Elite Eight set: 'Cats & Rams win big; Kansas & UNC roll on

In the East regional semifinal of the NCAA tournament, #2 North Carolina dismantled #11 Marquette 81-63 in a game that was over before the half with the Tar Heels leading 40-15 after twenty minutes of play. The Golden Eagles' 15 first-half points were the second-fewest allowed by North Carolina in a half in 144 NCAA tournament games, and Marquette’s 20% shooting from the field (6-of-30) was the second lowest by an opponent in a NCAA tournament game.




Playing like the dominant No. 1 seed in a historic NCAA regional full of underdogs, the Kansas Jayhawks knocked off the #12 Richmond Spiders, 77-57 in the Southwest regional semifinal to move one step closer to returning to the Final Four for the first time since their 2008 championship. Brady Morningstar led Kansas with 18 points along with Thomas Robinson producing 12 points & 14 rebounds, and Marcus Morris with 13 points. The Jayhawks have yet to be tested so far this tournament, winning by an average of nearly 18 points.




Kentucky's freshman guard Brandon Knight added to Ohio State's March misery by knocking down his second game-winner of the postseason, a 15-footer with 5 seconds left to lift the #4 Wildcats to a 62-60 victory over the #1 Buckeyes in the East regional semifinals. UK's senior center Josh Harrellson held his own against OSU's freshman Jared Sullinger, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds as the Wildcats sent the seemingly dominant Buckeyes home early again. The loss marked the third straight year the Buckeyes failed to advance to the regional final. Speaking of the East final, the Wildcats now look towards late Sunday afternoon when they take on #2 North Carolina for the right to advance to the 2011 Final Four in Houston, TX. The game is set to begin at 4:55 pm ET in Newark, NJ.




VCU's Bradford Burgess made a layup off an inbounds pass with 7.1 seconds left and Rob Brandenburg blocked a shot at the buzzer, giving the #11 Rams a 72-71 overtime victory over the #10 Florida State Seminoles in the other Southwest regional semifinal. In the first NCAA tournament game between teams seeded 10 and 11, the lower seeded Rams blew a nine-point lead by scoring only three points in the final 7:37 of regulation. Since being told they lucked their way into a play-in game for the 11th seed, all VCU has done is knock out high-profile programs from the Pac-10 (USC), Big East (Georgetown), Big Ten (Purdue) and now the ACC. And all of them, except for this one, have been blowouts. VCU will look to continue proving their worth against "power" conference teams when they compete in the Southwest regional final against a Big 12 team, the #1 Kansas Jayhawks. Gametime is 2 pm this Sunday from San Antonio, TX.


As for today, the first two teams will enter the Final Four when #2 Florida takes on #8 Butler in the Southeast regional final (4:20 pm - New Orleans, LA), followed by the West regional final between #3 Connecticut & #5 Arizona (6:55 pm - Anaheim, CA). On the women's side, the Sweet 16 is set to begin today at noon.