2008 ncca tournament bracket
2008 ncca tournament schedule
NCAA tournament bracket
Can little Elon be the NCAA Tournament's Cinderella story for 2008?
It's possible, as the 14-18 Phoenix are in Monday night's Southern Conference final for the first time in school history, with a berth in the Big Dance on the line.
The seventh-seeded Phoenix came into the tournament 11-18, but knocked off the College of Charleston easily on Sunday, 75-61, their second defeat of a league heavyweight in as many days following a 60-57 defeat of second-seed Chattanooga on Saturday. Elon is the first sub. 500 team to reach the finals since VMI did it in 1988 at 13-16.
That's the good news.
The bad: Up next is No. 25 Davidson (25-6), it of the 21-game winning streak, the longest in the country, and which has won its past 35 games against SoCon opponents.
Led by sophomore Stephen Curry's 26 points, the Wildcats routed UNC Greensboro on Sunday. Davidson will try for its fourth tournament crown since 2002 and fifth under coach Bob McKillop.Elon dropped two regular-season games to Davidson, falling 59-57 on Jan. 9 and 74-64 on Feb. 6.
Elon had a chance to win that first game, with freshman Chris Long having a 3-pointer from the left wing at the buzzer.
"I know I had a good look at it when I let it go, but it just went off the rim," Long said. "I don't think about it much."Elon did not score during the final three minutes, and missed three potential tying or winning shots in the final 15 seconds of that game. Coach Ernie Nestor is ready for another chance. "This is a totally different story," he said. "They are a lot different now, but so are we."
Elon is led on the season by Ola Atoyebi and Brett James, who are tied for the team-lead in scoring at 12.4 ppg, with Atoyebi grabbing a club-best 6.4 rpg and James snaring 5.4 rpg. The Phoenix relies mostly on defense, as they average just 63.3 ppg but have limited foes to an average of 65.3 ppg.
Davidson likely will look to dominate inside much as it did against UNC Greensboro, when the Wildcats won the rebounding battle 38-21 and outscored UNC Greensboro 44-8 in the paint.
For the season, Curry, the conference player of the year, leads all SoCo players in scoring with 25.2 ppg, and he is shooting 44.1 percent from long range. The Wildcats are outscoring their foes by more than 15 points per game, and they are doing so by averaging 79.1 ppg and outrebounding teams by an average of 4.4 per game.
Davidson looks to become the first team since Chattanooga (1993-95) to capture the championship three straight times. This is Elon's first title game in just its fifth appearance in the SoCon Tournament. Davidson holds a 27-11 series lead over the Phoenix.
Fearless forecast: Four games in four days will catch up to Elon, which is a 16.5-point underdog on WagerWeb.com.
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