2008 ncca tournament bracket
2008 ncca tournament schedule
NCAA tournament bracket
The Stanford Cardinal have been stewing since dropping a controversial overtime game to UCLA last week that cost the Cardinal a shot at the Pac-10 regular-season title.
They can remedy that and potentially knock UCLA from a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by winning Saturday night's Pac-10 tournament championship game, with the Bruins the betting favorites on WagerWeb.com.
With Brook Lopez (30 points) leading the way, Stanford beat Washington State 75-68 on Friday night, setting up a rematch with the Bruins, who look to win their second Pac-10 tournament championship in three years.
UCLA (30-3) has won nine straight games, including a 57-54 win over crosstown USC on Friday, to become only the third school in NCAA history to win 30 or more games in three straight seasons, joining Kentucky and Memphis. The Bruins' win streak, though, has been challenged with several close calls lately, including their 77-67 overtime victory over the Cardinal (26-6) on March 6.
With the Cardinal leading by two in the final seconds of regulation, Stanford forward Lawrence Hill was whistled for a shooting foul on what appeared to be a clean block. UCLA guard Darren Collison made both free throws to force overtime, in which the Bruins outscored the Cardinal 14-4 to clinch the conference title.
"When you want to win something so bad, everything works in your favor," Collison said after that game, also admitting it wasn't a foul.
Stanford has played in the tournament finals twice, beating Washington four years ago and losing to Arizona in 1989. The Bruins are four-time finalists, winning in 2006 and 1987.UCLA will play Saturday without Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who sprained his left ankle in the first half against USC.
X-rays were negative and Mbah a Moute was on crutches, not a welcome sight for the junior who backs up star freshman Kevin Love on the boards. He re-injured the same ankle that sidelined him for two games last month.
"We are very dependent on Luc. He has been a three-year starter,' coach Ben Howland said. "He has done so many little things. Only people who really understand basketball get all the little things that don't show up in the stat sheet.'
The Bruins split two contests in February that Mbah a Moute missed with an injury to the same ankle, and have gone 3-1 without him.
Once again the matchup to watch tonight will be Love, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds against USC for his 20th double-double, and Stanford's Lopez, who added 12 rebound and three blocks to his 30 points against Washington State.
Lopez and his 7-foot twin brother, Robin, battled with Love in the post in these teams' last meeting. Brook had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Robin had 14 points, three boards and two blocked shots in the defeat. Love had 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
UCLA hasn't lost since its Feb. 10 defeat at Washington despite trailing in the second half of four of its last five games.
"Whenever we get down, we have a never-quit attitude," junior forward Josh Shipp said.
No comments:
Post a Comment