despite a combined 34 points from junior guards Brittany Ray and Epiphanny Prince, the Scarlet Knights could not rally to closer than two down after facing a 14-point deficit midway through the second half.

Rutgers finished its season with a record of 21-13 in the final season for center Kia Vaughn and forward Heather Zurich.

Vaughn, a likely first round WNBA Draft pick, scored 10 points and had 11 boards in her final game as Zurich contributed two key points and five boards.

It was billed as one of the best games of the Sweet Sixteen, and if you’re a Villanova fan it didn’t disappoint. If your a Duke fan…not so much.

The Wildcats handled Duke 77-54 in their first win over the Blue Devils since 1958. It was Villanova’s fourth Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last five years.

After starting the game on a 5-0 run, Duke lost the lead for good with 17:25 left to play in the first half.

The Blue Devils narrowed the lead to 26-25 at the beginning of the second half, but Villanova went on a 7-0 run and only allowed Duke to get as close as 11 throughout the rest of the game.

Neither team shot particularly well from the field, but the Wildcats dominated the glass and simply out played the ACC Tournament champs. 

The Villanova win gives the Big East a 14-2 record in the Tourney this year, and means that at least three conference teams will play in the quarterfinals.

The Wildcats will now prepair for a match up against conference foe Pitt in the Elite Eight.

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Sam Young was the leader of the box score, but Levance Fields was the hero of the hardwood as Pitt squeaked by an under-rated Xavier squad 60-55 in the Sweet Sixteen tonight.

Young had a game-high 19 points which helped the Panthers overcome a 37-29 halftime deficit.

It was Fields who played the role of Mr. Clutch in this game however, scoring the go-ahead three point shot from well outside NBA range with 56 seconds remaining in regulation.

The deep three gave Pitt a 55-54 lead, but also gave Xavier a chance to answer back with nearly a minute to play.

Xavier’s B.J. Raymond handled the ball up top, but was striped by DeJuan Blair on the next possession. 

Fields collected the loose ball and scored a lay up to put the icing on the cake for the Panthers.

Young, Blair, Fields and their teammates have put Pitt in the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

The experienced team will play either Villanova or Duke for a chance at the Final Four in a couple of days.

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Despite a fair share of off-court controversy, Jim Calhoun and company were able to get past Purdue tonight with a hardy 72-60 win.  

Things got ugly for the Boilermakers early on as the Huskies jumped out to a 14-3 lead. 

Purdue battled back to pull within three with less than four minutes remaining in the first half.

After beginning the second half with a five point advantage, the Huskies once again allowed Purdue to cut the deficit to three.

UConn responded with an 8-0 run, only to see the Boilermakers answer with a 7-0 run of their own.

The Huskies got serious and would not allow the Boilermakers to pull within eight points throughout the final nine minutes of the game.

UConn will take on the winner of the Memphis – Mizzou game, and will once again have to leave the controversy off the court if they want to make it to the Final Four.

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Yahoo! Sports is alleging that the UConn basketball coaching staff violated NCAA rules during the recruitment of former Huskie Nate Miles.

Miles was expelled from UConn just a few months into his freshmen year after he was accused of harassment by a female student and then later violated a restraining order brought on by the woman.

It has been alleged that while Miles was being recruited inbetween 2006 and 2008, the Toledo native was provided with lodging, transportation, restaurant meals and representation by a sports agent, all of which violate NCAA regulations.

Yahoo! Sports claims that Jim Calhoun and his coaching staff were in direct contact with the agent representing Miles during this time.

It appears that enough evidence has surfaced to bring down swift and stern punishment on the UConn program over a player who never even wore a Huskies jersey in a NCAA sanctioned game.

Read the Yahoo! Sports Article Here

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team advanced to the team’s second straight Sweet 16 appearance after defeating Siena 79-72 in University of Dayton Arena Sunday. But it wasn’t easy.

After leading by as many as 14 in the first half, the Cards saw their lead evaporate into a four point deficit. With 11:45 left to play in the second half, down eight, Siena went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 63-59 lead. During that run, Louisville turned the ball over six times, including four in a row, which resulted in just one shot attempt.

U of L head coach Rick Pitino called three timeouts during the run attempting to calm his players down and get his top seeded squad refocused. He then challenged them to turn up their energy defensively.

“You’ve got to prove to yourselves now you’re a great basketball team,” he told his rattled players.

With the momentum clearly on the side of the Saints and just over seven minutes left, this one had all the makings of the ferst earth shaking Cinderella upset of this year’s tournament. It was over the course of those last seven minutes in whcih these Cards finally preved to their coach that they were indeed some thing special.

“We thought we had them,” said Siena senior guard Kenny Hasbrouk, who had 11 points. “We were running them up and dwon. We kept up with them every time.”

Cards’ senior Terrence Williams was up for the test. Williams jump started the Cards on offense with a put back after an offensive rebound and then sank a three point basket a couple of trips down later to put his team up for good. He would score nine of his game high 24 points in the last seven minutes of play as the Cards closed out Siena with 20-9 run to advance to the next round.

“When people asked me how good they were, I couldn’t answer it honestly,” Pitino said after the game. “When we were down four and we had to make big plays offensvely and we had to make big rebounds defensively, not until that point did I ever believe that this team had it.”

Williams finished with 15 rebounds, one shy of his career high, to go along with his four assists and two steals making it just another day at the office for the most versitle player in all of college basketball. He also displayed a continued improvement with his jump shot connecting on nine of his 14 attempts from the field and was 4-6 from three.

“He definiely stepped up,” said Earl Clark, who added 12 points and 12 rebounds. “I expect that from him. He’s our leader and he’s a great player, one of the best forwards in the country.”

Though they managed to force Siena into nine turnovers for the entire game, compared to their own 17, the Cards showed tremendous grit when faced with adversity which might not have ended so well earlier in the season according to Wiliams.

“In the beginning of the year, we would have lost that game, no question,” Williams said. “We were in that same situation at Notre Dame–and instead of reversing it and taking the lead, we went down from 10 to 20 to 30.”

U of L (30-5) will now move on to face No. 12 seeded Arizon (21-13) in Indianapolis on Friday at 7 o’clock eastern.

With the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s season long over, the eyes in Piscataway turn over to the women’s team who just took down No. 10 Virginia Commonwealth 57-51 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Scarlet Knights drew a No. 7 seed and have two games on their home court, the Louis Brown Athletic Center, before a potential trip to Oklahoma City.

In the win over VCU, junior guard Epiphanny Prince carried the Scarlet Knights with 26 points, 11 rebounds and four steals and senior center Kia Vaughn gave the Knights another 13 and six.

After the win, Rutgers will face No. 2 Auburn (28-3) Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the RAC.

Auburn defeated Lehigh 85-49 earlier in the day at the RAC.

President Barack Obama filled out his NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN today and picked Louisville to finish as the national runner up to North Carolina.

The president picked four Big East schools to make the Elite Eight (Louisville, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Syracuse), and two of them to advance to the Final Four (Louisville and Pittsburgh).

I like his bracket overall except the outcome of the championship game. I feel that we will beat the Tar Heels regardless if Lawson is healthy or not due to our guard depth.

If the Cards face the Tar Heels in the title game, Lawson’s toe will need to be completely healed in order to handle the Louisville full court pressure.

To check out the full story regarding President Obama’s NCAA picks, click here.