Sweet 16 heat up March Madness
We’re down to the final 16 teams.
And when we only have 16 teams remaining in the biggest tourney of college hoops, that only means one thing, the regional semifinals of the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament is on with only two more rounds to go before we determine which two teams will be advancing to play for the national title.
There’s no more room for error. And as far as the Louisville Cardinals are concerned, they shouldn’t allow themselves to make the same mistakes they made against Siena if they still have plans of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Final Four.
Sure, all four no.1 seeds in the tournament advanced but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals when these Sienna Saints refused to cooperative. You see, the Cardinals had a comfortable double-digit lead over Sienna and it did look like Louisville was on its way to advancing comfortably. But when the Saints, all of a sudden, erased that huge lead, the Cardinals started to panic.
For a team that has the overall no.1 seed in the tournament, Louisville struggling this early into the bracket was surprising. And while their fellow no.1 seeds like the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers all took care of business as expected, Louisville struggling against Sienna in round two was surprising, and a reason to be concerned about if you’re a Cardinals fan.
If it wasn’t for Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino challenging his team, they wouldn’t be able to hold on to a 79-72 win. Pitino called a timeout after the Saints made a late rally. He told his team, ‘’you’ve got to prove to yourselves now you’re a great basketball team.’’ Luckily for him, his senior Terrence Williams got the message.
Terrence Williams led the Cardinals to counter Siena’s run. He scored 24 points, 15 rebounds and one saving play after another to help Louisville escape with the win. And after finding themselves in the middle of a frantic attack from the Saints, they find themselves advancing to the Sweet 16.
The Pittsburgh Panthers, on the other hand, already had their spot for the Sweet 16 secured hours before Louisville played Sienna. They got a game-high 32 points from Sam Young as they beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys 84-76.
The North Carolina Tar Heels and the Connecticut Huskies also punched their ticket for Sweet 16 when they came up with convincing wins over the LSU Tigers and the Texas A&M Aggies respectively. UNC beat LSU 84-70 after Connecticut came up with a 92-66 win over Texas A&M.
The final 16 teams advancing aside from the four no.1 seeds include Michigan State, Missouri, Kansas, Syracuse, Xavier, Arizona, Memphis, Duke, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Villanova and Purdue.
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