March Madness Round 2 Review - Bodog Beat

No. 1 Seeds Advance: Memphis Barely Wins, but North Carolina Romps
March 23rd, 2008

All the Memphis Tigers want to know is why they don’t get any respect. Watch this tape, boys, you’ll figure it out. Or, watch what North Carolina did to see why you’re not considered in the same league.

John Calipari’s team of prima donnas nearly went down in flames on Sunday while Roy Williams’ squad dominated again. Memphis, the top team in the South Region, had all it could handle from No. 9 Mississippi State, escaping with a 77-74 win in Little Rock, Ark.

Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts both scored 17 points and Joey Dorsey notched a double-double (13 points, 12 boards) to lift Memphis into the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row.

Favored by 9.5 against the point spread, the Tigers had to scramble for everything they got down the stretch. The Bulldogs got 21 points from Jamont Gordon and 19 from pesky Ben Hansbrough. A late three-point attempt to tie the game fell short, though, and Memphis advanced to face Michigan State in Houston on Friday.

The Tigers are 35-1 and although they’re a No. 1 seed, they’re not given the same chances to win it all as North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA.

For their part, the Tar Heels look very much like the top team in the country. They crushed No. 9 Arkansas 108-77 in an East Region second-round game in Raleigh, N.C. Wayne Ellington had 20 points, Ty Lawson had 19 points, Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Deon Thompson had 15 points for the Heels.

North Carolina covered the 10-point spread and will next play No. 4 Washington State on Thursday in Charlotte.

In another East Region game on Sunday:

No. 3 Louisville 78, No. 6 Oklahoma 48: The Cardinals shot a gaudy 59 percent from the floor as they destroyed the Sooners in Birmingham, Ala. Earl Clark had 14 points and Jerry Smith added 12 points as Louisville had no trouble covering the seven-point spread. Rick Pitino’s squad looks like it will be a tough test for No. 2 Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

Two was not a kind number in the NCAA Tournament Sunday.

Moments after Texas, the second seed in the South Region, survived against Miami, No. 2 Tennessee was forced into overtime against No. 7 Butler in the East and No. 2 Georgetown lost a lead to No. 10 Davidson in the Midwest.

Tennessee escaped with a 76-71 win in Birmingham, Ala., but Georgetown flamed out as Davidson’s Stephen Curry blew up again for 30 points in a 74-70 victory in Raleigh, N.C.

The Volunteers got four free throws in the final 13.6 seconds of overtime from JaJuan Smith to advance to the Sweet 16. Tennessee’s success at the free-throw line helped their bettors get their money back. The March Madness point spread was five and the betting result was a push.

Wayne Chism dominated inside with 16 points and helped limit the Bulldogs’ talented freshman Matt Howard to just four points. Butler got a sterling effort from veteran guards A.J Graves (21 points) and Mike Green (15), but it wasn’t enough to push them into the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend.

Meanwhile, underdog Davidson emerged as a legitimate Final Four threat by rallying from a 17-point deficit to upset the Hoyas. Curry, who had only five points in the first half, exploded for 25 after intermission and now has 70 points in his two games of the tournament. Curry hit the go-ahead three-pointer and nailed five of six free throws down the stretch to stagger Georgetown.

Fellow guard Jason Richards had 20 points for Davidson, which beat the point spread of five and advanced to face No. 3 Wisconsin in Detroit next week.

In a West Region game:

No. 12 Western Kentucky 73, No. 13 San Diego 64: The Hilltoppers moved on to face No. 1 UCLA next week when Courtney Lee scored 29 points. Western Kentucky, which was favored by five, nearly blew a 15-point lead but recovered to hold off the Toreros in Tampa, Fla.

Get complete NCAA men's basketball tournament second round results and updated NCAA college basketball lines in the Bodog Sportsbook.