Bests
Break, then breakthrough
Zags zapped.
Gonzaga rallied to within 11 midway through the second half against North Carolina. But after the Tar Heels called a timeout with 12:27 left, they needed less than a minute for a 9-0 run, putting the game away.
Late bloomer.
Michigan State sophomore guard Kalin Lucas scored 12 points in the second half against Kansas, including seven in the final 48 seconds.
Razing Arizona.
Louisville’s 39-point win over Arizona just missed cracking the top five for most-lopsided victories in regional history. UCLA set the record in 1967 with a 49-point rout of Wyoming. Denver Post staff and wire services
Worsts
Indifferent, inaccurate, inept
Over the Hill.
Jordan Hill, Arizona’s 6-foot-10 junior forward, entered Friday’s game against Louisville averaging 18.4 points. He scored 14 points but couldn’t have impressed NBA scouts by getting all but four in a rather meaningless second half.
Dud duo.
Syracuse’s Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins went a combined 1-of-13 in the first half of their 84-71 loss to Oklahoma. The Orange trailed by 13 points at halftime, 39-26 — the same margin of defeat.
Not-so-golden Bouldin.
ThunderRidge High School graduate Matt Bouldin went 3-for-10, including 0-for-5 on 3-pointers, in Gonzaga’s 98-77 loss to North Carolina.
Cardinals’ Williams a magical mower
UL forward didn’t fight inflation, he embraced it.
When many youngsters wanted to emulate Michael Jordan, Louisville forward Terrence Williams tried to model his game after another NBA great, Magic Johnson.
In fact, Williams took it to the extreme. When he learned what Johnson did to make extra money as a youngster, Williams decided to do the same thing:
Cut lawns.
Apparently, Williams adjusted the price for inflation.
“He was only getting, like, a dollar or something. I had to get at least $15, $20. I was charging more for my business.”
Boffo box office, or sluggish economy?
U. of Phoenix Stadium about half full.
The West Regional semifinals drew 20,101 fans on Thursday — about half of University of Phoenix Stadium’s 38,000 basketball capacity.
That could be interpreted as a sign of a sluggish economy.
Or it could be a sign that it was wise to move the regional from U.S. Airways Center, which sold out its 18,000-plus seats for the same event last spring.
“This was the largest crowd, I think, to see a college basketball game in the state of Arizona,” said tournament director Mike Chismar, an Arizona State associate athletic director. “We were excited about it.”
Denver Post staff & wire services
