|
Michigan
guard
Derrick
Walton
Jr.
reacts
after
making a
basket
during
the
second
half of
a
regional
semifinal
against
Oregon
in the
NCAA
men’s
college
basketball
tournament,
Thursday,
March
23,
2017, in
Kansas
City,
Mo. (AP
Photo/Charlie
Riedel) |
|
Bye,
Michigan
_ time
for new
lovable
underdogs
Xavier,
SC
By ERIC
OLSON
ap.org
KANSAS
CITY, Mo
-
Thanks,
Michigan.
It was
fun
while it
lasted.
So who's
going to
be the
lovable
underdog
in the
NCAA
Tournament
now?
Take
your
pick:
Xavier
or South
Carolina.
The
Musketeers
are a
No. 11
seed
after
losing
their
starting
point
guard to
a knee
injury
in late
January
and
finishing
seventh
in the
Big
East.
They
stomped
No. 3
Florida
State by
25
points
to make
the
Sweet 16
and are
in a
regional
final
for the
third
time
since
2004
after a
stunning
73-71
win over
No. 2
Arizona
on
Thursday
night.
The
Gamecocks
might
merit a
little
more
love
than
Xavier,
even
though
they're
seeded
four
rungs
higher
as a No.
7.
Unlike
Xavier,
which
has been
there,
done
that
when it
comes to
the
Sweet
16, the
Gamecocks
are in
new
territory.
They not
only won
their
first
game in
the
NCAAs
since
1973
when
they
beat
Marquette
last
week,
they
knocked
out
love-'em-or-hate-'em
Duke in
the
round of
32 for
their
first
win over
the Blue
Devils
since
1970.
They
take aim
at
Baylor
on
Friday
night at
Madison
Square
Garden
in New
York.
Michigan,
that
all-sports
powerhouse
from the
Big Ten,
doesn't
usually
endear
itself
to
anybody
but its
own
fans. In
some
corners
(Ohio,
for
example)
the
Wolverines
are the
team
everyone
loves to
hate, no
matter
the
sport.
For the
last two
weeks,
though,
college
basketball
fans
kind of
fell for
the
Wolverines
- if not
the
team,
then its
story.
The
script:
Plane
skids
off
runway
as the
bubble-team
Wolverines
try to
fly to
the Big
Ten
Tournament
in
Washington.
Team
hitches
ride on
Detroit
Pistons'
plane,
arriving
a couple
hours
before
game
time.
Wearing
practice
uniforms
because
game
unis are
still on
the
other
plane,
Wolverines
beat
Illinois
to begin
four
wins-in-four
days run
that
ends
with
conference
tournament
championship.
Dispatches
Oklahoma
State in
the
first
round of
the
NCAAs
and No.
2
Louisville
in the
round of
32 .
The fun
ended
when
team
leader
Derrick
Walton
Jr.'s
long
jump
shot
bounced
off the
rim just
before
the
buzzer
in a
69-68
loss to
Oregon
in the
Midwest
Regional
on
Thursday
night.
"We felt
confident.
We've
been
able to
stick
them out
recently,"
senior
Duncan
Robinson
said.
"The
ball
didn't
really
bounce
our way
down the
stretch.
That's
part of
the
game.
Sometimes
you've
got to
will
your way
to
victory,
and
clearly
we
didn't
do that
tonight."
Michigan
was
sloppy
in the
first
half,
committing
an
uncharacteristic
seven
turnovers
after
giving
the ball
away a
combined
10 times
in its
first
two
tournament
games.
The
Wolverines
cleaned
things
up in
the
second
half,
coughing
up the
ball
just
once,
and were
still in
position
to win
at the
end.
"It's
the
tightest
bunch
I've
been
around
in all
my years
of
playing
basketball.
Just a
very
selfless
group,"
Walton
said. "I
had the
joy of
being a
part of
it and
being
one of
the
leaders.
I wish
we could
have
more
games to
play
together
because
I think
a couple
minutes
throughout
the game
we
didn't
show the
type of
team we
were
becoming."
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-Rahkman
said
fatigue
was not
a factor
even
though
the
Wolverines
played
seven
games in
15 days.
"You're
pretty
much in
tournament
mode,"
he said.
"We had
a lot of
motivation
going
into the
games.
Everybody's
tired at
this
point.
Everybody's
even.
You just
try to
ride
that
emotion
and that
motivation."
If
nothing
else,
the
Wolverines
made
lifelong
memories.
"That,"
senior
Duncan
Robinson
said,
"is what
college
athletics
and
sports
in
general
are all
about."
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