Round two done - Sweet 16 up next

Round two concluded on Sunday evening. There were three remaining ACC teams (UNC, Duke, and Maryland) and now two are onto the sweet 16. Maryland is going home after a big loss to #2 seed Memphis.

UNC 84, LSU 70

The big news before this one was that Ty Lawson was going to start and play for the Heels in round two. Some Heels fans may have wished he would have sat out during the first half as Lawson did not at all look like himself. He missed easy shots, wasn't pushing the ball at his usual pace, and had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers. However, in the second half, Lawson showed why he was named ACC player of the year. He had 21 points in the second half and really willed the Tar Heels to victory when it did not look good at about the six minute mark. LSU was playing with confidence and asserting themselves against UNC. Lawson simply took over and made huge plays down the stretch. He had a great three point play, a great crossover that led to a lay-up and hit another couple of huge threes. Without him, Carolina probably does not win this game.

UNC will next face Gonzaga in the round of 16 on Friday. Gonzaga is a gifted offensive team that may be able to score with Carolina for a while. However, the way to beat UNC is not to try and outscore them and Gonzaga couldn't guard me. From what I have seen of them, they play no defense and in the end this will lose the game for them. They have the offensive ability, just not as much offensive ability as Carolina. This will be an entertaining, high-scoring game but UNC will move on to the Elite 8 where it will await the winner of Oklahoma and Syracuse. Final score UNC 92 and Gonzaga 81.

Duke 74, Texas 69

In watching this game I never got the feeling Duke was in control of the game even though they had around a ten point lead for much of the second half. Texas' strengths were right in Duke's main areas of weakness and I always had the feeling this game would come down to the end. In the end, Duke made the winning plays and for that they get to play another round (first time to the sweet 16 since 2006). Gerald Henderson was a man down the stretch, as Coach K admitted in postgame they decided to ride Henderson, sink or swim, and Duke is still swimming. The amazingly heady play by Scheyer to throw the ball to the far end of the court and allow his teammates a chance to run it down as well as the scrappy play by McClure to keep an offensive rebound alive and really ice the game for Duke cannot go unnoticed. They probably were the two biggest plays of the game (along with Singler's tip-in to put Duke up two 71-69) and neither one was a play that scored points.

Duke will play Villanova on Thursday with a berth to the regional final on the line. This should be a great game. On paper, it looks like a better match-up for the Blue Devils. Villanova is much like Duke in that they are perimeter oriented and don't have a true post presence. They do have a slew of great guards however, and could hurt Duke over the course of a game on dribble drives. The winner of this game will be the team that is able to get some stops down the stretch as neither team will just be able to dump it in the post for baskets late in the game. Villanova is extremely skilled at most positions. My prediction is that this game will be much like the Texas game for Duke. It will be tied or very close but Duke will make a couple more plays when it counts most. This Duke team is not Coach K's best, but they are playing great down the stretch and are playing together. I see Duke winning at least one more game and getting to the regional final where they will most likely face Pittsburgh. Final score Duke 83, Villanova 79.

Maryland 70, Memphis 89

Memphis won the war of words pre-game with Greivis Vasquez and won the game handily against the Terps as well. Vasquez stated in his pre-game press conference that Memphis would probably finish eighth in the ACC, knocking the Tigers and the easy league they play in (Conference USA). Memphis then countered by saying they had watched really no film of Maryland (basically stating they didn't think Maryland stood a chance) and then said they have one decent player, Sanchez or something like that. Memphis then came out and dominated the Terps start to finish, getting up 30 and just coasting from there.

Even though Memphis hammered Maryland, it has to be considered a successful season. Maryland does not have much talent at all outside of Vasquez and for them to get to the second round of the tournament shows the good job that Gary Williams did with this team. Much has been made of Williams' recent recruiting struggles and these knocks are legitimate. They really do not have much ACC level talent. However, Williams is a good coach and if he can start to get some better talent into College Park I think he can get Maryland back to playing at a consistently higher level.