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2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Saturday, March 29, 2008

KU in elite company

Wildcats handily defeated; more 'Cats on deck

By Ryan Wood

Tyler Metzger, center, a Kansas junior from Oskaloosa, lets loose with other members of the Kansas Basketball Band in the second half of KU's Sweet 16 game against Villanova in the NCAA Tournament Friday in Detroit. The Jayhawks won 72-57.

Photo by Thad Allender

Tyler Metzger, center, a Kansas junior from Oskaloosa, lets loose with other members of the Kansas Basketball Band in the second half of KU's Sweet 16 game against Villanova in the NCAA Tournament Friday in Detroit. The Jayhawks won 72-57.

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Detroit — Another opponent picked off. Now, it's time to take aim at Cinderella.

Kansas University's basketball team beat 12th-seeded Villanova, 72-57, at Ford Field on Friday, overwhelming the Wildcats out of the gate and cruising into the Elite Eight with an easy victory in the NCAA Tournament's third round.

Top-seeded Kansas (34-3) now will play at 4:05 p.m. CST on Sunday against 10th-seeded Davidson - also the Wildcats - a tiny school in North Carolina that's become the feel-good story of March. Davidson (29-6) beat third-seeded Wisconsin, 73-56, earlier Friday for its 25th straight victory.

From a seeding standpoint, the Midwest region certainly has opened up in favorable fashion for the Jayhawks. If Kansas gets to the Final Four with a victory Sunday, it will do so by beating teams seeded 16th, 8th, 12th and 10th in the Midwest region.

That's because all the big dogs in the Midwest have been knocked off - except the Jayhawks. They again looked businesslike in beating Villanova, paced by Brandon Rush's 16 points and Russell Robinson's 15. Mario Chalmers added 14 points.

So ho-hum was the win, in fact, that many of the 57,028 fans at massive Ford Field didn't stick around to see the conclusion. It nearly was decided at halftime when KU led 41-22.

The Jayhawks led by more than 20 before the Wildcats clawed back late.

But the rally was in vain. And Kansas moved one step closer - and one step away - from its first Final Four since 2003.

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Comments

LAJayhawk5 (anonymous) says...

DARNELL "DBLOCK FIZZLE DUNK SHIZZLE" JACKSON IS GOING TO EAT DAVIDSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 29, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

cklarock (anonymous) says...

This Kansas team will put Cinderella to the sword. KU by 20.

March 29, 2008 at 12:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

oldalum (anonymous) says...

ESPN is already saying KU had an easy road. I don't want to hear it here, too. Why doesn't anyone look at UCLA. They played a 16, 9, 12, and will play a 3 next. The only reason we don't play a 2 or 3 is that our 10 beat the 2 and 3, and now we have to play the 10.

March 29, 2008 at 12:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Kirk (anonymous) says...

I like the easy road. We've taken it all year. Florida took it when they won one of their national championships.

Davidson could not beat Kansas once in a thousand tries.

So: UNC or Loiusville is next

March 29, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Kirk, that's a ridiculous thing to say. I'm confident that KU will win, but 10 1/2-point underdogs generally win a little more often once out of every 1000 times. They're certainly capable of winning if they're on fire from outside and KU is ice cold. It's not likely to happen but you never know. I certainly am not taking anything for granted.

And LAJayhawk (the person who loves to call people jackasses), your attempts at being hip are failing miserably. There's no need to post the same screaming idiocy more than once.

March 29, 2008 at 4:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )