‘Zona stuns Duke

I thought Arizona was a pretty good team after they beat Texas last week in the third round of the tournament. Had watched them play this year and was pretty impressed. Now I think they can win it all.
Derrick Williams, the dominating sophomore center for the Wildcats, was unstoppable and he had a lot of help from his teammates in the second half, as ‘Zona outscored Duke 55-33 in the second half, to oust the Blue Devils, 93-77, in the Round of 16 and advance to the Elite Eight where they’ll face UConn on Saturday.

Williams poured in 32 for the game with some impressive inside play and five-of-six from trifecta. He scored 25 of his points in the first half. He also added 13 boards. Lamont Jones and Solomon Hill came on in the second half for the Wildcats. Jones finished with 16 and Hill added 13. It was total domination of a Blue Devils (32-5) team that looked like they might be unstoppable with the return of Kyrie Irving. Irving did his part scoring 28, but senior Nolan Smith was held to eight points on 3-of-14 shooting and 0-of-3 from trifecta. The Duke big men, the Plumlee brothers along with Kyle Singler and Ryan Kelly, were dominated in the post by the bigger, more physical ‘Cats. Duke was only five-of-14 from three and when they’re not hitting their threes, they struggle.

‘Zona (30-7), to me, was the most impressive team of the night. Sean Miller, their coach, is doing an exceptional job getting this team to play like the one that won the national championship in 1997. It doesn’t have the All-American point guard like Mike Bibby was in ’97, but the team has very good guard play. They can shoot, they can rebound and they can play defense. This team has it all and has a chance to go all the way. But they have to beat Kemba on Saturday and that’s no gimme. We’ll see how that shakes out.

Florida 83, BYU 74 (OT)

Florida got incredible balance in their scoring with Alex Tyus leading the way with 19 points and adding 17 boards. Kenny Boynton added 17 and Chandler Parsons and Erving Walker chipped in 16 apiece. Florida sank 11 3’s, but was only 10-for-22 from the free throw line (45.5%). That could hurt them if they don’t correct that in the next round against Butlet. The Gators moved to 29-7 overall.

Jimmer had 32 and was effective somewhat driving the lane and scoring, but was only three-of-15 from trifecta. He was seven-of-seven from the line, but was held scoreless in overtime. BYU finished the season at 32-5. Tyus was just too much inside for a team that sorely missed suspended power forward Kyle Davies. If Davies had played the Cougars might have pulled out the victory. But the Gators advance to play Butler Saturday.

UConn 74, San Diego State 67

The Huskies go as Kemba Walker goes and if there has ever been a guard that’s been as dominant a player in the postseason, I haven’t seen him in a while. Walker scored 36 points on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor including four-of-eight from trifecta and eight-of-10 from the line. Jeremy Lamb also scored big for the Huskies getting 24 and hitting a huge three down the stretch that put the Huskies up by four. The Huskies moved to 29-9.

San Diego State (34-3) was led by D.J. Gay who had 16 points. Kawhi Leonard had 12 points and nine boards for the Aztecs. San Diego State made some mistakes in the game particularly when one of their players laid a shoulder into a UConn player during a timeout which led to a technical, two made Kemba free throws and the ball that seemed to totally turn the momentum of the game. UConn moves on. They’ve got a tough matchup with ‘Zona on Saturday, but it’s hard to bet against Kemba. He’s really special.

Butler 61, Wisconsin 54

The Bulldogs kept it going with Matt Howard leading the way with 20 points on four-of-eight from the field including three-of-five from trifecta and nine of 10 from the line. Shelvin Mack added 13 as Butler (26-9) moves on to face Florida on Saturday. Jordan Taylor led the Badgers (25-9) with 22 points but was only three-of-10 from trifecta. Wisconsin was only seven of 29 from trifecta for the game. Butler was five-of-18. It was kind of an ugly game, but Butler can play ugly and win.

(Derrick Williams was dominant in the paint as ‘Zona crushed Duke.)