After Pittsburgh feel to Butler by one point, all the buzz surrounding the game was the bizarre finish that resulted in the first top seed being bounced from the tourney. Even Jim Calhoun couldn't believe the ending to the wacky game. After his teams’ third round win over Cincinnati he commented on the game by saying, "I watched the end of the Pitt game and I haven't ever seen anything like that in 39 years of coaching, both plays." Shelvin Mack had his best game of the season scoring 30 points on 7 of 12 shooting from behind the arc. However, his great game looked to be ruined when he committed an inexplicable foul on Gilbert Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game with his team up by one point. Brown also was having a great game with 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field. On the season he was a 79 percent shooter from the line and was 3 for 3 in the game from the strike. Brown made the first free throw but then missed the second one. The game appeared to be going into overtime until the ref blew a whistle for a foul on Nasir Robinson of Pittsburgh. Matt Howard described the play when he said, "I felt his arm come across mine, so I just threw the ball to the rim." With 0.8 seconds left in the game Matt Howard of Butler went to the line and made one of two free throws to secure the upset for Butler. After the game, the focus was obviously on the crazy finish. Robinson said, "I take the blame, man. I take the blame for the loss... I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that. It was a stupid play." The win sets up a Butler-Wisconsin sweet sixteen matchup.
With 5:54 remaining in the first half, VCU guard Brandon Rozzell made a layup to put the Rams up on the Purdue Boilermakers 25 to 24. From that point on in the game, Purdue never took back the lead. All Big-Ten performer E'Twaun Moore struggled from the field only making 5 of his 15 shots and only scoring 10 points. However, the real problem for the Boilermakers was on the defensive end. They couldn't stop the Rams allowing them to shot nearly 57 percent from the field. The 94 points that VCU scored was the most points allowed all season by the Boilermakers. Purdue had difficulty guarding the quick backcourt of the Rams. Joey Rodriguez dished out 11 assists and Bradford Burgess had 23 points and only missed one of the four threes he attempted. The selection committed was ridiculed for their decision to take VCU into the tournament as one of the final four teams. After three wins in the tourney, point guard Joey Rodriguez said, "I'd say to the committee, Thank you for believing in us... Hopefully they'd say something back to us, like, Thank you for proving us right." VCU guard Brandon Rozell said, "I think the committee is sitting back smiling now." VCU will get to continue its magical run in the tourney when they meet 10th seeded Florida St. in the sweet sixteen.
In their only meeting during the season, Marquette beat Syracuse at home by 6 points. Marquette was able to penetrate, so they could get inside of Syracuse's two-three zone and not have to knock down a ton of threes to knock off the Orange. They got the ball behind Syracuse's zone to Jae Crowder, who scored his second highest point total all season with 25. In their third round matchup in the tourney, Marquette used the same formula to knock off the Orange 66 to 62. They only shot 11 threes but were able to get inside of Syracuse's zone. Marquette shot 23 free throws in the game. Jae Crowder alone shot one more free throw than the whole Syracuse team, who took 15 threes and only made five. Marquette was able to get behind the zone and get the ball to Crowder who had 16 points. When they needed a three pointer, Darius Johnson-Odom wasn't afraid to fire. He hit a huge three pointer with 27 seconds left in the game to give Marquette a three point lead. Syracuse had 18 turnovers in the game including a huge one by Dion Waiters with 52 seconds remaining when the game was tied at 59 to give the ball back to the Golden Eagles. Marquette moves on to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in Newark in the regional semifinals.
Nobody has ever denied Florida State's ability to defend and stifle teams when they are on defense. However, their problems during the season has been their inability to score especially since their leading scoring Chris Singleton went out with an injury and has been playing limited minutes in his return during the tourney. Their second leading scoring isn't even averaging 10 points a game. The Seminoles got a balanced attack from their starting five with each of them scoring at least 8 points in the third round game against the Fighting Irish. As always, their defense was spectacular. Notre Dame only scored 23 points in the first half and 57 in the whole game. The Seminoles frustrated the Big East player of the year Ben Hansbrough the entire night. He only made 4 of the 10 threes he attempted during the game. Derwin Kitchen, who had 10 points and six rebounds said, "If we can stay consistent on the offensive end, I like our chances. We've just been so up and down and inconsistent on the offensive end, it allowed us to stumble at times and lose a few games. If we can stay consistent and execute on the offensive end, I like our chances because we play so well on the defensive end." For the Seminole fans, they hope their team will continue to be consistent on the offensive end when they play the 11th seeded VCU Rams in the regional semifinals.
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