The March Madness

North Carolina (32-4) and Michigan State (30-6) join the University of Connecticut (31-4) and Villanova (30-7) in the Final Four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament–what we know as March Madness.

Villanova vs. North Carolina – Saturday, Apr 4, 6:07pm EDT
Michigan State vs. Connecticut – Saturday, Apr 4, 8:47pm EDT

The winners will play in the Championship Game on Monday, Apr 6.

Potential championship game:
Villanova vs. Connecticut
Villanova vs. Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Connecticut
North Carolina vs. Michigan State

March Madness Final Four 2009:

The University of North Carolina and Michigan State won regional finals to advance and complete the Final Four at the men’s college basketball tournament.

North Carolina, the top seed in the South Regional, beat No. 2 Oklahoma 72-60 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. Michigan State, the second seed in the Midwest, won 64-52 over top-seeded Louisville at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

North Carolina and Connecticut are the No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four, while fellow top seeds Louisville and Pittsburgh were eliminated in the regional finals. Louisville had been the top-ranked team in the 65-school field and Pitt lost yesterday to Villanova 78-76 in the East Regional final.

North Carolina today reached the Final Four for a NCAA- record 18th time, breaking a tie with UCLA. The Tar Heels won their last championship in 2005.

Michigan State earned its fifth trip to the national semifinals since 1999, the most in the nation over that span. The Spartans’ last title came in 2000.

Double-Digit Win

North Carolina held Oklahoma to a season-low 23 first-half points in Memphis, opening a nine-point halftime lead and pulling away for a fourth straight double-digit tournament win.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added 18 for the Tar Heels, who led by as many as 21 in the second half. They’ve won their first four NCAA games by an average of 20.2 points.

Blake Griffin had 23 points and 16 rebounds for Oklahoma (30-6), which was seeking to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2002.

In Indianapolis, Michigan State trailed Louisville 34-32 early in the second half before going on a 20-7 scoring run to take the lead for good.

Goran Suton had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spartans, whose next game in Detroit will be about 90 minutes from the Michigan State campus in East Lansing.

“I take my hat off to my players,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said in a televised interview with CBS Sports. “They prepared so well the past day and a half. That was a great Louisville team. I didn’t know if we could beat them, but I thought we had a chance.”

Two days after shooting almost 58 percent from the field in a 103-64 rout of Arizona, the Cardinals were held to 38 percent shooting by Michigan State. Earl Clark scored 18 points to lead Louisville, which shot 55.6 percent from the free throw line after hitting 93 percent against Arizona.

Fourteen of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament have moved on to the regional semifinals. The only remaining team seeded worse than fifth is Arizona, the No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region.

And it’s tough to call the Wildcats a Cinderella story when they’re making their 25th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

The lack of surprise teams removes some charm from this tournament, but it also creates plenty of compelling matchups as we head into the Sweet 16. Here’s a look at a major plotline for each of the eight regional semifinals. See our bracket page for full details…

Here is a breakdown of the key dates and locations for the 2009 Mens Basketball Tournament. First the dates:

• Selection Sunday Date: March 15
• Opening Round/Play-in Game Date: March 17
• NCAA Tournament First Round Dates: March 19-20
• NCAA Tournament Second Round Dates: March 21-22
• NCAA Tournament Regional Semi-final Round Dates: March 26-27
• NCAA Tournament Regional Final Dates: March 28-29
• Final Four Date: April 4
• NCAA Mens Basketball Championship Game Date: April 6

And now the locations of the 2009 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament. And remember how the whole “pod” system works. During the first two rounds of the tourney, eight teams play at each host site. The top four seeds in each region are placed at a site as close to the school’s location as possible. with other three teams in the top-seeded teams’ bracket “pod” also playing at that site.

• Opening Round/Play-In Game: Dayton, OH (Dayton, Arena)

First and Second Round NCAA Tournament Locations, March 19 and March 21

• Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum)
• Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
• Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Center)
• Portland, OR (Rose Garden)

First and Second Round NCAA Tournament Locations, March 20 and March 22

• Boise, ID (Taco Bell Arena)
• Dayton, OH (Dayton Arena)
• Miami, FL (American Airlines Arena)
• Minneapolis, MN (HHH Metrodome)

Regional Semi-Final and Regional Final NCAA Tournament Locations, March 26 and March 28

• East Regional: Boston, MA (TD Banknorth Arena)
• West Regional: Glendale, AZ (University of Phoenix Stadium)

Regional Semi-Final and Regional Final NCAA Tournament Locations, March 27 and March 29

• Midwest Regional: Indianapolis, IN (Lucas Oil Stadium)
• Southeast Regional: Memphis, TN (FedEx Forum)

2009 Final Four Location, April 4 and April 6

• Detroit, MI (Ford Field)

We didn’t make a lot of changes to the bracket this week in terms of new teams in, but some of the changes we did make – especially at the bottom of the bracket – were made after much debate. The first change came in the Big East, where Providence replaced Cincinnati on the 11 line. The move may seem a bit harsh considering the Bearcats didn’t really do anything wrong last week, but looking big picture, Cincinnati made the bracket in the first place because of their season sweep over Georgetown. Those wins don’t look that great now, and when we combined that with the fact that the Friars have beaten the Bearcats twice, Providence got the nod.

See our bracket page for more…