SOUTHWEST REGIONAL
No. 12 Richmond (29-7) vs. No. 1 Kansas (34-2)
5:27 p.m., TBS: Kansas’ shocking second-round loss to Northern Iowa last year scared the Jayhawks straight. They say they won’t look past anyone, and through two games they’ve been sharp. They definitely won’t look past Richmond, which has a history of NCAA Tournament upsets. The Spiders can almost match the Morris twins with 6-foot-10, 225-pound Justin Harper and 6-9, 230-pound Dan Geriot. Kansas must focus on stopping Harper (17.8 ppg), the Spiders’ best player. The Jayhawks’ biggest test will be solving Richmond’s tough matchup zone defense.
No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth (26-11) vs. No. 10 Florida State (23-10)
7:57 p.m., TBS: One of the nation’s best point guards, VCU’s Joey Rodriguez, leads his team against the best shooting defense in the country. VCU has impressed the country with its athleticism, and its defense has stepped up in the NCAAs. FSU’s trouble comes on offense, where no one averages more than 13 points a game, and it has trouble handling the ball. FSU plays well when it gets ahead and forces mistakes. It has trouble when it falls behind and needs to score in bunches. Chris Singleton, its leading scorer, has missed five weeks with a broken foot and isn’t 100 percent.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
EAST REGIONAL
No. 2 North Carolina (28-7) vs. No. 11 Marquette (22-14)
5:15 p.m., KCNC-4: The Tar Heels will make their 31st appearance in an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal, and it’s been a remarkable turnaround since last season, when they lost 17 games and failed to qualify for the tournament a year after winning it. “They are as fast as anybody in the country in the first 10 seconds of a possession,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “That will cause great problems for us, as it has every other opponent that they have played this year.” He then rattled off a slew of statistics about the Tar Heels, noting they were 25-2 when they outrebounded their opponent and that 35 percent of their points were scored on shots at the rim. The last time North Carolina and Marquette met in the NCAA Tournament was March 28, 1977, in the championship game. Marquette won 67-59 for coach Al McGuire.
No. 1 Ohio State (34-2) vs. No. 4 Kentucky (27-8)
7:45 p.m., KCNC-4: While the Wildcats have one of the youngest teams in the country, the veteran Buckeyes counter with sagely wisdom. If the Wildcats choose to run up and down the floor, Ohio State will slow down into a half-court offense and dump the ball inside to 6-9 freshman Jared Sullinger, who is good for a double-double just about every time he steps on the floor. For all the achievements of the bluebloods from the Bluegrass State — 51 NCAA Tournament appearances, 13 Final Fours, seven national championships — there’s one thing they’ve never done: beat Ohio State in the tournament (0-5).
Denver Post wire services
