Thursday's NCAA tournament games - Los Angeles Times

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Thursday's NCAA tournament games - Los Angeles Times Mar 22nd 2012, 04:27 COLLEGE BASKETBALL A game-by-game look at the Thursday's NCAA tournament regional semifinal contests. 9:24 PM PDT, March 21, 2012 East Regional No. 1 Syracuse (33-2) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (26-9), 4:15 p.m. PDT, Channel 2: Wisconsin games can be painful to watch, so imagine what it must be like to play against the Badgers. The slower the pace, the better for the Badgers in this one. Wisconsin's three-point shooting is going to be important; the Badgers make 36.3% from beyond the arc, but Syracuse's zone limits opponents to 30.7%. Syracuse forces 16.4 turnovers per game and the Orange thrives in transition. But Wisconsin commits the second-fewest turnovers per game (9.0) in the nation. Watch the rebounding battle. Syracuse is outrebounded by 1.5 per game, and the zone leaves the Orange susceptible to offensive boards. Wisconsin isn't overly tall, but the Badgers are bulky and don't mind throwing their weight around. No. 2 Ohio State (26-10) vs. No. 6 Cincinnati (29-7), 6:45 p.m. PDT, Channel 2: This is only the 10th meeting of these in-state schools, with the last coming in the John Wooden Tradition tournament in 2006. Cincinnati has won two national titles in basketball, and beat the Buckeyes in the final both times (1961 and '62). Both teams can be physical, but the Bearcats have the edge in that department. The big-man matchup between Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and Cincinnati's Yancy Gates should be extremely entertaining. A big key for the Bearcats is keeping Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft, an excellent passer and pesky on-ball defender, under control. Ohio State usually pounds foes on the boards, so that bears watching. West Regional No. 1 Michigan State (29-7) vs. No. 4 Louisville (28-9), 4:45 p.m. PDT, TBS: Spartans Coach Tom Izzo goes from matching wits with St. Louis Coach Rick Majerus to matching wits with Louisville's Rick Pitino. Both teams will be comfortable with any pace and both are fully capable of winning ugly. Michigan State hammers foes on the boards. Louisville doesn't appear to have anyone who can handle Michigan State forward Draymond Green, perhaps the best all-around player left in the tournament. Louisville's backcourt, though, has a quickness advantage. If Cardinals guard Peyton Siva is at his best, getting into the lane and making some outside shots, the Cardinals can pull off the upset. No. 3 Marquette (27-7) vs. No. 7 Florida (25-10), 7:15 p.m. PDT, TBS: This is all about Florida's three-point shooting; the Gators make 38.3% of their shots from beyond the arc, but the Golden Eagles' perimeter defense has been solid all season. Marquette isn't big but is more physical than Florida. Still, the Golden Eagles aren't great on the boards. Florida's defense has been excellent in the tournament, but Marquette poses far more problems than a Virginia team overly reliant on one player (Mike Scott) and a Norfolk State team that was lucky to be there. Marquette forward Jae Crowder was the Big East Conference player of the year, and the Golden Eagles have a nice offensive duo in Crowder and guard Darius Johnson-Odom; the Gators need to make sure that one of them has a tough game. RIVALS.COM Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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