Names and numbers from the regional semifinals

[March 26, 2010]  SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- That big exhale came from Providence.

The Big East, which tied its own record with eight teams in the NCAA tournament field, will have just one team in the regional finals.

West Virginia, the second seed in the East, beat Washington 69-56 on Thursday night to keep the conference's national title hopes alive.

About 30 minutes before the Mountaineers' win in the Carrier Dome, top-seeded Syracuse, the team that calls that building home, lost 63-59 to Butler in Salt Lake City.

The Big East moved their office space in Providence, R.I., on Thursday, so Syracuse's loss made a rough day a little tougher.

It was quite a difference for the Big East from last season when it had half the Elite Eight, with Connecticut and Villanova advancing to the Final Four while Louisville and Pittsburgh lost.

The 16-team league can still boast the longest streak by a conference with at least one team reaching the regional finals. Every year since 2002, the Big East has managed to get one school within a win of the Final Four. Last year and 2006, when Connecticut and Villanova reached, were the only ones with more than one.

Four of the Big East teams -- Marquette, Louisville, Georgetown and Notre Dame -- were gone after the first round. Pittsburgh and Villanova went out in the second round, leaving West Virginia and Syracuse as the only ones left in the round of 16.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was asked when he knew that Syracuse had lost.

"Sitting in there when those little girls and Syracuse students in there told the guys that Syracuse had lost," he said, referring to the locker room after the game. "We want to be the last ones standing, period."

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NO. 1'S RECORD: Teams seeded No. 1 in a region had a record of 73-15 in the round of 16 since the field expanded to 64 schools.

That record took a quick hit Thursday when Syracuse lost 63-59 to fifth-seeded Butler in the West Regional, but Kentucky got the win right back with a 62-45 victory over Cornell in the East Regional.

The top seeds have one more chance to bring the winning percentage up with Duke going against Purdue on Friday in the South.

Overall No. 1 seed Kansas was beaten by Northern Iowa in the second round.

Two No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four last year -- Connecticut and North Carolina -- and the record was set a year before that when all four No. 1s made it to San Antonio.

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INJURY EFFECT: Injuries have played a role in this NCAA tournament unlike any before.

The teams affected by the bug went 1-1 in Thursday night's early games.

West Virginia lost starting point guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant when he broke his foot in practice Tuesday. Junior college transfer Casey Mitchell started in Bryant's place, but it was redshirt junior Joe Mazzulla who played the most significant minutes there, finishing with three points, three assists and three steals.

Despite committing four of the Mountaineers' season-high 23 turnovers, Mazzulla was a steadying force with the ball and the team's energy leader as well, spending quite a bit of time on the court after fighting through a screen or drawing an offensive foul.

"It was great to have Joe in the game playing the way he was playing today," West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler said. "That just helped us out."

West Virginia could have been looking at a much bigger loss when Butler, its leading scorer, landed hard after he was fouled and hurt his right (shooting) hand. He stayed down on the court for about a minute, then played the rest of the game.

"Once I stood up, the one thing that was pretty numb was my hand, and I said, `All right, I'll be fine,'" said Butler, who said he will be ready for Saturday's regional final against Kentucky.

Teammate Kevin Jones said what all the West Virginia players and fans were thinking.

"That was a very big sense of relief," Jones said. "Something would really have to be wrong if he didn't get up. Luckily, it wasn't that. He got up and showed how tough he was."

Syracuse played its third game without center Arinze Onuaku, who injured his knee in the Big East tournament and has not practiced since.

Playing without the man in the middle of the Orange's 2-3 zone defense left coach Jim Boeheim short-handed against the Bulldogs.

"We haven't had him. There's nothing I'm going to say about that," Boeheim said. "We don't make excuses."

On Friday, Michigan State, missing Kalin Lucas, the 2008-09 Big Ten Player of the Year, and with 3-point specialist Chris Allen limited by a sore foot, will face Northern Iowa. Purdue, still trying to recover from the loss of second-leading scorer and rebounder Robbie Hummel to a knee injury, will play Duke.

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CAL EXPLAINS: Kentucky coach John Calipari explained how his top-seeded Wildcats, who start three freshmen, were able to beat 12th-seeded Cornell 62-45 despite allowing the Big Red to get within six points in the second half.

"I was really pleased with the defense we played today. The guys really worked hard to make it hard for them. We fouled some at the end. Our goal in the game was to guard the 3-point line and then to also not foul them because they're a great free-throw shooting team, also, and at the end we fouled them a little bit.

"But the discipline it takes to play that way, the focus that it takes for a group of young people like this, you know, in their first NCAA tournament run was tremendous," he said. "Now, I thought the second half we kind of backed up and tried to just get out of the gym, and you can't play that way in the NCAA tournament, but that's OK. We learned a great lesson. We gave them a chance to maybe clip us. But we did good."

EXTRA WORK: The last time a game in the round of 16 went to overtime, Xavier was in it just like Thursday night, when the Musketeers lost 101-96 to Kansas State in double overtime.

Xavier beat West Virginia 79-75 in one overtime in 2008 to advance to the regional finals, where it lost to UCLA.

The last time a game in the round of 16 went to double overtime was 1997 when Minnesota needed 10 extra minutes to beat Clemson 90-84. That year, two other regional semifinal games went to overtime: Utah over Stanford and UCLA over Iowa State.

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ZONED OUT: Butler was ready for Syracuse's zone defense, even if the Bulldogs' 6-of-24 effort from 3-point range didn't make it look that way.

"Well, we knew they were going to obviously play the zone. So when we got back to Indy, I saw a lot of shots before practice, stayed after, shot after practice," Butler guard Ronald Nored said. "Then in practice, I was more focused on my shots."

Especially the one that brought the Bulldogs within 54-53 with 3:13 left and ended a scoring drought of almost 8 minutes.

"That shot, I knew we needed it. I knew they were going to call the play where I was going to have to catch it. I wasn't going to pass it. I knew I was going to step in and knock it in," he said.

Nored said the shooting percentage didn't matter as long as Butler played defense.

"I don't think the focus was really making 3s," he said. "I think we guarded. I think that's what we do. Whether we shot 60 percent from the arc, whether we shot 30 percent, it was our defense that was going to carry us. I think it did that. We made tough plays down the stretch and some of our 3s went in."

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MORE THAN A DUNK: Jordan Crawford became an over-the-summer sensation when he dunked over LeBron James at the NBA superstar's summer camp.

Now there are a lot of other reasons to know Crawford's name.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore guard transferred to Xavier from Indiana and he led the Musketeers in scoring this season with a 20.2 average. He blew that number away with three stellar performances in the NCAA tournament.

Crawford had 28 points in the opening win over Minnesota, then 27 in the second-round win over Pittsburgh.

On Thursday night, he had 32 points as the Musketeers lost 101-96 in double overtime to Kansas State. He hit a 35-footer to tie the game at the end of the first overtime.

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ORANGE AID: When Syracuse fell behind Butler 10-1 in their West Regional semifinal in Salt Lake City, their fans, almost 2,000 miles away in the Carrier Dome, were stunned to say the least.

As the Orange cut into the lead and finally pulled ahead, there was one corner in the Carrier Dome that let out a cheer every time they scored, and especially when they hit a 3-pointer.

Even as the West Virginia-Washington game was going on, you could hear the one group cheer at an inappropriate time in the live game.

The long-distance cheering wasn't enough, as Butler beat Syracuse 63-59.

[Associated Press; By JIM O'CONNELL]

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