West Virginia

"The Butler Way demands commitment, denies selfishness, accepts reality yet seeks improvement everyday while putting the team above self." (courtesy of butlersports.com)

The above sentence is one of the major reasons why the Butler Bulldogs, winners of 24 straight games, are now headed home to Indianapolis not just because they have to but also to play in next weekend's Final Four. Matt Howard ran into foul trouble early but it didn't matter as Brad Stevens' team used defense and rebounding to knock off two-seed Kansas State 63-56 in Salt Lake City.

#1 Kentucky Wildcats

Team Preview

So much for Butler's win over Syracuse being the story of the night.

Kansas State and Xavier essentially went shot for shot in the latter stages of regulation and the first overtime, with the backcourt tandems of Jacob Pullen/Denis Clemente and Jordan Crawford/Terrell Holloway being the main characters. But in the second overtime Pullen and company had a few more shots left in the tank, surviving by the final score of 101-96 to advance to the Elite 8.

 

#2 West Virginia Mountaineers

Up 65-50 with 12:42 remaining following a Durrell Summers three pointer, Michigan State looked to be a safe bet to advance to the Sweet 16, despite losing starting point guard Kalin Lucas to an apparent Achilles' tendon injury. But the turnovers, nineteen in total, began to catch up with the Spartans as Maryland made their furious charge back into the game. Thanks in large part to senior Greivis Vasquez the Terps held an 83-82 lead with seven seconds remaining as Vasquez knocked down a driving basket.

Duke

Kansas

Kansas St

Kentucky

Ohio St

Syracuse

Villanova

West Virginia

3 Seed (Baylor, Georgetown, New Mexico, Pittsburgh)

4 Seed or Below

West Virginia Mountaineers

Big East Conference (27-6, 13-5)

 

It's the worry of nearly every team on the bubble this time of the year: the bid thief. The team that had little or no chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament makes a run in its conference tournament, grabbing the automatic bid and possibly snatching a chair at the table from another team in college basketball's answer to "musical chairs". Houston (Conference USA) and New Mexico State (WAC) were the two teams to do that on Saturday, and the question now is which at-large candidates will be headed to the NIT as a result of these outcomes.